"The Gift" movie, what is that deck?

augursWell

I recently watched a movie "The Gift" with Cate Blanchette in which she played a "psychic". It takes place in the contemporary American South and is pretty good as psychic thrillers go. Her character uses a deck made up of those standard psychic testing symbols that are sometimes used to test psychic ability -- a square, a pentagram, three wavy lines, a circle, etc. In the movie she uses a deck made up of multiple cards with the same symbol, maybe a number of small decks combined into one. I was trying to figure out if there is a name for this particular set of symbols and if there is a deck of them available somewhere. Anybody have any info?

What about the idea of having multiple cards with the same symbol in one deck. Do you think this would help or hinder a reading?
 

zorya

i believe they are most often called E.S.P. cards, or zener cards.

it looked to me like she had used just one deck, but i am going from memory back to the 60's when i was a kid and last used them. the deck i used came in a large e.s.p. set with a pendulum, and something else, but i don't remember what, hahaha.
 

zorya

augursWell said:

What about the idea of having multiple cards with the same symbol in one deck. Do you think this would help or hinder a reading?

i found it interesting that she used it for reading, as usually the purpose of the cards is to test telepathic or precognitive skills.

the symbols are pretty universal, so i could see how they might work for divination, but because there are so few symbols used, i don't think they would be my first choice for a divination deck.

i do however, see that there could be advantages to a deck with repeating symbols. having more than one of an image turn up would certainly speak loud and clear.

i have long been infatuated with the farschian fortune telling deck, and plan on buying it from tarotgarden in the very near future. it has only 18 images which repeat. i believe repeating images are common among persian decks.
 

augursWell

Well, I personally see a similarity in these cards to other five element systems such as the tattwa symbols of India. I don't know if the original intention was to base them on the elements but they could relate to fire, water, earth, air, and spirit/aether. Having a number of "water signs" come up at once might indicate something.

I think these were probably used in the movie for a reason(perhaps "non-denominational"?) but I'm not aware of anyone actually using them for readings but you never know...

For someone who is very dream related where imagery happens mostly in the mind perhaps these would work better than tarot images which are more defined visually.
 

zorya

i saw them as representing the elements too! :)

it's been a while since i saw the movie, but i recall trying to follow her readings and thinking that they did not seem to follow the elements. i'll have to borrow it again.

funny you should mention tatwa symbols, augerswell. do you have a set of tatwa cards? if so, how do you like them. i believe i have a set coming in the mail shortly.
 

augursWell

I have a tatwa book/card set on hold at Amazon, just waiting for the money to buy it.

I recently read "The Tarot Court Cards" by Kate Warwick-Smith which includes tatwa correspondences for the court cards.

In one scene in the movie she lays out three of the wavy line cards in a row. The vertical wavy line symbol suggests water to me. In the movie it suggested a property some where with a metal fence across the front.
 

lark

Now when I saw the movie I thought the wavey lines were indicating that the girls body would be found in water. And the pond was beyond the gate on the property.
But, it's been awhile since I've seen the movie too.
I should go back and watch it again I'd probably get alot more out of it this time.

Very good book Tarot court Cards.
 

augursWell

lark said:
Now when I saw the movie I thought the wavey lines were indicating that the girls body would be found in water. And the pond was beyond the gate on the property.
But, it's been awhile since I've seen the movie too.
I should go back and watch it again I'd probably get alot more out of it this time.

Very good book Tarot court Cards.
In the scene the three wavy line cards did eventually indicate a body of water but the dialogue she started with was a "fence", I believe. So it wasn't really certain what the character's thinking process was, if I remember correctly. Very tough thing for an Actor and Director to convey internal thought processes on film. The original "Dune" movie was criticized, I think, mainly for this problem of conveying the internal mind of the characters. Those who hadn't read the book ended up kind of going, Huhhh? Whaaa?

The Court cards book is very good, there are probably other books like it(Mary Greer is coming out with one on the Court Cards also). Before, for me, it was sort of "a blonde man who is good with money" whenever a court card came up. Now I have many more possibilities that also make quite good sense. :)
 

CloeCat

Its both!

I have seen this movie and am very good with details, The wavey lines are pointed up and down, I think thats called vertical. Which makes me think of a fence and that is what they showed, a fence and gate. Then they moved on to the water, the waves plus wavey lines = water.

I really liked this movie.
Purrrs,
CloeCat