More and more TV shows and movies are including Tarot moments. Please write me when you see one and I’ll keep a running list here. The more info the better.
TV
The #1 TV Tarot appearance of all time: Xena: The Warrior Princess, Season 3, Episode 12 (Feb. 2, 1998), “The Bitter Suite.” The entire episode, that takes place in the land of Illusia, is sung. Most of the main characters appear as figures from the Major Arcana, with text that draws from Paul Foster Case’s Book of Tokens: “Aleph am I. From mine unfathomable Will, the universe hath its beginning. In my boundless Wisdom are the types and patterns of all things.” You can find lots of discussions of this episode on the web. See a video about the making of this show—with lots of scenes from the episode. Also here.- Life on Mars (ABC), Episode 15 (March 18, 2009): Irish Colleen reads a RWS-style tarot deck for Sam Tyler both as child (Ace of Pentacles) and as an adult (Tower). The meanings she gives for the cards have more to do with the plot than with traditional card meanings.
- Mad Men (AMC), Season 2, Episode 12 (Oct. 2008): “The Mountain King”. Don gets his cards read. Read an analysis of the spread at City Weekly. Deborah Lipp offers an excellent, in-depth analysis at the fan site Basket of Kisses. Only thing she missed is the 5 of Swords as Draper’s possibily being headed toward divorce (a future that could change?). And here’s a long interview with Matt Weiner, who plays Don Draper, and the Lipp Sisters in which he talks about his own interest in tarot and how the reading was actually one done for himself – here. Sample: “
I thought of using that card [the Sun] during the pilot because I was so filled with happiness at having got to execute my vision and being surrounded by all these creative people, it seemed very magical, I felt like that baby on the horse, and also; there’s four sunflowers in it which are my children. . . . Some human beings devised that system of cards and their images that stand for millions of words, and what the Sun stands for is something that I wanted on my show.” - The Ex List (CBS) Season 1, Episode 1 (Oct. 2008): Bella gets a tarot reading informing her that her true love is someone she’s already dated and if she doesn’t get married within the year she never will. The cards aren’t visible in the scene. Our own James Ricklef’s spouse, Wil Bowers, plays Marcus on the Oct. 24th (3rd) episode.
- The Middleman (ABC family) – “The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation” episode (Aug. 2008). A tarot reader named Jamie reads for Wendy: brief glimpse of the RWS deck, with cards arranged in a Celtic Cross spread. Described here.
- Torchwood (BBC), Episode #22: “Dead Man Walking” (Summer 2008) features a young girl Tarot reader. Captain Jack is, of course, on one of the cards – in a neo-RWS/Visconti style deck. Also appears in Season 2, Episode 12: “Fragments.” (Photo is from Torchwood.)
- Criminal Minds, finale of Spring 2008 season. The perp leaves the Death card as a reference to the Washington D.C. murders.
- Men in Trees, finale of Spring 2008 season. One of the characters wants to read tarot cards at the talent show.
- Reaper, finale of Spring 2008 season. The devil card came up three times in one deck (the show really is about the devil).
- Young and the Restless (daytime soap). It seems that tarot has appeared in several episodes. Watch a tarot clip here.
- Carnivale (HBO), two seasons 2003-2005, featured a tarot reader, Apolloniaas, played by Diane Salinger. The opening title sequence begins with a deck of Tarot cards falling into the sand. They later produced a 78-card promotional deck, which was not used in the show. Watch Ben’s tarot reading here.
- My So-Called Life (ABC), Episode 10: “Other People’s Daughters” (Nov. 3, 1994). Hippie mom reads cards. Uses Robert Wang’s Jungian Tarot. See the scene here (begins at minute 5:45) and here (minute 7:38): “They represent challenges and tests, twists of fate. . . . They move from terror and loss to unexpected good fortune, and out of darkness hope is born.”
- “In the Cards” episode on Tales from the Darkside (January 27, 1985) – watch here.
- Dark Shadows – Tarot readings were in several episodes from this 1960s daytime soap. Many of us saw our first tarot deck here. According to wikipedia: “Dark Shadows found its perfect demographic niche in teenagers coming home from school in time to watch the show”—that was me! Here Quentin’s Grandmother, Edith, reads the cards.
- The Name of the Game (Season 2, Episode 19) “Tarot.”
- The Simpsons, (Season 6, Episode 17), “Lisa’s Wedding” – Lisa gets the Happy Squirrel card in a tarot reading. Read more about it and see a storyboard version at Touchstone Tarot. As a result of this TV episode, the “Happy Squirrel Card” struck the imaginations of several tarot deck creators and has since become integrated into a couple of contemporary decks.
- Buffy, The Vampire Slayer – several episodes.
- Charmed – several episodes.
