| Details for The Great Tree |
| Summary: | After a brewing of introspection Edwin decides to give divination a shot at the famous Lunaris Fortune Telling. |
| Date: | November 26th, 1937 |
| Location: | Lunaris Fortune Telling |
| Related: | None |
| Characters |
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When certain things are spurned by introspection, they seek out some other ways in the world. That is how Edwin ends up at the fortune teller. He shakes his head, "This is silly. What am I doing here?" As he turns away and starts to move away… Then he thinks a few moments and then turns back to knock on the door.
The door swings open and sitting at the counseling table is Astraea Lunaris. "Come in." She smiles and waves the gentleman in and to the chair at the table across from her. "Make yourself comfortable. Take your time."
Edwin looks to the door and then makes his way into the room. His eyes are cast about to all that is around him and takes note of all the bits and baubles that are about the room. "Intriguing," Before he makes his way in and settles into the chair across from the woman. "Edwin." He speaks and pulls off his bowler. "Not even done this before."
Looking him over like he's the crystal ball she mmms and hmmms and nods. "I will be gentle, don't worry." She leans over the table, extending her hand to him. "Star, Madam Star or Madam Astraea if you care to be stuffy." As she settles back her hands caress over the many different sorts of items on her table. The crystal ball, the tarot deck, a bag full of bones carved with symbols and a tea set. "Which of these items calls to you tonight?"
Edwin pauses as she offers the items. He considers for a long moment before he reaches out and points to the bones. His eyes scan one way and then back to the items all. His hand reaches out and he hovers it a bit before he points to the bones. "Those, I believe. They draw my eye a lot." As he then moves into a seat across from Star, "Madam Star. Thank you."
Astraea nods and seems very serene as she gestures to the velvet bag that contains the runes. "Sit, relax. Open your mind and let yourself consider the question that has brought you here. Ponder as you mix the runes within the bag, focus your questions energy into your hand and through it, into the runes. Once you have asked your question out loud so that the fates can hear you. Remove a tile at a time to the total of five." Her wand is used to draw rough rectangular shapes on the table before him in a cluster of four two above two below and then one more centrally under the cluster, like a tree. "Take your time."
Edwin takes the bag and feels the bones inside by testing the heft of the bag. He opens it and reaches within to stir around inside. His eyes close and he becomes quiet as his hand moves about. "Put them on the squares?" As he finds the first tile and places it on the table. He continues with each one, placing them into the squares. He does take his time, selecting and dropping and then taking another on a couple. "There." As he looks to what he put on the table.
Astraea gives an encouraging smile the whole time. "You are doing very well. Yes, place them face down on what ever mark feels right to you. There is no right or wrong in Divination. This spread, The Great Tree, is a very good spread for personal character. It allows us to get to know each other. You see?" When he is done placing the runes she reaches over to gently pluck up the bag away from him. "Now we reveal you. We begin with the Branch of the Heart." She moves her hand over to the top row his-left corner and she flips the rune over in such a way that she won't be inverting it, just flipping it to reveal how he laid it down. "This position gives a glimpse into your emotional character… Inverted Laguz. Inverted this means the your spirit is starving. A crisis of creativity and nurturing. That you have lost touch with your true dreams…" She looks up at him, looks into his eyes, her head tilting this way and that as she almost seems to day dream while looking at him, but also looking right through him, "You have an obstinate need to ignore something, a loved one is cheating, but you are doing nothing about it to maintain the status quo and so you don't lose them. The appearance of this rune inverted means that the status quo is not worth maintaining and you should remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible."
Edwin watches those runes as she begins. He doesn't speak as she works, listening quietly. "Cheating? A loved one?" He speaks up and then settles back into his chair as if someone slapped him. "Does it say who? Like, family or friend or… Lover?"
Astraea looks as if she doesn't enjoy this part of her job. "I'm afraid it's within the spousal sort of relationship, so girlfriend, lover, I do not see a wedding ring, but if you are married, wife of course." Gentle movements, slow and fluid reach for the second rune on the top row. "Would you like me to continue Edwin?"
