Let’s talk tarot. Not precisely how TG relates to the Fool’s Journey or how the individual cards relate to certain characters, etc. (though kind of), but instead how the images on the cards in :re specifically often tend to relate to what happens during that particular point in the Fool’s Journey. They don’t always and some images are clearly referenced more than others but here let’s try. (Contributions are welcome btw because some I find more puzzling than others.) Let’s go. (Descriptions are taken from BiddyTarot).

Firstly, Temperance. The card that we started :re with. 

On the Temperance card stands a winged angel. The angel is actually a hermaphrodite (the child of Hermes and Aphrodite), showing a balance between the genders. The angel has one foot on dry land, representative of the material world, and one foot in the water, representative of the subconscious. In this position, she also represents the need to ‘test the waters’ before jumping headfirst into unknown circumstances. Here she tempers the whimsical flight of the Fool who jumps without giving a second thought. The triangle inside the square on her robe represents the female being protected by natural law. In her hands she holds two cups which she uses to mix water. The cups represent the sub- and super-conscious minds. One cup can be thought of as holding hot water and the other cold water. The water flowing between them is actually going from the lower cup to the higher one, signifying rising from a lower plane to a higher one. The temperate individual mixes the opposites and finds a balance in life by avoiding extremes. 

It’s no coincidence that :re begins by blurring the lines even further between supposed dichotomies. Firstly, the Quinxes, whose existence is both ghoul and human despite their refusal to acknowledge it. 

There is another reference I could make but will not because although it’s there I don’t like it and also I don’t want hate. Let’s just say TG is at its core a very very Jungian story and Jung at his core is about reconciling extremes and everyone being androgynous by nature. 

Anyways. Let’s move on from the ugh. The angel. Who has two wings and appears with cups of coffee in the first volume? And who also is a ghoul trying to live a human existence? 

Touka’s also Kaneki’s anima to boot, which in Jung means that they balance each other out. 

Okay let’s move on. The Devil. Takizawa. This one corresponds to Takizawa’s entire arc in :re. 

The card of the Devil portrays a Satyr, a creature that is half man and half goat. In many myths, the goat was considered an unclean and lustful animal. However, the goat also symbolises the scapegoat, the person or thing upon which people project the inferior side of themselves in order to feel better about themselves. Thus the Devil is the scapegoat we blame for our troubles in life.

Well Takizawa is a OEG and let’s be real. He is a scapegoat. He was a scapegoat of the victims captured by Eto and Kanou and then by the CCG when they wanted to kill him.

The Devil has the wings of a vampire bat, an animal that sucks the life blood out of its prey. This is symbolic of what happens when we give full reign to the realm of our raw desires. We lose our vitality and life energy. The Devil has an almost hypnotic stare, bringing those who come near him within his power. Above him is an inverted pentagram, signifying the darker side of magic and occultism.

At the foot of the Devil stands a man and a woman, both naked and chained to the podium on which the Devil sits. They appear to be held here, against their will, but only closer observation, the chains around their necks are loose and could be easily removed. This symbolises that bondage to the Devil is ultimately a voluntary matter which consciousness can release. The man and woman wear tiny horns like those of the Satyr – they are becoming more and more like the devil the longer they stay here. Both have tails – a further symbol of their animalistic or ‘lower’ tendencies.

Welp. The thing is it isn’t just Taki who is in bondage. It’s the CCG agents too. Which he points out–because they are all murderers already.

The dark and doorless cave implies that the Devil dwells in the most inaccessible realm of the unconscious and only crisis can break through the walls.

Oh look this is Takizawa. But much later. 

So let’s move on to the Tower.

The Tower shows a tall tower pitched atop a craggy mountain. Lightning strikes and flames burst from the building’s windows. People are seen to be leaping from the tower in desperation, wanting to flee such destruction and turmoil. The Tower signifies darkness and destruction on a physical scale, as opposed to a spiritual scale. 

The Tower itself represents ambitions built on false premises. 

Poor Ui. (And yes, he is an important character.) But also? Poor Urie. Basically if you had ambition this arc you lost a person way more important to you instead.

The lightning bolt breaks down existing forms in order to make room for new ones. It represents a sudden, momentary glimpse of truth, a flash of inspiration that breaks down structures of ignorance and false reasoning. Notice the lightning bolt is oriented left to right (from the perspective of the card), from heaven to earth, and from Spirit to material. 

The falling figures correspond to the chained prisoners in the Devil card. They fall headfirst, because the sudden influx of spiritual consciousness represented by the lightning flash completely upsets all our old notions about the relations between subconsciousness and self-consciousness. 