- NCIS – several episodes. The forensic specialist, goth-girl Abby Sciuto, periodically uses tarot cards to get her head straight.
- X-Files. “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (Season 3, Episode 4). Named the 10th greatest episode in TV history by TV Guide. Uses Fergus Hall’s James Bond 007/Witch’s Tarot deck. SPOILER: On seeing the Page of Cups, Scully realizes that the killer is the bellhop.
- Supernatural. Episode 4/12 (January 26, 2009) – minor appearance of tarot in story about stage magicians.
- Lies and Deception (2005). Made-for-TV movie, shown on Lifetime.
- The Middleman (ABC-Family, 2008, Season 1, Episode 10).
- Roommates (ABC-Family, 2009, Season 1, Episode 2).
- The Fashion Show: Tarot Card Design Challenge (July, 2009). Each clothing designer has to design an outfit based on their reading with a psychic and a tarot card (not that you’d recognize the card in the designs). See video of readings.
- True Blood (HBO, 2009, Season 2, Episode 8). In “Timebomb” Lafayette reads the tarot for Tara.
- The View (ABC, Aug. 17, 2009) Tarot reading for Whoopi Goldberg by Sandy Anastasi.
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Bones (FOX, Sept. 2009, Season 5, Episode 1, “Harbingers in a Fountain”). Cyndi Lauper as tarot reader, Avalon Harmonia, reads for Temperance Brennan and Booth. The first card drawn: Temperance, of course. Well worth watching!
- The Vision of Escaflowne (1996), a 26 episode Japanese anime series created by Shoji Kawamori. The cards are shown here and a story overview (emphasis on the cards) appears here. A 2000 film version is not considered to be as good.
MOVIES
- Nightmare Alley. Fabulous 1947 film noir with Joan Blondell as the tarot reader, Zeena. Based closely on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham about a carny Mentalist, played by Tyrone Power. Deck is a RWS, probably a Pebbleback “Pamela C”. See the “rough-cut” trailer with a second tarot scene – here. A newly released DVD is now available. Highly recommended!
- Touch of Evil (1958). Orson Welles’ masterpiece in which Marlene Dietrich plays a fortune-teller, Tanya, whose tarot reading seal’s the anti-hero’s fate:
- Quinlan: Come on, read my future for me.
- Tanya: You hadn’t got any.
- Quinlan: What da’ya mean?
- Tanya: Your future’s all used up.
- Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965). While on a train Dr. Terror uses the tarot to predict death for his five fellow traveling companions.
Dr. Terror: “Tarot cards are the key to ancient wisdom. The tarot deck is a picture book of life, an answer to the deepest questions of philosophy and history, and sometimes a means of prediction. . . . There is within each of us a twin destiny: the natural and the supernatural. The cards are attracted to the supernatural part of our destiny as one pole of a magnet attracts an opposite pole. . . . This deck can forewarn us. I call it my ‘house of horrors.’ . . . The person whose fortune is to be told taps the deck three times, then they are shuffled and dealt. The first four cards predict his destiny. The fifth gives him the knowledge to change it—if change is possible.”
- Games (1967). Opening credits feature the 1JJ tarot deck. Simone Signoret is the tarot reader.
- Tarot (Spain) / Autopsy (US) (1973). Thriller. The tarot cards tell a young woman traveling in Europe that pain and suffering will cross her path.
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Live and Let Die (1973). James Bond film in which Solitaire (Jane Seymour) can predict the future with her tarot cards only so long as she remains a virgin. “Us?” asks James Bond as he holds up The Lovers card just dealt by Solitaire.
- Tarot (1986). German film directed by Rudolph Thome in which a reading suggests a predestined relationship. I believe the Thoth deck is used.
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The Duellists (1977). Directed by Ridley Scott. A film about honor and duels during the Napoleonic wars with Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Very good swordplay and costume drama. Short tarot reading. The soundtrack also has a piece called “Tarot.” - The Red Violin (1998). Five stories interconnected by a violin and predicted by a tarot reading.
- The Ninth Gate (1999). A Roman Polanski mystery-thriller with Johnny Depp featuring nine tarot-like engravings. Based on El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
- Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (2001). Film by Rodrigo Garcia with Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart (who plays the tarot reader), Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, and many more. Watch the scene here.
- What’s the Worst That Could Happen (2001). Minor I-Ching and Tarot readings. A thief (Martin Lawrence) tries to get back his good luck ring from Danny DeVito.
- Monster-in-Law (2005). Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda. Short tarot reading.
- BloodRayne (2005). Vampire movie based on a video game. Geraldine Chaplin plays a tarot reader using the Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg deck. (What are a few great actors doing in a really bad movie?)
- Devour (2005). Low budget horror film with brief tarot scene.
