Perception

XXVII

Anna was sitting completely still, frozen to the couch in shock.
Death?
That was her future? That was what they'd come all this way to hear? She stared wide-eyed at the card on the table, the grim reaper dark within his golden frame, a black flag with a flower in his hand.
Sarah had put her hand on Anna's thigh, and she could feel the tension radiating off her as well, but to her astonishment the seer just laughed lightly.
"I'm sorry girls, there's really no need to be scared at all. People who don't know tarot often see Death as a frightening card, but the card actually almost never means physical death, it means a rebirth of sorts. It means a transformation, so a death of the old, in a way. And a transition to the new."
Suddenly Barbara looked right at her. "You have a lot of work to do, Anna. You have an important part to play here on earth and your powers will always guide you. You just have to trust them."

Anna rubbed her eyes with both hands. She was suddenly bone tired, and completely overwhelmed.
She had a major part to play? In what? She had strong powers? Jeez... where was she to put all this?
"Can you.... can you tell me anything about... about where this is going?" she stammered then, and Barbara smiled her kind smile again.
"Well, unfortunately I can't tell you many details because these are your visions, not mine, I can't see them. But I can tell you I get the feeling you'll be going somewhere. I don't know where."
She eyed her again with those dark, intense eyes.
"That boy, his name was Eli, right? I.... I wonder..." Her eyes clouded over as she seemed to stare into a great nothing.  "I wonder what his powers are."
Then she looked straight at her again.
"Okay. I will teach you an exercise now to ground yourself, so you can stay calmer. Just remember, you don't have to be frightened of your visions. You... well, you can be assured that you are very well protected. Now please, imagine a tree with big roots, going deep into the earth, anchoring it to the earth, making it safe against all storms."
Anna closed her eyes and imagined it with all her might.
"Good." Barbara said. "Now imagine that you are that tree, and that you are anchored like that. Deep into the earth. Now breathe deeply, and feel how strong you are."

Anna opened her eyes and looked at the seer, whose eyes were now more intense than ever, seeming to look both at her and at something an immeasurable distance away.
"Anna, you have some very strong protectors, Sarah's grandmother among them. And there's someone else... someone so powerful... there's a lineage... but I can't quite get to who it is."
Barbara shook her head slightly. "Maybe..." she said softly, but her sentence trailed off into nothing. And her fiery eyes focused directly on Anna again.
"You can always call on them for protection. Always. Don't forget it. Even if you may feel like you're all alone, you are never really alone. Okay?"
Anna nodded, even if she didn't really understand what the seer was saying. She had protectors? And Sarah's grandmother was one of them? What? How?
"Okay."
Then Barbara smiled. "You'll be just fine, Anna, I'm sure of it. And please feel free to come back at any point and I'll see if I can help out more."
"Thank you so much." Anna said, half automatically, but she knew by the way the polite words resonated that she meant it a lot deeper too. "This has helped a lot."

Barbara got up from her couch and extended her arms, so Anna quickly untucked her feet and walked the couple of steps over to her, into the seer's waiting hug.