I Didn't Want to Be Just a Kind Fortune Teller

My readings are made of kindness and empathy.

I sit beside those who are feeling down, and together, we look for the next step at their own pace.

That is my way of doing things.

And I have no intention of changing that.

...

But today, I am going to share something I have kept hidden.

...

I create illustrations in black and gold that have a slightly mysterious air.

Death. The Devil. The falling Tower.

I take these cards, often seen as heavy, and turn them into intricate line art,

which I then put on T-shirts and stickers.

...

I think those who know me for my gentle readings,

will probably be taken aback.

...

Since I expect people will ask me why,

I will answer that now.

...

Tarot is not made of light alone.

The twenty-two Major Arcana cards contain

Death, temptation, and ruin are all truly present.

...

The more I continue to practice fortune telling, the more I have come to think.

I want to shine a light on those cards that are often thought to be dark.

...

People's weaknesses, their hesitations, and the nights from which there is no turning back.

I will witness it all, taking everything into account.

Kindness that does not do that is, perhaps, shallow.

...

Rather than the "it will be okay" from someone who does not know darkness,

I want to believe in the "it will be okay" from someone who has witnessed the darkness.

I want to believe in that.

...

That is why I,

did not want to be a fortune teller of only light.

...

The place where that "other me" lives is that shop.

On a black background, I am engraving the tarot cards one by one with gold and silver lines.

Aiming for a piece that adults would want to wear quietly.

...

My expression is quite different from the kind version of me.

But both are true.

Both the light and the darkness are the real me.

...

I think you also have parts within you that you consider dark.

You don't have to hide them.

In fact, you might as well embrace them entirely.

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◆ Fortune Teller Entaku's shop, featuring black and gold tarot designs

Please take a look.