The future torments every student here at Wash. U. Where will we go after graduation, what will we do, and how will we feed ourselves? For guidance, some seek auguries from tarot cards, in which a reader interprets the significance of a particular deck of cards that has been imbued with the client’s energy. The readings prophesy a variety of outcomes, and some simply reveal personal significance about the client. Before you embarrass yourself, tarot rhymes with Thoreau, not carrot! Scene spoke with Crystal Lee, who operates a tarot reading room on the Delmar Loop, right next to Napps! Hair Salon.

Student Life: What exactly are tarot cards? What does your job as a reader entail?

Crystal Lee: We believe that the cards are mystical within their own right and that they tend to help you throughout your life in terms of guidance. Each card has a meaning, relating to your past, future or relationships in your life. They counsel you. I don’t predict. I read off the cards, and what the cards determine about the person is basically what comes out of the cards. We are not psychics. We don’t do any predictions, we just read what the tarot cards pick up.

SL: What do people typically cite as a reason for needing that sort of counsel or guidance?

CL: It varies. They come in, and we’ll talk about what’s happened in their life or relationships. The cards help people see things for what they are. If there’s a feeling or intuition about a person you just really don’t want to believe, that maybe that person is just no good for you but you’re giving them the benefit of the doubt, tarot cards pick up on that, and the tarot cards help explain how that person really is.

SL: Do any tarot cards mean one thing in particular? As a silly example, the ace of spades means you’ll win the lottery?

CL: It doesn’t really work that way. Some people do tend to work with regular playing cards. Some people say those were the first cards ever, in regards to tarot. I don’t read playing cards. Different decks mean different types of guidance. The Rider deck is concerned about your life in general. There’s Angel decks, which is more for personal guidance and spiritual growth.

SL: Could you walk us through the typical reading? What could a curious client expect?

CL: There’s nothing mystical or mystifying about it. You sit at a regular table, shuffle the deck, put your energy on those cards and lay the cards down. Then we read them. There’s a specific order for picking them up. You have to go to the first card laid down, and then the tenth and eleventh. They have to go in order, and it’s not just random. It matters whether your card is upside-down or not, too.

SL: What do you mean by “put your energy on those cards?”

CL: Well, shuffling. You need to shuffle your tarot cards while thinking about whatever you’re after. Do you have a particular question in mind that you want the tarot cards to pick up on? Energy is all around us, and you just apply it to the cards. You sit there quietly, not saying anything and letting the cards know what you’re after.

SL: What sort of training is necessary for this?

CL: I’m third-generation, so I grew up reading tarot cards. My great-grandmother did it, my mom did it, and I do it. They mostly did it privately for their friends and family members. We’re really good at reading those cards.

SL: Have you ever read a particularly strange or memorable card layout, such as something that unnerved or surprised people?

CL: It depends. Some people keep their emotions on the inside and are very private. When you start laying out the cards and interpreting them, they’re kind of wowed by it because it’s things they really wouldn’t talk about, and the cards pick up on it. These are things like personality traits or events that have happened within their lives.

SL: Have people ever called back to say that the cards were true?

CL: Oh, yes, all the time.