Page 11 of Sugar and the Skeptic
“Seriously?” I ask, practically running to follow after her.
“You say that like it shocks you.”
“Well, you said you read Tarot for people. I’d think believing in soulmates was part of the deal.”
“I said Iusedto not be sure. Now, I know that soulmates exist in many shapes and forms. What I think your sisters-in-law believe they’ve found is their twin flame—their other half.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No. See, you can have a multitude of soulmates in your lifetime. They’re the people who come into your life and light you up from the inside. They teach you something about yourself and help guide you on your journey, but you’re two separate entities. A twin flame is your literal other half. You can be complete opposites, but you exist for each other because together you are one whole.”
“Kind of like a ying and yang.”
She sets the pot next to the sink in the kitchen and smiles at me over her shoulder. “Yeah. Kind of like that.”
“And how do you know if you’ve met one of these…twin flames?”
“Well, there is only one of them. And the way you know, is much the way your family describes it. Something inside you just knows. Here,” she moves over to the corner of the kitchen and picks up a purple silk bag before returning to me, “take those out and give them a shuffle for me.”
When she places the bag on the counter in front of me, I don’t even have to open it to know what’s going on. “You want to read my cards?”
“Sure. Let’s find out if you’ve met your twin flame or not.”
“How can a deck of cards tell me that?”
She meets my eyes and smiles sweetly, nudging the silk bag a little closer. “How about you quit being a skeptic for just a minute? Open your mind and let’s just see what comes of it.”
I let out a sigh. “OK,” I say, picking up the bag and loosening the drawstring. “I’ll do it. But I don’t have to listen to whatever they say.”
“That’s fine. Card readings are simply a form of guidance, anyway. I like to think of them as a counseling session with the universe. All the answers are already inside you, these cards just help to draw them out.”
When the cards slide out into my hand, they’re bright and colorful with worn gold edging. “Looks like you’ve had these a while.”
“It’s my favorite deck.”
“You have more than one set?” I ask as I shuffle.
“Of course. Some decks are just for me, and some I share with others.”
“Like this one.”
She smiles. “Concentrate on your perfect mate.”
“OK,” I say, closing my eyes and trying to conjure such a thing. It’s almost impossible, because with her standing so near, she’s the only thing I can think of, the only thing I can see. But I focus on the words instead, holding a question about soulwinks and twin flames in my mind before I stop and open my eyes again. “Is that enough?”
“It’s enough when it feels like it’s enough,” she says, holding out her hand for me to place the deck in her palm. “OK. I’m going to pull seven cards out and as I flip them over, they’re going to tell us a little more about your twin flame journey. Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” I say, watching as she lays the cards out one at a time.
She flips the first which shows a picture of a family standing in front of a house with a bunch of cups over their heads.
“Ten of cups reversed,” she says. “Seems your twin flame is someone who loves family, but doesn’t have one of their own, or maybe struggles to get along with the one they have.” She flips over the next card. “Nine of wands. They’ll test your boundaries, and it may take a great act of courage from you to get what you need from them.”
When she flips the next card, a woman standing with a bird in her hand, she pauses for a moment and I realize I’ve become so absorbed in her reading that I'm desperate to understand what she sees. “What?”
She licks her lips. “Nine of Pentacles in reverse. She’s deeply insecure and perhaps puts too much focus in the wrong areas. She doesn’t believe in her worth.” She moves on to the next one, and it’s another upside down one. A man holding a staff. “Page of Wands. Also in reverse. You’re getting in your own way. The beliefs you have are hampering your ability to fully connect, and…” she flips the next card, “if you can push your thoughts and fears aside, you’ll be stepping into abundance. This card here, the Ace of Pentacles, is like your green light. It’s a sign that says that everything you truly want is right in front of you if you’ll just allow yourself to reach for it. But to do that…” She flips a card that shows a woman holding a cup with a fish in it. It’s upside down. “You have to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. The page of cups in reverse is telling you that you’re not listening to your intuition, and this final card”—she flips it—“the ten of swords confirms that it’s your own ego that’s likely to ruin this for you. Your twin flame could be standing right in front of you, wanting everything you want, but they could slip through your fingers because your ego is refusing to listen to what your heart and soul knows.” She looks up at me, ready to continue, but the knot in my chest doesn’t need her to. I can finish this reading for myself.
“That soulwinks exist,” I whisper, locking eyes with her and knowing somewhere deep down inside me that everything she just said to me is true. I’ve never been one to believe in any sort of woo, but standing here and watching Sugar read a bunch of cards and tell me a truth I’ve been fighting to deny since she walked into my life is mind blowing.
