Froggy Bottom Cafe: The Oracle is CLOSED

Well, today, my pretties, the Cafe is a little different.  Make your way down the stairs from the sidewalk, and push aside the beaded curtain in the doorway.  Take a moment to let your eyes adjust to the dim light and your nose to the clouds of incense.  Pull up a velvet armchair, pour yourself a cup of our homemade herbal brew and prepare to meet… The Oracle.

The Tarot was created in Northern Italy in the mid-fifteenth century as a card game.  In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, scholars of the occult started using the cards as a divination tool, based on the archetypal nature of the suits and symbols. Today, there are thousands of different Tarot decks available, and they are popular with fortune tellers, new agers and all kinds of people you wouldn’t expect to have them. Fortunately, in this modern day and age, there are websites that will shuffle, lay out and interpret the cards for you.  My favorite is Facade.com (hint: try the Cross and Triangle spread. The Rider Waite deck is the traditional one).

Admit it – you read your horoscope. Yes, even you, enlightened progressive.  Astrology, according to this guy, is the oldest of all sciences and religions.  Our `modern’ system of astrology dates back to ancient Greece and Ptolomy, who set down the tenants of an earth-centered astrological system. But enough of that – the important thing is there are websites that will tell you what kind of day you are going to have, so you can plan accordingly. My favorite is this one (hint: the Monthly Moonbeam is the best).

For those of you who prefer a little instant gratification, the Oracle is standing by with a Magic 8 ball to answer all of your burning questions. [shake shake shake]