An Experiment

A wonderful Arcana Stones mad scientist originated this idea:  instead of dropping stones on the houses, why not drop them on cards?  After all, not all tarotists know the houses of astrology, but they know the cards.  I refined the idea to dropping on minor arcana cards only, so the stone and card combination would be a major-minor pair.  And then she did me one better–use Lenormand cards instead of tarot cards!

 

Since this is an experiment, I decided to read for a fictional character.  I watched Show Boat last night, so my question is:  Whatever happened to Julie?  (She was forced to leave the show boat because she was a black woman passing for white and married to a white man.  Later, abandoned by her husband and in an alcoholic haze, she relinquishes her job as a singer in Chicago to her young friend from the show boat, Nolie, who had also been abandoned by her husband.  In the end, she arranges the joyful reunion of Nolie and her husband and their return to the show boat, only asking that he never tell Nolie of her degraded condition.) 

 

This is the reading.  (The deck is Lenormand Reloaded (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/lenormand-reloaded-special-edition.)

 

 

12-Sodalite-Hanged One on the Cross.  This rather pointedly refers to the sacrifice that Julie made.  Her suffering (Cross) gave her great compassion for Nolie’s similar predicament.  She willing gave up (Hanged One) her job so that Nolie would be able to support herself.  In a reversal (Hanged One) of usual values, she feels that Nolie was more worthy of a job and a renewed relationship than herself, already on the path of self-destruction. 

 

11-Aventurine-Justice on the Tower.  The Tower in Lenormand is kind of the opposite of the Tower of tarot.  It’s all about longevity and stability, and also isolation (like the Hermit).  This combination follows the ideas of the first one.  Julie feels that the best thing she can do (Justice) is remain isolated and hidden (Tower).  On the other side of Justice, Julie became an instant outcast (Tower) through no fault of her own, but through the action of an unjust law and cruel law enforcement officers. 

 

So far, the reading is tracking with what we already know from the movie, not the future.  Perhaps the last combination will give us a clue of what happens to Julie.

 

13-Mahogany Obsidian-Death on the Book.  Reading in the (seemingly facile) Lenormand style, it looks like Julie took her secret (Book) to her death.  The Book might also say that, as she did in the movie, she keeps track of the (now happy again) family through the newspaper articles about forthcoming show boat performances. 

 

In summary, while devastated that she is isolated from her friends and family for life, Julie is not sorry for the sacrifices she made.  She remains in the shadows, as she is in the final scene of the movie, but is comforted, and perhaps not quite as self-destructive, for the rest of her life by knowing she gave her all to promote the happiness of the people she loves.

 

Let me know what you think about my experiment!