The first card featured a white dragon, gazing up at a light that shone above him. The rest of the area around him was dark, and it seemed as though he had fallen into a pit he couldn’t get out of, despite his wings. His silver scales were melting off him, leaving behind smooth, white skin. He shouted at the sky as though he was in a lot of pain.
Underneath him was the number thirteen and the word “Death.”
I sucked in a breath. My heart kicked up in pace and I felt the sudden urge to run out of the shop.
She pointed at the card. “This isn’t a foretelling of death as in the loss of life, though it could have that meaning in some readings. Not this one. This is, more or less, the ending of one chapter of your life. Sometimes, it’s a painful process. Especially if you are fighting against that.”
I nod, letting out a nervous breath. I was only partially reassured.
She hummed to herself and tapped the card. “I think that’s what you are doing here. Whatever you are struggling to let go of… it’s causing you more pain than you realize.”
“Okay,” I said, dragging out the word. I wasn’t convinced a tarot reading was the best idea for me. And though I wasn’t sure about how things like this worked, I didn’t think I could just stand up and leave in the middle.
The next card flipped over was one equally negative in appearance and I let out a shuddering breath. We were off to a not-so-stellar start.
A blue dragon blew out white hot magic into a dark, stormy sky. He’s stood wrapped around a pillar of some sort. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to keep it together or trying to promote its destruction. Bits and pieces of stone fell off the tower, and there was a long crack on its surface. At the base of the pillar is another blue dragon, blowing magic into the base. A hill of boulders covered the ground, growing up the side of the tower itself.
It’s chaotic and dark, and I didn’t care for the fact that I got two negatively appearing cards back-to-back.
“This is The Tower,” Maxine said through a soft sigh. “It’s the 16th major arcana in a tarot deck. This pretty much coincides with the death card. Only it speaks more of the catastrophic events that lead to the closing of that chapter of your life and to warn you that it may not be fully over yet.”
“It looks so damning,” I mumbled.
Maxine nodded. “Yep. It can be. But the cards are symbolic. Not literal. Take the imagery with a grain of salt if it makes you feel better.”
I lifted my gaze to Maxine’s. “Um… it doesn’t, but okay.”
She smiled. “The cards are nothing if not honest and, at times, they can be brutally so. They will force you to look into the mirror and make the necessary course corrections to avoid what will come if you don’t heed their warnings.”
“Good to know,” I said… but I still wasn’t convinced.
I was growing more and more uncomfortable and wringing my fingers together into knots under the table. I didn’t like this one bit and I wished I had told her no. Rather, insisted on not allowing this to happen.
The next card she flipped over struck me as a card with yet another damning message. A woman was outstretched on a jagged, rocky cliff. Old, dying tree roots poked their way through the parts of the rock, leaving gaping holes. And just above the woman, on a ledge, laid an Asian-looking dragon, except this one had wings. He stared down at the woman, watching her as she desperately searched for a good hold to climb higher up on the rock face. His paw held onto ten stick things that looked like arrows, but they all have different shaped points.
It wasn’t until I glance at the bottom of the card that I realized the sticks were apparently wands. Because the card was the Ten of Wands. I wasn’t sure what to think about it or the whole reading so far.
Maxine shook her head. “Your spirit guides are very focused on this one message for you it seems.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She briefly met my gaze before turning her attention back to the card. “Look at the symbolism the card is trying to convey. The message is relatively the same, only this one is demonstrating your waning strength and endurance.”
“Oh…” I whispered.
“I know we just met, but what happened to you?” she asked.
“That is a long story,” I said.
She flashed a sad smile and then continued to the next card.
Queen of Pentacles was the fourth card to be flipped. I managed to gaze at the name of the card before taking in the symbolism. But that didn’t make it any easier to judge. Like the other cards of my reading, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It seemed rather benevolent. The throne, which was topped by a dragon’s bust, holding onto a large crystal ball, wings outstretched behind him, was the only thing that struck me as something that could be negative.
A woman sat on the throne, with silver hair and age creased her skin. She was decorated in gold and satin linens. She petted a smaller green dragon at her side.
“There is either a woman in your life now, or will soon be, who is all about the money.” Maxine’s voice filled my ears as I continued to stare at the card. “She’s not going to have your best interest at heart. Be wary of her.”
“You get all of this, just by looking at the symbolisms in the cards?” I asked.