Mental Debugs

I got hold of a deck of Tarot cards and since it was another boring morning and I had nothing better to do, I tried doing a reading, tried because I do not have a fair grasp, or any passable knowledge for that matter, on Tarot cards, what more reading it. But there was a instructional manual that came with it, more like An Idiot’s Guide to Tarot Card Reading, so I was egged on to know what my fate was so I found myself reading, the manual that is. I’ve seen the readers, or as the manual call them the diviners, only on TV and movies with the over-the-top garb, the towering turban, the emo-ish eyeliner, the big ring and earpieces, and the crystal ball that adorn the center table. I became my own diviner, minus all that (in fact, I didn’t even have a shirt on), and I actually was excited shuffling and flipping the next 10 cards following the diagram that was on the Idiot guide, checking what the card meant in its normal and/or reversed positions and seeing for myself if these have implications in my past, present or future. The manual said a male or female questioner, the one who wants to be read, should choose the Magician or the High Priestess to represent him or her. The problem was the cards were in French and there was a translation problem with two cards: The Magician and The Fool. The Magician in the manual is Le Mage and The Fool is Le Bateluer. The newbie that I was, and since I cannot find Le Mage, chose Le Mat instead (they almost sound alike!) only to find out that it is the The Fool and that Le Mage and Le Bateluer both mean The Magician. But the manual says picking card number one may vary according to maturity, color of the skin, or the eye of the questioner. I don’t have a problem being described as The Fool as I’ve certainly been one at some point in the past, the present, and will be in the future if I can’t help it and to start everything from scratch takes the fun from the Tarot reading. So I followed the diagram as follows and became the questioner and diviner in one. (Note: The following texts to describe the 11 cards are taken from the instruction manual)

1. Le Mat/The Fool: This card represents you.
2. Le Pendu/The Hanged Man (Reversed): this card covers you. It represents the atmosphere and the influences around your problem. Reversed Position: Lack of sacrifice, failure to give one’s self, preoccupation with the ego, false prophecy, useless sacrifice.
3. Les Amoureux/The Lovers (Reversed): This card crosses you. It represents the nature of the influence of obstacles which lie just ahead of you. Reversed position: Failure to meet the test, unfaithfulness, separation, frustration in love and marriage, interference by others, fickleness, unwise plans.
4. Dix Coupes/10 Cups (Reversed): This card is beneath you. It shows the broad and basic events and influences which existed in the past and upon which the present events are taking place. (Note: This card is only read in its upright position). Normal Position: Home, happiness, cheerfulness, pleasure, peace, love, honor, esteem, virtue.
5. Deux Batons/2 Wands (Reversed): This card is behind you. It shows the most recent sphere or events which have just passed or which are just passing. Reversed Position: Sadness, trouble, loss of faith, unexpected surprise.
6. L’Empereur/The Emperor (Reversed): This card crowns you. It shows the sphere of influence that is coming into being in the near future in a broad sense. Reversed Position: Immaturity, lack of strength, indecision, failure to control petty emotions.
7. Cavalier de Coupes/Knight of Cups: This cup is ahead of you. It shows the future. Normal Position: An invitation or opportunity may soon arise, arrival, advancement, attraction, challenge, proposal.
8. Valet de Deniers/Page of Pentacles (Reversed): This card shows what you fear most. It represents all the negative aspects, fears. Reversed Position: Illogical thinking, rebelliousness, wastefulness, loss, unfavorable news.
9. Le Bateleur/The Magician (Reversed): This card represents the family and social environment. It is the sum of all opinions and influences related to your family and friends. Reversed Position: Weakness of will, ineptitude, insecurity, delay, willpower, applied to evil ends, indecision.
10. Six Batons/Six Wands (Reversed): This card represents your hopes. It is the sum of all your wishes, aspirations and ambitions. Reversed Position: Indefinite delay, fear, disloyalty, superficial benefit.
11. L’Ermite/The Hermit (Reversed): This is the final result from all previous cards together. Reversed Position: Imprudence, incorrect advice, immaturity, rashness, confusion.

So I italicized the words that the diviner in me feels are manifesting or have manifested already and pieced together what the Tarot cards meant for me. I’d have to agree that I’ve been feeling negative energy the past months and I am not surprised that most of the cards where in the reversed position. I have an idea to what some of these words from the reading (as lifted from the manual) point to: I have been under the weather lately and I will be undertaking something big in the very near future, one that I have been delaying and failing to give myself to. I am not one to believe in fortune tellers or crystal balls or Tarot cards. But for what it’s worth, I guess I could take card number 7 as a reminder of what’s ahead of me and maybe that could turn the other cards around: an invitation or opportunity may soon arise, arrival, advancement, attraction, challenge, proposal. Let’s just hope that the errors in the manual do not go far beyond The Magician and The Fool.

Earlier I had the opportunity of joining two of my friends conduct an outreach program by way of a free clinic, giving pro-bono medical check-up, a fasting blood sugar test and blood pressure reading. I was with a medical doctor and a medical representative, and the makeshift, three-hour clinic was put up near a pharmacy, the nationwide drugstore my friends are affiliated with, and the patients became the patrons who just happened to be at the right place and time. My task was as the blood pressure taker as I am in no position to prescribe medicines nor it is within my scope to administer an FBS (but judging at how the little machine was operated, it was really easy, but still the sight of blood makes me cringe!). Sure enough, after a few minutes of setting up the clinic, we became busy as a beaver.

It feels great to give back to the community even if during those three hours I was just the blood pressure taker. Of course, I could not offer my physical therapy services in such a setting and referrals are needed, too, from physicians to plan and implement a physical therapy management. It is funny to note that some Filipinos, when they see a BP apparatus from someone who they believe knows how to operate one, willingly offer up their arms to check if their pressure is within normal limits; some even do so out of curiosity. I’ve had otherwise young and active individuals have their BP taken and almost always getting the 120/80 mmHg reading, but there were a few whose pressure was beyond the norm. My med rep friend even took the FSB of a seemingly healthy young man only to have the results skyrocket from the acceptable range of 80 to 120 mg/dL, a whopping 284! It is in moments like this that an outreach activity like this becomes all-too important.

Giving back to the community may not be carried out by just three persons who put up a makeshift clinic in front of a pharmacy to give free medical services. It could be initiated by a single person who aims to educate the youth even with a classroom on wheels, or by someone acting as creditors for the marginalized family to micro-finance a business however miniscule it is in its nature. By individuals who dedicate their lives to fight and uphold the rights of women and children, of the otherwise under-represented, the oppressed, the voiceless. It could take the form a community helping another community or a country giving out whatever resources it could, either monetary or its manpower, in times of dire needs, as is the case of the recent Japanese great quake and tsunami. Or it could just be by a medical doctor giving pro-bono services, or a med rep who went out of her way to offer FBS tests, or by a physical therapist turned three-hour BP reader. However small the deed, to the individuals who just learned that his blood sugar level is abnormal or the young man whose BP reading was 160/100, it may have meant something more.