by Isobel Bird
“Who was that?”
Her aunt put an arm around Annie’s shoulder. “Nobody really,” she said, but Annie noticed that she put the woman’s card away quickly.
“Are you sure?” Annie asked cautiously.
“Mmm-hmm,” her aunt said, walking toward the door.
But Annie didn’t believe her.
CHAPTER 3
“Selling the house?” Cooper said. “Why would your aunt do that?”
“I’m not sure,” Annie said. “The reading I did about her showed some kind of change and something about work and career. Maybe that’s it.”
“She’s lived in the house for years,” Kate pointed out. “I can’t believe she would sell it. It’s like part of the family.”
“Have you asked her about this?” asked Cooper doubtfully.
“She said the woman was someone who wanted her to do some freelance writing for a website,” Annie replied. “But I think she was lying. She’s acting really strange. I got the impression that she wished I hadn’t seen that woman talking to her.”
It was Tuesday night. The girls were sitting in the back room of Crones’ Circle, waiting for everyone to arrive for their weekly class. Annie had just finished telling them about a Tarot reading she’d done the night before after her attempts at prying information out of her aunt had failed. The cards had distinctly shown that some big change was coming. Putting two and two together, Annie had decided that Marcia Reeves must be a real estate agent and that her aunt was planning on selling the house.
“After all,” she said to Cooper and Kate, “she did say how beautiful the house was. And she asked Aunt Sarah to call her when her plans were more definite. That sounds like real estate agent talk to me.”
“But you can’t move!” Kate wailed. “What will we do?”
“You guys sound like everything is in boxes and the truck is waiting outside,” said Cooper. “Shouldn’t you wait and see what happens? Maybe your aunt really is just doing some work for that woman. What’s weird about that?”
Annie started to say something, but further discussion of the subject was ended as the others arrived and Archer began the class.
“We’ve spent the past few classes becoming familiar with the different cards in the Tarot deck,” she said. “You know that there are two components to the Tarot, the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana and the fifty-six in the Minor Arcana. So far we’ve worked with doing simple readings using all seventy-eight cards. Tonight we’re going to focus on just the Major Arcana. So take your decks and separate those cards out.”
Annie opened her box of cards and removed them. She began shuffling through, pulling out the cards of the Major Arcana and putting them in a separate pile. Finding them was easy. The Minor Arcana cards came in four suits, sort of like a regular pack of cards but with different symbols on them—the hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds replaced by cups, rods, swords, and pentacles. The cards of the Major Arcana, however, were all different. Instead of the Two of Swords or the Seven of Rods, they had names like the Hermit, the Hanged Man, and Temperance, and each featured a distinctly different picture.
“Once you have the Major Arcana cards all pulled out, I’d like you to arrange them in order,” Archer said. “You’ll see that each one has a number on the top or bottom, depending on what kind of deck you have, so lining them up should be easy.”
Annie put the cards in two rows of eleven cards each. One card, the Fool, had a zero on it, and she wasn’t sure where to put it.
“Does the Fool go at the beginning or the end?” she asked.
Archer smiled. “Good question,” she responded. “The answer is that he goes at both the end and the beginning. The cards of the Major Arcana tell a story, and the Fool is the main character.”
Archer held up the Fool card, which depicted a carefree man walking along a road. “See how he’s setting out on a journey?” she continued. “Think of the Major Arcana as the road he walks. Each card represents something he experiences on his trip. It could be a lesson he learns or a person he meets. Each one brings him closer and closer to understanding what it is he’s set out to find, until he reaches the twenty-first card, the World. That card represents cosmic understanding and the completion of the journey. But that doesn’t mean the Fool is finished learning or finished walking the path. Learning is a continuous process, so he starts all over again. That’s why his number is zero. He’s always on the path, never precisely at the beginning or the end.”
“Sort of like our year and a day,” Cooper commented.
“Exactly,” said Archer. “You all committed yourselves to studying Wicca for a year and a day. You’re like the Fool, moving from lesson to lesson, experience to experience. Like him, you’re probably encountering a lot of different challenges. Once your year and a day is over you’ll have completed one journey, but you’ll also begin another one. Knowing where you are on your particular journey can be very helpful. That’s what the reading we’re going to do tonight is designed to focus on.”
Annie knew basically what all of the Tarot cards stood for, but she’d never really thought about the Major Arcana telling a story before. Now she looked at the cards with renewed interest. If each one represented a step on the Fool’s journey, where was she on the path? Was she far ahead, or was she still at the very beginning? She felt as if she’d been through a lot of things in the months since her dedication ceremony, but she’d never really had a way of measuring her success. Now maybe she would.
“How do we do the reading?” she asked Archer, anxious to get started.
“It’s very simple,” Archer said. “Take the cards and mix them up. Shuffle them really well. As you do, think about your own journey. Picture yourself walking on a path, and ask the cards to show you what lies ahead. Then, when you think you’re ready, spread the cards out in front of you facedown. Concentrate on them and see which one you’re attracted to. That’s the one you turn over and look at.”
