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The White Rose Emporium's
Software PageThis page has two sections: commercial software (which you can buy at most computer/software shops) and shareware (some of which are stored on-site for downloading, and the rest will have links to other sites where you can download the software).
I make no warranty on the usefulness of these items for any particular person or for what it may do to your system. The fact that you can download it here means that I downloaded it, unpacked it and used it on my system at least once. Take that for what it's worth. The off-site items are download at your own risk, just as they would be if you came to that site on your own. I personally have found NO significant problems with the things I put on this page.Lady FaerieFire's Top Pick:
clySmic Lunabar 98 (1.3MB zipped) - this new take on the moonphase in your system tray concept by far eclipses (no pun intended!) MoonPhase (see below) in terms of what it can do. Unfortunately, it also eclipses it in terms of the file size, and the final size on your system. We're talking more than four-fold, here. So, if you're short on hard drive space, I'd go for MoonPhase. But if you've got the room to spare, this program offers so much more than the simpler MoonPhase, that you've practically got the universe (literally) at your fingertips. You can choose whether to have the information displayed in astronomical or astrological terms. You can choose what system of astrological or Pagan-style terminology to have the information displayed in. You can set it to be specific to your location. This program will also tell you almost everything you might want to know about the sun phases, periods, season, etc... The list goes on and on. However, with improved functionality goes a higher price but only slightly, in the neighborhood of $17, versus $5. The choice is yours!
Celestial Events
MoonPhase (355K zipped) - a little program which puts a tiny little moon into the tray of your Windows95 taskbar. The moon shows the current moonphase. Moving your cursor over it tells you how many "days old" the moon is. And it doesn't take up any desktop space (or much hard drive space either). An absolute must for your Start Up group in my book. This is an updated version from the one that appeared here previously, with substantial improvements, including a full listing of the moon phases for the next 8 phases if you click on the icon in the system tray.
Requires: Windows95.Astronomy Lab (468K zipped) - a rather complex astronomy program. This will tell you everything from the moon phase to the next expected appearance of comets and meteor showers, and give you some animated movies to demonstrate. It's not quite as user-friendly as I'd like, but it's not difficult to use either. You may have to read the help files a few times or play around with it a bit to get what you want, but if you're seriously into celestial phenomena, this will do it for you.
Requires: Windows.Astrology Lite (137K zipped) - a cute little horoscope program, akin to the little daily horoscopes in the newspaper. Works based on sun-sign only, but it does allow you to pick out place, date and time of birth to determine that. Gives you serious or silly predictions at your choice. Something amusing to have in your Windows Start-Up group. Registration is $20. Requires: Windows.
Sunny.zip (39.3K) - a little program which will give you the time of sunrise, sunset, dusk and dawn and the moon phase for any location. Good and compact, which makes it an efficient use of hard disk space.
Requires: Windows, vbrun300.dll.Pagan Daybook - this one has really made the rounds on the Internet. It can be found on most major Internet service providers' download libraries. The current version is a great improvement on a pretty decent program. This program will tell you the phase of the moon (with a graphic) and gives a list of all of the old Pagan holidays for that day. A good addition to your Windows Start Up group. Can be set up to run once a day or each time Windows is started. New to this version is music to accompany the program. This is not precisely shareware, but "bookware", meaning that registration requires buying the author's book Coven. Doesn't seem too big a price, but not having read it yet, I can't say for sure. I'll have to do a review in the future. Meanwhile, check out the program at the author's website. (He's also the creator of the GIF Construction Kit, which creates animated GIFs, a good resource for the Web author).
Divination
Rune Maniacs (65.3K zipped) - a DOS-based program that does a basic run casting. Pretty good documentation. Freeware.
Miscellaneous
These next three programs are all from the same people: Oh My Goddess!. And they're all variations on the same theme: a way to make sure you don't end up with your screen getting "burned in" when you go off and leave your computer idle, while making sure you've got a Pagan-friendly computer environment to come back to.
She screensaver - cool blue rounded Goddess shapes float around your screen. You can adjust the speed and how many of the large image with rotating moonphases you have, and how many of the multiple small images dancing in circles you have. Registration is $10
Goddess screensaver- the same thing, but in an .EXE. file version. Whichever floats your boat!
Gaia screensaver - variation on a theme: instead of blue rounded Goddess shapes, you get red, plump Venus of Willendorf shapes. Registration still $10.Pagan Daybook Screensaver - On the other hand, if you like the Pagan Daybook, you can have a version set up as a screensaver. It's basically the same as the usual rectangular calendar screen with all of the information on the various Pagan holy days and tides, the animation and music; it just floats and bounces around your screen instead of sitting there until you're done with it. Might make a good alternative if you don't like having Pagan Daybook in your Start Up group. Registration is bookware, just like the regular version.
