On Saturday I went to McNally Robinson Booksellers to get my free, Winnipeg-ized tarot card reading. As part of the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada 2010 ARTS FOR ALL initiative The Winnipeg Tarot Company offered free readings for the month of October. And as an added twist to the paranormal, the readings were done with a special, Winnipeg-themed deck featuring all things iconic about my hometown.
I was the first customer of the day. I knew what I wanted the cards to give me insight on but I took a moment to carefully word my question. I've done this before, I know the tarot likes specific questions.
I was instructed to cut the deck three times and then re-stack it as I saw fit. The reader then dealt the spread and turned the cards over one by one as she explained their meanings.
My first two cards were the Diva and the Street Person. These cards were representative of my present.
"The Diva represents someone who is the star, the center of attention," the reader explained. The Street Person card represented poverty and financial struggles.
The next card was the nine of blizzards. It features a thin girl at one of those Winnipeg--One Great City signs stationed at the city limits. It's blowing snow and she is improperly dressed (this sounds totally like me huh?). This card represents a struggle, some hard work and tough times but also perseverance and toughness. With this card we were starting to look to my future.
The third card that came up was the Three of Floods, which depicted the Teddy Bears' Picnic.
"This card represents a collection of people from all walks of life coming together. The stream that you see running through the image represents a life force uniting these people together."
So far so good, the cards were giving me a very interesting response to my question. With the final card the reading was dead on.
"The Fool on Garbage Hill card represents the ultimate friendly Manitoban. Here he is standing high atop garbage hill, but if he falls, he never falls hard and he never falls very far."
The reading actually confirmed what my own intuition was telling me. I was pleasantly surprised by it.
"Okay, now I have one more card for you. You can ask another question and then I will turn it over and read it for you."
I again thought for a moment before voicing my question. "What does my future hold for me in love?" I asked.
The reader turned the card over and placed before me the Devil card.
"This card represents carnality and lust," she said and her eyes twinkled. She seemed to think this meant something very hot and passionate was in my future, but I saw something else entirely. That there, by my interpretation, was the sinful Homewrecker card that has been the thorn on my long stem Valentine rose for quite some time now. If the cards are in fact right, it's more married men and bored, betrothed boys licking their lips and regarding me as little more than a fun distraction. Ah well, I'll worry about the love thing later. There are many, many more cards in the deck for me to play right now.
Okay, the reading wasn't entirely free, actually. In exchange for the reading, patrons were asked to give a Winnipeg story--any story that comes from Winnipeg. I had thought about it for a bit and decided to talk about the support and love my family got from the Blue Bomber family this past summer when my uncle died, specifically Lorne, the team padre, and about being invited to the practice where we all went into the huddle together.
The reader gasped.. "What a beautiful story," she told me when I was done and I was pleased. It felt like a fair exchange of gifts.
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