The Serpent Shuffle
13/04/2012 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIzzie had a couple of grand plans to celebrate the second Black Friday of the year. Before tossing the junk mail, noticed that a certain cheap and cheerful chain store had the last Potter movie on sale for $9 and the three books in The Hunger Games series for $12 each. Already ordered the second one from the local library so it would be nice to get the first one for that price. But in the end, after the decadent indulgence in the Scrooge book (which also has lots of reservations in the local libraries) decided to make that the lucky new book of the day and not to waste a gorgeous sunny Friday 13th going off the beaten track to go to some nasty monstrous carbuncle of a shopping centre. Now that it is the school holidays, such places would be infested with squealing rampaging beasties.
Friday 13th included the usual things like coffee crawls, a visit to The Juicy Beetroot and sunset at the beach. But there was going to be something a little bit different and decadent this time
Amongst the many stalls at the Friday markets selling things like happy hippy clothing, some seriously gorgeous journals made of camel leather and hand made paper, nasty plastic mobile phone accessories, jewelry and assorted munchies was a small blue tent with a little sign saying “Tarot”
The occupant of the tent was a middle aged dowdy sort of woman and almost as frumpy as Izzie. She has a plain table with a couple of big fat books and a little box with several decks. She had a pretty good location near the coffee van and the assorted tables and chairs nearby.
She did have a curtain that she could pull across when doing a reading but most of the time it was left open.
First saw her tent a few months ago. Was most curious indeed. It was certainly a no frills venture. No fancy tent with frills or veils, no crystal balls or Gypsy Rose kind of outfit. For all intents and purposes she looked like a pensioner wanting to earn some extra pocket money.
Did go look at the little hand written poster offering 15 minute readings for $30 and 30 minute readings for $50. That is actually quite reasonable compared to anything else the serpent has seen. But then again her overheads would be so much lower.
It was near the end of March when another little handwritten notice appeared outside her tent. She had a few decks and tarot books for sale. One was by Mary Greer, another was “Tarot for Dummies and the last was from the Amberstone couple who wrote “The Secret Language of Tarot” which looked at pictorial symbols across the whole deck. Got this otherwise very expensive book last year from a public library. The idea was good but it was written in a most annoying and condescending manner. It seemed to be little more than literal transcripts from classes they give
Of course the Izzie was tempted but did not want to appear too curious or to know too much. She was doing a bit of decluttering and getting rid of some of the books she no longer needed.
Bought the “Dummies” book for $5 and asked about the best way to learn about the cards. She was quite happy to spend about ten minutes explaining about how she starts with the Major Arcana - the group of 22 cards with all the drama and divides them up into three groups to represent different stages in life’s journey. She had a folder with a stack of pages that looked like she had made them herself. It was quite clear that she really knew her stuff and had no need of the Gypsy gimmicks.
There was no attempt at a hard sell of any kind and in fact she specifically said that she would be quite happy to explain some basic things about the cards without charge.
It seems silly to even consider getting a reading done after learning about the cards for a good four years, being in possession of a large stack of books about them and even more decks (30 plus or so) and having used them at least three times to generate ideas for stories and characters for Nanowrimo.
But coming across some one who obviously knew their stuff and had been doing readings for years and was in it for the joy of sharing her knowledge and insight rather than making a quick buck from gullible suckers, it was such an interesting opportunity
Never being one for making rash decisions, decided to wait and pick some suitable occasion. Friday 13th seemed such an obvious choice for this contrarian creature
She suggested a general reading without a particular question in mind and added that often when you do have something specific in mind it will turn up in the general reading anyway.
She did not do the choice of decks thing but had some modern version of the Rider Waite deck. It had a blue background with little stars and could possibly have been the deck that comes with the “Dummies” book as a set
While not wanting to do the Richard Dawkins ‘arms folded’ “Well prove it then” thing, also wanted to avoid giving away too much information inadvertently so as to be sure that her inspiration was coming from the cards and not just a talent at cold reading
She did the Celtic Cross spread and as usual concerning the serpent there was an over representation of pentacles, several swords and cups and only two wands. Amazed that there was any at all. Expressed disappointment at the absence of the Death card
She says “You’ve been watching too many movies” and that a lack of Majors is a good sign. Maybe it just means I have a very boring life” suggests Izzie. She said that lots of majors means drama, big changes and lots of serious stuff. A lack of them meant things just sailing along on a steady keel with no icebergs ahead.