Edwin draws in a deep breath and bites at his lip before he slowly nods his head, "Yes…"
Astraea gives him an almost proud smile. "Very well, this rune is of the Branch of the Mind. Emotion and Logic exist within all people. This rune defines your logical character. Ingwaz." Her smile warms as she looks into again. "This rune represents both the home and the greater world, a oneness with the universe. You have a deep connection with the earth and that is where you remain in logic, very grounded and a nature of growth, mind and body, body and earth, your feet planted, but your mind is on the greater bigger picture. Aware of the importance of self, of home but also open to everything around it." She glides her hand to the next rune. "If you are ready, or do you have any questions Edwin?"
Edwin shakes his head as she asks, "No. Keep going, please." He says, leaning in to look at her and her work.
Astraea also points out after she gets a look, "There is also something about meal times. Ingwaz is linked with agriculture and food. Meals are important to you. Just make sure that you don't become complacent. Must get your own food. Til the earth." She squints a little and then nods, "Next." Before the rune is turned over and she gives the next explanation. "The Supporting Branches. Within this branch we find what lies beneath your outer shell. What sort of forces are at work in your subconscious." The rune is then turned to reveal, "Hagalaz." Each of these strange foreign words fall from her mouth like old friends names. Upon seeing this rune she frowns a little. "You have a temper, Edwin. There is something lurking, within your mind that has the power to unleash a terrible storm. But this storm, however chaotic and furious, if weathered can bring a rebirth. Don't you just love the smell of the air after a storm? I always go up to our observation tower when one has past and just… breathe." She blinks and returns from the momentary peek into her own life. "Two more to go Edwin, are you ready?"
Edwin drinks in those words as she speaks all of them. He listens intently and takes several deep breaths as she speaks, "I do love that smell. The air is so clean then." He does frown a little, "The temper. Yes." He gives her a gentle smile, "Yes. Please continue…"
Astraea puts her hand on the fourth rune and hence comes the education of the rune's location. "As with every tree there is future growth, young branches that will be the great branches of tomorrow. "And the rune of your future is…" There is no drum roll despite her tone and she turns the rune to reveal, "Dagaz. The Dawn, a new conciousness and awareness. Issues becomes clearer, but that doesn't mean they'll be any less complex. This rune in this spot though means you have a new start in your future. I sense that it's that clearing after a storm. It is a sign of hope and happiness Edwin." She smiles and nods in encouraging support to him. "Shall we take a break before the last? The Trunk is the core of your nature. It's a rather intense moment in a reading. It is what is your central concept, what drives you as a person, or what holds you back…" She pauses, eyes patiently angled towards him. Allowing it all to be at his own pace.
Edwin runs at the scruff on his chin as he sits back and contemplates a bit. "So. Someone is cheating on me… But I have a new dawn coming. Something good. This person cheating, like a girlfriend? Or could it have been me cheating on them? Being a fraud?"
Astraea pours them both some tea, though it's not strained very well at all. In fact it's Tasseography tea so there's quite a bit of leafs floating about in it. "Seeing more of your Great Tree revealed to me. I believe that you are being cheated on. That you know this deep down, but are ignoring it. But that is only going to cause you grief and it will fester and pustulate until you can't handle it any more and there will be an eruption. But once the eruption happens, there will be a clearing of the air. There will be no lies or fooling yourself any longer and you will be able to make a fresh and clean new start." She watches him as she drinks, really it's very rarely she isn't watching him like she was seeing something like a movie or something that only she can see. "Take your time Edwin, only when you are ready."
Edwin looks to the floor for a bit and breathes out deep before he looks back to her, "But all of this can just be conjecture. Not the reality…" He says, voice filled with some hope.
Astraea looks perhaps a touch disappointed when he becomes a sceptic again. "Much of what I do is to help give you clarity. So that perhaps now, when the time for the storm does arrive." Her tone sounds like she's sure it will. "That you will now be able to see it on the horizon and deal with it as one who has properly prepared for a harsh storm could. Instead of it catching you unawares and devastating you." She takes another sip of her tea. "Or this could all be in the past already with nothing but the future I've spoken of at your door." She gives her shoulders a little shrug and takes another sip of her tea. "Be warned though, you have the Laguz in your heart. You pretend not to see things. To protect yourself. But it only will prove to make the Hagalaz all the more treacherously devastating." She sets the coffee down and points to the last as to be yet turned over rune. "Are you ready Edwin?"
Edwin nods his head, "Yes…"
Astraea standing up she moves to be at his side and a small silver box with a slit in the top, a till is held before him. "A contribution is appreciated." She doesn't give a price, but she also keeps the very last rune where it is underneath her hand. "I'm sure you can understand."
