Tarot Haiku: Four Questions

I’d been communicating a lot via haiku the last few months, so much so that my students avowed I’d begun to think in haiku. They’d point out the tell-tale twitch of my digits as I automatically parsed the syllables of my thoughts. Uncanny five-seven-five sequences would emerge quite spontaneously in a discussion of, say, vectors or parametric equations. It wasn’t quite like living inside a musical, where people arbitrarily break into song  at the odd interval, but still.

Meantime, I’ve been obsessed not just with reading cards, but reading them with grace and verve. My dear cartomantic teacher, Camelia Elias, is the past master of the “snappy reading,” short and sweet.  So I’ve been practicing this discipline of making my observations of the cards more succinct. That is to say, more poetic, for there’s nary a wasted word in a finely-crafted poem.

It seems like my fate (self-imposed or no) to live multiple lives inside this one, so I’m always pleased at any confluence of  my numerous avocations. Why not shape my readings into haiku? I thought. Three cards, three lines. Brilliant! I know I’m not the first to have this brainstorm, but it seemed like a good exercise in making each word count. Meaning I’d have to really know what I meant, and meant to say.

Since this was a practice exercise I’d set for myself I decided to use the four basic questions people ask–about love, about money, about health, and about work.

 

Will I find love?

Found her? Think again.

Eyes her career, on the move–

While you…just wander.

 

Is my money safe?

Sky’s falling–hell, no!

Whole world’s running for cover.

(Bad idea though.)

 

Am I okay?

You are well cared for.

Low energy? Think virus

From family trip.

 

Will I succeed at work?

“Helpless” kept you safe.

No longer. The money queen

Will smash your cocoon.

 

Just like a haiku, three cards become a single impression, brief yet deep.

 

Cards: Jean Noblet Tarot as reconstructed by Joseph H. Peterson, © 2016.

 

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