THE THREE TAROT CARDS
Written By: Laura Stamps
Spring arrives late in the Blue
Ridge this year. Only the second
week in May, and the soft fur
of buds and new leaves still
covers most of the trees at higher
elevations after an unusually
long, cold winter. At four oclock
Ravena turns off the Parkway
and drives back to her hotel
along the country road that joins
each mountain town to the next.
Dark storm clouds gather in the
west, and shes thankful to have
left the mountaintops before the
sky cracks, releasing its barrage
of fire-sticks and silver seeds.
When Ravena returns to the hotel
the thumping of steady rain pummels
her car, but by the time she walks
into her room the deluge stops.
Outside, water puddles pockmark
the courtyard, and a sparrow
jumps in one, fanning its wings,
splattering itself with water. Up
and down it hops and splashes,
until a robin twice its size charges
across the lawn, and the tiny bird
darts beneath a bush. The birds
in Ravenas backyard bathe in rain
puddles as well, but none to such
a joyous tempo as this tiny sparrow.
Ravena steps out of her wet shoes
and pads across the room to the
bed, where she sits in the middle,
her legs folded neatly beneath
her, rummaging through the bag
of magickal tools for her tarot deck.
She places it in the middle of a
cotton scarf illustrated with runes
and the image of Athena, Goddess
of Wisdom. With her wand Ravena
casts a circle around the bed, calling
upon Athenas guidance. Then she
closes her eyes, grounds her energy,
and says, Dearest Athena, Great
Goddess of Wisdom, should I leave
Odell and my marriage? Ravena
cuts the deck, shuffles three times
to symbolize the phases of the
Moon, divides the deck into three
piles moving left, stacks it again
in the same direction, and then
draws the top card. The Nine of
Swords reversed. A reversed card
always means No, this particular
one symbolizing a time of confusion.
I dont understand, Ravena mutters.
Dear Athena, show me another
card to clarify your answer. She
props the Nine of Swords against
her magickal tool bag, cuts the deck
again, shuffles, divides, stacks, and
draws The Star this time, a healing
card. Now Im really confused,
she says. Help me, Athena.
Setting this card next to the first
one, she goes through her routine
one last time, drawing The World.
Success and abundance! she
exclaims, thoroughly frustrated.
None of this makes any sense to
me, she sighs, staring at the three
cards as if they could speak, but
hearing no revelation from Athena.
Not one word, Ravena mumbles.
Slowly she gathers the cards and
packs them away in her bag, deciding
to try another reading tomorrow
before she leaves town for home.
Restless from her puzzling tarot card
reading, Ravena decides to drive
downtown and explore the neighbor-
hoods clinging to the mountains of
the city. Each narrow street hugs
the curve of a mountain, while drive-
ways shoot up at an angle or plummet
straight down. On the sloping side
of the street, mailboxes rise higher
than the roofs of homes that sprawl
large and spacious, most perched
on stilts, each with a wooden bridge
leading from the front door to the
road. High fences and thick masses
of trees and shrubbery surround the
mansions at the top of the mountains,
some resembling castles carved from
rock, painted in sunny pastel shades.
Winding through these mountain
neighborhoods, Ravena realizes
she must keep her mind focussed
on the last tarot card, The World,
if she hopes to discern its meaning
in her life, to manifest its prophecy
of success and abundance. Quickly
she creates a chant for her intent:
Wise Athena, thank you for your magick.
Open my eyes, guide this blessed chant.
Abundance and success shall manifest.
The World will bring me only the best.
Wild onions bow their heads to the
setting sun as Ravena walks back
to her room after dinner, every step
a tonic for cramped muscles after
a long day of driving. Rain curtains
one of the mountains, and the dark
sky reflects the same shade of gray
she chose when painting the deck
last spring. Instantly, clouds part
for the sun, and a rainbow stencils
its bright hoop over the murky sky
in scarlet, tangerine, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, and violet, this looping
spectacle so wide Ravena finds
color variations smudged in between
the usual spectrum. For several
minutes the rainbow towers before
her, a perfect semicircle. One side
closed, the other forever open.
When she walks through the door
of her hotel room the telephone
rings. I know youre coming home
tomorrow, but I couldnt wait, Odell
says, his voice laden with misery.
I feel awful. Sitting on the edge
of the bed, Ravena asks, Are you
ill? Odell groans. No, not really,
he replies. Its just that everything
bothers me. Ravena smiles, glad
he cant see her expression. Could
you do a healing spell for me? he
asks. Anything, please, Im so tired
of this. Ravena laughs. Its not
funny! Odell shouts, frustrated.
