Chicago Tarot

November 5th, 6th, and 7th were spent with dear friends in Chi-town. Ran a 5k, ate some chocolate fondue, cooked a pumpkin, drank homemade chai, slept on various items of furniture, extra'd a music video for the Ugly Sweater Store, drank some tequila, danced several boogies, and drove home on borrowed kindness packed into a little sedan with the right rear window taped into place.

Laurel and I walked by a tea shop on our way from Belmont to Boytown. My eyes got wide; the sign on the door read

FREE TAROT READINGS SATURDAYS 4:30-8:30

I gave Laurel a look; we sat down on the overstuffed couch with a bespectacled, eyebrow-pierced waif who calmly dealt out our fates on a table littered with magazines and plants. The men sitting in close quarters with our activity visibly bristled with discomfort as we began to examine the illustrations on the upturned card faces.

You are starting something new.
You are in love.
You are struggling against something or someone.
You feel pulled in different directions.
You are the master of your own destiny.
You must listen to you intuition.
Your heart is your foundation.
Your soul card is the magician.
You are experiencing intense grief about something in your immediate past.
You are unsure of what your future holds.
You have a lot to be proud of.
Let me consult my book about that one.
Ah, yes: the Hunter.

Never say no to free tarot. In fact, I might need to buy a deck and start free readings on Saturdays at the Finnish Bistro myself. (Free for a limited time only, people! I'm done with my VISTA stint in August, and I've just found my new form of gainful employment. My soul card did tell me I will succeed at any challenge I choose to face with integrity and aplomb.)

Thank you, Chicago, for reminding me that there are Real Big Cities, and that the Twins do not fall into that category. I would also like to thank my hosts for all they shared with me. As one said, I am a nomad in the true sense of the word:

I am a member of a people or tribe (SAPpers/Comoparkians/Luthercollegiates/Saintpaulites) that has no permanent abode (renter) but moves about from place to place (bike/bus/car-mooch), usually seasonally (at least 4x/year) and often following a traditional route (of the Voyageurs/of the Megabus/of the commuter/of the liberal arts degree), or circuit according to the state of the pasturage or food supply (more than what I have).

I am a wanderer; an itinerant. As Eliza once said of herself, I've contracted "an incurable case of wanderlust." Another favorite of mine is Thoreau's "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams; live the life you have always imagined," but today I'm thinking of a different one I like better for the occasion:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

Back to "best and most true": these two were a call and response. I can't remember the exact quotes but here's a paraphrase:

"We walk in concentric circles, breaking from time to time but always returning to the paths we make and make again."

"Some people don't walk in circles at all, and those who do watch us as we run in more beautiful shapes than they ever knew existed."

So where do the paths intersect?