Post by christopherjgould on Apr 17, 2013 15:47:21 GMT -5
Don't take my word for it!
I love these. I use the cards in the wild with real people. The cards are so good that I no longer carry tarot. I use Kadar.
Paul (Voodini) Bell.
They are totally suitable for real life. I wrote up a number of detailed reports on my first trials for Chris during play testing and will see about digging some of it out. The first outing was in a run of bars in Hull, my home town, a fairly rough UK city. I started on friends then did strangers over the night and they went down very well. I got a booking that night off the strength of the Kadar readings and that was before I'd even read the manual properly. I've since used them for psychic parties and at a fair event. They have worked superbly each time giving good, insightful personality readings. Like most good reading systems it works best when the sitter is more involved, the more they talk the better. In some case the sitter has delivered most of the reading themselves as the symbolism on the cards is evident. They are earning me good money and offering a nice alternative to my tarot.
Joshua Johnson
Kadar is a reading system, thus has no routines per se. The included 62-page booklet walks you through the complete reading and is very comprehensive. Added to that is the above-mentioned PDF, which is actually a full, detailed performer's manual. The printed booklet is written for the public and can be shown to the audience if desired, depending on your presentation. The beauty of K is that you can make the reading as light or as detailed as you choose.
Paul K
This year I am wanting to make some changes professionally, and I am specifically looking for things that will increase my marketability in the readings arena (hence I also grabbed the new Scryer opus). While I adore the look of HT and feel it has incredible potential, I felt that K easily has a broader audience appeal for my target market. I think we as a group of bizarre enthusiasts tend to gravitate toward the darker, freakier, "ancient artifact" type things because we love them on a personal level. However, "normal" folks often find them creepy and sometimes even off-putting (a big part of the appeal, for me at least ). But K has that giddy carnival atmosphere that elicits the play and magic of childhood, and attracts people in. HT and K both strongly appeal to me, but with very different feelings involved.
HT keywords for me = Serious, Occult, Ancient, Knowledge, Caution, Fragile, Power, Depth, Magick with a K.
K keywords for me = Play, Fun, Whimsy, Knowledge, Color, Vintage, Insight, Choice, Enchantment.
Seth
So I received a well wrapped parcel today. It was with great excitement that I opened it up to examine the contents. I have been involved in the playtesting of Kadar for a good while, so have had a set of cards I'd made up myself from the files, but they don't compare with getting the real deal in your hands. This is an excellent reading system which I've had a lot of mileage out of. The set will fascinate people you show it too and act as a draw
So the kit contains an aged box with the look of an old fashioned game. Inside the lid is a nice little explanation of the cards acting as a quick reference to the Kadar cards. The set contains the 5 Kadar cards: the Professor, the Siren, the Gypsy Queen, Mr Mercury and Mysterion. The little book of fate, the casting board, pendulum and dice. Also included are a set of raffle tickets to use as hand outs.
The Kadar little book of fate gives an explanation of the reading system. You could manage perfectly good indepth readings of this book alone. Its gives a procedure for using the cards for readings and the meanings of each card. You will also be sent a PDF giving more detail on how to use the cards. The cards are based on solid Jungian archetypes alongside the four elements. They can be used to give a solid personality reading and provide an insight into issues into the sitters life. The final stage of the process allows you to encourage the sitter towards self-improvement.
The 5 kadar's are lovely wood mounted cards. The images of the different characters are full of imagery. The symbolism in the cards is obvious while still having further depth to explore. The sitters will be able to understand much of the symbolism of the cards by themselves.
The raffle tickets are a lovely souvenir for sitters. It leaves them with a record of the reading. They look the part and can be used alongside other traditional mentalism techniques if you want to add something extra to the reading.
The pendulum is included for the spectator to select a card. There are several methods for the sitter selecting their card. The pendulum is my proffered method. I'm probably going to substitute the pendulum from the set for another one as its a bit modern looking. The casting board gives you an alternative way of presenting a reading.
Along with the set you gain access to the Kadar club which will allow you to purchase further add ons to the system. There are lots of exciting add ons planned for Kadar. The Kadar dice of fate, pitch books, king sized cards. Its an exciting set up to be part of. I'm looking forward to seeing the new directions Chris takes these.
In terms of the system in action I've been using the trial cards for several months now. I've used them in the pub, at fairs and for psychic evenings. They provided great fun readings. There suitable for almost all occasions and can be used in ways maybe other traditional systems such as Tarot wouldn't be accepted. The look of the cards and the fun feel of the cards makes them appealing and acceptable to people who would make shun Tarot. I've used them on strangers to give them a taste of the sort of entertainment I do and I've received bookings off the strength of the readings. While these cards may seem like a big initial price they are earners. What more can you ask for. I can't wait to get out and use the full set. Beautiful work from Chris.
