In the palm of her hand

Between storms (thunder and lightning) Pete and I took a ride back into town Thursday evening to enjoy a free Sno-Isle Library event. One of the things that sweetens the quality of living where one finds herself is the simple pleasure that comes from being part of the community. We are doing that one day at a time, one opportunity and event at a time. Thursday night's event was a palmistry hour with Sheila Lyon "one of America's foremost psychic entertainers." That's a quote from the handout she used to get her audience involved in numerology. The library was closed and since this was a new thing for us I peered at the flier on the library door reading for details when a friendly and familiar face--a friend of ours opened the door and said, "Would you like to come in?" I was delighted to see my librarian of choice. Pam is a friend, artist and librarian who works as a sub-librarian on the island. We were among the first to arrive, but by the time the entertainment (funny, I didn't think of it as such) began all seats were filled.

Sheila Lyon is a seasoned crowd-pleaser with things to say, a wit about the way she says it and information for everyone in her audience. I began reading palms years ago and have looked and prodded the lines in my palms trying to get those lines, the length and slope of them as well as my fingers to get a grip on this form of oracle reading. What I learned through an hour of entertainment and enjoyment with my husband, a friend and a new acquaintence was this: even ancient systems can and ought to be brought into the present. Sheila Lyon did that for me, and the group who came to have their palms read. Lyon's wrote a book entitled Palm's Up, a link to that book is here. Twenty years ago when I picked up a book on palmistry the left and right hand were read as what you were born with and what your life is like now. According to Lyon's the rules for reading are different. For example she said what you read in a book on palmistry in America would interpret readings differently from readings done in India, or China; a woman's life would be read by reading the left hand, a man's life the right. She also quickly dispelled the interpretation of life-span based on length of the Life Line by saying that when palmistry was first popular people were dying young. Lyon's take on interpretation of the Life Line is in the intensity of the line and if there are breaks in the line it could mean a change more than a death. Her mother for example has a short Life Line but is 90. I took no notes and recall what she said from memory so please check out her book for details or check your library, she might be scheduled to speak in your town or community. Here's her website: http://www.sheilalyon.com/

In one lively and informative hour each of us were given an insight into the energy of numbers and went away with a simple and entertaining way to determine "Where Are you in Your Nine-Year Cycle of Life? Each of us knows what our Lucky Number is (based on the exercise of adding up the numbers of one's birthdate) and the meaning of that Lucky Number was group information that fuels the community and collective knowledge of folks we might see again, while at the post office, in line at Star Store, or when checking out a movie to watch tomorrow night. This event and activity is further evidence in the life of a makua who carries lines of curiosity and a Heart Line with splits and forks of a person with 'goodness' and 'something more'. A split personality? I live with a man with a ring finger of entrereneurship that is long, long, Super-Hero long on creativity. As she worked the crowd reading Pete's hand and mine the Diva of Divination said, "You (Pete) should have your own business and you (I) should run it." I watched the faces of people as Sheila Lyon dosed each with her brand of insight and entertainment. Familiar in some ways with the process of working crowds from my years as a crowd-worker/facilitator, I was pleased to see that the art lives and there is always something more to learn and enjoy. It's the joy part of 'enjoy' that was most present for me Thursday night. The entertainer had me in the palm of her hand, and I enjoyed it.