It’s in the Cards

Having lived before and again, Iyana Galen understood time. She used to think time was constructed: experienced as sensations attached to moments, held on the breath and in the body, until they became concrete. Consistent and reliable pillars of response often revealed as anxiety (based on the common complaint that time is finite—there’s never enough of it). She now knew that this was a human-centric perspective and time isn’t a construct at all, but a pattern. One that can be designed.

When you lived as many times as Iyana had, the pathway through this world became such a deep groove, she forgot that others often fell in. Molly McLeod was one of those people. Molly drove, week after week, from her chic London flat to Iyana’s crook of a village, made up entirely of grey stone crofts, held together by the leggy vines of dripping pale purple wisteria and lush ivy. She could go to one of the tarot readers perched on the city sidewalks, but something felt incongruous to her about the modernity of the setting and this ancient art. Molly longed for one answer: why was she paralyzed not by the fear of death, but the terror of life?

What Molly didn’t know was, that after ten and three-quarter years of driving the same route, week after week, this visit to Iyana’s would be her last. This time, as she cut the deck, wishing that life was different, that she was different, Molly McLeod vanished. Iyana still saw her, week after week, day after day, year after year, not living, not dead, every time she flipped over one particular card: The World.

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Heather Sanderson's work focuses on exploring the sacred feminine and healing invisible wounds. She has written 25+ short books in two series: Dreaming with the Plants and The Future is Possible. Poetry from her collection called Sister appeared in NightBlock, Anapest, and Understorey Magazine. Originally from Canada, Heather now lives in Brooklyn, NY. Discover more of her work at https://majesticwisdompublishing.com/ and follow her on Instagram at @heather.sanderson.