poemtry and prose

"Huh," Lexi said.

Naomi put her hand down and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face and pushed it behind her ear as she turned to her friend. "What is it Lex?"

Lexi stood up and bend down closer at the glass case. "That deck... it looks interesting. Do you know anything about it?"

"Scoot over and let me take a looksee."

Naomi moved very close to the case. She rested her left hand on the top shelf of the book case and strained her neck so she could get a better view of the deck itself. "Hmmm...," she said. "The Windchaser Tarot. Yanno... I have never seen this deck before. And believe me, I tend to do a LOT of research on tarot decks. Like there is this one site, called aeclectic.net. Oooh boy... if we EVER get you into the tarot like I am, you are gonna be in heaven. They have all sorts of decks there. Some of them, I have never ever ever seen before. Some of them are even hand made and are not publically published. So you cannot buy them anywhere. But out of all the decks that I have seen on that site, I have NEVER seen this one posted on the site. I wonder where the Aquarian Moon got it?" She moved her body around the case so she could try and get a better look at it from the side.

"Lexi, it is still wrapped. So, I am almost postive that this deck is not used or at least not opened. Look at the bottom of the book case. Do you see a sample deck out?"

Lexi started scanning the book case. She saw a lot of books on tarot and a lot of tarot decks with a D ring through them. She started grabbing at the decks and staring at the backs. None of them featured the words Windchaser Tarot or displayed the intricate watercolor drawing of the fox whose head was nestled in it's tail.

"I do not see it here, Naomi," she said with a sigh. "Do you think they would let me open this deck to see the pictures? I mean, after all if I do get this deck, I would like to see what the images on the cards look like first before I end up spending the money. Speaking of which, do you see a price tag on the box?"

Naomi shook her head, "No actually I do not see the pick sticker on it anywhere. I wonder if this is a new deck they just put out. Why do I go and get the cashier so they can unlock the case so we can see it. After all, it IS important that you get a deck that does speak to you and one you think you are going to like and use. I would hate to see you waste your money on something you do not feel comfortable using."

She brushed off her knees and headed back out front to go get the nice cashier from the front. Lexi watched her friend leave the room and then turned her attention back to the deck. She really was not sure why it attracted her. She did like the fox on the cover but worried that it was going to be a child's deck like some of the other decks she saw as she was trying to find the demo deck. The name, also intrigued her.

"What am I doing?" she thought to herself, "Even if I got this thing I do not know what any of the cards mean or how to even read them properly. I am sure that this deck is also way too expensive for me. There is not even a price tag on it." She tried hard not to let her hopes up, so instead she turned to the book case beneath as she waited for Naomi to return. Once again, she started to scan the bookcase for maybe a beginner book. Her eyes skipped over the books that read, "21 days to Tarot Mastery," and "The Girl's Guide to Reading the Tarot,".

"Where do I even start to look for something that will teach me," she thought.

The high pitched jingling sound of keys startled her and she looked around. Naomi was behind the cleark in the purple t-shit.

"Hi there. Sorry if I scared you. Your friend here tells me that you may be interested in one of our tarot decks?" She leaned down and unlocked the case swiftly. "Which one are you interested in looking at?"

"Well, uh, this one," Lexi muttered to the clerk as she pointed at the black box with The Windchaser Tarot written on it. "I do not see a demo deck out on the shelves below and I know it is shrink wrapped but I was sorta hoping you would let me take it out of the plastic wrap so I could get a better idea of what pictures were on the cards. That is, if it is not against store policy." She held her breath while the clerk bent down to retreive the deck.

The cleark grabbed the box and smiled wide at Lexi, "I do not see why not. I know that many people do prefer to see the deck before they purchase it and quite honestly I cannot remember when we got this particular deck in. I see that it does not have a price tag or barcode on it."

The clerk streteched out her arm to hand Lexi the box. "Here you go. Feel free to open it up and give it a look over. If you decide you do not want to purchase it, just bring it up to the front and I will reshrink wrap it and place it back into the case for you. It is not any problem. Let me know when you are done." She then walked back up to the main counter. "I will see what I can do about finding out how much this costs too."

Lexi held the box in her hands. It was smooth and cool to the touch. She traced the image of the fox with her finger tips.

"Well, go ahead and open it doofus," Naomi said.

Lexi looked around and then sat back down cross-legged on the floor. She flipped the box over to take a closer look at the description on the backside. They were surprised to see that there was none on it. "That is odd," Naomi said. "Usually they come with some sort of interesting marketing catch on the backs. I guess this one may be a real unique thing. If you decide not to get it Lexi, I just may have to purchase it for my growing collection." She then smiled at her friend.

Lexi slowly took the shrink wrap off the box, careful not to destroy the corners of the box as she opened it up. In the off chance that she did not want the deck, she wanted to make sure that the deck could still be sellable.

"Well, here goes nothing," she said. "I will probably not like the images. So who knows." And then she slid the box top open. The deck slid out into her hands. The cards were long and slick but also coated with a matte finish on them. They smelled of freshly pressed paper and ink. On the backside of the card was a black, cobalt blue and grey harlequin print criss crossing the entire back of the card. It looked like it had been perfectly brushed onto the card's back with a very delicate watercolor brush held by a very sturdy hand. The colors did not blend into one another at all. Over this, and in the center was a yin yang pattern of two foxes snuggling in one another's tail. A small smile crept over Lexi's face.

