another little piece of the story...
i had intended to bring a tarot deck to use in my personal part of this weekend's ritual, but i absent-mindedly left it home
last night, while pondering what i'm going to say/do (i always do my homework at the last possible minute), i decided i will invoke a goddess to assist in my ritual re-birth. under consideration were two Celtic godesses (Frigg and Hel), but i also considered The Empress from the tarot
i found two stores, very close to me, that were likely places to pick up a new deck. The Black Market opened at 10a, so i went there first. they had no tarot, but they steered me towards the other place i had already pinged, Neighborhood Witch General Store. but they didn't open until 11a, and i wasn't sure i had the time to wait. but i did
immediately upon asking at the counter if they had tarot cards, a young fella with a gleam in his eye, thrust out his hands and offered me the deck he had been holding/shuffling. he was joking, of course, but then led me to the cards shelf. alas again, no tarot, only various oracle decks. he saw my disappointment and said, if it's important, i really will give you this deck
had he not made the initial gesture of offering me the cards out of his hands, i would have thanked him for his kindness, and refused to take his personal cards from him. but that first spontaneous moment where he shot his hands out in offering, was one of the signs i've been talking about being more open to... so i accepted
i briefly explained what i am here to do, but i also was on the verge of bawling, so i awkwardly thanked him, and left, because i'm not comfortable being that vulnerable in a public setting. i doubt that i will be able to return the deck to him, because of the tight weekend schedule, and needing to be at the airport Monday morning
his name is Balou (no idea if that's how it is spelled), so this is a shout out to him and acknowledge his gracious spirit and generosity. i will be thanking him by name during the ritual
but wait, there is more. there is always more...
i'm in my room, making a quick pitstop between errands, and i thought i'd draw a card. i shuffled three times, and cut three times. typically i would draw the top card after this, but there was one card lower in the deck sticking out just a bit, so i grabbed it instead...
