Moonlight tarot reading. Screengrab: Rusty Blazenhoff / used with permission
Check out the latest project from Danielle Baskin, the talented Happy Mutant behind Branded Fruit, Face ID masks, Blue Check Homes, and more. A product designer, situation designer, and visual artist, Danielle has a knack for crafting innovative experiences. Her latest creation, Moonlight, is a social platform for live tarot readings.
I got a reading on Moonlight through a live demo, and it was spectacular. There are five decks to choose from, including the classic Rider-Waite, with more promised. There are also five spreads to choose from, so lots of variety in play. If you're into tarot, give it a look.
This is what Danielle shared with us about the inspiration behind creating Moonlight:
When I was working on my voice-chat app Dialup a few years ago, I hosted a tarot topic that connected hundreds of tarot enthusiasts serendipitously in one-on-one weekly calls. People would take turns giving each other a reading, often talking for hours. Those calls were really inspiring! But since it was audio-only, we couldn't experience the visual artwork of each other's decks together, which is such a big part of tarot. So I kept imagining an interface for an immersive tarot experience, that would combine live video with virtual decks where you can look at the artwork up close, read the deck creator's notes, and move around the cards together—and nothing like this existed.
I've also been into tarot for 15 years—and along the way have met so many amazing readers, deck artists, writers, and teachers. And when I shared my vision for a social tarot platform with fellow enthusiasts, their excitement confirmed that I should pursue it.
Then within the last three years tarot's popularity really exploded too! There's thousands of beautiful modern decks, tarot is emerging as a professional field, and many newcomers are looking for places to learn. So I wanted to build a platform for both beginners and seasoned enthusiasts to deepen their practice and connect with others. And build tools for enthusiasts to find professional services—whether that's finding the right reader for them, joining a tarot class, or discovering deck art that resonates.
This led to me to build Moonlight! And I found really awesome collaborators to join last fall. We're focused on creating an online home for tarot as a collaborative, exploratory, and playful experience.
This also solves a need for professional readers who work with clients remotely. On Zoom you can't shuffle the same deck and the clients can't see the artwork that clearly. So Moonlight introduces more immersion and magic for professional sessions.
