www.womanthismonth.com 95 October 2013 Every morning starts the same: coffee, breakfast, blood pressure tablets, cholesterol tablets, weight loss tablets, vitamin supplements and a healthy dose of the newspaper astrology page. This past week I was saddened though when my stars said “today will be a tough one as your head is in Uranus, while your mind is in Aries.” In my youth, I sought other forms of fortune telling, all without much luck. In London in the ‘80s, I went to have my tarot cards read. The lady turned just three cards, told me it was an unclear reading and booted me out of her store. I’m guessing the cards didn’t have good news upon them, but I’ll never know. Following that I forgot about future or fortune telling for a while. I was young, what on earth did I care for the future. Life was before me, surely. Then after a bad flight back to the antipodes, I ventured to a palm reader for clarity. In my early twenties, I entrusted my palms to this teller of truth. When a palm reader looks at you, looks at your hand and then continues to turn it over looking quizzical at both sides, it can never be a good thing! Apparently she could not find the rest of my lifeline. It had according to her, already run out. It’s funny when a nurse can’t find my veins while taking blood. But when a palm reader is staring you in the eyes, telling you that your lifeline ran out years before, it’s not a comical moment. Strike two on the future telling. So, I had decided to trust in the day-today rather than the givers of hope. Into my thirties, my mother had her tea leaves read. According to her, they were about as correct as it gets. Mother and I went to the elderly tea leaf reader, enjoyed a cup of tea and then let her work her magic with our leaves. She was a wizard. In fact, the lucky numbers she gave me did give me a win and much of what she said was true. She saw things I had never mentioned. She knew things few should ever know. Thankfully, she gave me plenty of time to consider the big surprises. I still have a 10 years head start on that woman with two children hunting me down at 54. So now I’m into my forties and curious as anything about the time I have left. At best I’m halfway, at worst I’m screaming towards the finish line. Perhaps the future isn’t what it’s supposed to be anyway. I do remember someone telling me once that I would end my days on a warm sunny desert island, but I pictured something a little less desert and a little more island. Oh well, at least I have my wife to read the daily astrological pages. I just hope for the future my head stays out of unfortunately named planets and my feet stay firmly on the ground. he says Telling the Future by JAMES CLAIRE Until I got married, I thought the horoscope column in the daily paper was pure fiction. I’m still not quite sure it’s not, but my wife lives by it. So I’ve had to give in and listen to its predications every day over breakfast.
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