The stuff about wanting a change of direction in life, travel within the next year (position 2 three of wands) and embarking on learning new skills ( position 4 page of pentacles) were all fairly generic (and having bought that tarot book from her last month - there’s at least one new thing she knows this serpent wants to learn)
But she was quite perceptive about coming to terms with the past (position 6 five of cups) and a threat to security (8 nine of pentacles) being the cause of a lot of worry or sleepless nights. (7 four of swords) That is where the one major turned up (9 strength)
You will need to confront the issue instead of evading it but victory may be only short lived (10 five of swords) and be careful not to cut off your nose to spite your face
Take some time out to make choices and restructure your life (11 two of swords) and then you can live happily ever after (12 three of pentacles)
Did notice that she had toned down some of the meaner cards like the gloomy doomy five of cups along with those other two fives instead of telling the Izzie “You are such a mean, miserable cantankerous bitch”
It was quite fascinating. Having some knowledge of the cards meant being able to potter off afterwards to sit at one of the tables with a coffee and recreate the whole spread from memory. The only one mixed up was guessing an 8 of cups where the 5 of cups should have been. They do look quite similar.
Forgot to mention that the first card was the King of Pentacles. A bit of a stubborn Taurean who likes the good things in life. He looked rather like the Empress but a lot grumpier. Such a disappointment that the hermit was nowhere to be seen.
It was interesting that at one stage we were talking about work and staying in jobs where the pay was low but it was a happy work environment. The lady said that she is quite happy to have her little tent at the markets and do a handful of readings a day but in between she could visit the other stall holders, pop out for a coffee or sit reading a book. She said many of the other tarot people do the psychic fairs and have to work as members of a group. The cost of stalls at these events are very high so they have quotas of readings that they have to do and very limited downtime. It sounded rather like McTarot
Most of those folks also play up to the Gypsy Lady stereotype with blingy jewelry and the whole Sybil Trelawney drama queen stuff.
Izzie has no intention of trying any of them out especially as it costs a ridiculous seven silver sickles just to get in to one of these so called psychic fairs and they are full of the flakiest fruit loops.
Really should attempt a DIY reading and see what turns up. Would give this one a rating of 7/10 and would definitely recommend her services to anyone interested in the dark art of tarot card reading
Friday 13th included the usual things like coffee crawls, a visit to The Juicy Beetroot and sunset at the beach. But there was going to be something a little bit different and decadent this time
Amongst the many stalls at the Friday markets selling things like happy hippy clothing, some seriously gorgeous journals made of camel leather and hand made paper, nasty plastic mobile phone accessories, jewelry and assorted munchies was a small blue tent with a little sign saying “Tarot”
The occupant of the tent was a middle aged dowdy sort of woman and almost as frumpy as Izzie. She has a plain table with a couple of big fat books and a little box with several decks. She had a pretty good location near the coffee van and the assorted tables and chairs nearby.
She did have a curtain that she could pull across when doing a reading but most of the time it was left open.
First saw her tent a few months ago. Was most curious indeed. It was certainly a no frills venture. No fancy tent with frills or veils, no crystal balls or Gypsy Rose kind of outfit. For all intents and purposes she looked like a pensioner wanting to earn some extra pocket money.
Did go look at the little hand written poster offering 15 minute readings for $30 and 30 minute readings for $50. That is actually quite reasonable compared to anything else the serpent has seen. But then again her overheads would be so much lower.
It was near the end of March when another little handwritten notice appeared outside her tent. She had a few decks and tarot books for sale. One was by Mary Greer, another was “Tarot for Dummies and the last was from the Amberstone couple who wrote “The Secret Language of Tarot” which looked at pictorial symbols across the whole deck. Got this otherwise very expensive book last year from a public library. The idea was good but it was written in a most annoying and condescending manner. It seemed to be little more than literal transcripts from classes they give
Of course the Izzie was tempted but did not want to appear too curious or to know too much. She was doing a bit of decluttering and getting rid of some of the books she no longer needed.
