Tales of tarot

For local store owners, it’s all in the cards and the crystals.  

 

 

Gurwinder Kaur
Kicker

Amanda Dawe didn’t open her store until the cards told her to.

“Do not open your store at this point, try it in the spring otherwise it will be lonely,” Dawe said about the tarot card reading. 

She has been charmed by cartomancy since she was young. 

Cartomancy is the study of tarot cards. 

“He did not know anything about me,” said Dawe.

The reader, she said, just let the cards tell her future. 

Dawe has wanted to open a store dedicated to crystals, meditation mats, tarot books, and decks for ages. 

“Time passed and I started doing readings on a regular basis,” said Dawe. 

“My dad was very ill, and I knew it was getting close to an end.”

The cards, she said, offered her a support network.

Tarot cards first surfaced in Italy in the 1430s. There are four decks consisting of 78 cards each. Among the best known cards is the one depicting the grim reaper. It doesn’t mean death, like so many believe. The card just marks an ending. 

Heather Elliott, a tarot card reader at The Natural Emporium, has been reading the cards since she was 18.

 “This is my side hobby. It is not about the money because I have a handful of customers,” said Elliott.

The cards, for her, are about helping people find clarity in their lives.

“The younger generation is getting into tarot,” said Elliott, “It’s beautiful to see this generation embrace tarot more openly.” 

Even atheists, who believe nothing, have gotten Elliott to do card readings. 

“I have atheists in my life who use tarot as a tool to provide another perspective to the situation,” said Elliott. 

 “Do not knock it till you have tried it.”