Posted on August 1st, 2023

   I waddled around the corner, heading for the small store called, Alternatives on South Lawn Street in Elmsford, NY. I was nine months pregnant and was just told there were complications. As usual, there was no one to advise me, so I decided to visit my Tarot card reader, Linda.

   Linda sat in her white wicker chair, studying my cards on the glass table before her. Her raspy voice began, "Everything looks fine Eva, the C section will be scheduled and the baby will be fine." I decided to schedule the C section once I got home. Linda kept studying the cards. She said, "Let me ask you something. Did you ever think to be a Tarot card reader?" I looked at her completely perplexed. "No, I don't think I'm interested, besides I don't think I'll have the time." Linda went on anyway, "You keep pulling the High Priestess card. That's the Psychic card. You're obviously gifted, I could teach you. You should think about it." I thought to myself. I've just been told there are complications with my pregnancy, and you want me to learn Tarot cards? As if there was not enough on my plate. Two kids, two jobs, and a marriage to an older man that was beginning to show signs of failing. Being I was a teacher, I had had enough of school, learning anything in a class setting was more painful to me than a C section. Linda persisted, "I'll take your name and email address and when I get enough people together, you can decide if you want to join the class." So I wrote down my email address, I don't know why, but I did.

     By the time I heard from Linda, I had sold my beautiful house and divorced. I was living with two kids under the age of 5 with no family to help me. I had lost it all. My ex went back to drinking and shacked up with our AuPair, so when I say I was on my own, I was completely on my own. Linda's little Tarot class was a Wednesday night escape for me. I was shocked at how easy I found reading Tarot. I started to see stories in the cards. My life had been completely turned upside down, but when I read cards for myself, I was fascinated how out of 78 cards, I kept pulling the same ones. There are no coincidences. My mother was dead and my father was not speaking to me because of my divorce. My only sister, married a guy she originally hooked me up with and my AuPair was banging my ex, to say I had trust issues at the time was an understatement. But, I trusted Linda and I trusted the cards. I spent countless hours studying my Tarot cards trying to make sense of a life that had exploded in all directions.

   Linda would always say, "God can't be that mean." Through her guidance I started to work in her store. One day, a call came in, a woman was having a party and wanted a reader. No reader was available, so I offered to read at this party. At the party, I decided to sage the room first. This led to the fire alarms going off and the fire department showing up. When I returned to Linda's store afterwards, she told me, besides the fire department showing up, the client was very happy with my readings and felt I had helped a lot of people.

   So the saying goes, when God closes a door he opens a window. Here I was, having lost everything in a year's time, and now new doors were opening because I was using my intuition and Tarot cards to guide me. I found I was better off reading at parties at night when my kids were asleep. Besides that, in a party situation, I was reading Tarot for people who had probably never been exposed to it before. Tarot for me, has always been a healing tool that helps guide me when I am trying to figure out answers to questions I have about my Life. I now had the opportunity to show others that Tarot was a healing tool, something to assist you when you are stuck.

   I then decided to chose a Tarot card to represent myself. I decided on the Hermit, that lone figure standing on the cliff lifting a lamp to light the way. This card represents a spiritual journey. The Hermit is a wise sage always lighting the way for others. The Hermit is also the number nine card in the Major Arcana. As time went on, I began to see patterns in my life that always added up to nine. Every house I have lived in, the address has added up to nine. The number nine always appears when important life changing experiences are happening.

   Then one day I received a postcard in the mail from an entertainment website. They were offering three free months to try their services. I look at signs like this, as messages from the Universe. Whether it is a postcard in the mail, or a random stranger saying something profound to you in passing, these moments can hold messages from the Universe and this one came right to my door. Like I always say at my Tarot table, when the Universe calls, you need to answer the phone! I ended up becoming a member of this entertainment service and worked most nights reading Tarot all over the Tri-State area. I made a name for myself and became the number one Tarot card reader in the New York area. I stayed number one for over seven years, till I retired from teaching and moved to Florida.

   When I look back on that day when I was pregnant and how I became a reader, you really have to believe there are no coincidences. Back then, never in a million years, would I have thought I would be a Tarot card reader, now I can't fathom my life without a deck of cards in my hands. Because of my abandonment issues, I rely on my Tarot cards to guide me. When I read for others, it is the same. Tarot is a tool, a healing too, to help assist, guide and find answers. Tarot has helped guide me and I use Tarot to help shine some light for those that sit down at my table. Like the Hermit, I try to see all the possibilities that may have been hidden in the dark and point my clients in the right direction, like what happened to me so many years ago.