Geeta Kapadia, Tarot-Card Reader, Teacher and Counselor

Geeta Kapadia - Tarot-Card Reader, Teacher and Counselor.

The sound of a swing moving in quick tempo clubbed with really blaring music is not what you would expect or believe the ambience would be when you have a pre-conceived notion about a tarot card reader! Once you set foot into the living room, the sounds are drowned by Geeta's warm voice and then you just feel at home!

Born intuitive, Geeta Kapadia was totally unaware of her innate talent until her tenth standard in school where she would inadvertently end up reading the palms of her class mates at Queen Mary's. Exhibitions for this teenager meant picking up books on palmistry. She smiles it just happened. There wasn't any conscious effort to pursue this art of venturing into the future of others. I had never imagined a career in tarot-card reading. In fact, many moons ago, to be precise 20 years ago, I came upon a book on tarot card reading and was drawn to it like a duck to water. The price of Rs 600 , which at that time was too much to invest in something like that - put me off completely but I continued to be intrigued by this mystic art. In those days, she continues, Femina, "the women's magazine" had a dedicated tarot column. I bought it purely to browse through that even though I never really followed it!

Geeta's warm smile draws you to her at the very first instant. A lawyer by profession, Geeta completed her B.A. from the reputed Sophia College followed by a degree in law. I was involved in my Dad's business and assisted him quite a lot; practiced law for some time but Destiny had interesting plans for me. This young lady now, in her early forties, has been trying to set up an institute on tarot-card reading but is just too lazy, as she says. That has not stopped her from giving individual professional tutoring to one and all genuine seekers who want to master the art of tarot.

Geeta had her first reading towards the tail-end of 2002 and that reading metamorphosed her life ahead in toto. After my LLB, I practiced law for about 3 years. Unfortunately at about the same time my father fell ill and it was very natural for me to take over the family business. On the personal front, too, I was at cross-roads and at one point, contemplated getting back to law. So what made her take the path less travelled?

I don't know. As I said it just happened. I did take a basic course in this art and for some strange reason my advanced course took place ten months late but that didn't make me any less interested in this. I remember when I had gone for my first reading . The cards presented the "magicians card "which is indicative of being a master of your own destiny. The cards had revealed communication skills and I realized I should capitalize on my gift of the gab and my passion for tarot. The two seemed to complement each other and a couple of months down the line, Geeta gave her first tarot-card reading!

Rupee one per reading! Yes, that is all I took for a reading. It was totally professionally though initially I used to take recourse to books as well but slowly I mastered the art. I was in love with these cards and they seemed to guide me well. If one takes their guidance positively, they can create magic in your life." However Geeta refrained from reading the tarot cards for her relatives. Were they not supportive? nfact, they all were but I wanted everything to be spontaneous instead of urging them to sit for a reading. However, my father's death impacted in a miserable way on me. I had wondered if it was worth seeing the oncoming of such tragedies. But then I deduced that the cards simply guide you and you have to take cues from them and move on in life in a positive manner. People needed guidance and if I could help them, why not? I developed my skills further.

From rupee one to fifty-one and then more, Geeta is a master of her own accord with the cards. 'The fee is a must' she says 'because this art is energy based. I delve deep into the person's thought processes through the cards which offer me guidance for the person. It thus is for the guidance, value for time and yes, anything totally free is considered a frivolous activity, isn't it? People don't take you seriously'.

Despite the fee being a pre-requisite there have been innumerable instances where people on the pretext of paying later have not paid. However the humane Geeta has actually with her tarot friends guided those who have sought solace in her reading and have genuinely been unable to pay a dime.

From the bizarre and the humorous to the tragic and frivolous Geeta is a mute witness and a professional confidante to all. How does she handle it without being affected?

