I went to a Tarot Card Reader

Da Seekers Cove tiny spot  on the 4th floor of the Robinson’s Galleria after Pancake House, makes me curious every time I pass by.  They always catch my attention and out of curiosity,  I  always stop and get a leaflet.   For so many years,  hanggang ganun lang,  I never went in.   Yesterday afternoon,  I noticed them again.  I had no particular purpose to wander on the fourth floor, basta casual walking lang.

I walked to the art gallery located near the hotel entrance,  then I went to Pancake House.   When I went out,  I finally gave in to my curiosity.   Tarot Reading is not fortune telling but I was guessing she would make me pick some tarot cards and interpret the meaning of the drawing on each card.  Para bang eto may drawing na full moon,  ibig sabihin,  may multo na lalabas,  parang ganun.

The receptionist said P300 for 15 minutes.

I thought,  that’s quick.  Okay.

I was not even interested to know about my life because obvious ba,  alam ko na.  I was just curious and for lack of anything better to do with my time.   Inaaliw ko lang sarili ko.

A curtain opened and there was a woman who didn’t look like the one in the leaflet.  I said I wanted the person shown in the leaflet.  The head or founder was on the other side.  She agreed to see me.

The Tarot Reader is  Shinette V. Sanchez, she’s not a fortune teller, but a psychotherapist and specialist in gestalt, dream insights, conflict resolution, stress management and enhancement of self-esteem.

She trained at the US-based La Jolla Institute of the Person and was a faculty member of the Psychology Department at the  University of Santo Tomas and of the Sociology Department at Polytechnic University of the Philippines.  She developed what she called Intuitive Tarotherapy.

She gave me a short orientation.    She pointed at the two decks of tarot cards,  one is about me,  the other one is if I want to know about other people like things about other members of my family,  husband, careers, etc.  Stuff outside of myself.    Others use it as a tool to look for answers to questions about the past and the future.  Yung tipong,  may bitbit ba na bubuwit  ang asawa kong pangit?

She asked me why I was there,  I said
Omb—–“No apparent reason”.
SVS—–“Just curious”.
I nodded.

She shuffled the “about me” cards.  She laid them out on the table.  Then she asked me to put both my hands over it,  she did the same thing.  She said some mantra like my or our  thoughts should be one with the cards.  Nalimutan ko na what else she uttered.

She then made me pick fifteen cards (15) with my left hand.    I thought,  my left hand is my lucky hand according to my mom.

I picked the first 7 slowly.  Then I remembered I am only paying for 15 minutes so binilisan ko ang pili nung next 8.   But while choosing,  I cleared my mind of any biases,  judgments, about what this tarot thing is all about.  I opened my heart instead.

The images in the 15 cards supposedly would show the here and now.  It would help me have a better understanding of what lies within me or in the circumstances I am in.

She placed the first two cards in the middle of the tiny table side by side.  She opened them one by one.  She gasped and said OH,  she loooked at the cards, then looked at me, then with open mouth,  she took a deep breath.

She said it’s rare that a person would be able to pick those two cards, and they were the first to be opened one after the other.  She asked me “who are you?”

I didn’t answer,  I just looked at her, gave her a faint smile.   Again,  my mind was blank.  I was giving her a blank slate, no prejudice, no opinions.

“This two cards show that you are very creative.  Are you an artist? ”

I didn’t say a thing.

She gasped again, put her hand on her chest,  moved her body backwards.  She told me “you have so much energy,  hindi ko kaya ang energy mo,  you have so much power within you.  Sino ka?  Who are you? You are very strong and confident”.

“What do you do?  You are extremely creative”.

She said “You are the Creator (not referring to God), you are the one creating things, you are your own person, you are in that level where you can just play with the butterflies and you would be happy. You don’t depend on anyone, you don’t have a boss. You are the Boss.

I didn’t want to tell her what I do because It could feed her info which she could use in reading the cards.  Alam mo yung manghuhula?  Kunwari nagtatanong,  like  single ka ba?  Tapos sasabihin nya, makakatagpo ka ng boyfriend na taga ibang lugar.

Omb——“I am not an artist. I just appreciate art. I am not the only boss”.

She opened a third card.   Again she gasped for breath,  I looked at the drawing,  it showed a God looking image with words at the bottom, Innocence.

Again, she asked “Who are you?  What do you do?  Are you a doctor,  a lawyer,  a singer…” What do you do? You have so much energy.

Ha ha ha. Hindi nya mahulaan.  Sirit na.

“And by the way,  you are very pretty.  I already noticed you when you walked by”.

Naku napuri ako,  like ko na sya.  Friends na kami. 

“Your looks are deceiving. You look frail, sweet, innocent, but you are a very strong woman, deep within you there’s so much strength and power. You are your own woman. You do what you want. You know what you want. You are the creator. You are The One.

(Wow, the One, di ba pelikula yan ni Kim Chu?”)

to be continued.