Everyone began shuffling their decks, and the room was filled with the gentle sound of the cards sliding over one another. Annie gathered up her Major Arcana cards and did the same thing. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself walking along a path through a forest. While sun poured down through the leaves of the trees, turning everything green and gold, she couldn’t see what was ahead of her because the path twisted and turned so much.
Show me what lies ahead, she asked silently.
She shuffled the cards for a few minutes, then spread them out in front of her. Opening her eyes, she looked at them, hoping one would attract her more than the others. To her surprise she was drawn to one almost immediately. The pattern on the backs of all the cards was the same, but something about one of the cards made her want to pick it up. She reached out and took it from the row, gathering the other cards together but not turning over the one she’d selected.
“It looks like you’ve all picked your cards,” Archer said, scanning the room. “Why don’t you turn them over.”
Annie hesitated for a moment. For some reason, she was a little bit afraid of seeing which card she’d taken. What if it was something she didn’t like? What if it was a card that made her scared or unhappy? She felt almost like she did whenever she got a report card at school, as if she was being graded on her performance. Whatever card she’d selected, it said something about how she was doing on her journey, and she wanted it to be something good.
Everyone else was looking at their cards, and Annie knew she had to look sooner or later. She flipped hers over and gazed at the picture. It was the Moon. She couldn’t recall ever having drawn that particular card before. Now she sat and looked at it carefully.
The card showed a full moon hanging above a body of water. A dog sat on the shore looking up at the moon and baying. Coming out of the water was a crablike creature. Looking at the picture, Annie felt a mixture of excitement and fear. What did the card mean? She tried to remember from her reading.
“What did you get?” Cooper asked, looking over at Anni
e’s card.
Annie showed her the Moon card and looked at the one Cooper was holding. “The Magician,” she said.
Cooper frowned. “It’s only number one on the list,” she said. “I wonder if that means I haven’t gotten very far.”
“Not at all,” Archer said, overhearing Cooper’s comment. “The number has very little to do with anything. The card simply represents some aspect of your own journey. Your card, Cooper, is a very interesting one. The Magician represents several things, and one of them is the use of psychic powers and learning how to master them.”
Cooper thought about her recent experiences with contacting a murdered girl through dreams and visions. It had been a difficult time, but she had learned a lot because of it. Most important, it had made her feel closer to the Goddess and more comfortable with her own abilities. Looking at things that way, the Magician card really did represent her latest step along the path.
“What about mine?” Annie asked, showing Archer the Moon card in her hand.
“The Moon is a difficult card to read sometimes,” Archer said. “It’s a card of mystery. See how the dog is barking and the creature is coming out of the water? They’re drawn to the moon in the same way that the tides are. They can’t help it. The moon draws out those things which are hidden and forces us to look at them.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Annie asked.
“You’ll have to figure that one out on your own,” Archer answered. “That’s the whole point of this kind of reading. What I would like you each to do is meditate on the card you’ve chosen during the coming week. Think about how it applies to the journey you’re on. See what it means to you personally.”
Annie began to open the guidebook that went with her Tarot deck. She wanted to see what definition it gave for the Moon card.
“Try not to rely on your guidebooks,” Archer said, seeing what she was doing. “One of the most important things to remember about the Tarot is that the cards don’t always mean one set thing. They’re simply suggestions. Your job as a Tarot reader is to understand what they mean to you and how each one fits in with the others. If you try to do readings using rigid meanings, you’re not going to get good results.”
“What if you got a bad card?” a man behind Annie said.
“What card would that be?” Archer asked him.
The man held up a card with a picture of the devil on it.
“Ah, old Nick,” Archer said. “What do you think he means?”
“Well, he’s the devil,” the man replied warily. “That can’t be good.”
Archer laughed. “No,” she said. “He’s not particularly good. But he also doesn’t mean what you probably think he means. Remember, in witchcraft there is no heaven and hell. There’s also no devil in the sense that most of us are used to thinking of him. In the Tarot the Devil represents being overly concerned with things of the world, as opposed to things that are spiritual. He is the one who tempts the Fool to stray from the path, to abandon his journey and settle for the pleasures of the world when there are more important things to discover. The Fool has to overcome him and move on in order to progress. Does that make a little more sense?”
The man nodded. “I still don’t like him, though,” he said, earning laughs from the rest of the class.
For the rest of the class they discussed the different cards of the Major Arcana and what they represented. It was interesting to see which cards different people had drawn. Several people, including Kate, had chosen the Fool. Archer gave suggestions to each person for working with her or his card, and then it was time to go home. Annie took the bus back with Cooper and Kate.
When she went inside, she found her aunt sitting in the living room writing something in a notebook. When Sarah saw Annie, she quickly shut the notebook.
“You’re home early,” she said.
“Just a few minutes,” Annie replied. “Are you working on something?”
“Oh, no,” her aunt said. “Just making a grocery list.”
