Nadya’s Reading with the Voroshka

Liliana pointed to the first card in the very center. Golden spirals and flowers surrounded two young lovers. Beneath a laughing golden sun and a scowling silver moon, the maiden moved to embrace the shepherd. She had a determined look as she took his hand. He had a shy gaze, startled by her strong smile. At their feet slept a lamb, and in the distance stood the sacred birch.

“This first card is an image of you today, a sketch of your heart. . .The Lovers."

Then Liliana pointed to the card that covered The Lovers. On this second card, the same beautiful gold meander surrounded a queen who stood inside an archway of gray stone. Through the arch, I could see a magnificent city, a palace and grand church. The queen was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She looked like my mother, adorned in a long fur cape and jeweled crown; the kind of finery my mother would have loved. The queen's brown eyes stared off into the West, and she held in her right hand a long silver sword.

I looked up at Liliana, and she smiled, “She is like my mother too. The artist, her lover, placed her here in the deck. He said it was her fate. This card crosses the first. It shows energies that balance. Often unpredictable, these forces will bring change, these forces represented by the…Queen of Swords.”

Liliana pointed to the third card. Resting beneath the Queen of Swords, it formed the bottom of a cross in the pattern she had created. On the card, a woman had her left foot inside the swirling waters of a wild river. Her right foot rested on the rocky shore beside a crumpled wedding gown, The wind pressed her wet, blue dress against her body. Both hands held a pitcher, the left pouring water into the river, the right pouring water onto the shore. In the distance, simple tents were pitched beside a mountain, and above them all a night of bright stars.

“This card represents your basic impulses, your desires. These forces command your soul. . . The Star.”

Her hand swept over the card to the left of The Queen of Swords. On the fourth card, a large man sat on a throne of carved wood and gold. He wore a long red gown covered with gold embroidery, a cape of dark blue and a crown covered with bright jewels. He held in his right hand a golden scepter, which he waved toward a grand city of domes and peaks and crosses. But his face struck me most of all. Although his thick eyebrows and bushy silver beard showed him to be a man of age as well as power, his lips curved in a half smile, as if he were both proud and awed by his people. This was a man who loved his kingdom, not a cruel leader like Stalin or Hitler. This man was merciful.

“This card stands behind you, Nadya. These forces carried you here. They form the past, but a past that is quickly fading away. . .The Emperor.”

The fifth card lay positioned above the Queen of Swords and formed the top of the cross. On it, beneath an arch, stairs led up to a balcony. Upon those stairs stood a tall woman wearing a long orange coat lined with red spirals. Atop her dark hair, she wore a tiny orange cap. Brown leather boots stretched up past her knees. A messenger, in her left hand she held a rolled up scroll; in her right hand, a long wooden bulava. She gazed out over a city by the sea.

Liliana lightly touched the top of my hand and looked again into my eyes.

“This card shows what can happen down the path of your future. . . Page of Clubs.”

Liliana gestured toward the card that formed the right arm of the cross. As I gasped, she squeezed my hand and said, "Do not panic, farmer girl. You are no longer a child."

Painted on the sixth card was a tiny house in the middle of a clearing set deep in a dark forest. Set upon two giant, gnarled chicken feet, the little wooden cabin was surrounded by a fence made up of human bones. Atop the fence were skulls lit inside with bright yellow flames. This was Baba Yaga's house. Flying inside a mortar high above her home, swinging in her hand an enormous pestle, was Baba Yaga herself. Dressed in deep red and brown robes adorned with heavy gold jewelry, she stared at me from the cards, her face pale and wrinkled. I swear she even smiled and winked an eye.

Liliana continued, “This card does show your future. But remember that Baba Yaga is just, she punishes those whose hearts are filled with greed. Powerless are those overcome by addiction, their skulls make up her fence. This card represents that which approaches and must be considered. But you are stronger than you think. Some call this card The Devil.”

I forced my eyes away from Baba Yaga's gaze and looked at the next four cards that formed a line beside the original cross of cards. On the seventh card, a beggar woman held herself up by a plain wooden staff and looked up toward a vision of seven golden chalices, each filled with wondrous riches: a green serpent with silver eyes, a wreath of red poppies, shining gold stars, a delicate bandura, white candle sticks aflame, and a book with leather binding covered with silver writing. The last cup was empty.

“And this card, Nadya, is how you see yourself. The talents you can use. Your nature…Seven of Cups.”

Above Seven of Cups, a chilling scene. Struck by lightening, a tower built of dark black stone was being destroyed by flames. A man and woman in bright beautiful clothes tumbled out from the windows and plunged toward rocky earth below. Behind them, also falling, were gold crosses and coins, crowns and jewelry.

‘Next, a card for all that surrounds you,” explained Liliana. “This is also how others see you…The Falling Tower.”

I had little time to think because the voroshka pointed to the ninth card, “This reflects you inner emotions, that which you hold in your heart...The Sun."

The card showed a hopeful looking scene. In a lush green valley, a naked young man sat atop a grand white horse. He held a red flag that flapped in the breeze. Both the golden youth and the horse wore wreathes of green and white flowers. All around them were tall sunflowers; and in the distance, there stretched the long stone wall of an enormous palace. High above them, in the sky, the orange sun laughed, his mouth open and cheeks rosy.

I looked at the next card and guilt took over my emotions. Within the frame of a grand house, filled inside with ten gold coins, a family gathered around their father. He sat in the center, an older man with a long graying beard, and at his right stood the mother, about to hand him a green cape. To the left, stood a tall, handsome man, very much his father's son. And at the father's feet, sat a young boy, resting his cheek against his father's knee.

Somewhere safe in their beds, my own family lay sleeping, and I had betrayed them.

Liliana looked up at me sadly, “Don’t be so sure. You only rely on your family as a child. You are no child.”

She shook her head and looked into the fire.

“We are all alone.” She rubbed the bruise on her forehead and continued, “Nadya. This is your future. If this path you choose, you life will be rich as the…Ten of Coins.”

I looked at Liliana, puzzled. I had so many questions after silence filled the space where her poetry had painted pictures of my future. What did it all mean?

Read an interview with the Voroshka--the fortuneteller-Liliana.