Vtial Lives
Elliot Adams Consults the Oracle
“I love my job!” declares Elliot Adams, a local tarot reader and owner of Athena’s Oracle at Franklin Place on Milwaukee’s East side.
Dressed casually in blue jeans, he welcomes me to the shop. A sense of calm and well-being pervades, cocooned in the scent of incense and the soft sounds of Enya. He modestly takes credit for the frieze of Greek gods and goddesses painted along the walls of the shop as he shows me the smaller pink room used for readings. “It’s called the Aphrodite room,” he explains “because, according to Feng Shui, the far right corner of a room is its love corner. And also because people come here to inquire about their relationships.”
When I notice a large decorative coin hung in the wealth corner of the shop, Elliot pulls up the chain around his neck and leans forward to reveal a replica: a Greek tetradrachm, bearing the head of Athena on one side, an owl on the other. “I always wear it,” he confides. “And I’ve drawn owls ever since I was 5-years-old, not even knowing they belonged to her.”
As the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena is a fitting name for a business specializing in spiritual knowledge. But Elliot also admires her because “coming from a Judeo/Christian background, I experienced intolerance for people of bent gender. And in Athena, I found a goddess who wore men’s clothing. Living outside of her assigned gender role, she was able to hobnob with soldiers and was still accepted in that society. She was comfortable with self-expression.”
When he was a kid, Elliot discovered a deck of tarot cards left behind in the attic of a new house. “It found me.” He admits to studying with fascination, then laughs as he remembers that one card was missing, “the nine of Pentacles, which was the wealth card. That would explain why we didn’t have a lot of money in those days!” His older brother bought him his first complete deck when Elliot was 13. He started giving readings at The Village Tea House in Bay View two years later, moving to The Hand of Glory in downtown Milwaukee at the age of 17. When it closed, he found himself jobless. Elliot figured, “I could either work at McDonald’s, because I hadn’t been to college yet, or I could open up a new store.” Athena’s Oracle has now been at Franklin Place for five years.
There are numerous theories about the origins of Tarot. But in fact, the Tarot originated in northern Italy early in the 15th century (1420-1440), where nobles played it as a card game similar to Bridge. All of the earliest known names for the Tarot are Italian. Originally, the cards were called carte da trionfi (cards of the triumphs). Later, the word tarocchi (singular tarocco) began to distinguish them from another game being played with ordinary playing cards. However, the etymology of this new word is not known.
The earliest extant cards are lavish hand-painted decks from the courts of the nobility. By about 1500, tarot decks of 78 cards had become fairly standardized, although there were individual differences from deck to deck, even as there are today. They are divided into four suits of 14 cards (the standard Ace-10, then Page, Knight, Queen and King), commonly called the “Minor Arcana,” and 22 un-numbered “triumphs” or “trumps,” the “Major Arcana.” Some believe that our modern 52-card deck is based on the Tarot: Cups became Hearts, Swords became Spades, Wands became Clubs, and Pentacles became Diamonds.
Elliot claims it doesn’t matter which deck of tarot cards you use. He, of course, uses a Greek mythology deck, but admits, “Some people prefer Celtic imagery. Some like Native American. They all work the same.” Cards are just archetypes to be interpreted based on their position in a spread. Where the card is placed will affect a different area of the person’s life, determining its application.
Elliot teaches private classes. “I can teach anyone to read cards,” he says. “I’ve even taught a 12-year-old boy.” He explains that there are two different types of readers. He refers to himself as a “text-book reader, someone who relishes the historic symbolism of the cards.” But there are also those who read the cards intuitively, based on feelings. Some believe that shuffling or touching the cards transfers energy, but Elliot disagrees. He explains that he expects a person to shuffle their own cards simply to put them in the order that they need to be. “Then, I don’t get blamed if they come out wrong” he laughs. “And I can say, ‘You shuffled them. I’m just reading what’s here.’” He insists that he’s just an interpreter. Skeptics are welcome. Elliot emphasizes, “I like people to come in and not believe what I’m doing immediately, because a person who believes too willingly is looking for something to be said, whereas a skeptical person will walk in expecting nothing and they’re pleasantly surprised that they get an enriching experience out of it or that they walk away with a little more knowledge.” But Tarot is not meant to be a handbook for life. “There are things that the Tarot can do for you and things that it can’t,” says Elliot. “It can’t, for instance, tell you when you’re going to die. What it can do is help you make decisions. Usually, it affirms what people already know. So, when I say to somebody, ‘You should look into this area for a career.’ They’ll reply, ‘Well, I already thought of that. That’s something I’ve wanted to do, but this confirms it. So now I’m really going to go for it!’” No cards are needed to predict that Elliot will be attending UWM this fall on a music scholarship, studying classical oboe. He also hopes to minor in Classics, to pursue his love of Greek mythology. And, in December, Elliot will fulfill his dream of traveling to Greece, where he is excited to visit the ancient temples. “I’m going to Delphi. I’m going to bring my cards and give readings there, because that’s where the old Oracle used to give her proclamations.” VS
COMMENTS
Be the first one to comment; use the form below!