Category Archives: Personal Stuff

Last weekend, my book club had a tarot card reader come to our meeting and have sessions with each of us. I’d been excitedly talking about it, and a lot of people were curious about it. So I thought I’d post about it. (Plus: this way I can keep track of the predictions.)

So, first of all: am I a ~believer~ in psychics and tarot cards and the like? I think I can best characterize my feelings thus:

I have a mild interest in ghosts, psychics, and the like. I’ve been on at least three ghost tours in my life. I know most of this stuff is definitely fake, but it’s fun. And who am I to say that all of it is fake? I think everyone, myself included, knows at least one seemingly well-adjusted person who is 100% sure they have experienced a real ghost. Who am I to say they’re definitely lying?

Also, this tarot card reader is someone we know from her storytelling at our local The Moth storyslams, and she explains that the tarot and other readings are about identifying patterns and putting your own narrative to them. That makes sense to me! And I already knew she was a good storyteller, so I figured I’d be in for an entertaining session even if it was completely inaccurate. I’m not necessarily going to make any big lifestyle changes based on my tarot card reading, but it was a nice chance to reflect on my current life situation.

Here’s my tarot card spread! It was done with regular playing cards, which I knew was a thing because Gambit from the X-Men does it sometimes. Here’s a random website about it if you’re curious. I don’t remember all the details of what each card means but here are some general things:

• The diamonds are about money. If you’ll notice, my first four cards were all diamonds and she told me some pretty specific things that were true… three of diamonds means a raise or promotion, and I had just received a small (but appreciated) raise at work. The Ace of Diamonds is specifically about contracts and legal documents and that I should be careful with my taxes this year… I had just been thinking about how Worst Bestsellers made a small (but appreciated!) amount of money this year and I’m not sure how to deal with that, tax-wise.
• Spades are about “digging deep”. (I see some other websites categorize spades as “warning”, eek.) She told me that I’m at the end of a 9-year cycle and that this year of my life should be about evaluating things and discarding things that aren’t working for me. (Very Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. That’s actually a process I started last year but stalled out on, and have definitely been meaning to finish KonMari-ing my apartment. Guess this year is the year to do it!)
• The four of hearts means a journey, and according to my tarot card reader, the Ace of Spades means Cancer, which is one of my birth signs. (I’m a Gemini-Cancer cusp.) She told me that those 2 cards in combination suggested that I push myself out of my comfort zone by traveling, since Cancer is traditionally a homebody sign. This is very true for me, particularly with the backpacking trip my friend Anna and I are planning for this spring. (Also, some of these other tarot card/playing card websites I’m looking at now say King of Hearts is Cancer, but hey, I’m not an expert, and whatever it is, the meaning she derived rang true to me.)
• Jack of Spades means change, which goes along with the theme of discarding things that aren’t working for me.
• I don’t really remember the top three cards. Doing some googling now, I see that the 9 of Spades is widely considered a super unlucky card, which was definitely not mentioned to me. WHAT IS SHE HIDING FROM ME. I mean, I’d say it’s probably because our tarot card reader was very chill and into spinning the reading as an opportunity for reflection and evaluation and there’s not much point in telling someone about their possible upcoming bad luck. Anyway, there’s no way to control luck, so it’ll come or it won’t, I guess!
• Haha I’m totally fine and not at all worried about the 9 of Spades. *builds blanket fort for the rest of 2016, just for fun and totally not out of irrational fear*

Also afterward she addressed us as a group and said that we had a way higher than normal number of zodiac cusparians in our group and that could explain why we’re all drawn together! Our friendship is written in the stars.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun and genuinely got some good food for thought from my first tarot card reading. If any of you reading this are local-ish to Louisville, KY, let me know and I will happily give you her name because I definitely recommend her services.