Movie scenes that represent tarot cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Jul 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

raeanne	23 Jul 2004
Hi all, When I think of the Fool card, I think of the scene in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” where Indy is about to take the ‘leap of faith’ on his journey to the Holy Grail. He stands at the cliff edge and raises one foot, ready to step off into nothing. He doesn’t know it, but there really is a camouflaged pathway of solid stone. I think this scene in the movie represent the Fool card. Do any of you have movie scenes that your think express a specific tarot card?

lunakasha	23 Jul 2004
GREAT idea for a thread.....wow, I am going to think about this and try to come up with some more!!! Combining my two greatest loves--movies and tarot--how COOOL is that??? :P OK....this one is fairly obvious, did not take me long to think of it.... The Tower......when the ship is sinking (standing up vertically in the water and people are falling off) in the movie Titanic..... :) Luna

Little Baron	23 Jul 2004
Watched 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' for the first time last night and loved it. Have you seen that? I can also see reference to the 'Fool' in the last scene, when the woman makes a wish and jumps from the cliff, flying over the landscape. Because the film ends then, whether she dies or lives like the so called legend, we don't know, so it seems quite apt. Yaboot

HudsonGray	23 Jul 2004
The scene where the bride meets Frankenstein for the first time, he holds her hand, she turns & sees him & hisses in rejection. 3 of Swords right then & there--utter rejection cutting straight to the heart.

lunakasha	24 Jul 2004
One of the best examples I can think of to represent the Death card..... would have to be Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty..... His complete transformation from the beginning of the movie to the end....is really amazing to witness. Many of my favorite movies follow the theme of a person going through changes and becoming a better, stronger individual. As Good As It Gets Jerry Maguire Dead Man Walking A Walk to Remember Dogfight :) Luna

Jeannette	24 Jul 2004
The Hanged Man... http://www.metalwillneverdie.net/cinema/alcinema/spiderman_ff.htm If you've seen the movie -- need I say more? ;) -- Jeannette The Tarot Garden

rota	25 Jul 2004
...the tail end of 'Thelma and Louise'... the Fool, also?

blackroseivy	25 Jul 2004
Well, almost. It's "The Ninth Gate" with Johnny Depp & Frank Langella. It is about the quest for a portal to ultimate power; the imiages contained in one set of esoteric images lead the way. I don't want to spoil the movie because I recommend the DVD, but basically, it bears a rough facsimile to Tarot. As the title states, there are only 9 cards & they only roughly approximate Tarot majors ( such as The Wheel, The Hanged Man & The Tower), but there is a corresponding scene in the movie for each card. Check it out! It's pretty spooky! :D

lunakasha	25 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by danubhe Well, almost. It's "The Ninth Gate" with Johnny Depp & Frank Langella. It is about the quest for a portal to ultimate power; the imiages contained in one set of esoteric images lead the way. I don't want to spoil the movie because I recommend the DVD, but basically, it bears a rough facsimile to Tarot. As the title states, there are only 9 cards & they only roughly approximate Tarot majors ( such as The Wheel, The Hanged Man & The Tower), but there is a corresponding scene in the movie for each card. Check it out! It's pretty spooky! :D YES....and I really wish they would have created a tarot deck from the images in the books....that would have been incredible!!! I read somewhere that there was a limited edition deck based on this movie, but I searched for it online and came up empty. :( I really liked this movie....although the ending was kind of disappointing....but the whole concept of it was very spooky and original.... :) Luna

blackroseivy	25 Jul 2004
As a matter of fact, I have a set of these images that I came up with *some*where online - there's a set of them on someone's website. Try just searching for "The Ninth Gate" & look for something *way* down, not nearer the top, I would say. I don't have the images right now but soon will - they are on an overstuffed CD that my sister has to rescue for me. I *do* have an interesting set I made out of 'em, though - I *could* scan them, but I'm afraid the resolution may not be exactly fantastic. I matched the color to the originals - they are each different. If you want, I can scan them in & e-mail them to you, although the ones on the unavailable CD have better resolution. Let me know! ;)

lunakasha	25 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by danubhe As a matter of fact, I have a set of these images that I came up with *some*where online - If you want, I can scan them in & e-mail them to you, although the ones on the unavailable CD have better resolution. Let me know! ;) YES YES PLEASE!!! :D Thank you so much....that would be GREAT!!! I will PM you with my email address..... :) Luna

Eco74	25 Jul 2004
I entered < +"The Ninth Gate" +tarot > and got a lot of interesting links right on the top of the resultspage. Aparently it's not a complete tarot-set per se, but more of a promotional item, but it seems interesting none the less. Though I think having seen the movie makes the deck more alive.. As is it tells me very little except for the fact that the artwork is quite lovely.

