Editorial Standards

Every Tarot Chats article is the work of the Tarot Chats Editorial Team - a small group of writers, technologists, and lifelong tarot students. We work alongside experienced tarot practitioners and consult published reference works on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, modern tarot psychology, and the broader spiritual-wellness space.

The byline on every article reads "Tarot Chats Editorial Team" because the publishing decision belongs to the team, not to a single freelancer. A specific human editor signs off on every piece before it goes live.

Here is the actual process every article goes through, in order:

1. Topic selection by a human editor. An editor picks the topic based on real questions our members ask, search-trend research, and gaps in our existing coverage. AI does not pick our topics.
2. Human-led research. The editor gathers source material from established references (Britannica, Wikipedia, Psychology Today, peer-reviewed journals where appropriate, and recognized tarot authors). The editor decides which sources are credible enough to cite.
3. AI-assisted first draft. The editor uses AI tools (similar to how a writer uses a research assistant or spell-checker) to produce a structured first draft from the source material and outline. The AI does not publish anything by itself.
4. Heavy human rewriting. The editor rewrites the draft for voice, accuracy, tone, and emotional truth. Every paragraph is read, edited, or replaced by a human. Generic AI phrasing is removed; first-hand framing and lived examples are added in.
5. Fact-checking. Claims are verified against the cited sources. Anything we cannot verify is removed or rephrased to make uncertainty explicit. Tarot symbolism is checked against the standard Rider-Waite-Smith references.
6. Final human review and sign-off. A second human editor reads the article end-to-end before it is published. If anything feels off - tone, accuracy, sensitivity - it goes back for another pass.
7. Publish. Only after sign-off does the article go live. The Editorial Team byline confirms a human approved it.

We link out to authoritative sources inside our articles. Examples you will find in our published work include Britannica, Wikipedia, Psychology Today, Healthline, the American Psychological Association, and peer-reviewed journals when relevant.

We also link to other Tarot Chats articles when they add useful context, so members can go deeper without leaving the site.

We use AI assistance for:

• Producing a structured first draft from human-selected source material
• Suggesting alternative phrasings for sentences a human editor is rewriting
• Generating editorial illustration prompts (the final image is then reviewed by a human and replaced if it does not meet our quality bar)

We do not use AI to:

• Pick our article topics
• Make final factual claims without human verification
• Publish anything without a named human editor signing off
• Generate the actual tarot card faces or backs you see in our articles (we use the classic Rider-Waite-Smith illustrations and our own branded card back, never AI-invented card art)

The tarot reading interpretations inside the app (not the blog) are generated in real time by Anthropic's Claude AI based on the cards you draw and the question you ask. Those are clearly part of an interactive AI-powered reading experience, not editorial articles, and they are labeled as such.

If we publish something inaccurate, we fix it. Substantive corrections are made directly in the article and the "Last Updated" date is changed. We treat reader-flagged inaccuracies seriously and respond to every legitimate report.

Older articles are reviewed and refreshed when the underlying topic evolves - new research, new context, or a better way to explain the same idea.

The Tarot Chats Editorial Team has full independence from our advertising partners. Advertisers do not get to choose our topics, see articles before publication, or influence what we say. Display ads on our site (Google AdSense) and in our mobile app (Google AdMob) are served by automated ad systems and have no input on editorial content.

Our articles are written for entertainment, reflection, and self-discovery. We do not present tarot as a substitute for medical, legal, financial, or mental health advice. When a topic touches on something serious - grief, anxiety, relationships in crisis - we say so plainly and point readers toward qualified human professionals.

Found an error? Want to flag a sensitivity issue, suggest a correction, or pitch a topic? Email Contact@tarotchats.com and a human editor will read it.