In The Holy Mountain, Alejandro Jodorowsky adapted Ascent of Mount Carmel (St. John of the Cross) and Mount Analogue (Rene Daumal) to film by combining them with attributes of various religions in a whirlwind eclecticism of the esoteric. An alchemist takes under his tutelage the seven most powerful people in the world (represented by seven planets) and a thief (represented by the Fool Tarot), trains them in spiritual disciplines and leads them through intense and hallucinatory rituals as they journey to Lotus Island, so that they may climb the holy mountain and take the secret to immortality from the nine immortal masters living there. – Jeremy Pair