Mom, Dad, and satellite TV--they're all in the cards

"People sometimes ask me how a reading can be applied to a certain problem," says Johna Mennone, diviner-on-duty at Twenty Questions, as she places eight Tarot cards into position. "But the most important thing is to keep an open mind."

Fortunately, the cards she draws provide a wealth of Thanksgiving-centric information. The Three of Cups refers to the three members of the Wiegle family, and implies healthy emotions and openness of feeling. The Nine of Swords indicates possible stress and worry about the trip home. The King of Cups even tells of the essential character of the author's father. As Mennone explains, "He's a Pisces, which is opposite to your Virgo on the Zodiac." This means that "you are opposite, but still connected in some way. Maybe you even follow in his footsteps."

There's always a temptation to misuse mystic information. A diametrically opposed father and son team could, for example, easily set up a satellite TV system, with one installing the dish and the other programming the remote. A nurturing three-of-cups home environment could be credited to one's parents enrollment in all those self-improvement seminars.

Mennone, however, incisively observes Thanksgiving's Sagittarian conflict between freedom and togetherness. "You may have to get used to a set of restrictions again, or maybe you're at home, and your mother starts talking in that annoying voice of hers, and it drives you crazy.... It's important to not get stressed."

So set up that satellite system--good advice is whatever works.

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