Tarot card read: The high priestess sits not in judgement

Shevy Saleem is one of Karachi’s popular tarot card readers but she won’t tell you who to marry.

It is no longer normal to accept some questions go unanswered. The internet has spoiled us and fast-responding technology has made us impatient. But when it comes to life’s problems, Google is hardly a comfort. So who do people turn to? Luckily for those who seek an answer, there are some guides who can help you cope.

Shevy Saleem, who has been reading tarot cards for people in Karachi for ten years, sits before a tray of tea and plate of golden biscuits. “I guess everyone’s troubled,” she says.



Indeed, she is a busy woman. Her white Nokia phone keeps ringing and between the phone calls, there are occasional knocks on the door. A woman brings her young daughter in, asking to be read. Shevy politely asks them to come another time, but they insist on waiting. Each session costs Rs2,000.

The smoke from her Davidoff cigarettes mingles with that of an incense stick burning in the corner. The tinkle of her bangles punctuates the sound of her shuffling the cards with her bejeweled hands. There are no arcane rituals before she begins. She offers her client a cup of tea.



“These cards work with energies,” she briefs a client. “As you pick the cards for the reading, I want you to think of the questions you want to ask.”

The first question the 20-something client asks is: “Will you be able to tell who I’ll end up marrying?”

With a laugh, Shevy explains that they will talk about work first and the reading for love will follow.

Shevy can read minds just as well as cards. She learnt how to do it from a friend in Toronto who she used to go to for readings when she was having trouble herself.



According to her, love-related questions are the most frequently asked. “Everyone is dying for love,” she says. “I tell them to love themselves first, because you won’t need to go looking for it.”

The next most popular questions focus on money and financial situations. It applies across the board for her clients, who are mostly women from 18 years of age to 65.

Not as frequent, are questions related to in-laws. As Shevy puts it, “One rotten person [comes] with your dowry!” Nothing can be done about it. But she still got one client who once called to ask the most pointed of questions: “When will my mother-in-law die?”

The notion that tarot card readings can give answers to such questions is a myth floating easy in the circles of Karachi’s women. Tarot card readers identify the art more as a guideline to life and an insight into areas that need examining, unlike the popular belief that implies readings can tell the future. Some clients cannot, however, desist and take the myth of prediction quite literally and seriously. Shevy recalls a time when a woman in her sixties called at 3 am to frantically ask, “When will my boyfriend kiss me?”



Shevy’s children often tell her she’s too nice to clients by allowing them to call so late at night. But she maintains that she’s available for “emergencies”, a trait that has endeared her to her clients.

Shevy will not, however, comment on questions about the in-house theft of items such as mobile phones, cash or jewelry. Though these checks can be run by a practiced reader, Shevy avoids them and limits such readings for her close friends. “If there is a chance I’m wrong, I don’t want someone to be laid off because of me,” she says. “That one [house worker] could be supporting a family of ten.”

A tarot reading is ideally suggested every three months, according to Shevy. If you are undergoing a big change, such as joining a university, getting married or switching jobs, a reading can be done earlier, otherwise they offer nothing new.



But given the addictive nature of the experience, many people go much more frequently than three months. It became alarming in the case of Raheen, who at 27 has given up the need to see readers and fortune-tellers. “I got greedy for answers, and I started going too often,” she says.

Shevy concurs that some people are addicted to readings and place strong faith in the art. Nearly fifteen clients visit her at least once a week. “I tell them nothing changes [in such a short period of time],” she says with a laugh, “but they can’t help it!”

At the heart of the matter is the need to hear something that can give you hope. Rakshi Khan, a widowed mother of three, says she used to regularly go to readers around the city. “I think people go to hear something good about their future, especially when they are facing problems.”

And so many times the readings turn into a sort of therapy session. “I saw a tarot card reader when I wanted to know which route to take [in life],” explains young Aminah Akbar. “Although my reader did not give me an absolute yes or no answer, she felt more like my therapist.”

The cards can thus help people navigate the uncertainties of life, especially when big life-altering decisions need to be made. This explains why Shevy is most busy during wedding season. Mothers want to know the best options for their sons and daughters and the prospective bride or groom just want to know if the match is right.

Election fever also hit the business earlier this year in the months of April and May. Shevy confirms that many politicians and government-hopefuls were bursting with questions. “I have lots of famous clients and they seem to have the same problems as everybody else,” she says, without revealing any more.

Her busiest time though, ironically, is on the days when there is a strike in Karachi. “Offices are shut and my day is flooded with appointments!” she says. And that, we can predict, will continue to happen fairly often in the near future for the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, October 6^th, 2013.