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A skeptical diva with a complicated past explores the my
terious world of psychics
On the spiked heels of a nasty breakup, my girlfriend Divina assembled a five-member war council at her favorite Japanese restaurant to examine the wreckage. Our mission, if we chose to accept it, was to unearth the cause of her relationship's derailment from beneath the formidable debris of deception (his) and denial (hers). Such amateur psychosleuthing became moot, however, when Divina herself delivered the judgment: She had known one year ago that the relationship was doomed. Solemnly, I acknowledged her recognition of woman's intuition at work. But Divina explained that intuition had nothing to do with it: A self-administered tarot-card reading had forewarned her of the relationship's demise. Drawing the Moon card reversed, Divina explained, had meant "This man's heart is closed to you."
I choked on a piece of yellowtail tuna and fought off an eerie funhouse feeling in the pit of my stomach. To make matters worse, I quickly realized I was the only one at the table not in on this hocuspocus. Divina whipped out her Lover's Tarot Deck wrapped in a pink silk scarf (to ward off evil vibrations) and proceeded to give Robin (the proud holder of a Harvard law degree) a reading she had been waiting all week to receive! Silently I wondered, How can such intelligent divas be bamboozled with this sort of flagrant, fantastical flimflam?
Shortly after this episode, I started noticing the obsessive interest in paranormal phenomena all around me, including an endless selection of psychic hot-line infomercials hosted by some of our brightest stars of yesteryear. It's true that mystical occurrences-ghosts, hants, witches, spirits, vapors and voices-have always been a facet of traditional African-American culture. But I couldn't help asking, Why this current resurgence of interest in paranormal powers, despite the fact that doubts have been cast upon its existence since antiquity? Perhaps a better question would be, Why not? As we approach the year 2000, our fears seem to be escalating faster than our technologies, and we're desperately searching for reassurance about the future.
I weighed the facts: On one hand, the average person is willing to accept and find reasonable almost any pronouncement made by someone they...