Despite our reputation for skepticism, New Yorkers like psychics. Neon signs all over town vow to tell us the future, and somehow these little shops pay the rent. It’s a testament to our sense of infinite possibility; so many of us come here looking for something, and it’s intriguing to talk to someone who might be able tell us what that something is.
The $20 entry fee at yesterday’s Quest Bookshop Psychic Fair bought each customer two 15-minute minireadings. The psychics were posted at card tables located around the shop, handwritten signs taped on the wall above them displaying their specialty (numerology, tarot, energy healing, etc.).
The first reader we met, Enrique, told us he discovered the tarot while studying graphic art. “The design of the cards is beautiful, no?” he said, fanning several out. “I liked the way they looked, so I began to study what they represented.” For Enrique, there’s no magic involved: “It’s a purely analytical tool; a way of expanding the semantic field.”
Astrologer and math professor Robert Cohen, meanwhile, does his readings by entering dates into a software program and using a deck of tarot cards. “Many of the cards are literal. Look at this one,” he said, holding up a picture of a red heart skewered by three swords. “I told [a client] it meant she’s had a recent heartbreak. Pretty obvious, huh?” When we asked him his prediction for the future of America, he offered a uniquely gendered reading: “Obama is ushering us into a new age—the age of the woman. His main role is to dismantle the male culture, the climate of war and aggression that Bush built. Even though Hilary didn’t win, feminists and her supporters should be optimistic!”
Lastly, we spoke with astrologer Jean Nasol. “I am the pioneer of dice reading,” she explained. “Twenty years ago, I began studying the messages in these three twelve-sided dice, which yield over 1,700 possible outcomes.” Nasol has her clients hold the dice and ask a question about anything—the future, the past, the intentions of a friend or coworker—and then give ‘em a roll. “People all have questions, and they like getting answers, rather than just a character reading.”
So did the New Yorkers who came here get the clear answers they were looking for? Perhaps, but if not, we predict there’ll be another fair next season—the Quest Bookshop hosts one four times a year.—Kathryn O’Shields
