Last night at Navin and Poorna’s cozy little New Year’s Eve gathering I had my first Tarot card reading. Navin did three-card readings for anyone who were up for it, and it was an interesting deck - not major arcana but a more eclectic version with cards such as Ordinariness and Nothingness. Everyone was real curious to see what their Past, Present and Future would say about them (hence the three cards), and it seemed to me that all the readings did hold true for their subjects. Deep stuff though.

My favourite reading was Nisa’s whose Present card was Laziness - Navin foretold her having drainage problems. Emotionally, I mean, not literally (at least, I hope not).

And what was my reading? My Past, Present and Future cards were, respectively: Stress, We Are The World, and Beyond Illusion. The Stress card was a picture of a circus clown trying to juggle twenty objects at one time while precariously perched upon a huge balloon. Next to him was a monkey holding a long, sharp pin, ready to prick the balloon at a moment’s whim. It looked like it knew what it was doing.

But apparently the clown (and by extension, me) did not. A metaphor for trying to juggle twenty different projects or such in real life, while not having any connection to them, not internally anyway. I can try to manipulate these things externally but without a certain readiness inside, it ain’t gonna work.

Beyond Illusion meant 2007 was a year for me to be wholly honest with myself, to face my reality before me, and lead a fact-based life. The card that really threw me was We Are The World - it’s a sign of my humanity (hilarious as I consider myself the most inhumane and happily anti-social bastard around, but, you know, in a good way) and how I am handling things, and how my actions have effects on my surroundings. (Did I get that right, Navin?)

I can’t honestly claim I even understood half of that one reading, but Nisa says it’s very true of what I have been going through and the steps I’m taking of late to re-centre my life. Re-examine my priorities, as it were. Yes, well, like I said, deep stuff.

On a lighter note, it’s fascinating how everyone remembered Nisa getting pissed drunk last New Year’s Eve and how no one was prepared for me to have guessed Navin’s rather esoteric description of the word “Snowball” in a high-tension game of classic Taboo.