- Chicha tu Madre (2006). An Argentine Peruvian film about a tarot reading taxi driver who wants to do good by his family but somehow it’s never enough. “Playing off local literary conventions, the film actually uses the Tarot cards to narrate its tale of fate, free will and chance.” Uses Thoth deck.
- Scoop (2006). A Woody Allen romantic comedy murder mystery.
- Edmond (2006). Based on a one-act play by David Mamet. Violent.
- Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006). Limited edition soundtrack comes with 8 original tarot cards.
- The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). Short tarot clip. The DVD bonus features section includes a scene of Ann doing a reading for Henry. The cards are based on a so-called Charles VI deck and probably created specifically for the movie.
- Tarot (2007). A 22-second film by John Condon. Finalist Cannes online competiton 2007, Dereel Film Festival, Sci-Fi London, VIS Vienna, Final Cut, Nokia Shorts, Faux Film Festival, Wildsound, Imaginaria film festival, Commedia, Just for Laughs film festival, Icon 2007, Holzstock short film festival. A mysterious Gypsy Tarot reader reveals the cards for her nervous customer.
- Tarot (August 2009) A Filipino horror movie from Regal films starring Marian Rivera, Dennis Trillo, Roxanne Guinoo.
See also the Internet Movie Base listing for tarot. Links to several trailers are given in the Comments. Check out the listings at Tarot Totes for tv and movie appearances from 2001 and before.
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the tarot world, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and reviews.
15 comments
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October 21, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Nicole Mohr
Hi Mary!
I was so excited to see Don’s Tarot reading Sunday night on Mad Men!! I even went back and paused the screen so I could get a better look at the cards. I don’t use the celtic cross spread…. at all. But, I was inspired after the show to look deeper. I’m going to re-read your chapter on it in Tarot for Yourself. It is too bad I have always felt confused by the celtic spread. Maybe now is the time to study it.
Thanks for posting all the other TV tarot references.
PS It was a pleasure taking your class this year a SF BATS I was very moved by the presentation. And, I have been drawing pictures every morning using the three card method. What a rewarding challenge it has been.
Warmly,
Nicole
October 22, 2008 at 12:31 am
Marcus Katz
Mary
Wow! I didn’t know about the Xena episode – I’ll see if I can get that for my upcoming Samhain party! Looks good for a “morning after” show!
As you may know, there’s also a useful list on Tarot Totes of tarot cards featuring in movies and on TV series:
http://www.tarottotes.com/Item.asp?IID=1599
It doesn’t mention the hilarious clip from The Bunny Boiler:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2010588434
- watch out for the “Fat Cow” card! I sometimes show this clip as part of my “tarot ethics” course module (i.e. see if you can spot one example in this scene where she does something you wouldn’t, LOL). I love it when students get their notebooks out and start looking really closely until they realise the *whole* reading is full of no-no’s!
There’s also the use of tarot in Woody Allen’s Scoop:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=epKoj5BIZV0
I believe the film company are being asked by the O.T.O., who own the copyright on Crowley’s works, to remove the Thoth deck from their poster, featuring Scarlett Johansonn and Hugh Jackman:
http://bp1.blogger.com/_MryQii-dvu8/R_nHSKtax7I/AAAAAAAACRk/FkGl8CzyvFs/s1600-h/scoop.jpg
I believe it was chosen by the designers, not the film company or Woody himself, as a ’scary’ Death card. You’ll notice they’ve put the Lovers card in the centre of the background, so not entirely random choices!
I’m still after identifying the deck used in the UK “Dalziell and Pascoe” 2-part crime drama, which featured a skull on a plate with 3 swords through it (for the 3 of Swords) and bats hanging of the gallows on the Hanged Man; the BBC couldn’t answer the question, and no-one on other forums has been able to do so! Perhaps it was designed for the episodes.
Also, I recently watched the film “Edmond” by David Mamet. It’s dark and disturbing, definately a film for adults (and non-squeamish ones for murder scenes at that) but features Tarot as a plot device and internal narration:
The trailer is here:
http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/edmond
And the language is quite “drama-play-like”, so the dialogue maybe not what you hear in films and takes a little getting used to.
That said, the Tarot reading at the beginning, whilst brief, is actually indicative of the events which unfold, and the cards are seen throughout the film – unexplained but nonetheless relevant – in novel ways.
At the start of the unfolding events, a businessman in a bar offers the protaganist, Edmond, some advice and delivers a bigoted, sexist and racist rant about humankind. He suggests Edmond go out and visit a lapdancing club, and gives him a card. Edmond looks down, and it is the Hierophant card! He double-takes, and the card is then simply the address of the lapdancing club. Neat! There follow other such interjections of tarot throughout the film.
