Tarot goes Hollywood: The Cosmic Tarot

The Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Losche, US Games 1988, is my deck of the week. One of its distinguishing features is its use of movie stars in the cards. The box says, 'Seventy-eight cards feature stylized renderings of familiar figures.' As this is my tarot of the week, I thought it would be fun to have a look at some of these cards. There is no definitive source telling us who is meant to be depicted on each card, but it helps to remember that the deck was published in 1988, so you won't find Jennifer Lawrence or James Franco anywhere!

The most obvious ones:

To me, the above are most certainly Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo and Elizabeth Taylor.




A little more room for doubt in the last two, but to me they look like:

Sean Connery, Charles Bronson, Dustin Hoffman and Kirstie Allie.


Much room for debate about these:

I see them as a young Frank Langella (wearing a period hair piece ha ha), Melanie Griffith, and Elizabeth Shue.

But who are these guys?:

Are they movie stars, too? If so, who are they? That Prince of Wands might be a young Tom Cruise...but the others, I have no idea. Maybe they were young 'potentials' in 1988 who are now forgotten? Do you recognize any of them? It could be that they are not based on real people. 

It's funny that this deck has so many entertainers in it. The reason I bought it in the first place comes from a TV show. There's a scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Willow's witchy stuff is being confiscated because she has become addicted to magic. They do a quick close up of the box that they're chucking her stuff into, and a boxed Cosmic Tarot plops into view, just for a second. And in another episode, Tara is seen using the Cosmic Tarot. So of course I had to buy it. It's a really lovely deck, can't fault it. I look forward to using it this week.