Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Somebody tell me: what's the point in having separate compartments for your salad if they're all going to run together anyway, as soon as the store clerk hands you the bag and the container tips up on its side?

Just asking.

And also, why would somebody not only stuff mushrooms into her mouth at the salad bar but also bother to call attention to herself by saying to me, "These are great"?

Just wondered, you know. Thought somebody out there might have a clue.

While I eat my sweet and sour salad (combined Caesar salad with pineapples and pears, all tossed together like a vegetarian on a binge), I'll share another one of those items I held onto to write about "some day."

This is my reading from the Mouth of Truth, which is one of those coin-operated fortune telling machines. I forget what you had to do, but I think you were supposed to put your hand in its mouth, and then it whirred and flashed and spat out a piece of paper.

The randomly selected wisdom from the Mouth of Truth says:

You often show artistic or cultural interests.

You enjoy excellent health although you often abuse it.

You don't like eating a lot and spending time in the open air.

Do small things as if they were great.

Even in old age you will continue to be successful and happy thanks to love and affection.

A relationship will distract you from your commitments and prevent you from being really successful.

Then it indicates that in life, I score 8 out of 9; in love, 3; in luck, 8; in health, 6; and in sex, 6.

Of course, these statements are all general enough that anyone is likely to find something to agree with. Yes, I have artistic and cultural interests. Yes, I'm in excellent health right now (which I used to abuse by being out of shape).

It's also true that I don't like eating a lot, since eating a lot is what got me to the unhappy position I was about 45-50 pounds ago. But it's not true that I avoid the open air. In fact, I love nothing better than a walk on a fresh fall day, with the bright sun and the brighter leaves.

I'd like to think that in old age I will be successful and happy, loved and adored. Who wouldn't? But I know me well enough, and there's little that can distract me from following through on commitments. If I've been in a holding pattern on the runway to success, I blame no one but myself (much as I'd like to blame previous relationships).

I also have, in my collection of things to write about, a flyer from Sister Helen, spiritual reader and advisor. Not only does she do palm and tarot card reading, but she also has "God-given Power." Her flyer includes both the traditional palm used to advertise fortune telling but also a cross.

Sister Helen promises to "unfold the past as it was, the present as it is, the future as it will be and things that may have a hold on you." She says her services will help you gain information to help you through love, money, business and health.

You can receive aura cleansings and she'll tell you how to hold your job and success and what to do about your troubles. She also reunites the separated.

Most intriguing was this promise: "Lifts you out of sorrow and darkness and starts you on the way to success and happiness." Wow.

I don't doubt that the people who consult Sister Helen feel as if she answers at least some of these needs. And the truth is, a self-fulfilling prophecy can arise, as well. Someone who is told they are going to be successful, and who believes it, is more likely to be so.

In this sense, I'll choose to believe the Mouth of Truth is right: that I am destined for success and happiness. But when it comes to figuring out how to do that, I think I'll consult my inner voice, which after all, is wiser than any coin-operated machine.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

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