lunalafey	25 Jul 2004
The Black Stallion- the Tower...... Alec & his father are passangers on a boat, something explodes and the boat lurches violently to one side. Passangers are thrown from their beds and panic erupts. Alec and his father grap thier life-jackets and head for the deck. Alec's father goes to help ans tells his son to stay put. Alec happens to be holding onto a railing right next to the 'cabin' that a mighty black stallion is freaking out in. . He turns the horse loose and it jumps ship-- the boat lurches and Alec falls over the railing & into the ocean. The scenes image has quite a few parallels- the lightning/explosion...fire, descruction the falling apart of the 'thing' that contains people...there is even the life that 'falls' from the twoer- two beings even...rather thatn a man and a woman, it's a boy and a horse. The meaning is also reflected- for everything that the boy had at that moment was now gone. He faces death or survival. He has nothing in an unknown world where everything he's even knoewn is totally different. He has no home, or home enviroment to go to- he must live on an island exposed to nature, he is alone.

blackroseivy	25 Jul 2004
I think that the whole movie "Jurassic Park" is The Tower - especially, though, where the building gets trashed!! :cool:

Sillanza	28 Jul 2004
Pulp Fiction (one of my favorites) has so many tarot-esque scenes. Here's a few: - Vincent and Jules recovering the briefcase: the Tower - Mia Wallace OD-ing: the Wheel of Fortune - Vincent giving Mia Wallace the adrenaline shot: the Ace of Wands - Jack Rabbit Slim's: the 7 of Cups - Butch rescuing Marcellus Wallace: the Knight of Swords - Marcellus relieving Butch of his commitment: the 8 of Cups - Winston Wolf supervising the clean up at Jimmy's: the Hermit - Jules defusing the scene in the diner: Judgment

Sillanza	28 Jul 2004
OK, here's one. The main characters in the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" -- The Good (the Man with No Name): the Magician The Bad (Angel Eyes): the 10 of Swords The Ugly (Tuco): the Devil

Sillanza	28 Jul 2004
... and most poor suckers are starving to death! If ever a character personified the Queen of Pentacles, I'd have to say it's Rosalind Russel's Mame Dennis, of "Auntie Mame."

lunalafey	28 Jul 2004
Gone with the Wind when Scarlet uses the drapery to make a dress-- 9 of Pentacles Rhett- 3 of swords, when Bonnie falls off her pony.

seneris	28 Jul 2004
I saw the movie 'Identity' some time ago. At the time I had drawn the Five of Wands for my daily reading. The movie corresponded very well with how I interpret the Five of Wands. ***warning spoilers for those who haven't seen the movie!*** The movie is about someone who has a multiple personality disorder, and one of his 10 personalities tries to repress the others. This is shown as ten different people who end up in a hotel and get murdered one by one. This matches perfectly with my interpretation: rivalry, competition, argument. The way I see the card is that those people with the wands are fighting with each other. Like in the movie, one personality wants to 'win'. They fight to 'survive'. But on the other hand they could be working together on something. In the movie you could see this when the other personalities try to figure out who the murderer is and cooperate to catch him. I like this thread! It's an easy way to remember meanings of cards.

blackroseivy	28 Jul 2004
I don't remember the characters' names but of course I do the actors'! "The Fool": The first scene where the mysterious boy jumps out the window. "The Magician": Where Bruce Willis confronts Hayley Joel Osmet for the first time. "The Hermit" (or, "Father Time"): Bruce himself. "Death": Where Hayley goes through the school & sees the Dead everywhere (of course!) "The Hanged Man": Hayley's insertion of himself into a strange girl's wake. "The Tower": Bruce's discovery that he is himself a shade. "The Three of Swords": When Bruce sat at the restaurant, unable to make so much as eye-contact with his wife. "4 of Cups" rx: The poisoning of the little girl. "Judgement": The denouement moment when Hayley hands the videotape to the father, & he sees his wife poisoning his daughter... Would you believe I only saw this movie once?! *That's* what kind of impact it had on me! In the theater, yet - that's how long ago! If I had the DVD I could doubtless come up with more... I'd *love* to go through another favorite, "The Mothman Prophecies", & see if I can come up with more...! & how about "The Blair Witch Project"?!

lunakasha	28 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by danubhe I'd *love* to go through another favorite, "The Mothman Prophecies", & see if I can come up with more...! & how about "The Blair Witch Project"?! YES....those would be excellent films to study.....I had a hard time with The Mothman Prophecies (need to watch again) but I am a HUGE fan of both The Sixth Sense and Blair Witch..... Nice job with your list from SS.....definitely made a huge impact on me too, the first time I watched....and have seen it several times since then!!! :) Luna

lunalafey	28 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by seneris I saw the movie 'Identity' some time ago. GREAT MOVIE!

HudsonGray	28 Jul 2004
The Butterfly Effect fits into this too, so many levels & such in the movie & all, I can't begin to start picking apart the scenes as 'cards', I think he ran just about the entire gamut except for the happier cards. It was mostly a wands/swords/ Majors movie. I'm tempted to add that Kevin Costner movie Dragonfly, as well.

The Movie scenes that represent tarot cards thread was originally posted on 23 Jul 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.