Working from her office at 2266 N. Prospect Ave., Mary Ellen Pride says she gives her clients a glimpse into what the future holds with the use of both astrology and tarot cards. She recently talked to the Shepherd Express about her work.
What do you use to make astrological readings?
A natal chart (birth chart) is constructed for the date, time and place that you were born. It shows the planetary positions and the aspects between those positions, and that tells us a lot; and then from the birth chart, you can compare it to where the planets are now. So what astrology does is it shows you potentials, your pluses and your minuses, and then it shows the upcoming energies that are coming into play.
How does this work?
You look at the angles where the planets are now forming with the planets when you were born. [A book known as an ephemeris lists the positions of all the planets every day. They come in lengths of one year to 100 years.] This is what was going on, these are the kinds of energies you’re looking at, having come forward in your life.
Can you tell me a bit about reading tarot cards?
They all mean something. I don’t go by the straight interpretation. I think the cards are just symbols and they open channels into your subconscious mind.
When did you first know you were psychic?
Well, that’s kind of like asking someone when they first knew they were colorblind. If you’re born that way, you just are. You don’t know that it’s “different.” And it wasn’t necessarily that I knew I was psychic. I just realized that other people weren’t.
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What do you think about other people’s potential psychic abilities being blocked by fear or not understanding? Do you think more people have potential than realize it?
Yes and no. I don’t think everybody does, but I think a lot of people do, to a certain extent. So I think that there are a lot of people out there who do have ability and whether they’ve had fear instilled in them by people telling them, “Oh, it’s wrong, that’s just the devil,” or whatever, or whether it’s their inability to handle it, they’ve blocked it in some way, shape or form.
Photo by Corey Hengen