A friend of mine (Keith) asked me to help him out by reading tarot at a fundraiser for one of the local theatre companies. What an interesting little event that turned out to be. The fundraiser theme itself appeared to be a Mardi-gras thing. There was music, gambling, drinking, and circus performers doing juggling and hoola-hoop-girl things.

So of course, they need a tarot guy. Not 2 seconds after I sat down was I accosted by someone who wanted a reading. Hell, I barely got the cards out really. My expectation was that I would be thrown into some silent hallway, and I would be giving a few readings here and there, but really I would just get to keep reading DiceMan. How horribly wrong I was.

After about the 2nd reading I had a line up of 5 people, after about the 3rd, I realized that I had to streamline the process, otherwise I would have a party of drunken aging 40 yearolds in beaded necklaces chanting "We want our future!" . Now is that a good image?

Now usually, I go with a 16 card "astro" spread. The spread itself doesn't really have much to do with astrology, except that you have 12 positions (with 4 positions having 2 cards) and each position has a meaning that correspond with an astrological house. It is an excellent spread to use, and extremely versatile, but because of the sheer number of cards, it makes for a long reading.

So the line is getting longer and longer, and as my friend Keith puts it: "I wandered through the first time and wondered why chairs were set up in such a weird spot. then I saw you in the corner and my brain did a little 'zoom out thing' and I was all "holy crap! that's a line for Jonnay!" And some pretty heavy-hitters waiting too.". Who exactly are the "heavy hitters"? Well...

"two board members, one of the event committee, [and] my former boss who is now a top-dog at the Stampede". Wow. (For those that don't know, the Stampede is Calgarys little summer celebration of beef, machismo and drugstore cowboys, with carnies thrown in for good measure).So, I refactored another layout I do, a simple 6 card reading. (details to your left) Generally I chose "The problem" to represent a particular issue that the individual needed solving.

For the most part, the readings were pedestrian. Given the crowd there was a lot of "The nest is emptying, and you need to come to terms with the fact that retirement is here, and your life is changing again." If I talk too much about it all, I will end up breaking my "Don't talk about the reading" rule. So I won't.

But After the first hour it was murder. MURDER. There was no break, and constantly a lineup of at least 8 people until the very end. It was even worse, because the food table was a mere 10 feet away, and I couldn't break to get a bite.

Luckily I was able to get food at the very end. Unfortunately I kept my friends Kris and Karen (who were giving me a ride home) waiting for half an hour. They claim it was okay, because they were enjoying the Flamsanity that has gripped this one horse town. I'm still sorry though.

One very interesting thing was that I met an Alternative High Alumnus. She seemed like a cool person.