"Oooh, this is cool," she said. "Have you ever seen a design like this before Naomi?"

Naomi shook her head. "Cannot say that I have really. But yeah, that is super neeto. Flip the deck over so we can see what they look like."

Lexi flipped the cards over. The first card, pictured a tall and beautiful woman wrapped in white clothes with red ribbon tied around her waist. Her arms were stretched wide out to their sides and she was leaning tip-toed off a stone gargoyle pedestal. Muted hues of blue, red and yellow dusted the background and there was a butterfly hovering near the stone hands of the gargoyle. The picture was done in the same pencil and watercolor style that also drew the fox on the box. The two girls gasped at the design. Beneath the image was a roman numeral of zero and a simple title, The Fool.

"Wow, Lexi. That is really pretty. I do not think I have ever seen a deck so beautifully done before. This is really a one of a kind deck. Let us see more."

Lexi nodded in agreement, "Oh totally. If the rest of the deck is as gorgeous as this one, I think I may just have to get it. That is, if it is in the right price range." Then she started flipping through the rest of the deck, carefully. Images of winged creatures sitting on delicate tree branches holding orbs or ribbons quickly melded into stately people perched in stone carved chairs looking down upon animals hovering nearby. Each card was more breath-taking than the last and Lexi quickly started falling in love with the deck. Some of the cards had round disks with pentagrams on them, while others had long, grey and sharply pointed swords on them. The art intrigued Lexi and each card invoked an emotional response from her, even if she did not really know what each one meant.

As if on que, the clerk returned to where they were sitting, "So, I did some research and I honestly cannot say I know where we got this deck from. However, I called my boss, the store owner and she said that she would be willing to sell it for thirty dollars. Seeing that it is relatively unique and rare. So, that is what we would be willing to sell it to you for. Of course, if you buy a book to go with it, I would be willing to maybe give you a five dollar discount. Just let me know if that sounds reasonable."

"Sold." Lexi said. "This is a really beautiful deck and yeah, I think I should get it and use it. Naomi, can you help me find a book to go with this?"

Naomi smiled and pointed to a small but growing pile of books besides her. "I have already started doing that. Take a look at this pile and see if there is anything in here you think you may like. Of course, I can also tell you what I think you should do with the deck as far as taking care of it. Cos you do not really want to keep this deck in that box. You want to wrap it in silk our put it in a special bag. It is all about developing a relationship with the deck. Take care of it and it will take care of you."

They started looking over the books. Lexi snorted as she read from one that told her that she had to bury the deck first before using the cards. "I do not think there is any way I am going to do that to this desk. So can this book." Then she grabbed another one that looked promising.

It was a fake leather, hard back. Embossed silver lettering on the cover read, "Tarot Demystified". Another black embossed tarot card was printed beneath it. Lexi opened the book and was surprised to not see a copyright or Library of Congress imprint inside it. Even more curious was that the book did not have a copyright at all. The first few pages of the book were blank and the title page also simply said, "Tarot Demystified." She skipped ahead to the table of contents and then scanned the first few chapters. The book was laid pretty straight forward. The author briefly introduced the history of the cards and artwork and occult practices surrounding the tarot. Then it went directly into describing each card and what they meant. A final section added various tarot card spreads and what the corresponding positions where. Despite not having any known author or copyright, Lexi found the text easy to follow and understand.

"I think," she said, holding the book up for Naomi to see, "I will take this one."

"You sure like the obscure things," Naomi said. "I have never seen that book before. But hey, if you like it and think you can learn from it, then by all means go for it."

Lexi smiled and turned her attention back to the tarot deck. She wanted to spend more time staring at the cards but knew that the sooner she made her purchases, the faster she could get home. "Come on, I think I am ready to check out. It is getting late and I know I want to go home and start playing around with these."

Naomi nodded, "Okay. But I also think you should get some dragon's blood incense and a few candles. I want you to light a few candles and the incense stick and then run the deck through the smoke before you really start bonding with it. That way it will cleanse any residual energy from whomever handled the deck before you got it. The candles will help add a bit of mystery and ritual to the process and get your mind into a different state."

They got up and wandered back over to the wooden table with all the candles on it. Lexi looked at all the candles on the table and grabbed a tall and sleek red candle and a short, fat white one. As they made their way back out to the front counter, they grabbed a pack of dragon's blood incense. The clerk smiled as they approached and rang the purchase up without hesitation.

"Here you go. Thank you for stopping by Aquarian Dreams. I hope that deck works out for you and if you have any problems please let us know."

They waved to the clerk and left the store as the bells gave their friendly jingle. The sun was going down and Lexi pulled her jacket around her. "Thanks for hanging out with me Naomi. I had fun. I think I am going to go home now and start playing with the cards and reading this book."

"No problem at all. I have fun talking to you. We really should hang out more often and yeah, let me know if you want some help with the cards. I will do my best to help you learn."

Lexi smiled, "Thanks. I will let you know if I need anything. Talk to you later." She waved good bye and set out for her car. She carefully set the bag with her deck and book on the passengers seat and looked at the sky blue bag with a stamped imprint of the Aquarian Dreams logo on it.

"Well, here is to a beautiful beginning. Come on, let us go home and get aquanted," she said to the deck. And then she started the engine up.