I was relaxing, throwing Tarot cards, waiting for the knock on the door. I didn’t have an appointment scheduled. The cards told me an unexpected visitor was going to arrive soon. Some readers say that it is impossible to determine the time something is going to happen. Like the 2 of Wands could be 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years. That’s a common belief. I am not relying solely on the cards. I am also relying on intuition.
I got up to light some Palo Santo.
Then there was a knock on the door.
I went up to the door and opened the spy window, a filigree brass small door that opened at eye level.
“Yes.” I said.
“I was told that you do readings.” The male voice said in a whisper.
“Who told you?” I asked.
“Someone you don’t know. He heard from someone and then he told me.” The man said.
“With that slight connection I’m supposed to open my door to a strange man?” I said and was about to close the spy door. Something was thrust through the spy door and I couldn’t close it. I looked at what was in the way and there was a rolled up tube of dollars, the outer dollar was a one hundred dollar bill.
“There are 3 bens there.” The man said. “Does that pave the way for me?”
I took the roll of bills and open it up to see if all the bills were bens and they were.
“Hold on for a minute.” I said. I closed the spy door and walked over to a painting on the far wall. I tilted the painting to get to my safe. I opened the safe and deposited the 3 bens in there, put the painting back in place and went to open the door.
“May I come in now?” The man asked as he stood just outside my door sill.
“Yes, for a while.” I said and stepped aside for him to enter.
He was tall but stooped to step into my space. He had broad shoulders that didn’t need any help from shoulder pads. He took off his fedora and turned to face me.
“Nice hat.” I said and gestured that he put his hat on the side table by the door.
“It’s an Art Fawcett Jr. Original.” He said.
“Now a rare commodity since he retired from hat making.” I said. “Come sit over by the fire.” I said and led the way to the gas powered fire place. There were two wing backed chairs set at 90 degrees to each other with a small oval table between them.
The man followed me as he took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair to the left. He must have noticed that I had my drink closer to the right chair. He waited until I was settled before sitting down.
He was wearing a suit, must be wool by the look of it, black as coal. His shirt was gray and shimmered like silk. His tie ivory, like an aged elephant tusk. He rested his hands on the ends of the arm rest and his nails were professionally manicured, buffed to a shine.
“What can I do for you?” I asked, cutting to the chase.
“I need you to remove a curse from me.” He said, and for the first time I heard a lack of confidence.
“What makes you think you are cursed?” I asked, as I got up to get a wine glass for him. I grabbed the wine bottle and raised it for him to see and he nodded his head in assent to the unspoken offer.
“Years ago I asked someone for a favor. A special favor.” He accepted the wine glass and I poured until it was half full. He took a sip, nodded his head in appreciation and went on. “This person had abilities. You know what I mean?” He asked.
“You’re saying this person had magic abilities of some sort?” I asked, and sipped my wine.
“Exactly.” He ran his hand through his thick wavy auburn hair. “I paid a large sum of money. Made a promise, a blood promise, in exchange for all that you see.” He gestured with a sweep of his hand over his torso. “I wanted strength, to be handsome and wealthy. I wanted to be able to attract any woman I wanted. The usual foolish young man’s dream package.” He said and sighed.
“You look like you got all that you asked for.” I gestured toward him in an echo of his action. “So, what’s your problem?”
“I don’t want to go through with the blood promise part of the deal.” He said.
“You offered your first born?” I said and reached for my Tarot cards.
“Yes, that was the standard contract.” He said, “But I didn’t even think at that time that I’d have offspring. I didn’t even have a girl friend, let alone have someone who wanted to marry me and start a family.” He said in a rush. “Now my wife is 8 months pregnant and I don’t want to give up my first born to complete the deal.”
I shuffled the cards and turned the first three over: The Lovers, The Devil, The Tower. Not a good start. I shuffled again: The 2 of pentacles (juggling two sides of an issue), 5 of cups (regret) , 8 of swords (having one’s hands tied). That’s obvious, for goddesses sake.
“What was your life like before you made this pact?” I asked, shuffling the cards again.
“I was the classic 98 pound weakling. I was working a dead end low paying job, renting a small room in a SRO.” He said, almost whispering.
That was some powerful magic if he went from that to this.
“So, you think that your wife would not want you as you were?” I asked the hard question.
“Hardly. She was attracted to me because of the contract. She is used to having a good life, never wanting for anything. All she wanted was a baby and I held her off for as long as I could.” He said, drinking the last of his wine.
I pulled the 3 of swords (suffering and loss), Justice, and Death.
“I will give you back your money.” I said and got up to access my safe.
“Why?” He exclaimed, jumped up, as if to prevent me from moving.
“Because I can’t help you.” I said and looked into his sad eyes, “That’s the truth of it. You made a blood promise. If you don’t give up your first born, then someone’s blood has to be shed. Do you want your wife to die in childbirth?” I asked and waited for him to compute what I just told him.
As he envisioned his wife dying in childbirth a cloud of grief clouded his face. He was feeling it already.
He stood there, quiet for a few minutes.
I gave him more space to process.
“No way out then?” He asked.
“No way I can release you from a blood promise. Not anyone’s blood will do, you know. I mean, if you slit my throat right now, it won’t release you from your bond.” I said and ran my index finger over my throat. I felt I should make that clear in order to avoid a miscalculation on his part.
“I understand.” The man said softly, turned, gathered his long coat, and walked toward the door.
“Do you want your money back?” I asked, not really wanting to give up the 3 bens, but I had to make the offer of a refund out of principle.
“No,” he said in a sad voice. He got into his coat and put on his hat. He was so handsome. “You provided a service and for that you should earn your fee.”
I went to the door to show him out. He seemed to have shrunk a few inches in the time he had been in my space. I felt bad for him. He had some hard decisions to make in less than a month. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.
I lit sage and smudged my space with the door and windows open. I lit white candles and sowed salt into the corners of the room. I said a prayer for the man just saying I hoped he would find a solution that was best for his little family.
I also didn’t want the Karma that came from breaking the blood promise he made. If I had cast that spell and made that contract, I would be very upset if another metaphysician broke my contract with a mundane. There are standards to keep and it’s sort of a golden rule not to meddle with another’s spell. All sorts of weird repercussions could occur if everyone just went around messing with spells that didn’t belong to them. I was protecting myself not making an effort to get that man out of his predicament. He asked for a reading at the spy door. He offered his money for a reading, I gave him a reading. Had he asked at the door before entering my space for me to break a spell I would not have allowed him in and shoved the tube of money back at him.
A few weeks later I read about how a Mercedes sedan went over Devil’s Slide. Devil’s Slide is a name given to a steep, rocky coastal promontory located about midway between Montara and the Linda Mar District of Pacifica. I didn’t have to look at the picture of the man who died in the crash. I knew in my bones that it was my unscheduled visitor who came in the night with the blood promise that had to be kept.