Honestly, I have learnt to withdraw myself once the reading is over. Some incidents are indelible e.g. one of my students was keen to know when she would be having a change of residence. She was in a relation with a man and wanted to know when they would get married. I kept telling her that it would not happen. Two months later she contacted me and I got to know that the guy had passed away. I was definitely affected by this but what I am trying to say is that the cards do depict in their own way. What about marital problems and extra-marital affairs? Oh, she breaks into a smile , don't ask me for it will never end. There was this man who was cheating his wife and sent both his wife and the girlfriend on separate occasions to me. While the wife complained incessantly about the material motives of the other woman, the girlfriend had her own woes. I guided the wife to the utmost but the stark reality is that people finally do what they want and its a big mess. In a lighter vein she narrates another incident where she kept seeing something falling down upon a lady's head. Geeta was totally unaware of the lady's residence which was an interesting bungalow with chandeliers. A few days later the lady called her and told her that she had narrowly missed a chandelier falling directly on her at home. I didn't know about the lady's home at all and when she mentioned this, I didn't have words to express gratitude to the cards.

Many such incidents of politicians, designers for whom she had predicted accidents at the fashion event have turned out true to a chilling experience. The most amusing of the lot is that of an 18 year old young boy for whose reading Geeta kept seeing parenthood. 'Had he been in his mid-twenties, I would have told him he was going to be a Dad soon, but looking at the freshness of this young boy, I couldn't believe what I was being told. Exactly three days later, this dude calls me and tells me that his girlfriend is expecting. Was she taken aback? But of course, I was and because I do offer counseling I spoke my mind and heart to him. The funny part is that he was the son of a very good lady client of mine and the telephone call, if you please, was not because he was shocked by what I had told him in a few words but was a request to be a confidante to his sowing wild oats. If he had been a minor, I would have surely discussed it with his mother but he was an adult and very sure of what he and his girlfriend planned to do so I had no say in the matter'.

Global happenings, both scary and funny e.g. the bomb blasts and even the Harbajan - Symonds spat was something Geeta had foreseen coming way in advance. The Tsunami was another tragedy she had forecast. Travel is a passion and when the cards kept telling me to postpone my trip, I realised they were guiding me. The next thing I heard was that the Tsunami had created chaos in the very same place I had intended visiting.

Has she ever been deeply affected, filled with sadness at so much misery? Yes, she sighs, at the end of the day, I am human but as I said, I detach myself very quickly. I guide you with the cards, make you aware of things and it is up to you to make them change your life. There are foreigners who come to me with strange stories, in person, over the phone asking for guidance and I offer my best guidance. There was this lady who resides in the UK who for some reason always failed her driving test. Her innumerable calls from the UK left me unfazed despite it being such a banal affair until she did what I guided her to and bingo, she finally got her license. Does this give her a strange sense of being appreciated? No, I have never sought that but it makes me happy when people listen to the cards but human nature is so stubborn. Of late, I got a call from a person who happened to learn of me from a co-passenger on a Bombay-New York flight! I feel happy that people believe in being guided but ultimately it depends on well they follow what is being told to them.

Does religion hold as special a place in her life as do the tarot cards? Yes, I am religious, very religious but not ritualistic. I won't go to a temple at a said time every day. The emphatic yes speaks volumes as one notices beautiful statues of the Buddha in her living room.

The woman has seen a lot of the real murky world and plans to write a book very soon. And does she plan to share her art. "I am already doing that. I have many students who in turn are teaching so you could say I am running a mini institution of this art. It's been seven years since Geeta has been reading tarot cards and when questioned about how matured have her skills become over this long span she very humbly admits, "My clients do find a vast difference in my readings. The way I pick up the threads, analyze and assess has definitely improved today. I am told that there is immense skill than was at the onset and I believe it will only get better".

What does this tarot-card maestro wish to aspire in life? "I plan to teach religion. Just as the tarot cards make you aware of things, some things just come to me. I wish to spread the awareness of religion in a logical way and not the way it is being abused and torn to shreds around the world".

Canta Dadlaney