A Storm Is Brewing...

And not just the 2016 presidential election. I mean a literal storm is brewing, in the sky above my house. There will be lightning before long.

But about that election...

I know well the trouble with using tarot to predict the outcome of an election. Or predicting too far in advance. How could I forget Bush v. Gore, when I had been reading the cards every day for months? It had come up Gore every time - until the day of the election itself. Then the cards wouldn't read at all. They wouldn't even shuffle. They had suddenly become slippery, and I knew something was amiss.

Call me crazy, but I had the unnerving feeling that some invisible hand had reached in and changed things - changed the channel, as it were. Or (tarot being what it is) had altered the probablities. I was down at the corner shop when FOX news called Florida for Bush way too early. (Of course it had to be at the corner shop, because no way were we watching FOX news at my house.) I walked back home, shaking my head, because it was obvious something was off. Well, we all know what happened after that.

With this in mind, I've been hesitant to do too much forecasting in regard to this year's election. Not that I've done none - are you kidding? This contest is making me very nervous, so of course I have - but am showing admirable restraint.

First I read for the conventions, because I was worried there would be danger there. The cards showed nothing you wouldn't expect, and - proving that I'm not much a psychic without the medium of the cards - showed that Trump would become the Republican nominee. I'd thought for sure the GOP would give him the bum's rush. The outlay for Clinton showed her in a very strong position. So far, so good.

The next time I felt anxious enough to do a political reading was Monday night, before the first debate. I was anxious, but there was the benefit of knowing the outcome in a couple of hours. The layouts were interesting. I won't bother with all the details, just the striking ones.

The majority of Clinton's cards were strong (the high priestess, strength, the ace of swords etc.) and in the future position, the magician in the upright position. The reading for Trump, on the other hand, was mostly weak, from a political standpoint - (the devil, five of wands, seven of wands reversed). Most striking: in the future position, he also had the magician, but reversed. So far, it was pretty clear - it looked like Hillary Clinton was going to open a can of Whoop-ass on Donald Trump.

That's why the final outcome card in each reading was so strange. (final outcome meaning the debate, not the election.) For her, it was the three of swords, for him, the nine of cups, otherwise known as the wish card. Say what? Clinton would win, but be emotionally distressed, Trump would lose but be triumphant?

Then I realized my mistake. I was reading the reactions of the candidates themselves. It was entirely possible that Clinton might win, but feel less than great emotionally. Trump might lose, but feel that he won - or get what he wanted from the debate, anyway. It occurred to me, too, that Trump might want to lose because he doesn't really want to be president. He might want to run for president, but not actually want the job. 

Regardless, I realized what I really needed to know is what the public perception of the debate would be. I threw down a quick couple of yes/no readings. Would the majority of people watching the debate feel that Clinton won? 6 up - definite yes. I asked the same for Trump. 5 down 1 up - so most people would say  no but a small percentage would say yes.

I laid out a full reading. What would be the majority opinion about this debate? The final card was most telling: the king of wands, reversed. Ah, so Trump would bring out his blustering, authoritarian side. It had been something the papers had been wondering about all week. I wasn't so sure myself. The presidential debates are high stakes, surely he wouldn't go that route.

But the cards are right far more often than I am. It only took about 15 minutes for them to be proved correct. By midnight, all reports showed the reading had been spot on.

Again, so far, so far, so good. But I will continue to exercise restraint. No reading for the election itself until it draws closer. I will do another reading before the next debate and time permitting, throw them up on the blog.

We shall see.

Carnivalia

 It's county fair and carnival time again - at the proper time of year, not Winter, like Victoria (seriously, Victoria,WTF?) No, it's after a long hot summer that communities traditionally gather to judge each other's vegetables, sheep and pies. Also to blow wads of cash on midway games.

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After visiting the petting zoo and the art display (where my son took home first prize - congratulations L.!) we rushed to hit our favorite part, the carnival.

One may reasonably wonder why, at my advanced age, I'm still enamored of thrill rides. Well, there's no instantly transformative experience like defying gravity. The moment I think I'm too old for carnival rides will be the moment I'm officially no fun any more. You might as well pack it in.

Anyway, it's hard to be miserable when you're whirling around in a giant teacup.

I do love carnivals for other reasons though, something more Bradbury-esque.  Just at the time when the year begins to wind down, this strange, transient world appears under cover of darkness. It's all light and color and noise, when the day before it was only dusty ground. It's like a portal of sorts, into something most unusual.

And even if you aren't trapped forever, the mirror maze will force you to confront your mortal image...

at the end of September, when the veil between worlds grows thin.

Equinox

The Autumnal equinox has come, so it's time to post my requisite picture of grass. :)

It has been a strange, chaotic Summer; hopefully it will be a far more peaceful Fall.

The Ghost Of Coffee Comes To Call

I was annoyed when I spilled my coffee the other morning, until I saw it had become a ghost.
The coffee ghost looks rather annoyed, too, mind.

Hopefully it won't continue to haunt us with sleepless nights.

Moon Over Whataburger

The Harvest Moon rises over Whataburger, and for a moment, everything is as it should be. ;)

Prognostication By Firefly

I was outside watching the stars the other night when a meteor flamed across the sky. Close. Really close. Right above my head. Wait a minute, that can't be right. 

I looked up and saw another another. Ah, a firefly, obviously. But it was flying fast, in a swooping trajectory that left a trail of light. It was easy to see how I'd mistaken it for a shooting star at first. 

Not that I'm an expert, but this wasn't the usual low hover and slow blink of the local insects that makes them so easy to catch.  Its behavior seemed odd, even erratic.

The last two evenings, just at twilight, the fireflies have been crazy active, fast blinking. Sometimes the hedgerows seem lit from the inside. It's a beautiful thing to see, this luminescent mating ritual. But I get this feeling that the fireflies are so busy because they know time is getting short. There's more than a little desperation in the air. 

Granny Clampett never said anything about predicting the weather by fireflies, but I'll take a crack at it - I predict a change in the weather. I suspect Autumn will come early this year.

There was not exactly gold at the end of this rainbow, but there were t-shirts for $7.99, which is just as good.

The End Of The Season

If you go down to the end of the resort, where the buildings thin out and the tourists never go, you'll find these last couple of rooms, straddling a murky canal.

I can't imagine they rent these rooms - not these days, anyway. The errant inner tube floating there indicates even the staff have abandoned it.

It must have not always been this way. I wonder how it came about, these derelict rooms in a busy resort. Surely the water had been fresh and flowing once. Perhaps all the changes and renovations they've made have altered its course, creating this dead end.

 I tried to think back to the way things used to be, but the park has changed so much and so often that it's impossible for my mind's eye to see. So many places built and rebuilt and paved over. With no map for reference, it becomes as vague as Stonehenge. The only thing left is a nagging feeling that things were once different, somehow.

It's something that always catches my eye and intrigues me, these signs of abandonment. It sometimes troubles me, too. Perhaps there's a subtle hint of foreboding in it. The changes that time inevitably brings.

I wander about the resort, noticing the bits and pieces left over from the past. The traces are growing dim, like my own childhood, and eventually must be replaced with something new.

In the meantime, though, we are still standing, like this empty room at the end of the season.