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my life so far
It's 9 am, I feel like I've slept a long time, and I've even had a healthy dose of bumming around this morning. Here's a brief rundown of the weekend so far:
Friday evening: Worked the Cultural Center event reading tarot cards. Got home round midnight a few hundred dollars richer.
Saturday: Slept in. Woke up and told MelRo all about the previous night. Talked to Damon on the phone and told him all about the previous night. Met Br___ in the afternoon for lunching and record shopping. Came home and hung out with MelRo and her friend from out of town. Damon came over and we rented and watched Legend of Drunken Master. Appropriately enough, I consumed alcohol while watching the movie.
So....Friday night was a quasi-spiritual experience for me. And I'm only half-kidding. For the first half of the evening, I did my standard type of tarot reading, which is more about explaining archetypes and symbols and how they relate to the person's life. Similar to dream interpretation. Very little "fortune-telling". The other two readers at the even (who I met in the beginning) were of a different ilk. One just did straight-up channeling. No cards, no crystals, no nothing -- just psychic prediction type stuff. The other used tarot cards, but in a totally different way. More of a Miss Cleo way, for example. She sort of intrigued me, and I ended up talking to her on our break, when I ran into her on the step outside smoking. She work full-time as a professional, doing some parties, working in a couple bookstores a few hours a week, and doing a few one-on-one sessions with regular clients. We had a really interesting conversation about how we got into reading cards, etc. and even when she told she was working on a book recounting her memories of her past-life in Atlantis, I didn't really let it cloud my judgment of her. Damon told me later that it's extremely common to find people who work in the occult that claim to be slave in Atlantis in a past life. I have a strong interest in reincarnation and the psychology of it, but that's not really the point of this story.
So we got off our break, and I asked if I could be the first person she reads, becacuse I've never really gotten a reading from a professional psychic before. She was totally game about it and really friendly, and did 3 readings for me -- the first on my relationship, the second on my career-change, and the third on my parents. All were very insightful. Much of her information came from our previous conversations, and she asked lots of questions and incorporated that information into the info in the cards. Most folks would just say "well, half the stuff she was just repeating back based on information you gave her", but I think I'm believing that half of "reading people" is just paying attention. I have a scary memory for details and remembering obscure bits of conversation and noticing minute details regarding body language and tone. And I'm an information gatherer by nature. When I add these things up, people usually just assess me as a "good judge of character" or "good with people". So I've realized that the level at which I pay attention is far above the average one. And this is how this woman was as well. So then I began to wonder, what's the difference?
She then asked to do a reading for her. I was extremely nervous, and even dropped the deck of cards right after she shuffled them. But she told me not to worry that this was a teachable moment for me. And it was. I did my abbreviated reading, where I turned over the 5 cards, looked at the patterns, and just started talking. Now, I don't particularly feel like I was reading from the book of life or whatever, and I didn't feel possessed, but I just sort took my knowledge of the symbols, and the meaning of the position of the card, and the information she had given me about herself, and managed to synthesize these three elements into a fairly good narrative. I impressed myself.
So I went back to my table and started giving readings to other folks again. And "coincidentally" enough, I got a lot more folks who were interested in having specific readings and wanting specific questions answered. I usually resist those types of interpretations ("you will meet a dark-haired stranger next week at work...."), but this time I sort of allowed myself to extrapolate a bit more on details, and people responded pretty well. Of course, this sort of fed the cycle, because I could then work more off of their responses. But sometimes some weird and intense shit would come up in the cards, and I would be struggling really hard to interpret what it meant, and could see a definite pattern....and then they would give me some specific information and the answer would be obvious. This one woman wanted information about when something was going to happen. I didn't know what to tell her. But I could see that she'd had some recent loss/dissapointment, and that she was looking to an outside figure to move the 'project' along. And the outside figure was the knight of swords. The outcome was the Queen of Swords. I turned over two more, and got the page of swords and the Lover. Now the knight is sometimes called the son and the page is the daughter. Turns out, the question involved the marriage of her son and when it would happen since it got delayed. I was sort of freaking out when I heard that.
I had a couple other similar experiences were the cards were PERFECTLY matched with the situation. I nearly wet myself several times.
So then on Saturday I was still on a psychic high and did a open reading for Damon on the phone where I basically broke down what was going on between him and Ca___. Then I did a reading for Melanie, which I didn't feel super connected. Not inaccurate, but just not terribly insightful. Then her friend Ju___ came by and I did one for her, which felt pretty intense. I guess I'm still trying to figure things out.
Maybe I should just DJ weddings and read Tarot cards at parties. If I did 2 of each per month I'd probably make the same amount of money I'm making now. I'm in the wrong line of work apparantly.
So the end of this story is not exactly a complete spiritual awakening or re-connection to my past life as the Prince of Atlantis, but I am intrigued to analyze my weird knowledge of people now. Even yesterday at lunch with Br___, he was talking about how the waiter is really weird and maybe can't hear very well because he kept asking strange questions. But I told him that he's probably confused because Br___'s body language is indicating the opposite of what he's saying. For example, he said "I'll have a little more coffee", but then he held both of his hands flat in front of him near the top of the cup, perhaps indicating that he was blocking the cup because he didn't want more coffee. Br__ sorta looked at me and was like "wow, you are really good at figuring people out."
So keep your eyes tuned to late night cable and my new call-in show. 1-900-RAY-MOND.
Friday evening: Worked the Cultural Center event reading tarot cards. Got home round midnight a few hundred dollars richer.
