Uncle Asa, Part 2

Yes, Uncle Asa was blind. Though he wasn't born that way. He went blind later in life after he had already become proficient at reading cards. But the fact that he continued to read haunted me all my life and still does. He was certainly a great inspiration to learn how to read cards. When I finally started reading on my own, I uncovered a very basic practice that I believe led to his ability. In many occult systems, a preliminary exercise is suggested that is intended to develop ones clairvoyant faculties. Simply take a deck of cards, turn them face down and one at a time, take note of the images and impressions you perceive crossing your minds eye. You may never get the specific impression of "Queen of Hearts" for example, but you will notice certain images and thoughts. They come as if superimposed among your own regular "mind chatter". The idea is if you familiarize yourself with these impressions well enough, you will notice a definite consistency of "themes" with each specific card. Of course some cards have similar meanings depending their context within a reading. But I believe this method of training our clairvoyant sensitivity is how Uncle Asa was able to read cards even though he could no longer see them with his eyes. He simply saw them with his minds eye.

A bit about me: Great Grandmother and Uncle Asa

In the following article I will roughly describe the events and influences that inspired my interest in the Occult Sciences and led me to publish this project.

I was to a family that has been influenced heavily by eastern mysticism. My great grandmother being half Chinese and half Cherokee, although very Christian, carried with her a belief in the power of oration. Certain family members possessed certain orations each of which had specific effects. For example, one could stop bleeding while another could "take the fire from a burn". Whoever had an oration would pass it down to a favored member of the family, usually a child or grandchild. Obviously, as a youngster, this fascinated me. Especially after seeing it used on rare occasions.

My great grandmother also believed in the ability to receive and express prophecy. She, in fact, foretold many things that would come to pass for immediate family while on her death bed. She and my great grandfather, a handsome Paris-born Austrian, both told us what day they would "go home to be with the Lord". Although I was "passed" no orations, I was often told what a unusually sensitive psychic I was. I never felt it was true, but as the years passed and especially through hardship, I noticed a definite and increasing presence of clairsentience and an occasional ability to foresee the inevitable before it strikes. I take this to be my spiritual inheritance.
I spent many of my most formative years in the presence my great grandmother and she influenced me deeply. Even in death, I felt her close to me at all times. Though I never doubted she is at peace just as she said she'd be with her dying breath.

My great grandmother had a brother, Asa, who would visit her and her eleven children(ten plus my mother). Though I never met him, his influence on me has been tremendous. In troubled times, he would often gently guide my great aunts and uncles with the metaphorical images from chi gong such as "stand like a tree". Even my grandmother, as well travelled and well read as she was in the mystical arts, never knew what he meant until she reached her seventies and discovered chi gong for herself. The one thing about Uncle Asa that left the deepest mark on me was his frequent habit of "reading cards". A habit passed on to my grandmother, from her to my mother, and eventually to me at age 14. Now I know that reading cards doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Anyone can do it with a deck of tarot cards and a good book, right? Well friends, Uncle Asa was blind.