“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom” quote from Socrates
So, who does not wonder? Every morning I wake up and wonder. Will it rain? What will the day hold? Will someone come by? Will my phone finally ring with a voice I haven’t heard in years? I think I wonder because I seem to always need reassurance that every thing will be okay. And every time I wonder I go back to when I was in my 40s. I was interested in palmistry, tarot cards and spiritual leaders. Because I was searching, I started playing “The Wonder Game” and I still play it today.
When we lived in Evanston, Illinois, I had a neighbor named Celeste. I was sure she was a witch. She was from the south, and had an adorable southern accent. Her house looked like it belonged to Hansel and Gretel. The most interesting aspect for me regarding Celeste was she read palms. I was always trying to get her to tell me things about myself. I also wanted her to teach me about palmistry, but Celeste kept her knowledge to herself. I believe it was because of her that I became interested in the metaphysical.
When Tracy was in nursery school, she made a girlfriend whose mother followed a guru. One day the mother invited me to go to the convention center to hear her guru speak. When I was sitting in the dark auditorium surrounded by thousands of people I saw the guru walk onto the stage. My breath stopped. What I saw was a very bright light surrounding him, it really scared me. I have no idea what the guru was talking about because I could not stop seeing this light. When his talk was over, I turned to my friend and told her what happened. She told me everyone has light surrounding them. And most people can’t see it. Also, white light tells you that the guru was a man of great spirituality. Okay, this was another thing that threw me into the Metaphysical world.
My quest to learn about the metaphysical world was rekindled one night when I attended a lecture called “Shift Into The Light.” The speaker was an intuitive named Carol Chaiken. When we entered we were all given a number and told at the end of Carol’s talk she was going to pull a number for a prize. She pulled a number, surprise, it was mine. My prize was a free consultation. I did’t know it yet, but I had shifted.
I met her at the Steven’s Building in downtown Chicago, where she had a space on the seventh floor. I recall being nervous as I sat in her dimly lit waiting room. When Carol opened the door to invite me in, her smile captivated me, along with her orange Channel suit. She was seated behind an enormous brown desk with a huge painting of Saint Michael on the wall facing me. On her desk she had what looked to me to be a board game. She told me she had designed this system and she called it her Angel Game. When I looked at the board I saw twelve circles, each one representing one of the twelve astrological signs, and in the center was the sun. Then she pulled out a deck of playing cards she had also designed to go with the board. There were twelve spades, twelve hearts, twelve diamonds and twelve clubs, but they weren’t standard cards. They all had different pictures on them that represented different angels. She had also produced a book. The book explained each card and how they changed as you interpret them when they fall on a particular astrological sign. So there was intuition as well as reading logic used in interpreting your life story. She told me to shuffle the cards and pick thirteen. She took the 13 cards and placed one on each of the 12 astrological signs and one in the middle. Then she proceeded to tell me about my life. I was hooked! She did not speak in metaphor, she told me straight. The hour went by so fast. I had to know more, and I wanted to learn her craft.
Carol suggested I try different teachers and different styles. She suggested I make an appointment with Sonia Choquette. Sonia, was just starting out in the spiritual teacher realm. Therefore, she was affordable. Sonia is an intuitive guide. When I sat down with her she had me pick twelve objects from a table of many objects. The objects were small stones, shells, charms, jewelry, and herbs. I mean there were just all these little tiny nothing-made-sense type of things to choose from. I was fascinated by her approach and what she told me. I told her I wanted to learn her craft and she told me she was giving a group class on wonder. I signed Russ and I up. And I will never forget her presentation. She stood tall in front of a circular group of all ages.
Sonia started the class by telling us about her life, “When I was about four years old, my mother played the wonder game with me. She would say, ‘Sonia, what do you wonder will happen today at school?’ and I would tell her what I wondered. She would smile, kiss my head and off I’d go to school. I didn’t really think about it until I returned home. And then my mother would ask ‘Sonia did any of the things you “wondered” happen today?’ And truth be told, most of the time they did. This is how my mother neutered my gift.” I left Sonia’s class wondering what my gift was, being sure I had one.
Then I switched to palmistry. I visited many different teachers in this field and purchased many books. But, I could never remember the meanings of the lines, and there’s only five main ones! Plus, many times the lines scared me because they told of divorce, illness, death and in general sad things. Palmistry was not going to be my field.
I went back to Carol and asked if she would be my teacher. I found comfort in her system. I went to see her once a week for two years. I had my own board, and I incorporated what I learned from Sonia’s wonders in all of the readings I did.
I learned I could not do readings for people that I knew. It was too intimate. I knew too much, and it was just too invasive to know more. I suspect the only way to be a reader is not to become friends with whomever you’re doing the reading for. I found I could not be objective.
Why would I even start with metaphysical? Perhaps it’s because I found psychologists and psychiatrists not helpful to me. I would go and tell them my issue, come home and feel depressed. They never gave me answers. Sometimes they would recommend books to read. I recall going to see a psychologist when I was going through my brilliant era, she had me listen to nature sounds to calm myself when I became nervous. I guess this is why I was drawn to the metaphysical. They kind of, more or less, validated what was going on in my life.
Moving on with metaphysical teachers, I learned that those who advertised were not to be seen! Only those you learn about through recommendation are the ones to trust. So DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO THE METAPHYSICAL people you see on the street!
In the end, I never became an intuitive for hire. That wasn’t my path. What I took from Carol was the her logic on astrological signs, from Sonia, the wonder game, and from all the palmistry teachers I learned what some of the most significant lines represent. My dream of becoming the next great intuitive isn’t going to happen, I don’t have to wonder about that anymore. So the wonder game for me still continues…….