I know, she replies, thinking about
The Star. This reminds me of a
tarot card I drew last night. She
reaches for her bag of magickal tools
and unzips the top. Ill be happy to
cast a healing spell for you, Sweet-
heart, she says. Great, he replies,
and begins to complain about his job
and the cats as he walks into the
kitchen to search the freezer for
a snack. Honey, Ravena says,
we need to cover all the magickal
bases. She hears him open the
freezer door. Before leaving for
work tomorrow, go into my office,
open my cabinet of magickal supplies,
and find a short length of red ribbon,
she says. All the ribbons in there
have been blessed with holy water.
Odell pries the top off a cardboard
container of soy ice cream. Pin it
to your shirt pocket to ward off the
Evil Eye, Ravena continues. Odell
scrapes the last spoonful of ice cream
from the carton and throws it in the
trash. Okay, he replies, smacking
his lips. I can do that. Ravena
smiles at his sudden cooperation.
Then Ill cast a healing spell for
you tonight, and youll feel much
better tomorrow morning, she says.
I hope so, he moans. Love you.
And he hangs up. Ravena drags the
tool bag across the bed and turns it
over. She fills a tiny green amulet
pouch with a pinch of dried fennel,
geranium, rosemary, and lavender
for healing. Then adds five beans
and two charms, a silver hand
and a crescent moon, both power-
ful repellents of the Evil Eye.
It worries her that some people
possess the ability to send the Evil
Eye to another without realizing it.
Odell has been cranky for so long,
who knows how many people
hes offended? Ravena mutters,
closing the amulet pouch with
a red cord long enough for Odell
to wear it around his neck, hidden
beneath his dress shirt and vest
every day. She places the amulet
on the bed and casts a sacred
circle, waving her wand over it
three times in a clockwise direction,
seeking the healing magick of Isis.
I call on the power of Isis,
Great Goddess of Restoration.
Heal Odells troubled mind.
End the root of this strife.
Hide him from the Evil Eye.
Under your wings I place him.
Please grant my supplication.
She thanks the Goddess and opens the
circle. Energized from Odells call and
the power she summoned for this spell,
Ravena rolls over on the bedspread,
closes her eyes, and pulls light from the
table lamp into her body, using it to relax
her muscles, until she dissolves into
a river of star-shine, the three tarot
cards dancing upon a mystical horizon.
Leaving this city and the Blue Ridge
never comes easy, but Ravena
will go home tomorrow morning as
planned, because thats where she
feels she belongs at this moment,
the prophecy of the three tarot
cards already manifesting. But in
my mind, she whispers, Ill take
the rainbow, the azure mist rolling
across the mountains, and my idea
of the world. She knows everyone
in life clutches a particular idea of
the world, good or bad, following
that concept, walking a certain road.
And I will walk mine, she muses,
a path following my heart, stepping
not only to an earthly circle, but also
spinning as a planet unto myself,
blessed in the arms of the Goddess.
* * * * *
Early the next morning Ravena
pulls out of the hotel parking lot
onto the highway leading back
to Columbia, searching for a way
to say goodbye to the mountains,
their image growing smaller in her
rearview mirror with each passing
mile, and only the ringing of her
cell phone interrupts these thoughts.
On the road yet? Odell asks.
Yes, Ravena answers. About
three hours away. Odell mumbles
to his secretary and shuffles the
papers on his desk. Okay, Im back,
Odell says. Did you do the healing
spell last night? Ravena wiggles
in her seat, trying to find a more
comfortable position. I did, she
responds. What do you think?
he asks. I think its a good start,
she replies. Odell sighs with relief.
You should get here around noon,
he says. If you like, I could come
by the house, and we can go to lunch
at that vegetarian restaurant down-
town. Three crows swoop over
the highway and disappear in a field
of sun-washed goldenrod. That
would be nice, she replies. Its a
date. Odell laughs, and she realizes
it has been months since shes heard
him sound so carefree and happy.
As they hang up, she glances in the
rearview mirror, the mountains
only a faint lavender ribbon curling
across the horizon. Merry meet and
merry part, she whispers, as the sun
lifts its dazzling chin over the Blue
Ridge. And merry meet again.
Often called The Mystic Cat Poet of the Small Press, Laura Stamps is an award-winning poet and novelist.
Over seven hundred of her poems and short stories have appeared in literary journals, magazines, anthologies, and broadsides, including the Louisiana Review, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Poetry Midwest, Big City Lit, The Wheel, Poesy Magazine, American Writing, and the Chiron Review. Winner of the Muses Prize Best Poet of the Year 2005″ and the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize nomination and six Pushcart Award nominations, she is the author of more than thirty books and chapbooks of poetry and fiction.
Recent books include The Year of the Cat: New Poems (Artemesia Publishing, 2005) and a new series of novels and novellas for Wiccans and Pagans published by Kittyfeather Press: The Cat Lady: A Novel in Verse (2006) and The Tarot Cats: A Novella in Verse (2006). More information about books by Laura Stamps can be found at Kitty Feather Press
To purchase the Year of the Cat, visit Amazon Books at:
The Year of the Cat