Most of the tarot cards faced the woman doing my reading, but one faced me. Death was my first card.

I am willing to take a few leaps of faith regarding what I do and do not believe. I believe in fairies and ghosts, but I can’t believe a bunch of cards can predict my future. However, the idea intrigued me – that’s how I found myself at Ashley Psychic Readings.

The place was a home; that much was clear from the numerous framed pictures. The waiting area in the front had some couches and a couple of teen girl magazines on the coffee table. Angels, some on a vase and a couple in a painting on the wall, were the only other notable objects in the area.Purple walls and a glass cabinet full of bottles marked “Love” and “Holy Water” were the first things I saw once I was inside the room in which the reading would take place. A white dress hung on the wall, but the woman who greeted me at the door was dressed quite normally in slacks and a sweater.

“Place your left hand on top of the cards and make a wish. Then say your first name and your date of birth,” said the woman doing my tarot card reading. Once I had done as she asked, she began to deal out the cards. Death was my first card. She quickly reassured me that my death card did not equate to a physical death.

Other cards were dealt: a few celestial bodies and nature images. According to a card of a woman and a card with a tree on it, I shall be changing my residence by the end of the year. My parents will probably be happy to hear that.

Predictably, since I had no particular love in my life, I was told that I was holding back from moving to the next step with a handsome boy in my theater class with whom I exchange smiles. According to the cards, my diffidence should be given up, and I should make an effort to get to know him. I might just do that and see how it goes. Of course, my friends have been saying the same thing ever since I mentioned the boy to them.

Change was the main theme in my reading. Everything she talked about was something that every 18-year-old kid goes through, until she asked me a surprising question.”Do you have a female cousin in your age bracket up north? Maybe one with darker hair?”

I replied that I did, on my mother’s side. Apparently, that wasn’t the right cousin. She was referring to a cousin on my father’s side of the family to whom I am not close. She seemed to think that this cousin and I would be doing something together that involved education. I couldn’t imagine what, but I did store that fact away for use at a later date.

At the end of the reading, I could ask anything I liked. As one of my best friends and I were having issues with communication, I wanted to know if this would be resolved with our friendship intact. Sadly, this was predicted to be a waste of time because I’ve done all I can do.

The things the unnamed woman told me were things that I already knew. However, she shouldn’t have known any of them. As I left, I found myself mulling over the predictions the lady had given me. Whether time proves this psychic right or wrong, she instilled enough confidence in me to keep her words fresh in my mind. I guess I do believe, after all.