Goal #129) Have a Fortune Teller Predict My Future
January 29, 2011 9 Comments
It seems that Fate, aka my TI-84 Plus calculator, “thought” my next goal should be to have a fortune-teller predict my future. In my mind, I imagined a decrepit old gypsy woman hunched over a crystal ball, shrouded in mystery like the fog swirling around the dark alley outside. Of course, it would be raining…no one goes to see a psychic on a warm summer day, right?
And when Fate decided I’d be seeing a fortune-teller, I searched for the most mysterious sounding place I could find; Eye of Horus. When I called, they answered the phone with, “We were expecting you.” Actually, they didn’t. But it would’ve been funny. I asked if the psychic was in. They weren’t. What? Shouldn’t they have known I was going to be there? “Our Tarot reader is here today. Would you like to see him?”
“Sure! Do I have to schedule an appointment or will you just know when I’ll be there.” They didn’t seem to get the joke, or they’d heard it so many times before it’s become old.
“We can get you in at 5:30.”
“Great!” I said and hung-up the phone. I had no idea what to expect.
Much to my disappointment, there wasn’t any fog and the shop wasn’t very mysterious. It smelled of incense and patchouli. The woman behind the desk said, “You must be Steven. Welcome. We were expecting you.” Okay, I told her I was there for an appointment before she said that. Clearly, I was waiting for something “strange” to happen.
She introduced me to Chuck, a soft-spoken man in his 50s. He led us to a small room at the back of the store and asked what the occasion was for our visit today. I hadn’t really given much consideration to what I wanted him to tell me about so I defaulted to the major issue that’s been on my mind lately: what the hell should I do with my life after graduation?
A lot of people don’t have any idea of what they want to do after graduation. But that’s not my problem. Instead, I can’t narrow down my options enough to find focus. Do I join the Peace Corps? Do I become more involved with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society? Or do I start the business that I’ve got rolling around in my mind? Should I take a less “interesting” path and search for a career in my field of education?
So that’s what we’d try to figure out.
Chuck had me shuffle the Tarot cards and fan them out across the table. I picked thirteen cards. The first five would represent a traditional path, one where I finished my education and went straight into a career. The cards for this option weren’t looking good and by the time we’d discussed all five of them, I was convinced this wasn’t the right path for me.
The next five represented my other option. By taking this path, I’d be following my heart and would be happy even if I might not make a lot of money. That seemed right on given that money isn’t the motivating factor in giving up a career for more meaningful work.
The last three cards represented an option outside either of the previous two. Basically, if I decided to take this path, it would be for the money and not for the love of what I was doing.
I don’t believe in psychic powers but what I’d just seen was impressive. I hadn’t told him anything about who I was or what I wanted to do with my life but he told my story like he was reading a book from my mind. Maybe my body language gave him cues as to where to go. Who knows. Either way, it was a fun experience.
About Steven
So interesting! I’ve always wanted to have my fortune told or a *real* tarot reading done.
Did you find the price expensive?
@Riki: The price was a bit on the expensive side, $2 a minute, and the reading took about 15 minutes. It’s not something I’d recommend people do on a regular basis, that’s for sure. Once, for the fun of it, is enough.
Steven,
I saw your comment on The Simple Dollar and wanted to come check out your site. As a fellow list maker, future planning, goal setting person who loves to travel I’m intrigued. Thanks for leaving that comment, even if it got the old guard in a tizzy over blog protocol and internet etiquette :)
@Cortney: My comment was never intended to cause such an uproar! It’s just my personal opinion (and maybe I should’ve kept it personal) that Trent’s writing could be better. I have been commenting at TSD for years and no one ever says anything about “spamming” the comments when I agree with what Trent has to say, or even just say “Good article.” As soon as I dissent, which I have been doing rather frequently as of late, it causes all sorts of angry comments towards me, saying I should just go somewhere else or that I’m just commenting for self-promotion. I find it a bit sad that people aren’t able to express their opinions and concerns (he may end up losing a reader over this: me) without having their heads bitten off by these “protectors” of Trent. My initial comment and my follow-up responses were not intended to be negative (even if they came across that way) and I am in no way trying to troll or syphon readers from his blog. More readers at my blog does nothing for me other than make me happy that people are reading what I write. I don’t make money from my blog and I don’t have any products to sell, so what’s my motivation? Twenty-thousands clicks would benefit me as much as one…so I don’t understand the rationale behind the angry comments directed towards me.
In any case, I’m glad you decided to drop by and see what’s going on here. I hope you’ll find something of value and I look forward to seeing you around!
@Jessica: I had a lot of fun with it. And I think that’s all anyone should take away from any of this sort of thing; fun. There are a lot of good things about spirituality, if you want to call it that, and I think it’s good for people find ways to connect with something beyond reality, be it traditional religions or Tarot. Personally, I don’t take any of it too seriously but I do think a lot of good can come from all of it.
I had my palm read and a tarot reading last January and it was a lot of fun. We played around with Tarot when were in college, but the palm reading was really interesting. It was mostly just vague stuff, but still entertaining. I couldn’t imagine anyone taking this stuff seriously though, and definitely not paying for it regularly.
I too have visited a fortune teller. I couldn’t resist. I know it’s bunkum but the entertainment value cannot be denied :) The event occurred on Sunset Blvd when I had too much time on my hands on that particular day but I had two nagging questions that needed to be answered. I figured I would leave the answers in the hands of the cosmos. What were the answers?
1. “It’ll last for a little while but you’ll soon get bored.”
2. “No. They’re not going to come after you.”
LOL
@Quest: Now the real question is: what were those two questions! Thanks for dropping by!
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