“In the Cards” is a 24 minute TV short story from the series Tales from the Darkside (January 27, 1985). The official description is, “A tarot reader who attracts business by giving out only good predictions finds herself stuck with a new deck of cards—one which makes terrible predictions come true.” Warning: it’s hoaky and may not be how we like to envision the cards—pandering to too many fears, superstitions and stereotypes, but it’s rare to see a story centered this thoroughly on Tarot. This “horror” story is in three segments. Watch Part 1 below. Click here for Part 2 and Part 3. Thanks to Kalessin for telling me about it.
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Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.
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Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.
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September 2, 2008 at 11:40 am
Mark
I saw this when it originally aired back in 1984 and I remembered it even though I was not into Tarot then. Thanks for sharing it with me again. It was fun!
Mark
September 3, 2008 at 1:03 am
Tero
This rocks.. big time! Thanks again for posting, I’ll “spread the good news” to finnish tarot-holics. Btw, some serious issue with the knight of swords there, have to say..
-tero
September 3, 2008 at 1:31 am
marygreer
So – did the deck come into her life because she was already slated for the final disaster or did it cause it? In other words, did the deck cause the deaths it predicted or did it just draw clients who were already doomed?
What would have happened if she faced the predictions honestly right from the beginning? Would the cards have continued to ‘haunt’ her if she had ‘come clean’? Of course, then it would have been a different story.
September 4, 2008 at 1:19 am
Flavio
Thank you for sharing the links! Even if the show is from the 80’s, Tarot is still portrayed the same way today. The “lesson” from Madame Marlena to Catherine about ethics is right, those of us trying to same something serious about Tarot get a bad name because of those “disbelievers”
September 4, 2008 at 3:05 am
marygreer
Flavio – I agree, there are some right-on moments. Part of the discussion with Isaac was surprisingly intelligent and touching.
September 6, 2008 at 8:57 am
ElizabethGenco.com » on feeling lucky and ambiguous
[…] I ever mentioned my affection for 80’s horror anthology shows? Mary Greer finds this great old Tales Of The Darkside that’s all Tarot. Awful with the stereotypes, but as she points out, it’s rare to find […]
September 7, 2008 at 9:59 am
Angelo N
It funny how this could have only have been made back then because the Rider waite was the most popular. Now a days with all the different decks it would be hard to have the right one to switch lol
Kool vid. I like any videos with tarot even if it makes it look bad.
September 8, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Gouri
A question kept creeping in my mind – If the reader habitually did dishonest readings, why didnt she do the same with the ‘magik’ deck as well??
I am new to the study of tarot and very often when i read for friends and aquaintances and see something bad, I sugar-coat my predictions… partly out of not wanting to hurt and partly out of not being confident. Would this qualify as being unethical??
September 8, 2008 at 11:06 pm
mkg
Gouri – You asked why the reader didn’t lie with the ‘magik’ deck. To me there was a sense of compulsion about it—like its message was filling her head so full that there was no room for anything else. Just my take on it. Good question.
Is sugar-coating unethical? First, this is not a black and white issue. Is a glass half empty or half full? If you tell a person the opposite of what the cards say then I don’t think you are doing anyone a service. If you are honest, but also look to the cards for how a person can best work with and learn from the situation, then you are, to my mind, assisting them. Also, what you first perceive as a tragedy (say the Tower, Moon, 10 of Swords, and Death) might be something else altogether.
I had a reading like that and nearly panicked, but it turned out the client was a Hospice nurse and she was feeling really burned out dealing with death and people’s grief every day. Once I got that (by asking her where all this darkness was in her life—since it was too pervasive to be unknown to her) we could focus on what she could do about it.
Most people are relieved and grateful to know that someone else perceives the difficulties they are going through, as Isaac expressed so well in the story.