The Sorcerer's Apprentice

not the real sign but
you get the idea

Yestereday morning, crack of dawn early,I went for my regular Sunday morning errand of coffee, the Sunday Times, and perhaps a nosh of some sort.  My route is to the corner by the Catholic Church (full-up for the 7am Mass), a right and some zigging to the store.  About half way there ... well our town has a new business and they forgot to turn out the store sign last night; either that or they were competing with the Catholics up the street.

Harry Potter aside, this is an old "art" and I assume those who practice it and those who enter for a reading take it very seriously. I wonder about that. I wonder about astrologers as well and those who toss Tarot Cards and pull out Wee gee Boards.  I suppose they wonder about me but probably don't give a crap.

Years back I was conducting a church choir in one of those huge southwest mega-churches.  The city was full of "readers", to which the Bishop (Methodist, not...) tossed out the question: "If they can see the future, how come they aren't all rich"?



Susan, the wife of a very gifted violinist from my past, drew from all 
these arts and once gave me an in depth "reading" or promised to anyway. After compiling all the information, measuring my hand, tossing cards, fleshing out my horoscope etc., she invited me over for the results.  The bottom line is that she refused to tell me as the potential was "too dark".  She warned me in no uncertain terms to stay away from the occult for fear of my life and soul.  I had read Faust so readily agreed and to this day I bypass the horoscope in the daily paper. 

I guess I must, then, take this stuff seriously or otherwise I would have done as I please for the last 30 odd years. That anyone is intrigued at all shows a bit of purely human doubt or mild consideration that some of this might be real. After all, it shares a place on a block with a Catholic Church just down the street.