I did not.
New Orleans is the land that would have sucked my 16-year old self in. If I had gone there in 1995, I would likely have never left -- or at least gone to Tulane for college a few years later. There's jazz music everywhere, all the time. There are voodoo shops every few feet. There are huge churches that mix religion and mysticism. There are huge, above-ground cemeteries.
There is Jackson Square.
Jackson Square is an area in the French Quarter that is always alive with artists, magicians, musicians and fortune tellers. I wandered through there for two days before I finally made my friend Lowell stop so that I could sit down and have my tarot cards read.
There were a few different people to choose from, even early in the morning when I was there, and I circled around a time or two before I picked my reader. One woman had a sign that said that she spoke German. One woman had a wooden placard explaining that she had been reading cards for over 30 years. But I choose the woman who had little signage and whose hair was dyed bright, bright turquoise.
I sat down and asked her how much for a Tarot card reading. She said it was all on donation. That worked for me -- I had a $10 bill in my wallet, so I figured that would cover it. She asked if I had ever had a Tarot card reading before, and I confessed that I had been a Tarot card "reader" in high school. She smiled and laughed. We chatted for a minute -- I told her my name, and she said hers was JT I complimented her hair and she said it was because it made her a mermaid.
JT looked at my friend Lowell, who was with me, and asked if I wanted him to watch or if I'd feel better if he wasn't here. I shrugged and said I didn't care, but Lowell took off walking around the square. He's more of a skeptic than I am, and the whole Tarot thing probably annoyed him a bit.
Once Lowell left, JT held out two stacks of cards and asked me to pick which one felt "right" to me. I held them both, and they both felt like stacks of worn, well-used cards. Then I attempted to push aside my skepticism and somehow decided that the ones in my left hand felt like "mine". She nodded and took the other cards away. Then she asked me to shuffle the cards while she told me the background of Tarot.
I awkwardly shuffled the cards as she discussed Kabbalah, mysticism, and how all religions worked together. I told her nothing of my religious background, and she didn't seem to assume anything. From my readings about Tarot, she seemed to know what she was talking about. I listened and asked questions from time to time. I think that she liked that I could intelligently hold a conversation about the topic. I'm sure she gets a lot of people who just want the "magic" and not the history.
After she explained her philosophy about the Tarot, I handed the cards back to her. She dealt them out in a format that I was not familiar with. I'd always used the Celtic Cross formation. Anyway, her format was in four rows of cards. The first row had to do with me, the second with forces around me, the third with work, and the fourth with my attitude about life.
As she worked, she used seashells to hold down the cards so they didn't fly away in the wind. She told me that I had a strong man in my life who often had opinions that others didn't agree with. She said that I needed to go for opportunities when I see them, rather than hesitating. She said if I had a good idea, I should jump on it. She said that I needed to let go of the past.
Of course, I remained a skeptic through it all, but I allowed myself to believe, just a little, as the reading was going on. It's like a scary movie -- the believing makes it fun. The things she said to me were great, and they were actually things that I really need to focus on in my life, but they're things that probably everyone has to focus on in their lives.
My trip was great, and I loved so much about it, but I think that my Tarot card reading was my absolute favorite thing. It was something that I'd always wanted to do, and the lady who read them was charismatic and made it even more fun. And I really will try to let go of my past and go for opportunities -- good advice no matter where it comes from!
The reading told me nothing about NGS.
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