fandomhigh | Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Lab Four

Friday, September 29, Second Period

Once again the furniture has been rearranged. There are large comfortable pillows and cushions on the floor, and between each set of two is a low table with two decks of cards sitting on it. One deck is an ordinary set of playing cards, the other is a classical tarot deck. There are also two sets of handouts on each table. As usual, a table of tea and coffee, scones, cookies, and tea sandwiches has been provided.

"Today's exercise is on Cartomancy, or the skill of divining through cards. Cartomancy can be done using ordinary playing cards, although many people choose to use the more ornate and specialized tarot cards. You have a choice to use either one today. Once you've gotten comfortable, I want you to follow the guidelines on your handouts and do a simple reading for your lab partner. You can choose any layout you like, although you must use a minimum of three cards. If you're not certain what to choose, consider using the Celtic Cross, which is a very common layout for general readings."

HOMEWORK: One of the handouts is actually a take-home test. Please complete the test and bring with you to lab next Friday.

[OOC: The following links can be used to generate tarot readings.]
Traditional Tarot Reading #1
Traditional Tarot Reading #2
Reading using Playing Cards

Syllabus
Class Roster
Classes Linkdrop
Lab Partner List

[~~Please wait for OCD threads.~~ Class is now in session.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bel sat down. "Hey," he said.

[ooc: Bel's reading]

"Hey, man." Blair smiled and held up the cards. "Want me to do you first?"

"Sure, that works," Bel said. "Give it a whirl."

"Okay, man." Blair put the deck of cards between them. "I think you're supposed to ask a question first."

[okay, I'm completely winging it as how to do this as I've never done anything tarot-related so feel free to let me know if I'm messing this up]

Bel shrugged. "What does the future hold for me? Seems a basic enough question."

No, he wasn't apprehensive about the answer at all.

"It's a good question, man." Blair nodded and started laying out the cards. "So you're the knight of wands?"

Bel smiled a little. "Yeah, seemed appropriate," he said. "Essence of fire. The rest of it seemed like me, too, I guess."

"Cocky in attitude certainly describes you." Blair smiled. "Okay, the card for the atmosphere around the central issue is the magician card."

"But it's upside down," Bel said worriedly. He checked his notes. "Trickery, deception. The use of knowledge and skill for selfish gain or destructive purposes."

"I wonder if it would be cheating if I turned it right side up." Blair frowned. "The three of cups is good! Reflection and merriment in the company of friends and loved ones."

Blair looked at it's position in the cross and shook his head. "Uh...it's apparently the obstacle that stands in your way."

"...maybe we should just stop right here," Bel said.

"Maybe it gets better?" Blair put down a few more cards and blinked. "Uh...or not. You know, I'm thinking cookies sound good right about now."

"Cookies it is then," Bel said unhappily. He reached for a few and handed some to Blair. "So, uh, should I do you then?"

Blair took the cookies and munched on them. "Um...I'm not so sure I want to. You know what, maybe we got a bad deck! A deck of tarot-y badness. Do you want to try again with different cards?"

"Let's just skip me," Bel said hastily. "I think we've seen enough."

[ooc: *does another reading with another deck and gets one Just. As. Bad. :D *]

"No, we really should go again, man." Blair got up and brought another deck over, setting it in the middle of the table. "Maybe this time you should think really, really positive thoughts at it."

Bel looked dubious, but allowed for another reading. When the first few cards that popped up were the Devil and the Tower, however, he reached forward and scattered the deck. "No," he said firmly. "That's enough."

"You're right, man. No more tarot readings." Blair leaned back on his cushion and looked at Bel. "You okay?"

"You don't really believe in this stuff, do you?" Bel said, dodging the question. "I mean, visions like what Phoebe has are one thing, but this is just silly."

Blair eyed the scattered deck and nodded slowly. "Totally silly. No basis in reality whatsoever."

"Right?"

"Well, either that or there's lots of bad news ahead of us," Bel said half-heartedly.

"Yeah, no chance of that happening." Blair said worriedly.

"Nope," Bel said. "So, uh, reading for you, or just cookies for the rest of class?"

Blair eyed the cards and raised a cookie in a toast to Bel. "I'm thinking cookies, man. If Aziraphale has a problem, maybe we can show him our collective owies and he'll take pity on us."