Mme Moriarty, Misfortune Teller

I am a day behind, because Mme M was my scent yesterday. Yet I would like to write what I intended to write yesterday. It is inspired by the text that comes with Mme M and the picture above.

A colorless woman bursts from an elaborate gold and ruby tent and faints dead at your feet. Soft laughter emits from the dark entrance to the tent, and the scent of musk, black fruits and incense touches your senses. Looking up, you see that the sign hovering above the unconscious woman is adorned with images of the Major Arcana’s Tower and reads:

“Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller.
No fate too grim, no future too bleak.”

A tiny woman with floor-length black dreadlocks walks out of the tent, stepping over the prone body. She is clothed in deep red wrappings, and is bedecked in golden ornaments bearing alchemical symbols and charms representing eternity, chance, and wisdom. She pauses, looks you over slowly, and then flicks a tarot card at your feet.

Some time ago I used the word Tarot in the presence of a friend who reacted as if she was stung by a bee. Tarot cards were bad things, they could ruin a person's life, she told me. And if you read the story above, it might be an illustration of such a life ruining experience.


Yet, although there is no doubt that there are people who find pleasure in ruining the lives of influenceable young women with a lack of self confidence, or rather in the feeling of power that it may give them, this is not at all what Tarot cards are about.

I would like to compare Tarot cards with road signs. When you are traveling, the signs on the road tell you where you are going when you continue to follow that particular road. When traveling in France, you might see a sign telling you that the road leads to Paris. Now perhaps you don't want to go to Paris at all. Would you be shocked and think you are doomed, because the sign tells you that when you keep on following this road you would end up in Paris? Perhaps if you have no idea of where you are, where Paris is and where the place you really want to go is, but in most cases the sign will be helpful. If you know that where you want to go is exactly the other way, you can leave the road at the next exit and enter it again driving in the opposite direction. In other cases you'll probably know that you want to leave at a certain exit to take a new direction. 


Tarot cards never predict a fate that can not be escaped. In fact they don't predict anything. What they can do, is show you where you would end up if you would continue on exactly  the same route as you are on now. If that is not what you want, take the next exit and try another road.

More about Mme M can be found here and here.