Eva the card reader

-Eva-

I've been anxious about my meeting with Eva, the Hialeah card reader woman, for a couple days now. I didn't know what to expect when Luis told me about her. I was scared of what she might see in the cards- that is, if she actually does have a gift and isn't just trying to make some money on the side. In fact, that concept of the money hungry fortune teller has actually become quite a stereotype. People in these professions are automatically thought of as phonies, i.e. the wannabe Jamaican fortune teller woman who did the infomercials a couple years ago. Though I truly had my reservations about going, I wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to meet the woman who Luis spoke so highly of. "What do I have to lose?" I thought to myself. If anything, maybe she could give me some insight about what I can expect in the coming months after graduation.


I have spoken to her on the phone like two times, and both times she sounded very nice. She's been going through some troubles with her mom who is apparently quite sick so she wanted me to call her today before I left the house. I called her as promised just to verify is she would be available this morning and she told me to come over. She does consultations in her home, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous. First, I was going into a complete stranger's house. Second, this stranger was going to sit with me and talk to me about my life. Third, I was just plain nervous about getting this close to a spiritualist. What if she told me I was going to die soon? What if she told me one of my loved ones was going to die soon?


I was having this dialogue with myself as I drove to her house, which turned out to be only about ten minutes away from mine. I drove up to her driveway and couldn't help but wonder if she was spying on me from her window. The house is right on the side of a busy road, and the driveway is tiny. She had to have noticed my car pull up, and I don't have window tints so she could see everything I was doing inside my car prior to getting off.. I pushed these fears aside and walked up to the front door. I rang the door bell and out came a young Cuban woman with a white scarf wrapped around her head. I know santeros usually wear white garments, so I figured this was her. I was actually surprised because I expected her to be a lot older than she is. She's only 47. I think it's all the smoking that has made her voice a little raspy. She welcomed me in and asked me to sit down for a few minutes. She was talking to her relative back in Cuba and her calling card was running out of minutes. Luckily, the couple minutes on the sofa gave me time to really observe her home. It actually reminded me a lot of my grandmother's home. There were tons of ceramic ornaments, family pictures and the great smell of good clean tile. I don't know how to put it into words, but there is something so comforting about a Cuban woman's home. These homes usually have white tiled floors, and Eva's in particular were sparkling clean.  I also had time to notice a doll that was displayed in the center of the living room. It looked almost like a flamenco-inspired doll, but I later found out that the doll is her "gitana" (gypsy). Basically, this doll is a manifestation of her guardian spirit which guides her and helps her with her problems. Whenever she needs help with something, she prays to the gitana, and the gitana delivers. She later explained to me that she smokes a lot during her consultations because her gypsy used to smoke a lot in her past life. 


Here's a picture of a gitana doll I found online. Hers looked like this one. (I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of this woman's home the first time we met, but I plan to stop by her house in the next few days to talk to her some more and hopefully get some pictures.) 

Once she hung up with her relative, we started talking about why I was there and what I had learned from speaking to Luis. I told her how Luis believes many people view the religion as a business. Apparently, many santeros charge ridiculous amounts of money for services. Eva agreed. She even told me that one of the reasons she hasn't gone through the formal santeria initiation is because the service itself costs $7,000 to $8,000. To avoid contributing more to this growing stereotype, Eva doesn't charge anything for her services. She says that God blessed her with the ability to read cards. Her gift is meant to help people who are going through difficult times in their lives, not to earn big bucks.

 I asked her how she got into the religion. She smiled. Here's what she had to say: When she was 7 years old, she used to faint at random moments. No one knew what was going on. The fainting spells and terrible headaches had become a part of her life. It wasn't until she was 20 years old, that she had a life changing encounter. She was walking down the street when she was greeted by a woman dressed in white. The woman began telling Eva about the things she would experience in the coming months. Eva laughed in her face. The woman told her that she was going to separate from her husband. She also told her her family would leave Cuba for the United States, but that she would take two years to get to the U.S. She also told Eva that the spirits did not want her working any jobs in the street, as in offices, shops, etc. Instead, the spirits wanted her to work at home- to work for her community. The pair walked about seven blocks, and when they reached a corner, the woman in white disappeared. Eva was at a loss for words. Three months later, she separated from her husband, as the woman had foreseen. She also took two years to get to the U.S. After such proof, Eva was determined to find out more about that fateful encounter. She consulted spiritualists about what that encounter meant. One day she was given a deck of Spanish cards (they resemble tarot cards, but with different symbols.) Over time, she began reading the cards for her friends, and the visions the cards were giving her were coming true. From that point on, she was fully dedicated to the religion and doing good with her god-given ability.

-My Reading-

My consultation with Eva was one of the most interesting, frightening and wonderful moments of my life. She walked me to her back yard, where she has a pool and terrace area. There is a table set up in the shade, and that's where she does the readings. I sat across from her, and she placed a glass with a "Siempre Viva" (forever alive) plant on the table. Here's what the plant looks like: 

It's supposed to give the visitor vitality, and the water in the glass is supposed to bring clarity. She then did two Catholic prayers, one in which she said my name. It almost sounded like a traditional "Padre Nuestro" prayer, which is done by many Catholics, especially during confession. She then began to shuffle her deck of Spanish cards- they kind of look like Tarot cards, but they have different symbols. 

 

She then placed the stack on the table, and asked me to divide it in three separate piles. She then combined all the piles once again, and began laying the cards out on the table. Here's where things started to get interesting. As she placed the cards, her facial expressions began to change. She went from smiling one second to being very concerned the next. Sometimes she laughed and other times she took a few puffs of her cigarette with a very worried expression. I was becoming more and more nervous because I didn't know what the hell she was seeing in those cards. I don't know if it was my own facial expression or the nervous energy I was giving off, but she told me to relax several times. She reassured me that getting my cards read was nothing to be scared about. I tried to stay calm. 


What she started the card reading session made me very uneasy. She told me she saw a change in my love life. For anybody else, this might be exciting news, but for me, it was terrifying. I've been in a serious relationship for the past seven years with hopes of getting married after graduation. I told her this, and she said the cards are not a guarantee. She told me to be careful because she saw some kind of pending disagreement that could lead to a separation in the future. I accepted her warning, though I secretly hoped she was full of crap. 


She then told me she saw a career change in my future, one in which I would be very, very successful. This was definitely welcome news, especially after the first emotional bomb she presented me with. She said I would be very good in my career path and would make a lot of money. She also told me my boyfriend and I would travel a lot, which is something we've been wanting to do for a while. But she also told me to be careful because I would be leaving my current job because of some kind of betrayal. 


She also asked me about my mom's health. My mom had recently come from a doctor's appointment, in which she learned that her blood pressure and cholesterol levels are getting worse, in addition to some other things. She urged me to tell my mom that she has to be extremely careful with her health. I have to admit, it was kind of surprising that she would bring up my mom's health with a very concerned look on her face. My mom's test results had been on my mind for the past couple days. 


Her next statement, however, completely took me by surprise. She smiled, and told me, "From what I can see, your dad is everything to you. For you, there is no one better than your dad." I was shocked. Not once had I told her about my father, but somehow, she was able to see that. She was absolutely right. Though my dad and I fight a lot, I am still the biggest daddy's girl. 


I don't know if all of her visions were real. I don't know if she's just a great guesser. What I do know is that I left her house with a mixture of amazement and fear- amazement at the fact that a complete stranger could know so much about me, and fear that some of her predictions could be right. 


I plan on visiting her again within the next week, especially to take pictures (and maybe get my cards read again if I'm up for it.) 


I'll keep you guys posted.