A day of fate
The Empress. The Hanged Man. The Chariot. Judgment.
To skeptics and outsiders, occult practises like tarot card readings have little relevance but upon closer inspection, these are doubly weighed. For some they represent the other, the unknown guidance through dilemmas. And for others? They simply illuminate our most complex desires as a matter of self-interpretation.
For my circus day, I decided to let fate dictate my day. I used the Rider-Waite deck published in 1909 associated with divination instead of the original tarocchi cards used in 15th century for trump cards. Armed with a disposable camera, I wanted fate to find creativity & content across the opulent city of London.
Tarot is very personal and richly debated as a veiled self-decision, but using the Major Arcana I associated yes/no answers from each of the 22 from the 78 cards. At each location I sense checked the cards for a yes/no result whether to move on elsewhere or linger a little longer.
Morning
I began my day with a map of London. I closed my eyes and let my finger trace around the map until it landed on various locations. Each time I’d check with my deck if this was the location I’d begin with. Eventually, a ‘Yes’ card presented for Pimlico. I visited a temporary exhibit at Tate Britain: Heather Phillipson & captured as many shots with my disposable camera as I could have in my time allocated there.
After 30 minutes of exploring the bright lights of the exhibit, a ‘No’ card revealed so I begrudgingly left the gallery and wandered across to Westminster & Houses of Parliament.
Another ‘No’ card prevented me from entering so I accepted my fate…
Afternoon
Having walked for over 2 hours, I ended up in Covent Garden, Chinatown and eventually Carnaby Street. Endless amounts of coffee shops were rejected with ‘No’ cards, but a chance to taste Korean food was in the cards with a ‘Yes’ result. Along the way I visited new streets, new parks, new book shops and saw a wonder of art in the streets.
Outcome?
The results were unexpected. A week later, the film was developed and I expected the gallery trip to provide the best images to present back to my team. However, they were disappointing, slightly blurry or just too dark. Yet the images I felt came out best, ironically, were the ones which were up to chance. Pathways and alleys I only chanced upon because of the cards directions.
serendipity /sɛr(ə)ndɪpɪti/noun
- the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
My personal favourite image captured from the days adventure was along Embankment. I had just received a ‘No’ card to grab a coffee at an earlier store so happenstance saw this. A bride & groom posing for photos in front of a quintessential British landmark that I have taken for granted as part of the landscape in the past. Their families gathered around for photos, iPhones overlapping the paid photographer, but somehow my little disposable camera caught only the couple, none of the noise.
Mayhap this is a lesson to let the unknown in, to embrace chances and fortuity. Or it is simply knowing where to look for content, that’s up to interpretation too…
Coni
Constandina Patsalou| Content & Community Manager| Vitamin London
