Some people say there’s a lot of tarot symbolism in Lady Gaga’s music videos (see also here and here). Send me stills that clearly were intended to depict specific tarot cards, and I’ll post them. For instance, here’s The Moon card from “Poker Face”—made all the more explicit by the images juxtaposed with each other in the video. To me, it represents the femme fatale, at her most instinctive, climbing up out of the pool of the archetypal collective unconscious. A later image with just one dog could be Strength. At the end of the video we see The Sun card (sunrise after a night playing strip poker), complete with two children frolicking in front of a wall. It represents the success of the sexual seduction gambit that is spelled out in the lyrics, but also a kind of return to innocence (white clothes and gloves instead of the black).
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September 11, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Kel
With the possible exception of a couple of scenes in “Poker Face,” I truly feel it’s a stretch to find Tarot symbols in L.G.’s vids. I saw a pic of her wearing a hat similar to the Marseilles Magician, but again, to me it’s a stretch. Just my 2 cents.
September 11, 2010 at 1:37 pm
jezanna
Great observations. And you’re right some seem like a stretch. And maybe what is more important is where we see and interpret Tarot rather than where some celebs are attempting to place it.
September 12, 2010 at 7:56 pm
dar
-agreed, Kel& jezanna
FYI
Paglia goes Gaga
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/magazine/article389697.ece
cheers
September 13, 2010 at 11:25 am
mkg
Jezanna –
I don’t see it as an either-or proposition. Both where we see tarot and where it has been deliberately used in the culture are worth looking at. Members of tarot forums and deck creators regularly take movies, art, stories and other cultural motifs and adapt them to the tarot structure. It’s fun and can be a personally insightful process. I also think it’s exciting to find tarot imagery that is deliberately used in the culture and attempt to see what that person is trying to convey through it to others. Both are worth while.
Dar –
I can’t help but feel that Paglia is using Gaga to enhance her own notoriety through over-the-top condemnation. I don’t feel there was any attempt on Paglia’s part to ‘get’ Gaga—or the cultural phenomenon she represents—only to tear her down in as sensationalized a fashion as possible. Such a one-sided piece becomes boring and predictable.
September 15, 2010 at 9:17 am
Shane Harris
What a fascinating article. I recently started thinking of her song Bad Romance as a plea from the HG. I don’t even listen to her style of music. That RA RA RA A A has an extremely evocative solar energy.
September 18, 2019 at 10:01 pm
Russell Lukenbill
Hello, I was just scrolling through the enter net trying to find Lady Gaga Tarot cards and bam, here you are. I have had some significant synchronizations regarding the artpop album and my Astral Self. Also, spot on with the Moon Symbolism here. Have you heard of the book The Esoteric Alphabet by Ellis Taylor? Thank you for your post.
September 19, 2019 at 6:04 am
Mary K. Greer
Russell,
I haven’t heard of Ellis Taylor’s The Esoteric Alphabet. I will check it out for sure. Check out some of my other posts on Tarot in music and film. I don’t keep up with all the latest because there’s now so much but little with any depth of meaning.