We Get Our Fortunes Read with Tarot Cards at The Healing Kingdom

Let me begin by saying that I’m not usually one to leaf through magazines for my horoscope or to doodle star signs into the margins of my notebooks. Fate? Divine providence? A chance meeting with a dark, handsome stranger? Yeah, not for me. However, when I was invited for a tarot card reading with Letao Wang from The Healing Kingdom, I couldn’t deny that there was a part of me that was definitely intrigued.My only real exposure to fortune telling is Whoopi Goldberg from Ghost; full of Hollywood theatrics, gaudiness and over the top prophecies. It was then something of a surprise when I met Letao not at a velvet draped sanctuary, but at Pacific Coffee and there were no wizard robes and staff to be found.

I was fully prepared to be sceptical when I met Letao, however his down to earth nature and passion for tarot cards was absolutely infectious, making me desperate to learn more. Trained in Sydney by famous psychic reader Paris Debono and daylighting as a businessman, he’s a little different from all the generic tarot card readers floating about town (and much better dressed). He uses five different decks such as his own personalised Roman Deity cards used to read the next few months of your life, a super rare Lenormand deck used for situational fortune telling given to him especially by his tutor and, of course, the standard tarot deck for people who want a more traditional experience amongst others.

Letao was awesome enough to treat me to a general reading using his Roman Deity cards and there’s really no way to go about explaining it other than to share what went down, as it’s such an intimate experience. Be prepared to get up close and personal!

We started with the Roman Deities deck, which Letao told me is closely intertwined with astrology as each god correlates to a planet or star (i.e. Venus, the goddess of love and Pluto, the god of the underworld). I had to pick a series of thirteen cards without looking and after that, Letao laid them all out in a very careful sequence of columns and rows. He covered my career, love life, money, home life and education.

He started with my career over the next six months and my heart dropped a little bit as the first card flipped over was Pluto, i.e. the god of death followed by Jupiter and the Moon. Immediately, I was screaming internally – of course it was just my luck that I’d flip over the freaking god of the underworld first. However Letao reassured me and told me that it’s not actually doom and gloom:

“This Pluto card actually indicates to me that you’re going to be very, very busy over the next six months. However the Jupiter card, which represents the leader of Olympus and the largest planet in the solar system, is all about expansion, growth, freedom, travel and energy. So even though you’re busy, you’re going to learn a lot and be able to see things from a higher perspective. I can also see you’ve got a moon card, who plays more of a supporting role in the solar system and that indicates that you’ll gain the most out of life by continuing in a more assistive role over the next few months. Now’s not the time for you to become the boss.”

Next, he moved onto my love life (eep!) and things got real very fast. He very politely asked me if I was seeing someone and if he lived in Hong Kong, and then rearranged the cards into another column. I had Pluto, Persephone, Atlanta and Pan. Again, I was screaming internally as I knew things didn’t exactly work out too well for Pluto and Persephone, kidnapping, minor violence and all. Letao elaborated:

“What I’m most interested by is Pluto and Persephone showing up in your love life. They’re actually husband and wife” – at this point I started sweating – “and Persephone was actually abducted and didn’t want to be with Pluto. So what this suggests to me more is that there are a lot of control issues in your relationship. You’ve also got Pan between the two of them, who’s the root of the word panic, so that suggests there’ll be some worries and concerns. I think in the next month, you’ll have to be very careful as because of this power struggle between you and your boyfriend, there will be some concerns. The good thing about Pan however is that he’s very resourceful and as long as you believe in yourself, you’ll be able to find solutions to potential problems. You’ve also got Atlanta there, who’s a perfectionist and she’s all about being strong and independent. She feels like she doesn’t need a man. So I think you need to be more open about expressing your emotions and communicating – if you feel something, don’t bottle it up. Tell him.”

After covering my career and home life, Letao touched upon my future in education which was when things got really insane. He pointed at Mercury:

“You’ve got Mercury in your ninth house which is the house of publishing and education. Just, wait a second.”

He then pulled out another tarot deck and began flipping through them at breakneck speed. Every now and again, he’d pause to ponder and then hit me with crazier and crazier bombs of wisdom. In the space of five minutes and without me giving him any further information, he somehow knew I spoke German (I’d gone to the German Swiss International School), that I’d studied Creative Writing in England recently, (I’d finished my degree at the University of Warwick the year before) and that as I used to write music I should go back to it (I used to write lots of poetry). Whaaat?!

So it’s safe to say that I was freaking out a lot at this point and even Letao was grinning as he continued flipping through the cards in a frenzy, truly in his element. And it was such a privilege being a part of it.

While I can’t really say whether Letao’s predictions will come true, it was absolutely fascinating and even therapeutic to have my fortune read. It’s almost like listening to poetry and very self-reflective. One of the things I loved about Letao was the fact that he helped demystify the mystical, breaking things down for me into bite-sized accessible pieces. His genuine desire to help the people around him through his skill is undoubtable and I came out of it all feeling very peaceful and with a hunger to get my life on track.

It’s a little pricey at $600 for a 40-minute session so it’s not something I’d make a habit, but it is worth going especially if you want a really unique and healing experience, or just want to test the astrological waters. (Note: most professional card readers charge as much as $1,000!). He usually conducts readings in his reading room Wan Chai, near Star Street, which is a moody and more atmospheric arrangement. I’m going to be keeping track of the next six months very carefully…

SPECIAL SASSY OFFER
Letao’s offering an extended fortune telling session – simply book an appointment with him by emailing [email protected] or dropping him a line on his website. Let him know you want the Sassy offer and you’ll get an hour long session for $800. The future looks bright!