Edwin gives a little wry smile, "Of course." As he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of coins. He pulls out five sickles and plops them into the box as he looks to her with a smile.
Astraea's eyes glitter like the celestial body she's named for as the money clinks into the box. The til is swept out of sight and then the very last rune is turned over. "Sowilo, or the Sun Rune, symbolizes energy, life and fertility. Warmth, positivity and drive flow from radiant Sowilo." Another warm smile is given to him. "Your core essence is the most brightest of endless energy sources. That should make you happy. But also be warned that your ceaseless energy can be blinding to some. It is very hard to keep up with, and they can end up burned."
Edwin looks to this and thinks for a bit. He nods as he thinks, agreeing with what she says. He takes in a deep breath and blows it out slowly. "That is a lot to think about. Someone is cheating… I have a new dawn on the horizon… And I'm a sun."
Astraea smiles and moves to lay a hand down on his shoulder and just stand there letting him digest things. "That was just the preliminary reading. If you want to answer a question, or see how compatible you truly are with this woman that's cheating on you. Or anything else at all you can put into a question form. Do let me know."
"Question form?" And then it's like that is a no brainer, "Well, yes…"
Astraea holds up a finger to give him pause and she once again waves her hand over the items on the table. The runes she drops back into the bag. A cleaning spell though of a more spiritual nature is cast on the bag. Sort of like she's resetting them and removing any of his residual energy from before away from them. "Now then. Pick and let us begin again."
Edwin takes the bag once again and stirs around inside. He picks the runes once again and nods to her.
Edwin finally finishes picking the runes and settles them on the table, one by one, before he looks to her with a bite of his lip.
Astraea once more stills him, "Getting ahead of ourselves. There's that sun energy. Place them back in the bag and answer me this: Which do you wish? A simple answer to a simple question? Or a reading on compatibility with a lover? Or gaining insight into the properties of the present moment, and predicting their immediate outcome?"
Edwin looks to her and then nods, "Sorry." As he thinks for a moment. "I have a lover who is also interested in another man. This woman, I watched her from afar and never said anything until she said something to me about it. I just need to know… And I don't think she is the cheater… But I need to know if she is the one for me or has the other man already won her heart. I want her in my life but as you say, I rush so much and have an immediate need."
Astraea nods, "So it's that you wish to know if you are compatible with her? Or do you just wish to ask if she is the one?"
Edwin thinks for a moment, "Both? But I would guess if she is the one then I would be compatible… So, is she the one?" He asks, biting at his lip
Astraea takes the one single rune and reveals it. She takes a deep breath and that hand once again comes to rest on his shoulder. The expression on her face, the one of earlier guilt at being the one to deliver bad news is there again. "Berkano - Inverted. I am very sorry Edwin. Growth is being stunted through a stubborn refusal to channel creative and healing forces. Learn to accept the rites of passage of life — don't ignore them or they will just cause you more pain than necessary. Berkana inverted, can also signify friction within relationships — or even betrayal."
Edwin runs a hand through his hair and sighs deeply. He rests his elbows on the table and then his head into his hands. His head slowly shakes from side to side. "Growth. My growth… Because I want a woman that's not mine." He bites at his lip a moment. "Or…" And his face begins to grow into a smile, "I have been growing with Elly. Learning a lot with her. Patience." He speaks, maybe trying to convince himself he hasn't lost her. He sighs a bit as he falls back into despair, "I just don't know anymore."
Astraea refills Edwin's tea cup. "Perhaps then you should be asking her these questions and not I.It has been a wonderful time Edwin. Thank you for your visit. I do hope you come back again very soon. I am very happy to answer any questions. Provide council. But you are becoming overwhelmed I think." A light pat to his shoulder is given again. "There. There."
Edwin gives a little chuckle and nods to the woman, "True. I tend to think too much." He gives her a smile and sips from his tea, "It has been a pleasure, Madam." As he looks back to the woman. "Many things have been awakened, many thoughts as of recent days. Much to consider." And then he chuckles, "And much to simply allow to happen and hope for the best." As he looks to her, "Thank you."
Astraea nods her head and glides over to sit back down in her chair and she lifts up her tea for another drink. "You are welcome Edwin. Do tell me…" She doesn't continue, simply drifts off saying nothing as she looks into her teacup. Just a strange serene distraction has completely drawn her attention from any further pleasantries with Edwin.