"Spirited Away" Tarot - Here's my latest obsession!

Hi, all!

I am a notorious tarot-creator when it comes to books and movies. I read a really good book, I just have to put characters to tarot cards, figuring out which character embodied which card the best. I just do it for myself, but it sometimes amazes me how wonderfully some movies and books fit with the tarot archetypes.

One that I've been playing with lately is the anime movie Spirited Away. I just LOVE this movie, so, of course I had to create some tarot cards! I thought I'd share a few that I've done...

Here is the Emperor. I've picked Yubaba for the Emperor, because she is so in control when it comes to running the bathhouse, she is very much the Emperor of that domain! (I picked her sister, Zeniba, for the Empress.)

Peace,

Melvis

Another card...

This is the Strength card, for which I chose the moment when Sen gives Haku the pill. Even as I was watching the movie the very first time, I saw this scene and thought, "Strength!" The reverse is Haku when he is hurt and in Sen's room. I wanted to put Sen in there facing him, kind of showing the moment before you put your own strength to the test, but I wanted to just use actual shots from the movie without changing them. I thought this reverse shot still showed the idea of "potential test of personal strength" okay.

Peace,

Melvis

Melvis, these are fabulous! I would buy your deck in an instant, if you found a publisher! I love these cards.

Strangely enough, I also chose Yubaba as the Queen of Fire. I thought when she was directing the bathhouse workers to help the River God was a good example of putting her fiery nature to good use. But the reverse is when she discovers Boh (her baby) is missing, and she goes ballistic. Lots of fire there!

Peace,

Melvis


P.S. I was going to have four suits of Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth, but I kept coming up with a fifth suit called Wood (kind of a chinese-feng-shui influence, maybe?). Now that I've decided to do reverses, though, I might be able to get rid of the fifth suit. It was strange how the Wood suit kept coming up though, and seeming so natural! But I want to make this a 'real' tarot deck with only four suits, so hopefully I can make it work!

Oh, I hope that you will publish these for sale at some point! I love your artwork, ideas and suit themes.

I love this idea. Spirited Away is one of my favorite films. (Though I love all of Miyazaki's that I've seen.) The way you've done reverses is fantastic. I've never seen a deck that did them this way.

I think suits using the five elements would work really well. If the idea keeps coming up, maybe you should do it! It would be appropriate, I think...

P.S. have you thought of where to use No-Face yet?

That's one thing I love about this Tarot Creation Forum...it gives you the opportunity to unabashedly gush about your own work! I'm at that stage where some of the cards and characters/situations are matching up so well, and I just get so excited! Squeeee!!!

Anyway, my court cards will be something like: Spirit, Queen, Knight, and Page. I'll probably change the name "Page" to something else, but I haven't decided on that yet. There seemed to be a lack of 'kingly' characters in this movie, and I really wanted to give the Spirits their own place in the deck, so I thought they'd make a great fourth Court card. Examples of the Spirit cards that I'm thinking of so far are the River God once it's restored, and, even though he's a minor character, the Radish Spirit! I just love that spirit! He's the first spirit Chihiro has real contact with, and ends up being so nice. I also might make him the High Priestess (?!!!) because when he bows to Chirhiro at the elevator outside Yubaba's door, it seemed like he knew much more of what was going on than you would have originally thought. Who knows, though...

(Gee...can you tell I'm obsessed? I'm talking up the cards I haven't even finished yet! )

Peace,

Melvis

Thanks, astraea and Laura-borealis! (great name, BTW, Laura!)

No-Face will end up all over the deck, I think, because his character goes through such a change in the movie, along with Chihiro/Sen's.

In the majors, I was going to have him as the Tower when he's chasing after Sen and...yuck!...vomiting! I thought that was a pretty 'Tower-like' moment!

I also have characters that the various suits sort of revolve around. I haven't finalized this part yet, because I haven't decided how many suits I'm going to have.

So far I have:

Lin and the Stink Spirit/River God as the main characters for the Wood Suit

Zeniba and Boh and the Yu-bird as the Water Suit

No-Face and Haku as the Wind Suit

Yubaba, Kamaji, and the Soot Balls as the Fire Suit

Chihiro's parents as the Earth Suit.

I love those Soot balls! I heard they're in another of Miyazaki's movies, so I have to watch them to see where these little guys show up again! The only other Miyazaki I've seen is Castle in the Sky.

I also thought Pixar/Disney did a great job of casting the voices and re-writing the dialogue for an American audience. If I ever were to publish this in some form, (yeah, right) I would want to give lots more detail about the Japanese mythological symbols throughout the movie, because I think they are fascinating.

Peace,

Melvis

Melvis said:

Thanks, astraea and Laura-borealis! (great name, BTW, Laura!)

No-Face will end up all over the deck, I think, because his character goes through such a change in the movie, along with Chihiro/Sen's.

In the majors, I was going to have him as the Tower when he's chasing after Sen and...yuck!...vomiting! I thought that was a pretty 'Tower-like' moment!

I also have characters that the various suits sort of revolve around. I haven't finalized this part yet, because I haven't decided how many suits I'm going to have.

So far I have:

Lin and the Stink Spirit/River God as the main characters for the Wood Suit

Zeniba and Boh and the Yu-bird as the Water Suit

No-Face and Haku as the Wind Suit

Yubaba, Kamaji, and the Soot Balls as the Fire Suit

Chihiro's parents as the Earth Suit.

Click to expand...

These are all fantastic ideas. By the way, I love the Radish Spirit too! He looked so intimidating at first, but ended up being so kind (yet maintained his mysterious demeanor).

I love those Soot balls! I heard they're in another of Miyazaki's movies, so I have to watch them to see where these little guys show up again! The only other Miyazaki I've seen is Castle in the Sky.

Click to expand...

The soot balls are also in My Neighbor Totoro, though they are called dust-bunnies in that film (at least in English translation -- I don't know about the original). Totoro is more of a children's film than the two you've seen, and it's just beautiful. I think you would love it.

Here's a link for you: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/films/

Good luck with this wonderful project!
~Laura

dontcha think the lead girl (fergot her name) would be perfect for the fool?! it is her journey into this magical land, after all, meeting all those fabulous and interesting spirits (archetypes) along the way. hee hee