Among the many disciplines and talents practiced on Martha's Vineyard, are those that can clear your chakras, explore your past lives, and decipher the mysteries of your tarot cards and astrological chart.
Metaphysical consultant Sarah Nevin operates a private practice in Edgartown. Photo by M.C. Wallo
My first stop is with professional psychic Sarah Nevin, who operates a private practice in Edgartown, and who studied chakra and aura reading, contacting spirit guides, and recovering past lives, at University of California Berkeley Psychic Institute. She sits across from me, silent, eyes closed, "gathering information" as she puts it, while I, my feet planted firmly on the floor for a better connection, start fretting over what spiritual baggage she will uncover. Then we begin.
During the course of two hours, she takes me though my different chakras, uncovering current lovers and past lives, which are interesting, although I feel little connection to them: I'm working in a cafeteria after kicking out my alcoholic husband; I'm living in a small village in post-war Europe, caring for an invalid husband, but end up cheating on him with a man who happens to be my father in this life. (That could explain the sometimes-strained relationship my father and I have now.)
Using this information, along with the spirits Ms. Nevin speaks to about me, she explains how I can begin to improve my spiritual self. The experience is revealing, not only because of what she tells me, but also because the questions I ask reveal things I didn't realize bothered me. I promise myself to apply energy to those areas of my life.
Alison David, owner of The English Butler Tea Room in Edgartown, practices divination through interpreting tea leaves. Photo by M.C. Wallo
At The English Butler Tea Room in Edgartown's Nevin Square you can buy more that just high-quality teas and tea-related trinkets. For $20, Alison David, the shop's proprietor, will to give you a peek into your future. When Ms. David first began tasseography, the practice of reading tea leaves, she was frightened by the degree of the accuracy she was able to achieve.
"I had to stop for a while," Ms. David recalls. "I did readings for about 35 women at a baby shower, and the images were just coming so hard and so fast, and were so spot on, I actually scared myself. I didn't do it again for almost a year.
"Now I have people ask a specific question, which offers some control. People are more comfortable if they know the subject of what I am going to be looking for. If it is a specific question, they know they won't find out more than they want to."
A person asks the question then repeats it as Ms. David prepares the tea leaves, a method that has produced some startling results. "I predicted the birth of a baby to the day, even though it was three weeks premature," she says. "The mother called me from the hospital, which was amazing."
Ms. David says, "I have learned to trust what I see a bit more now. It always takes a while for it to come though, and I will think, 'Oh gosh, nothing's going to come this time.' But it always does."
In one surprising reading, she distinctly saw antique china. After some hesitation, she told the woman for whom she was doing the reading. "She was hugely excited," Ms. David recalls. "She explained that she had just accepted a job restoring antique china in Afghanistan. Imagine that. I have learned I have to just tell people what I see, even if it doesn't make much sense to me. I have to go with my intuition, because what I see won't always make sense to me, but it will mean something to them."
Chilmark resident Arlan Wise has been working as a professional astrologer for more than 20 years. Photo by Jay Ayer
Perhaps the most recognized form of predictive reading is astrology, and Martha's Vineyard has its share of astrologers who use the movements and positions of the celestial bodies for perspective on past, present, and future events.
An astrologer creates a personalized chart based on the exact position of celestial bodies at the moment of your birth. This chart is used to predict how the current positions of those celestial bodies affect you.
Chilmark resident Arlan Wise is a noted astrologer who has been working as a professional for more than 20 years, wrote a astrology column for The Martha's Vineyard Times for 17 years, and operates a website (arlanwise.com).
Ms. Wise explains astrology as a language. "I am a translator. Anyone can have their chart done, but what I do is interpret the information so that it can be used. When you read a chart, you are accessing a huge amount of information. A lot of astrology is about timing; when things in your life, or in the world, when they will start or end, or what we should focus on now - all of that can be seen in a chart."
Ms. Wise enters my exact time of birth into a computer program. No crystal balls, no incense. She uses a computer, prints out a chart, and hands it to me. The chart consists of two circles, a smaller one inside a larger one, divided into 12 sectors, called houses, each with a scattering of mysterious symbols.
Ms. Wise begins with the inner node, or natal node, which describes my characteristics based on where the celestial bodies were positioned at my time of birth. I'm surprised not only by how accurate she is, but also that, unlike the horoscopes in magazines, how precise and specific she is on what applies to me: I moved a lot as a child; only one of my parents was around; and there was alcoholism in my immediate family. All true.
Ms. Wise went on to describe my love of travel, my investigative energy, and my touch-and-go relationship with money. And then, she finds something called a Chiron, a minor moon orbiting Saturn, representing where we are most psychically vulnerable. Mine was in my higher education house - the area in my life I am most uncomfortable about.
"This symbol, in your higher education house, means you might have some insecurity there," she tells me, "like the fact that you possibly didn't finish college." Again, true.
Ms. Wise explains, "I studied this, and it is something anyone can learn about, but you have to know how to present it to people so that they can use it, and understand it. Everything that is happening right now, with the markets and the shift in world politics, none of it was a surprise to the people who study this."
Katy Plasse is a frequent contributor to The Martha's Vineyard Times.