An interesting use of tarot cards in media – perhaps indicating that we have no control of our own fate, even when we appear to take control (with a violent and downbeat ending, in this case) – although it is not really clear what interpretation we are being offered here.
Marcus
http://www.tarotprofessionals.com
Marcus
October 22, 2008 at 2:39 am
Lila
Rodrigo Garcia’s movie “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her”.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210358/
There was a strong scene in the beginning when Calista Flockhart’s character reads the cards for Glenn Close’s. She is spot-on and gives some very relevant information but Close is interested only in the validation of a very specific point. When she doesn’t receive it, she dismisses the rest of the reading completely.
here is the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVxUylPfhzk
October 22, 2008 at 2:48 am
Brandon Burt
Dear Ms. Greer,
Thanks very much for linking to my post on City Weekly’s Salt Blog (the one about Don Draper’s TV-show card reading on “Mad Men”).
I’m absolutely blown away! The very first book about Tarot I ever studied was your workbook “Tarot for Your Self.” I remember it so clearly: I bought a copy on the same warm spring day in 1987 that I purchased my first deck, “The Aquarian Tarot.” Afterward, I traveled into the beautiful, green mountains of Utah and embarked on a journey of spiritual discovery that has lasted to this day.
That book taught me so much. I wanted to let you know that your work has touched my life in profound ways, and I’d like to express my sincere gratitude for the wisdom you share.
(I only wonder now what in the world you must have made of my reading of Don Draper’s cards! Had I known that you, of all people, would read that blog entry, I’d have spent more time meditating over it!)
Blessings and thanks,
Brandon Burt
October 22, 2008 at 6:49 am
Angela Raincatcher
HBO’s Carnivale featured a tarot reader as one of the main characters. Great, if disturbing, show that was canceled after only 2 seasons.
October 22, 2008 at 9:52 am
Corrine Kenner
Dorothy Lyman starred in a half-hour episode of “Tales from the Darkside.” She played a tarot reader whose regular deck is switched for an evil deck that predicts nothing but gloom and doom.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716952/
October 22, 2008 at 10:12 am
Dan Pelletier
Don’t forget ‘Edmond’ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443496/
October 22, 2008 at 3:40 pm
mkg
Nicole – The Three-Card Drawing (doing a drawing with crayons integrating three cards into one picture) is one of my favorite insight methods and learning techniques. Nattacia Zeviar’s story of using them as a diary technique during her journey through breast cancer was so powerful. I’m glad it inspired you.
Lila & Angela – As you can see I’ve added your recommendations to the list. I had meant to put in Carnivale and forgot. I’ve ordered Garcia’s movie so I can watch the whole thing.
Brandon – You did a great job of explaining the reading – at least in terms of the cards. I haven’t yet seen the series, yet. I’m so glad Tarot for Your Self was such a help to you at an opportune time. It’s one of those books that was in the right place at the right time for a lot of people, for which I am grateful.
October 23, 2008 at 11:39 am
Elysia
I’ve got another movie for you – warning, it’s a comedy in very poor taste! But it has this whole good vs. evil thing going on (a show-down with Satan included) and each section of the movie starts out with an animated Tarot card. (No actual Tarot readings though.) So, if you have the time to watch a very silly movie, it’s Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. : )
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365830/
October 23, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Angela Raincatcher
Wow! The cards used in the opening sequence for Carnivale were very interesting visually. The cards HBO produced for sale — horrible.
October 30, 2008 at 4:04 pm
mkg
I just found a bunch of comments in my “Spam” and have de-spamed them. Sorry for the inconvenience – especially since there’s some great links to film trailers with tarot content.
August 16, 2009 at 10:30 am
Iskan_der
It so informativ.
In Russia in the Samara-sity we have tarot sociati, and in internet we have our blog -
http://community.livejournal.com/tarot_joke/
This blog have part like “TV & Movie Tarot Watch List”.
August 16, 2009 at 12:03 pm
mkg
Iskan_der –
Would love to hear more about your tarot society. Please send links to any good Russian tarot videos on the net.
August 24, 2009 at 6:09 am
Catti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XCBc_NPnDY
the fashion show episode 9 part 2
competitive reality show featuring clothing designers
in this segment they are each given a one card reading and then the challenge is to design an outfit based on the reading/card
*spoiler*
The only contestant to recieve a major, the High Priestess, goes on to be in the top three and eligible for the call in vote to win the grand prize but sadly loses. The contestant who wins this challenge with her ode to cups wins the hearts of the voting public!
August 24, 2009 at 8:23 am
mkg
Catti -
Thanks for the video link which I added to the listing I already had. It’s great to watch – especially how the individuals develop their own takes on the cards. It’s all so – - – camp.
BTW, the reader used the “New Palladini” deck.