What does one do when she’s at a paranormal convention, has time between interviews and she’s feeling nervous about her impending graduation?

She gets her tarot read, of course.

I like to think I am a relatively rational person. Sure, do I think there are some unexplainable things in this world? Yes. But cards being able to read my fortune? The jury’s still out.

But I was intrigued and, I will admit, a little excited to see what tarot would reveal to me about my future.

Enter Intuitive Tarot by Katrina.

Intuitive Tarot by Katrina is an unassuming booth in one of two rooms dedicated to vendors and presenters at ParaCon 2018 in Mahnomen, Minnesota.

A big trunk decorated with a bright Union Jack sits out front, while a sign proclaiming this to be “Intuitive Tarot by Katrina” looks over a small table, decorated with, appropriately, a glass ball.

Katrina, of the business bearing her namesake, has been reading tarot since she was a child.

Growing up, she had a tarot deck, and she’d “read” the cards to her dolls. However, she had no idea what it meant.

“I did not know they were tarot cards,” she explains. “I called them my storytelling cards, and I would read stories to my dolls with them. (When I was) about 12 years old, a friend came over, and she said those are tarot cards and they have meanings.”

Katrina and her friend went to the local library to do more research on tarot. When she was reading about her storytelling cards, Katrina realized she already knew what each card meant individually and as a group.

Since then, Katrina has been reading tarot.

Before beginning the reading, Katrina has me choose one of her many decks.

I pick the one that catches my eye.

Later, Katrina tells me, “If there’s an organized, a stern, a very business-like deck, it’s this one. I love it because it’s truthful and it’s honest.”

What a great way to start a tarot reading.

Next, Katrina has me ask her a question, anything that I’ve been wondering, something that’s been bothering me.

This question is about the future, specifically what life after graduation will look like.

She begins by laying the cards facedown, flat in front of her. In total, she places 13 cards down.

She then begins to flip the cards over.

“So, we’ve got the Sun Card coming up first,” she says. “The Sun Card puts us in a very positive space. The Sun Card is the singular most positive card in the deck. Shows me that right now, life is swimmingly.”

Well, I am liking this reading already.

She then flips over the following two cards.

“The next two cards give me a wee bit of a cause for concern,” she says, her charming British accent not helping in distracting me from the knot in my stomach.

These two cards are the XIII of Swords and the V of Cups.

The XIII of Swords, Katrina explains, is about making difficult decisions.

“The XIII of Swords is about needing to make decisions, but being entrapped and being blindfolded in when we want to make those decisions,” she says.

Meanwhile, the V of Cups throws emotion into the medley. As Katrina explains, soon I will be faced with a difficult decision that will only be made more difficult by me being blinded by emotional entanglements.

“It’s the emotional entanglement that’s blocking you being able to make a clear decision,” she says. “If we can take the emotional side out of it, it becomes very obvious what that decision needs to be. But we have to take the emotional side out of it.”

Following this decision, Katrina reveals the next card: an Ace of Ones. This brings good news for my May graduation date: there will be a job offer. And not just one, but two, and maybe more.

The decision I make, says Katrina, will be based on character.

“I think the choice that you make is going to involve strength, strength of character. And I say that because I think you go for the most ambitious job,” she explains.

This job, she continues, will be hard, but with good finances. Yet, she thinks I will embrace the difficulty it poses.

“But that job then is going to require quite a bit of strength from you,” she says. “Determination to grow. Determination to get it learnt. Determination just to say, I’m going to do this. I’m going to be the best at this I can. Damn it’s hard, but I’m going to do it.”

As she continues to flip through the cards, she reveals more of what she sees in my future from the story the deck tells her.

Katrina explains that every deck tells a story.

“A true tarot deck will tell a story if you laid them all out in a line,” she says.

My story is told by the cards she laid out when we first met. Every person has a different story, depending on their combinations, their tarot interpreter and even the deck they pick.

My story, and my reading, ends when Katrina turns over the final card: the Queen of Cups.

“What I really like is where we end up leaving,” Katrina says. “The last card in the reading is the Queen of Cups. Queen of Cups is head of household.”

This card, she explains, is a very mothering card. It conveys emotions, nurturing, passion and family-oriented state of being. But, she also adds, it’s also a very strong card.

“She has earned her position (as queen),” Katrina says. “Nobody has just handed it to her. She’s up there for a reason.”

While I still wouldn’t claim I’m a true believer in the power of tarot, I am excited by everything Katrina has explained to me. Like everyone else, my life will see the ups and downs that come with the human condition.

Your outlook on it, however, is in how you read the cards.

To learn more about Katrina and tarot, visit her website at https://tarotbykatrina.com/