The cards were shuffled and the tower came up on top.
The cards were reshuffled and the tower flew out of the deck at me.
The cards were placed down and the tower was the first one.
Now, as my mother later told me, this is not statistically impossible. And rather than taking a superstition-dodging stance on this one, just think for one moment: if you were playing with a deck of standard playing cards and, say, the Queen of Hearts came up three times in a row… would that not seem a bit odd? Especially if you had just mentioned that card?
So I had already been warned that this card was the worst of omens. Okay. What next? The card depicts a figure falling naked from a burning building whilst lightning strikes in the distance. Pictorially, it is not a happy card.
Like the curious Kat I am, I went home and Googled for some information about the card.
“This card is the Tarot's way of acknowledging that the rapid transformation occurring in your world is due to forces beyond your control.”
I move to London on Saturday. In a few weeks I enrol at Central Saint Martins to begin my three year honours degree, and in October it begins. Most relevantly, I have not packed yet. I don’t even know what I am packing. It has been stressing me out for the last week. On Monday I went to the doctor, having experienced chronic stomach pain for the last three days. It was unreal – I had never been in so much pain for so long. After having my stomach poked about and undergoing a mandatory urine test I was told that it was acid reflux due to stress, and was advised to pump myself full of Gaviscon. Sorry, NHS, for wasting your time.
“This card follows immediately after The Devil in all Tarots that contain it, and is considered an ill omen. Also, some Tarot variants used for game playing omit it.” To omit the card makes it sound worse. When you play solitaire you would leave out the Joker, but omitting a card so full of meaning quite frankly only makes it sound as if some people would be so troubled by this forecast that they would rather not be faced with it whatsoever.
Wikipedia informed me that some frequent keywords for this card include “Crisis - Revelation - Disruption - Realizing the truth”. No thanks, I tend to avoid the truth at all costs. Different card please. “It is, quite simply, that moment in any story where someone finds out a shocking truth, one that shatters their perceptions and makes them reassess their beliefs.”
Today I realized something. Maybe I have been realizing it for a long time, but here it is: I don’t want to leave home. Well of course I do. Everyone wants to. You grow up to an age where you apply for University and leave your parents and your hometown in fear of stagnating in the place you grew up. Of course. What I mean is: I love my parents. When I was a rebellious youngster I used to wish that I could run away, and even looked at renting places with friends a few times over the years in hopes to leave the nest. But I come from a very happy family. I haven’t lived with my sister since the age of five, as we moved to Dublin and she preferred the English education system. By the time we came home she was at University (there is an eleven year age difference between us.) My brother must have gone to University when I was about nine, so for the last ten years it has been Mummy, Daddy and I, and they are truly incredible friends.
In addition, the reader asked me something that nobody had asked me tonight, and it is the first time I faced some unkind facts. That is pretty much what the card is about: the moment. Over the past few months, when forced to consider the future, I have felt as if I am about to fling myself from a bridge into something unknown.
This card layout was a daily reading, so it is very much present rather than the entire future. The tower was the first card, which represents work. As the reader said – “This basically means that your work endevours will fail.” I had just told her about how I would be looking for part time work in London to stretch my loan a little further. She added, “You’ll look for a job but you won’t find one.” Whilst I may fear that it bodes badly for the onset of University, “The card may also point toward seeking education or higher knowledge.” It does not necessarily imply that this will fail.
Believe what you will. Personally, I enjoyed learning a little more about the history regarding a freak incident that happened to me this evening. I have always enjoyed a good story.
