Queen of tarot, crystal ball peers into others' problems

JAKARTA (JP): The following dark-tinged scenario may come to mind for many of us when we think of the tarot and crystal ball.

A bizarrely dressed hag ponders the cards and crystal ball for a jittery young client. She lifts her wrinkled finger, only to drop it decisively on the Death card. The visitor is left aghast, dismayed and irate at this terrible turn of fortune.

Many others share the belief that tarot cards and the crystal ball are "dark" and best avoided. Some religions prohibit this tangling with the supernatural, while scientific and intellectual circles dismiss it as nonsense.

Others fail to comprehend how a deck of cards can tell much about anything, or how a crystal ball can give insight. It is the nebulous sphere of the supernatural.

A visit to Ms. Tine, a diviner who has been dubbed the queen of the tarot and crystal ball from Indonesia, may be in order for the doubters. She practices at the Traditional Medications and Spirituality Consultation Center at Mangga Dua Shopping Center in the Mangga Dua business district in the city's downtown.

Tine admitted it was hard to live as a soothsayer and earn a living from other people's problems.

"It's tiring to practice like this, not physically (but psychically). That's why I don't want to practice at my home anymore. If I could choose, I wouldn't want to be known as a soothsayer."

Tine, 43, appears like any other chic, modern career woman. She is the mother of a 12-year-old daughter. She speaks softly; her tone is friendly but cautious and firm.

She said soothsayers were needed to assuage others of their problems. People enlist the services of soothsayers when they find themselves at their wit's end to solve their problems themselves.

"They also want to know why they have the problems. Some are only curious. Some have become dependent on the service because they feel a lack of confidence if they don't ask a soothsayer to do anything."

Tine joined the center about nine months ago. She decided to become a "full-time" soothsayer because she heard mysterious voices and experienced vivid dreams which told her to help others burdened by problems.

When she was younger, she did not have any idea that she would become a soothsayer. She received her bachelor's in mathematics and had been a high school teacher in Bandung for 10 years. While teaching, she studied laws at a reputed private university in the town. For the next two years, she was a corporate lawyer.

"When I was 30, I started hearing voices frequently and having dreams which eventually came true. I was very afraid because, in some cases, I sensed that someone would die, and it came true."

Tine said that she inherited the talent from her grandmother, Tjutju, who was a famous soothsayer. But she mastered on her own how to interpret the meaning of some cards, including tarot, ceki (a card game popular among Chinese-Indonesian) and modern playing cards.

"Through tarot I can see the past, destiny and solutions of a problem, but with ceki I can see what will happen to someone in the near future and someone's feelings. The modern playing cards can give me insight into someone's luck."

According to Tine, she sees various symbols in the crystal ball, mostly abstract, which may appear to be a blur to others.

"It's not true if some people said that clients are able to see a clear picture, just like watching a television screen," she said. She added that her ability to read symbols from the cards and her viewing of the crystal ball blended into one.

"I recite ritual words and burn my homemade incense. Nothing more, except I hear voices. I am willing to teach how to read tarot to others. People can learn that. But it's hard to brief others on how to see the crystal ball and how to interpret what I see in it."

She relies on the crystal ball and cards in seeing someone's future. She said that the client had to shuffle and cut the deck, then she laid out the chosen cards in a pattern.

"Each position in the spread has a meaning, and each card has a meaning as well, then I combine the meanings by looking at my crystal ball to shed light on the seeker's question."

She said that knowing a death in advance remained a fearful thing for her. She claimed to also be able to discern how someone would die by examining their birth date.

"By choosing this kind of profession, I always feel bitter, perhaps due to others' problems."

Between eight to 10 people come to see Tine per day. Local TV stars, top military figures and government officials are among Tine's clients. She sometimes is invited to visit her clients in their homes.

"Many of them want to know about their careers and fortune. I also understand that in this modern life now, there are many people, men and women, who have affairs.

"I've never been willing, however, to help someone to get someone's husband or wife and I can't change destiny. It's from God. I may be able to avoid someone to have bad luck by telling he or she to avoid doing something at a certain time."

She stressed that she only wanted to stay "on track" in her profession. "I don't want to make something wrong. I just want to help people find solutions to their problems. There is God over there."

Tine said her supernatural power was a gift.

"God is fair. It's a reality that soothsayers may not be able to see what will happen to themselves. My grandmother was very famous, many people from many parts of Indonesia came to see her asking for the right person to marry and then were married soon after. But she could not find the right person for one of her children who was already 31 years."

She said her powers sometimes let her down.

"It also happened to me. I did not have any sense when I husband was dying several years ago. I did not have any sense at all that he would die of a stroke. I cannot see what will happen to me. It's from God. I don't know when I will die. If I knew, I would prepare a best insurance scheme in order to take advantage."

She said supernatural powers weakened with age.

"It also will weaken for me but it will most likely be inherited by one of my grandchildren, just as it was from my grandmother to me."