I don’t know about the chained prisoners but whatever. Karren and Shuu are surely the lovers reversed (and so are Kaneki and Shuu because reversed can correspond to unrequited) so it does fit I’m not sure how it corresponds to the devil but let’s move on.

The flames are actually the Hebrew yods. There are 22 flames, representing the 22 Major Arcana. The gray clouds are the clouds of misfortune that rain on everyone indiscriminately.

I think we can all agree the Tower arc was brutal for like. Everyone. Except Eto and Furuta they had a good time.

Star! Aka the one I think fits least but could be wrong but can’t place. If anyone has suggestions please do comment!

The Star card shows a naked woman kneeling at the edge of a small pool. The woman holds two containers of water. She pours the water out to nourish the earth and to continue the cycle of fertility, represented by the lush greenery around her. The other container pours the water onto dry land in five rivulets, representing the five senses. The woman has one foot on the ground, representing her practical abilities and good common sense, and the other foot in the water, representing her intuition and inner resources, and listening to her inner voice. 

So this could be reaching but fertility could be associated with Touka, though not in this arc. 

Behind her, shines one large star and seven smaller stars, representing your chakras. This represents a need to open your chakras and cleanse your aura. Notice all the stars have eight points. The Star is associated with the number 17, which equals 8 (1+7=8). Eight is Strength, the quality needed to accept your faults and love yourself in spite of them. The bird in the tree in the background is the sacred ibis of thought, roosting in the tree of the mind. 

Uhhhh. Well, Hide does appear from Kaneki’s mind to remind him to live. 

I also do think that this arc focuses on physical strength which characters like say Ayato, Urie, Mutsuki, Hinami, and Kaneki tend to prioritize but we see here that it’s actually internal strength that’s necessary for all of them. Physical strength got Ayato nowhere in this arc. Nor Hinami. Urie and Mutsuki–well, their focus on it set them up for delusions in the Moon Arc. Kaneki’s physical strength wasn’t enough to overcome Arima; his mental strength stemming from the memory of his (he thought) dead friend was enough to convince him to live, and to win, but not to kill Arima whom he loved and who by the way represents a part of Kaneki.

And now the Moon Arc! Kill me I never want to discuss this arc again. (I’m kidding I’m just still so happy it’s over it was traumatizing.)

The Moon is the card of intuition, dreams and the unconscious. The Moon provides light as a reflection of the Sun, yet this light is dim, uncertain, and only vaguely illuminates our path as we journey toward higher consciousness. 

Remember how Kaneki made a good decision and then went right back to making terrible ones?

Remember how he learned he was loved and it still was not enough to fix him? Yeah. Sun hints, but not enough. Because Moon.

It’s also worth noting that the image of the sun and moon on the tarot is an eclipse.

The pool at the base of the card represents the subconscious mind and the crayfish that crawls out of the pool symbolises the early stages of consciousness unfolding. This creature also represents the often disturbing images that appear from our inner depths, just as the dog and wolf at the beginning of the path represent the tamed and the wild aspects of our minds. 

The path leads between two towers into the mountains in the distance, showing the way to the unconsciousness. 

Well. 

There you go. I remember wondering why there was a ton of tower imagery in the Moon Arc and then I saw the card… when it was almost over because I’m dumb lol. 

Sun! Again, this one fits less well but does fit.

The Sun is an image of optimism and fulfilment, the dawn that follows the darkest night. As the source of all life on earth, the Sun represents the source of life itself. The child playing joyfully in the foreground represents the happiness of our inner spirit when we are in tune with our truest Self. He is naked, having nothing to hide. 

Well I’m pretty sure Kaneki wasn’t wearing clothes here. A trivial reference but a reference nonetheless.

He has all the innocence and purity of childhood. The white horse upon which the child rides represents strength and purity of spirit. The horse is without a saddle and is controlled without the use of the hands. This is a symbol of perfect control between the conscious and subconscious. The child holds an orange banner in his left hand, showing that control has passed from the conscious to the subconscious. 

The orange banner represents action and vibration, and the rays of the sun represent the same thing. The straight rays are action while the wavy rays represent vibration. 

Don’t have much for this, but Kaneki seems to be focused on action? 

Plus I also think it’s interesting the bodies in the Torii Gate vision fell from the sky/sun.

The sunflowers in the background represent life and the fruitfulness of the spirit under the nourishment of the Sun. There are four sunflowers, representing the four suits of the Minor Arcana, as well as the four elements. 

Again I got nothing really for this aside from the fact that it is interesting to me that it was the three Qs + Touka who saved Kaneki and three of the sunflowers are together and one is a bit separate (Touka) in the image. On TG Trump (the four suits=four suits in cards) let’s look at what they are:

• Touka: Ace of Clubs
• Urie: 3 of Diiamonds
• Mustuki: 3 of Spades
• Saiko: 3 of Hearts

Not to mention we just had the reminder that Mutsuki represents Spades.