Joshua
I concur - beautiful, beautiful work. Since this arrived at lunchtime, my heart has been full of joy. I've laughed, I've cried, and I've danced around the kitchen naked - which quite upset the children. I'm a very happy bunny. Thanks Chris.
Paul Bell
After reading through it, I would say there's almost no memorization needed, and the system is easy to learn. For starters, all the memorization required is in the little book of fate which you can simply read off the content to the spectator. Of course, experienced readers will want to go deeper into the system and I believed that will be very well covered in the Kadar Club. (I haven't got my set, so I don't access yet) If you have played with Zoltar card before, I doubt there's any difficulty with this.
I do not think there's any restriction on where to use this. I do not know the best way to describe it, but it's something like a fortune telling cabinet found in arcades, shopping malls, carnivals. I think it works very very well even in simple social gatherings.
Now, of course, I must stress that I have yet to receive my set and tried it out. But after reading the manual, I am very confident that I will use this a lot. I'm even thinking of ways I can in-cooperate this to some of my counselling work.
piyuyu
the underlying logic is highly intuitive and playfully flexible...you can use the whole kit or just the cards...people are drawn to them and intrigued by them, while the connection between their choice and the reading they receive is wonderful to behold.
Plus everything just looks so cool!
Dr Todd
Practically no memorisation is required. The cards have the information on. The symbolism on the cards is easy to read. Granted I have read Tarot for a good number of years so much of that is second nature now. But I reckon even a beginner to readings would be able to understand much of the meanings of the cards. I've asked sitters what the cards meant to them after they choose them and they've all picked up on the basic themes themselves. You do have the book included in the set that you can refer to during a reading if you needed to. When I first used the cards I took them out the first night without having properly memorised the system and meanings and I was booked for an event. There that simple. A beginner to readings will have a clear structure with these to deliver solid readings.
In terms of where they play I've used them in the pub, busy bars, peoples homes, one walkaround session and to table readings at a fair. Obviously your not going to carry the whole box for walkaround, but they've worked well in each environment.
Joshua
Just received mine stateside. Not sure if this was mentioned elsewhere, but you get:
-The four cards, plus a fifth one (and I really, really hope the AM guys expand on this). Actually, they're a bit too thick to be cards. Maybe ceramic "plates" would be a better description, and I'm not sure if they're even ceramic. They definitely feel like they will last a long time.
-The book of fate. Would love to see a PDF made available as a pitch book, as has been recently suggested in the AM blog.
-The addtional in-depth PDF user's manual/guide courtesy of Mr. Gould.
-The 3 vintage-looking wooden dice.
-A very nice pendulum. Granted, you can always make one or use your favorite.
-A small bag for the dice and pendulum.
-A book of carnival-esque looking tickets, which make nice handouts.
-A mini casting board, that does an excellent job invoking a vintage style board game. I'll let Chris elaborate here, but basically this adds some steps to further embellish the reading, with some variants provided.
I think this is an excellent place to start if you've never done readings. I do them quite a bit, and this of presentation is something I hadn't considered previously. I'm really looking forward to seeing this expanded on the AM forums/blog, even if not officially.
espkeith
Kadar is indeed great for someone new to readings. I was one of the playtesters and completely new to doing readings. One of the first times I used the system, I literally had the book in my hand and referred to it as we went along. I basically treated it as something I found and thought it would be fun to play around with. As I did it a few more times, I found myself more comfortable and adding in bits of information that seemed related and was getting hits. In time, I leaned on the book less and less as I was learning it as I went. If I found myself suck, I took Chris’s suggestion and simply asked “What does it mean to you?”
The system will grow with you, at least that is my experience. I have gone from knowing basically nothing about readings, to having some real practical experience and confidence in doing readings. As other more experienced readers have said above, it works for them as well.
Jinx13
This is the first report I gave Chris from playtesting. It shows the strength of the cards as this was just a set I'd made up from the files, no where near as nicely aged as the finished product. This was also before I'd read the full manual.
So took the smaller set out last night for in inaugural run out. I was out for a friends birthday, figured she's have several of her girl friends who it would go down well with. We were out in Hull figured these would be suitable for giving some light readings in the bars of Hull. There'd be a good number of drunks and something of this nature would go down well. Started on one of her friends who I have known for a good few years, but not well. I introduced it talking about myself and my interest in divination and collecting items around this. We talked about the fortune telling machines and how I collect the cards. We had a nice chat on these before I introduced the cards. I introduced them as a 70s novelty, as this being the smaller unaged set I made the 70s seemed more appropriate than claiming 30s/40s.
