See the Future ... Consequences

 To explain the meaning behind this, I will have to digress again. My mother was sort of known locally as a little bit of a ‘witch’ (if one can be a ‘little bit’ of that). My brother and I confronted her on several occasions, “We found a witch. We found a witch. Burn her, Burn her!” (In the very best traditions of that wonderful film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail©. Another film, which inspired and influenced so many moments in our young lives). Yet we had never been ‘turned into a newt, or had we dressed her up with a carrot for a nose. We never even got to see her interrogated by ‘the church’. Yes, back to the Spanish Inquisition too? (See Blog Thursday May 9^th 2012), or ultimately tied to the stake and burned…. not even thrown into the local pond to see if she floated (actually, come to think of it. I don’t recall ever seeing my mother swim in freshwater? Though she did go to the beach with us on occasion).

However, while our mother possessed certain ‘abilities’ for people ‘outside’ of the family, many of her family predictions were very wide of the mark, even if one tried to fit an interpretation to them (Even as people have done to the quatrains of Nostradamus, to make them fit into major historical terms). Maybe that’s how it was for children with a mother who was rumoured to be a little ‘psychic’? She could see some things for other people but, was seldom ever able to ‘see’ matters involving our family. But my mother was known, by those in the neighbourhood who wanted to believe it, as the lady possessing of certain psychic abilities, and, ‘other’ special skills. This is why we used the term ‘witch’. She was probably a ‘good’ witch type though.

As it was, my mother was often asked to do readings, and at some points over the years was even able to make it her living (at least to finance her holiday trips away later on). Readings, done using Tarot cards more than any palmistry, but she was reasonably good with that too. While the Tarot was interesting, the one skill I always found appealing (from a physics point) was the fore-telling the gender of a baby using a hair from the head, the persons wedding ring and a wedding photo. It depended on which way the gold ring turned as to whether it would be a male or female child. But also, and this is where the chair comes in, The white vinyl chair in the kitchen, the Maternity chair. If there was someone in the local area who wanted to get pregnant but was having difficulty (and this was before the option of IVF ever was on the horizon), they would come to our house for a ‘cup of tea’. Now while having the ‘cup of tea’ they would be sat in this chair. It was usually a very short time before the news was out that they were expecting. We boys growing up, avoided the chair from terror of the consequences.

(Continued tomorrow)