Once more Annie found herself doubting her aunt’s statement. She never made grocery lists. When they shopped they simply bought what seemed interesting or what they felt like cooking. And whatever she’d been writing in the notebook, she clearly didn’t want Annie to see it. Annie was tempted to ask her aunt what was going on, but she had a feeling that if she did she would just get another one of her aunt’s nonanswers. Instead, she decided to go up to her room and try a different approach.
“I’m really beat,” she said. “I guess I’ll turn in. Good night.”
“’Night,” her aunt said. “Sleep tight.”
Annie walked up the stairs to her room, her mind racing. Her aunt was definitely acting oddly. She was hiding something, and Annie was sure she knew what it was. But why would her aunt sell the house? And why was she being so secretive about it? She’d never hidden anything from Annie before. But now Annie felt as if she were trying to open a door that was locked from the other side.
After getting ready for bed, Annie shut the door to her room and went to sit in front of the altar she’d created for her own use. Like the one she, Cooper, and Kate had made for their rituals, her personal altar contained items that meant something to her. Now she added the Moon card to the altar, placing it in front of the white candle she lit when she did her meditations.
She lit the candle and sat down, making herself comfortable. Archer had suggested meditating about their cards, and she tried to do that. She looked at the image of the moon and attempted to focus her attention on it. But her eyes kept wandering away from the card to another item on her altar.
It was a picture of herself, her aunt, and her little sister, Meg, standing on the steps of the house. It was summer, and the blue morning glories that climbed up the porch railing were all in bloom. The three of them were smiling, and Meg was waving at the camera.
Annie remembered the day the photo was taken. It was the summer after she and Meg had come to live with Aunt Sarah. The change had been the hardest for Annie, and it had taken her a while to accept that her parents really were dead and that they weren’t coming back. She had spent a lot of time crying in her room. But for some reason that day had been different. Her aunt had made a special picnic lunch for the three of them. They’d eaten it in the garden, and Annie could still recall the way the warm wind had made her feel happy to be alive and how excited Meg had been watching the bees and the butterflies moving from flower to flower as the three of them ate and had a good time. For the first time since her parents’ deaths, she’d felt like it was okay to enjoy herself. A neighbor had taken the picture of them standing in front of the house, and Annie had framed it. Every time she looked at it, she was reminded that the house was her home and that she was safe there.
Only now she feared that her home was in danger of being taken away from her. If that happened, it would mean another huge change. She couldn’t imagine living somewhere else. Even worse, she couldn’t imagine not living near Kate and Cooper anymore. She’d never had real friends before. She’d spent most of her time alone, reading. But now she had friends she liked being with. And not just Kate and Cooper. There was also the Wicca class and everyone she knew because of her involvement in the Craft. What would she do if that was all gone?
She knew she had to say something to her aunt. She’d always been able to talk to Aunt Sarah about anything. This shouldn’t be any different. If she had questions, she should ask them, and now was the time to do it. Getting up, she left her bedroom and went down the stairs to the kitchen, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to.
When she came to the bottom of the steps, she heard her aunt’s voice. She was talking to someone. There was no one in the house besides Annie and Meg, so Annie knew she was talking to someone on the phone. She paused, trying to hear what was being said.
“That’s great,” she heard her aunt say. “And you’re sure you have the key?”
There was silence as the person on the other end answ
ered. Then Annie’s aunt gave a little laugh.
“I know it’s all very last minute,” she said. “I didn’t know it was going to happen until last week, when I got the call. No, I haven’t told her yet. I want it to be a surprise.”
She’s talking about me, Annie thought to herself. But who was she talking to?
“I can’t wait to see the space,” her aunt said. “I’ll be there Friday afternoon to take a look. Thanks for arranging everything.”
She hung up. Annie sat on the stairs wondering what to do. There was no doubt in her mind now. Her aunt was looking at a new house. And she sounded so excited about it. How could she? Didn’t the house they all lived in together mean anything to her? And why was she keeping her plans a secret from Annie? Did she think she wouldn’t be able to handle it?
Thinking about it made Annie both sad and angry. She wasn’t a little kid. There was no reason why her aunt couldn’t include her in such a huge decision that was going to change her entire life. Part of her wanted to storm into the kitchen and demand to know what was going on.
But another part of her wanted to wait and see what happened. After all, all she knew was that her aunt was going to look at another house. She didn’t know where it was or anything. Maybe, she thought, she wouldn’t be moving away from Kate and Cooper after all. Maybe they were just moving to another house in Beecher Falls. That would be upsetting, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Her aunt had never done anything to hurt her before, so why should Annie be so suspicious now?
She went back and forth, trying to decide what to do. She was torn between just asking her aunt straight out what was going on and keeping quiet. She was afraid that if she asked, her aunt would think that she’d been spying on her. If she didn’t ask, however, she might not get to tell her aunt how she felt about moving. But would her aunt even care? She seemed to be determined to do whatever it was she was doing, and she’d basically said that she wanted to keep Annie out of it. That’s what really upset Annie. But maybe now wasn’t the time to say anything. It was late, and she was mad. If she said something now, she might regret it later.
