What better way to cure a case of the Mondays than to tap into the wisdom of tarot over a glass of wine? You can find this calming and enlightening experience at Budin (114 Greenpoint Avenue) every Monday from 5-10pm courtesy of Eva Jane Peck, who has been studying the language of tarot and astrology for more than ten years. (And, if you sit for a fifteen minute “mini reading” with Eva, you can get $2 off wine at Budin). Eva, of Electric Lamassu Tarot and Astrology, has been collaborating with Budin to offer readings since May, and I stopped in last week to see what my cards would reveal. For the the reading, Eva used the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, “the traditional Victorian deck,” and her her kind, thoughtful and insightful reading was a joy. I particularly appreciated how she solicited my questions and interpretations, and made me feel a part of the process.
Helping others learn though tarot is a big part of what Eva does. She says, “I think of Tarot as a language to sort of figure out life. It was kind of an objective way to understand myself…It helped me get grounded and just sort of accept myself and who I am.” Since she has found tarot so helpful in her own life, she hopes that continued study of the cards and the imagery, coupled with continued readings, can help her help other people “come to an understanding for themselves.” She notes that people often get their Tarot cards read when they’re feeling nervous about something, “so it’s about trying to work through that.”
While Eva has been living in Greenpoint for fifteen years, and offering private readings professionally for a year, her journey with tarot began on the boardwalk at Wildwood, New Jersey, where she would have her tarot read as a child. Then, she returned to tarot as an adult. She explains, “As an adult, people think you know what you’re supposed to be doing, and you don’t actually, and [tarot] helped me with some of the uncertainty about life in general. When I got a pack of tarot cards and started learning the imagery and combinations of cards, it would be like a meditation for myself, to study the cards and ask questions. Seeing the different combinations of cards helped me get grounded about questions that I had.”
Speaking of combinations of cards, Eva uses three different tarot decks. “I like to keep it interesting for myself,” she says, “so I kind of change it up a little bit.” Most frequently, she uses the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck, which she brought to Budin, but she also uses the Tarot of Marseilles, which is a French deck from the fourteen hundreds, and the Thoth Deck, created by the early 20th Century English occult leader Aleister Crowley.
Her favorite cards are the major arcana cards, which are a suite of 22 cards in a tarot deck, “because the images suggest abundance. Usually when there’s water involved in the symbolism, it has to do with love and receptivity. All the cups have to do with that, they all have water in their imagery. Then there’s usually some connection about the heaven and the earth coming together. That’s what The Star is about, it’s about being able to activate your deepest desires, not just in your heart, but making them happen on earth, in real life.” For example, “the Two of Cups is about relationships. It’s about coming together in love and respect and trust.” Eva explains that many of the cards show “different positive archetypes about energy, and how to use that energy to your advantage, and make it work in real life.”
If you’d like to tap into the energy of the cards, you can drop by Budin on Mondays or schedule private or group readings with Eva through her website.