Judgement. Which we’re just entering into so this is largely predictive.

The Judgement card shows a number of naked men, women and children rising up from their graves, arms outspread and responding to the trumpet call of the archangel, Gabriel, who hovers high above them. The people are appealing to the angel, ready to be judged by the power of the Universe.

Okay so I know I’m always harping on zombies but let’s talk about this more. There are six dead people rising. Assuming Rize is one, we can probably expect five more which fits with other symbolism in the series so far and with Biblical references Ishida seems to be making. For example In Kaneki’s thoughts in part 1 we had this:

There are 7 or 8 dragons. The whole concept of Judgement from Gabriel, a Biblical angel, is related to the end of Revelation in something called the Final Judgement in which every human is to be judged. And which Furuta referenced when he referenced the Christian theological theory of the Rapture:

Here are some relevant verses:

Revelation 13:1-2

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Revelation 17:10-11:

They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

To quote an earlier post I wrote: “Kaneki and Rize are clearly two of the kings/Dragons. For certain, I’d say the others include Hairu and Shirazu, and the rest of them are likely Arima, Eto, and Karren–though it is possible we have Arata and Shinohara and Yoshimura as kings. The eighth is probably the original Nagaraj, who at this point I think is most likely Uta. He’s not my preferred choice but everything seems to be pointing to him (Donato is possible though).”

So let’s talk about Gabriel. @sesshomarusenpai pointed out the potential connection to Juuzou which makes sense because if Dragon is causing the resurrections guess who played the key role in creating Dragoneki? 

Plus Juuzou is associated with XX so he better play a role in fixing this mess he helped created. 

In the background, there are huge mountains, or even tidal waves, which signify insurmountable obstacles and the impossibility of avoiding judgment. The ocean represents the end of the river that flows through the Major Arcana, starting with the Empress.

So the interesting thing about The Empress is that in the Fool’s Journey in TG it is associated with Rize, and with Kaneki’s immersion into the ghoul world. Therefore I wonder if they just might have to fix the ghoul issue considering, well, they kind of need to because they’re majorly screwed: 

Gabriel’s banner is red on white, the same as the Magician’s clothing. 

Oh look who’s back.

As with everything in life, the beginning is woven irrevocably into the end and the end eventually leads to a new beginning.

I wrote a whole meta here on how TG has a chiastic structure also called ring structure because the beginning is tied in with the ending–Fruit, Rize, Hide, Touken, Kaneki are all probably going to have significant roles, along with Urie and Mutsuki because :re actually has a chiastic structure within itself (it’s one of the reasons I hope Karren is a nuclei and if not she has to be referenced). 

Lastly. The World. *cries*

In the centre of the World is a dancing figure, rejoicing in the completion of the journey and celebrating not only this completion but also the new beginnings it promises. The dancer has one leg crossed over the other, just like the Hanged man. She is, in a sense, his opposite (i.e. the Hanged Man upright). As the Hanged Man looks infinitely inward, the dancer in the World card looks infinitely outward. In each of her hands she holds a wand or baton, representative of evolution and balance. She is surrounded by a thick, green wreath, symbolic of success, victory, achievement and accomplishment, and tied with the red ribbons of eternity. The red ribbons form the infinity symbol, representing the infinite rewards of positive effort in improving both ourselves and those around us. Within the laurel wreath are stars of light indicating attainment of enlightenment or cosmic consciousness.

Anyways I expect Kaneki to overcome his issues because what has he been associated with the entire time but the Hanged Man? It’s also probably not a coincidence that he looks more feminine now. NO I don’t think he’s turning into a woman and find that theory ugh, but symbolically Touka and Kaneki are yin/yang anima/animus and that’s all tied to androgyny and everyone having traditionally female and masculine traits (ughhhh Jung this isn’t aging well). (Also remember how I said TG:re has its own chiastic structure within a chiasm?) 

The figures in each of the four corners of the World card are the same figures that appear on the Wheel of Fortune. Interestingly, the World card is very much associated with the Wheel of Fortune, reflecting the cyclical progression of time and the human experience. The four figures (a lion, bull, cherub and eagle) represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac – Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio. These are symbolic of the four elements, four suits of the Tarot, four compass points, four seasons, and the four corners of the universe. And all are within the dancer’s sight and power.

Anyways considering that the Qs are also associated with all these 4 things  and with representing a flaw of Kaneki’s I’m pretty sure he will reconcile all disparate parts of himself and his flaws in this last arc.