I’ve been in the séance room at Muriel’s restaurant in New Orleans many times. I was there before it was even called a séance room, or Muriel’s. I went to college in New Orleans. My best friend and I used to dine there when it was called the Chart House. One evening, as we were chowing down on their great burgers, she mentioned the restaurant was haunted by a young man. It was simply a note of trivia shared by a local about a two-hundred-year-old structure that began life as a family home.
Fast forward many years, and it’s now a local and tourist destination on Jackson Square. The séance room is upstairs. You get there through an obscure door in the downstairs restaurant that says Emergency Exit. Pass by the elegant table for one (set for the ghost), complete with a glass of red wine, and head up the winding staircase. A haunting Gregorian chant echoes off the antique oak walls as you ascend. Very atmospheric.
Once on the second floor, you walk into the séance room. It’s ornately decorated with heavy red drapes, deeply tufted sofas, chairs, and ottomans. And even two fairly well-done faux Egyptian sarcophagi. Think high Victorian era spiritualist decor, and you’ve got the idea.
I’ve read tarot in the room many times. But on this occasion, it was World Tarot Day. When my friend Traci, who writes cozy mysteries, and I entered the room, one couple stood talking to each other. The woman turned and recognized Traci. They engaged in a delightful conversation, but before the couple departed, the woman asked my name. Traci had mentioned that I wrote paranormal women’s fiction. I told her my name, but quickly added, “My last name is an unusual spelling, so if you’re interested, just look for the Tarot Legacies series.” The woman gasped and said. “That’s you! Someone just sent me your first book because she said I would love it.”
To have my two worlds–my life as an author and my world as a tarot and dream consultant–merge is always wonderful. I was there to read tarot but clearly synchronicity was also ‘in the cards.’
The couple left the séance room, and Traci and I had the room to ourselves. I began by reading for her a simple three-card spread that immediately zeroed in on her conversation moments earlier about her father. (Check out the photos.) For the reading, we were seated at the far end of the room. There’s a low ottoman with a crystal ball sitting on it; perfect for making yourself comfortable on the floor.
But as I was reading, I kept catching something dark zooming from one of the Egyptian sarcophagi to the other at the opposite end of the room. I saw it happen twice. Now, remember, I never ask for these things to occur. They have happened so often in my life, unbidden, that I don’t want to necessarily increase their frequency. But, because I have read tarot for so many years and have been so deeply immersed in writing my Tarot Legacies series, where tarot characters are actual living people among us, I understand my awareness of subtle energy is heightened.