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“More effective,” Chanti said, “less invitational to the unknown realm.”
After that, when weird patterns emerged in Piper’s life, Chanti showed up with her cards and interpretations—it was just over twenty years that she’d been doing that.
Wow. That was an unsettling thought. Twenty years?
Seemed like forever ago and just yesterday.
Piper re-ran the calculations. Yes, freshman year of high school was that far back in her rearview mirror.
While Piper wasn’t into tarot herself, she liked that Chanti was. It meant Piper could keep her scientific, practical thoughts while still looking over Chanti’s shoulder and seeing what someone skilled in intuition could do with a handful of cards.
In some ways, even scientifically, it made sense. The human brain took in so much, but it only made the smallest little bit available to the conscious mind. If the tarot pictures allowed the inner machinations of the brain to express what it already knew, then the cards could supply a visual vocabulary—a key, of sorts, to unlock new ideas.
And while Piper usually paid little attention to Chanti’s esoteric life, in this instance, with this weird zoning-out stuff going on, there was no harm in letting Chanti look.
Chanti leaned over her tarot cards, expectantly. “Okay, pick one. Let’s figure out what’s going on with you.”
Piper reached over and tapped a card toward the end of the fan with her fingernail, then slid her hands under the table and waited for the verdict.
Moving the chosen card in front of her, Chanti turned it picture-side up to find the Star. “Oooh, Major Arcana.”
“What does that mean?” Piper was surprised by how her ribs had tightened, and her breath had become shallow. After all, she held a PhD in biomedical sciences; she was a facts-and-data kind of gal. A card shouldn’t have any impact on her autonomic system.
“Major Arcana,” Chanti said, “is big picture stuff. Since we were pulling just one card for this question, it’s good that we got something from the Major Arcana. And honestly, it could be worse.”
“Worse?” Piper leaned in and looked at the picture. There was a woman with one knee on land, one foot in the water, unabashedly naked with a vase in each hand, pouring water out. A big star was over her head and smaller stars scattered across the sky.
“You’re afraid there’s something wrong with your body, right? This card isn’t about being sick.” Chanti pointed. “See this?”
Piper looked down, but she wasn’t sure what “this” was that Chanti wanted her to see.
“This card makes sense; this is both creativity and pragmatism—the duality of action and thought. That the figure is naked means she’s got nothing to hide.”
Piper looked at the naked figure, and she saw vulnerability. “So I can sit and stare, and it’s fine?”
“Just looking at this card, it feels like you’re preparing for something that’s coming down the pike. You have a question, and you’re looking for the answer. You’re going to have to make some decisions once the options are revealed. Unfortunately, each option has its pros and cons.”
“Knee on the land, foot in the water?” Piper asked.
“Exactly. Right now, I’d think of yourself as the caterpillar inside the cocoon doing a switcheroo. It’s not passive.”
“Feels passive,” Piper said. “But ‘cocoon’ also feels like a good way to explain the sensation.”
“I get that. But it’s an important part of the journey. You’re going still because your brain is busy.”
Piper laced her fingers in her lap and squeezed her hands tight. “More like a void.”
“Profound thoughts. This,” Chanti pointed at the water, “isn’t a puddle. It’s very deep.”
“And dark and cold?” Piper asked rhetorically.
That was Piper’s tarot experience last week.
A bright, excited knock on her door startled Piper.
Chanti had arrived, and it was time for this week’s venture into the woo-woo.
Piper stood up and shook herself like a wet dog.