Bought the “Dummies” book for $5 and asked about the best way to learn about the cards. She was quite happy to spend about ten minutes explaining about how she starts with the Major Arcana - the group of 22 cards with all the drama and divides them up into three groups to represent different stages in life’s journey. She had a folder with a stack of pages that looked like she had made them herself. It was quite clear that she really knew her stuff and had no need of the Gypsy gimmicks.
There was no attempt at a hard sell of any kind and in fact she specifically said that she would be quite happy to explain some basic things about the cards without charge.
It seems silly to even consider getting a reading done after learning about the cards for a good four years, being in possession of a large stack of books about them and even more decks (30 plus or so) and having used them at least three times to generate ideas for stories and characters for Nanowrimo.
But coming across some one who obviously knew their stuff and had been doing readings for years and was in it for the joy of sharing her knowledge and insight rather than making a quick buck from gullible suckers, it was such an interesting opportunity
Never being one for making rash decisions, decided to wait and pick some suitable occasion. Friday 13th seemed such an obvious choice for this contrarian creature
She suggested a general reading without a particular question in mind and added that often when you do have something specific in mind it will turn up in the general reading anyway.
She did not do the choice of decks thing but had some modern version of the Rider Waite deck. It had a blue background with little stars and could possibly have been the deck that comes with the “Dummies” book as a set
While not wanting to do the Richard Dawkins ‘arms folded’ “Well prove it then” thing, also wanted to avoid giving away too much information inadvertently so as to be sure that her inspiration was coming from the cards and not just a talent at cold reading
She did the Celtic Cross spread and as usual concerning the serpent there was an over representation of pentacles, several swords and cups and only two wands. Amazed that there was any at all. Expressed disappointment at the absence of the Death card
She says “You’ve been watching too many movies” and that a lack of Majors is a good sign. Maybe it just means I have a very boring life” suggests Izzie. She said that lots of majors means drama, big changes and lots of serious stuff. A lack of them meant things just sailing along on a steady keel with no icebergs ahead.
The stuff about wanting a change of direction in life, travel within the next year (position 2 three of wands) and embarking on learning new skills ( position 4 page of pentacles) were all fairly generic (and having bought that tarot book from her last month - there’s at least one new thing she knows this serpent wants to learn)
But she was quite perceptive about coming to terms with the past (position 6 five of cups) and a threat to security (8 nine of pentacles) being the cause of a lot of worry or sleepless nights. (7 four of swords) That is where the one major turned up (9 strength)
You will need to confront the issue instead of evading it but victory may be only short lived (10 five of swords) and be careful not to cut off your nose to spite your face
Take some time out to make choices and restructure your life (11 two of swords) and then you can live happily ever after (12 three of pentacles)
Did notice that she had toned down some of the meaner cards like the gloomy doomy five of cups along with those other two fives instead of telling the Izzie “You are such a mean, miserable cantankerous bitch”
It was quite fascinating. Having some knowledge of the cards meant being able to potter off afterwards to sit at one of the tables with a coffee and recreate the whole spread from memory. The only one mixed up was guessing an 8 of cups where the 5 of cups should have been. They do look quite similar.
Forgot to mention that the first card was the King of Pentacles. A bit of a stubborn Taurean who likes the good things in life. He looked rather like the Empress but a lot grumpier. Such a disappointment that the hermit was nowhere to be seen.
It was interesting that at one stage we were talking about work and staying in jobs where the pay was low but it was a happy work environment. The lady said that she is quite happy to have her little tent at the markets and do a handful of readings a day but in between she could visit the other stall holders, pop out for a coffee or sit reading a book. She said many of the other tarot people do the psychic fairs and have to work as members of a group. The cost of stalls at these events are very high so they have quotas of readings that they have to do and very limited downtime. It sounded rather like McTarot
Most of those folks also play up to the Gypsy Lady stereotype with blingy jewelry and the whole Sybil Trelawney drama queen stuff.
Izzie has no intention of trying any of them out especially as it costs a ridiculous seven silver sickles just to get in to one of these so called psychic fairs and they are full of the flakiest fruit loops.
Really should attempt a DIY reading and see what turns up. Would give this one a rating of 7/10 and would definitely recommend her services to anyone interested in the dark art of tarot card reading