I began by asking her to mix the cards up and lay them on the table in a line. I used my necklace for a pendulum. I've done pendulum work with her before so didn't need to go in any depth on how to use that with her. So just had a chat about my necklace (a silver chain with a lingham stone on). I can see I'll be making a pendulum specifically to go with these though. She held it over the line and moved it along. I didn't say it would move until she'd been over the line once. She moved back along the line and I explained that over one we would see a different movement. She moved along the row to the siren where we got the movement. I asked her to let the pendulum rest on the table.
We moved into the visualisation stage. I asked her to imagine placing the coin in one of the slots (she chose the middle). Then soltar slowly starts coming to life and whirrs around before selecting one of the objects (she picked the castle/house). He then handed it to her with the positive hand.
I then moved into the details of her choices. I mentioned a few points about the other characters before talking about the siren. Earlier in the reading she had mentioned that she had some psychic ability, so mentioned that it was interesting she'd picked this one as the siren was all about intuition and trusting those impulses. She had chosen the present and the house, so talked in terms of her considering moving on with her life. I talked about whether she was considering moving house. She revealed that she is considering moving down to London and is looking at a new house to rent. She then went onto fill most of the details out.
I didn't go onto do the effecting change of having her write it down, just talked though things she could do to make the decision herself (making lists weighing up pros and cons, talking to friends, etc). I returned the pendulum to her and finished with her thinking of a question in her head and did a smile yes/no. She didn't need to share the question it was just for her.
I asked her later for what she thought of it and she absolutely loved the whole reading. She said right from the off when I uncovered the cards she'd been attracted to the siren. When the pendulum moved over it she said it was a real shock as it was what she wanted. The fact that we got out of it that she is considering moving and had a good talk about it left her feeling positive about her options. Off the strength of it I've been booked to do a psychic home party, so really couldn't ask for a better first reading.
I did it for a few strangers over the night. Again good responses. Gave a few different give aways at the end of the reading. Gave one a pendulum I'd made for her to carry on experimenting with and a few gemstones. One lad I gave a very serious chat to that I was giving him a great gift with great responsibility, so great I wasn't sure he was ready for it. An item that had in fact been the secret of my power. I then gave him a psychic fish. Over the course of the night I saw this lad a few more times in other bars having a whale of time chatting up girls with his fish. He came back to me later thanked me for the reading, said it meant a lot and bought a round for me.
All in all it served it's purpose beautifully. It delivered solid readings. It looks trivial enough that I was able to use it on a group of fairly rough Hull lads who were total strangers without them feeling awkward about having a tarot reading or their palms read (did do these later, but don't think they'd have gone with me holding their hands as the first reading). But still gave good readings. It entertained and got a few people thinking about how they can make the changes they want happen. Can't really ask for much more.
Joshua
Just a little story about my Christmas with Kadar. My family has a traditional fortune telling after we finish Christmas dinner. We usually use a tube filled with numbered sticks, randomly drawn, and each number corresponding to a fortune in a booklet. This year I brought Kadar. The set really peaked everyone's interest, especially my 16 year old niece. After I gave her a reading, she immediately wanted to give her mom a reading. by the end of the night she had given almost every one in the family a reading. And she was very good too!! by her 5th try she petty well had the most of the meanings memorized and I could tell she was making it up if she could not remember the exact meanings. I think she was born to be a reader!! She begged me to borrow it to take to school after the holidays but I had to say no, much to her disappointment.( I did not want to entrust such a valuable prop with a 16 year old.)
I believe Kadar will be a new Christmas tradition for my family for years to come.
necroloid
KADAR is AMAZING.
Beautiful work... just got my set and it's magnifique.... holy frijoles.... this ROCKS. I am going to have a great time with this....
Dr Spektor
I got my Kadar box a week ago and I'm so happy I finaly bought it!
The box is very nice and the contents are also great, but that's not what is important. What's important to me is the system.
Cold reading was, well, still is, something that makes me very nervous... I just didn't know how to get started, I have read some book but didn't feel confident enough to do a reading. Now with Kadar I have a casual way to start readings with a very simple and fail safe system from which to start building my skills with practice.
If you are also hesitant about starting to do readings Kadar is a nice way. Also you get a copy of Zoltar the previous and pocket version of Kadar.
OnTiltSoon