Changling Logos: If you want to thoroughly Pagan-ize your computer, try changing the standard Windows95 startup, wait for shut down, and shut down logos with these pentagram logos. They're based on the standard cloud background, but have pentagrams instead of the Microsoft logos. Be forewarned: to install these, you have to hand-change the file names, and put them in the right directories (I included the directions on doing that in a text file that is part of the zipped file). That also means you should make sure to back up the previous copies of the files, and keep track of exactly what changes you made so that you can undo the changes if you ever want to do so, or if you happen to have problems with the process. You can also find some shareware logo-changing programs (try Download.Com for those) that will automate the process and give you some more graphics options, if that idea appeals.
With so much shareware so readily available, there isn't a lot of need to go out to your local computer or software store, because you can often find what you need right on the Internet. Which means this space will probably remain smaller than the shareware section. Right now, I've only got two recommendations:
Windows Astrologer from Softkey: You would think an astrology program that gives you color graphical charts, biorhythms, complete explanations of what your natal chart means, and tons of detail on all of your current transits, etc. would could a lot of money. This program was cheap. I'm talking in the $20 range!
I have never found another program, shareware or commercial that does what this program does, as nicely or anywhere near as cheaply.
Yes, this means you won't have to figure your charts by hand, let alone draw them that way. Know what your planets are, but have no clue what that means? This will figure them for you and then tell you what they mean.
I don't think that will appeal to the die-hard, do-it-yourself astrology buff, let alone the semi-professional astrologers who dedicate a lot of their time to doing hand-charting. But if learning and memorizing all of the things you need to know in order to do a chart by hand is keeping you from getting into astrology for yourself or your friends and family, then this is definitely an answer.
Requires: Windows, and a bunch of memory! This program often crashed-out my old 486 processor/4Mb RAM system. I often had to get rid of everything else that was running right down to the wallpaper to get it to run. But the newer systems should have no problems running it. A color monitor is definitely recommended but not absolutely necessary. At this point, I imagine the program is either out of print or approaching that state, so if you find it, snatch it up!The Enchanted Tarot CD-ROM from Enteractive - If you're familiar with the higher-end tarot decks available these days, you've probably noticed the Enchanted Tarot before. This set is probably my personal favorite deck, with its complex graphics and the informative book that accompanies it. Add into that the immensely creative way that artist Amy Zerner has used fabric and paper in collages to create the images, and the tremendously useful information Monte Farber has included in the book, and you've got a tarot set that can be relatively easy to learn, and a pleasure to use.
Well, now they've taken all of that hard work and transformed their Enchanted Tarot into what is undoubtedly the most useful and well-produced divination program ever created. If you thought the book gave you insight into the symbolism on the cards, you haven't seen anything yet! Each card in a reading is put together for you as you watch, from background to details, each piece explained as it is laid into place in the whole. And not only do you get the text explanations of the card itself and its meaning in your reading, but you can sit back and listen as the information is read to you, further elaborating upon the simple meaning you would otherwise have available to you.
Wondering just which cards you ended up with in that reading you did about your job last month? Just click on the Diary function, and if you remembered to save the reading, it's right there at your fingertips, just like you saw it the first time, and complete with any comments and notes you made at the time.
Just getting into tarot reading? This program is a find for beginners, as you're not only having your cards read for you, but you're learning about the deck and the history of tarot along the way. With some fabulous movies and graphics, the program takes you on a journey to ancient Egypt and Renaissance Italy, spinning a tale of the symbolism of the cards, and giving you insight into how the whole process works, including an overview of how to obtain the mindset that is so key in really getting in touch with the cards and your inner-self.
That doesn't mean that you're wasting your money if you're a tarot expert! The program works as well as the physical deck, with more tools and less hassle, and you're going to get a lot more insight into the specific symbolism of this deck than you would even with the book that accompanies it. This also means that if you already own The Enchanted Tarot in the cards and book version, you're getting an additional tool to understanding them, as well as an additional way to use them. The only people who won't like this program are those purists who believe the only way to get a good tarot reading is to lay their hands on physical cards. The computer is the interface here. But anyone who's comfortable with computers or who can accept that they can be influenced by the same factors that would influence the physical cards will be pleased with this way of reading them.
The program suggests a variety of spreads, specific types for different types of questions. After choosing a type of question, you fill in the specifics of your question, which is then saved along with your reading. You can also access the information for specific cards, or on the Major or Minor Arcana in general.
With a retail price between $20 and $25, this program is a tremendous value, and one I highly recommend you pick up for yourself. The only complaint I had about the program is that some few areas of the interface are a little less intuitive to use than others, but even those are quickly learned once you've read the instructions ("If all else fails, read the instructions", I always say!)and used the program. I've also seen the program in quite a few software stores (as well as in the One Spirit book club catalogue), in spite of it being rather new. That's an unusual thing for an esoteric program like this, and a great opportunity for even the most software-starved Pagan to pick it up. There are already several other multimedia titles planned for Enteractive's Mystic Messenger series, including additional titles by Zerner and Farber, so this is only the first of what is potentially a great line of software.