Saturday: Slept in. Woke up and told MelRo all about the previous night. Talked to Damon on the phone and told him all about the previous night. Met Br___ in the afternoon for lunching and record shopping. Came home and hung out with MelRo and her friend from out of town. Damon came over and we rented and watched Legend of Drunken Master. Appropriately enough, I consumed alcohol while watching the movie.
So....Friday night was a quasi-spiritual experience for me. And I'm only half-kidding. For the first half of the evening, I did my standard type of tarot reading, which is more about explaining archetypes and symbols and how they relate to the person's life. Similar to dream interpretation. Very little "fortune-telling". The other two readers at the even (who I met in the beginning) were of a different ilk. One just did straight-up channeling. No cards, no crystals, no nothing -- just psychic prediction type stuff. The other used tarot cards, but in a totally different way. More of a Miss Cleo way, for example. She sort of intrigued me, and I ended up talking to her on our break, when I ran into her on the step outside smoking. She work full-time as a professional, doing some parties, working in a couple bookstores a few hours a week, and doing a few one-on-one sessions with regular clients. We had a really interesting conversation about how we got into reading cards, etc. and even when she told she was working on a book recounting her memories of her past-life in Atlantis, I didn't really let it cloud my judgment of her. Damon told me later that it's extremely common to find people who work in the occult that claim to be slave in Atlantis in a past life. I have a strong interest in reincarnation and the psychology of it, but that's not really the point of this story.
So we got off our break, and I asked if I could be the first person she reads, becacuse I've never really gotten a reading from a professional psychic before. She was totally game about it and really friendly, and did 3 readings for me -- the first on my relationship, the second on my career-change, and the third on my parents. All were very insightful. Much of her information came from our previous conversations, and she asked lots of questions and incorporated that information into the info in the cards. Most folks would just say "well, half the stuff she was just repeating back based on information you gave her", but I think I'm believing that half of "reading people" is just paying attention. I have a scary memory for details and remembering obscure bits of conversation and noticing minute details regarding body language and tone. And I'm an information gatherer by nature. When I add these things up, people usually just assess me as a "good judge of character" or "good with people". So I've realized that the level at which I pay attention is far above the average one. And this is how this woman was as well. So then I began to wonder, what's the difference?
She then asked to do a reading for her. I was extremely nervous, and even dropped the deck of cards right after she shuffled them. But she told me not to worry that this was a teachable moment for me. And it was. I did my abbreviated reading, where I turned over the 5 cards, looked at the patterns, and just started talking. Now, I don't particularly feel like I was reading from the book of life or whatever, and I didn't feel possessed, but I just sort took my knowledge of the symbols, and the meaning of the position of the card, and the information she had given me about herself, and managed to synthesize these three elements into a fairly good narrative. I impressed myself.
So I went back to my table and started giving readings to other folks again. And "coincidentally" enough, I got a lot more folks who were interested in having specific readings and wanting specific questions answered. I usually resist those types of interpretations ("you will meet a dark-haired stranger next week at work...."), but this time I sort of allowed myself to extrapolate a bit more on details, and people responded pretty well. Of course, this sort of fed the cycle, because I could then work more off of their responses. But sometimes some weird and intense shit would come up in the cards, and I would be struggling really hard to interpret what it meant, and could see a definite pattern....and then they would give me some specific information and the answer would be obvious. This one woman wanted information about when something was going to happen. I didn't know what to tell her. But I could see that she'd had some recent loss/dissapointment, and that she was looking to an outside figure to move the 'project' along. And the outside figure was the knight of swords. The outcome was the Queen of Swords. I turned over two more, and got the page of swords and the Lover. Now the knight is sometimes called the son and the page is the daughter. Turns out, the question involved the marriage of her son and when it would happen since it got delayed. I was sort of freaking out when I heard that.
I had a couple other similar experiences were the cards were PERFECTLY matched with the situation. I nearly wet myself several times.
So then on Saturday I was still on a psychic high and did a open reading for Damon on the phone where I basically broke down what was going on between him and Ca___. Then I did a reading for Melanie, which I didn't feel super connected. Not inaccurate, but just not terribly insightful. Then her friend Ju___ came by and I did one for her, which felt pretty intense. I guess I'm still trying to figure things out.
Maybe I should just DJ weddings and read Tarot cards at parties. If I did 2 of each per month I'd probably make the same amount of money I'm making now. I'm in the wrong line of work apparantly.
So the end of this story is not exactly a complete spiritual awakening or re-connection to my past life as the Prince of Atlantis, but I am intrigued to analyze my weird knowledge of people now. Even yesterday at lunch with Br___, he was talking about how the waiter is really weird and maybe can't hear very well because he kept asking strange questions. But I told him that he's probably confused because Br___'s body language is indicating the opposite of what he's saying. For example, he said "I'll have a little more coffee", but then he held both of his hands flat in front of him near the top of the cup, perhaps indicating that he was blocking the cup because he didn't want more coffee. Br__ sorta looked at me and was like "wow, you are really good at figuring people out."
So keep your eyes tuned to late night cable and my new call-in show. 1-900-RAY-MOND.
no subject
rock on about the tarot readings. maybe i could entice you into doing one for me sometime??
Also, i heart the _kegend of the drunken master_
rids
no subject
but really what i came over here to tell you was that after Andrew's, the moment i knew for sure we'd be friends is -- i only remember fragments, maybe you know the rest? -- when i was sitting in my room and we were going someplace and i grabbed my shoes and socks and you asked if i was a sock-sock-shoe-shoe person or a sock-shoe-sock-shoe person. and i thought, jesus, someone else actually notices that shit?
come visit me out here, won't you? i miss you something fierce, as always.
no subject
i pick up on those little body-language things, too. people have askd me before if i'm psychic. i'm like.. uh.. no. not so much. *shrug*