Tarot, Katrina, and Jackson Square

Getting your Tarot cards read in New Orleans' Jackson Square was a ritual -- one of those authentic, local-color activities you simply had to do. Almost every client I read for here in Jackson has, at one time or another, sat down opposite a Jackson Square reader. Whether you loved them or hated them, admired them or considered them to be con artists, the street readers of Jackson Square added an undeniable dash of color, spirituality, and New Age mysticism to the melange that is New Orleans.

And now, for the most part, they're gone.

Just a year ago, it was not unusual to find more than fifty Tarot readers in New Orleans' Jackson Square. Right in the shadow of the St. Louis Cathedral, they would set up their card fabric-draped card tables, raise their patio umbrellas, and set out their carnival-style sandwich-board signs.

Their decks ranged from familiar, mass-market titles (Rider-Waites, Thoth, and, of all things, the Hanson-Roberts) to the relatively obscure (the Tarot of the Stars or the out-of-print Tarot of the Cloisters). Their styles ranged from remarkably accurate speed-readings (like those provided by Professor Purple) to cold-reading quackery ("Let's see ... you have a question in mind, right? No? Okay, then you're having relationship issues, right? No? Okay, no -- I see it now ... problems at work! No? Okay, that'll be twenty-five dollars!")

These readers were a tough bunch, too. When the city tried to move them and restrict their work, they didn't give in; instead, they banded together and fought the new regulations. They were united; they had staying power.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, though, everything has changed.

While the famous French Quarter fared reasonably well, the number of tourists has dropped dramatically. You can see the results throughout the Quarter. Streets that used to be packed with performers -- musicians, artists, scammers, frozen "statue people" spray-painted silver -- are empty now. The locals who played those roles lost homes and moved on, or simply can't earn enough money entertaining the few tourists who do come to town.

The number of Tarot readers has dwindled to barely a handful. Once, fifty readers lined the street; now, on a good day, there are four or five. Crowds used to gather around the readers' tables; now, one reader told me he was lucky to speak with five clients a day. During the big conventions, a capable, charismatic reader might pull down several hundred dollars in reading fees and tips; now, cash is hard to come by.

Professor Purple -- my favorite Jackson Square reader -- has packed up his trademark purple umbrella, table cloth, and Hanson-Roberts deck and moved to Saint Louis. Katrina filled his home, located in a nearby neighborhood, with dirty water; he lost practically everything. Ultimately, he made the decision to move himself, his wife, and his baby daughter to Saint Louis. There, instead of reading, he's pursuing his academic career ... and bringing up his daughter in a city where she will never again have to face the horrors of a hurricane's aftermath.

Optimists still assert that recovery is around the corner, and tell me the readers will be back. Pessimists tell me an entire way of life has been lost, and that readers will never again be able to make enough money to fill the Quarter with their particular brand of advice and local color. Whatever the cards may hold for New Orleans' Jackson Square tarot readers ... it's clear that, at least for now, the part of the quarter inhabited by the street-side Tarot reader has pretty much been moved to Memory Lane.

What You Can Do

1) Send prayers, good thoughts, or healing energy to the readers of New Orleans.

2) If you go to New Orleans, show your support for the readers still there by making a point to stop by Jackson Square to get a reading.

3) While acknowledging the challenges the city still faces, make a point of letting others know the French Quarter is open for business.

Comments

[Sophia]

Awww, this just breaks my heart. :( I have only been to New Orleans once in my life, loved loved, (did I say I loved?) the French Quarter. It was such a brief trip that I promised myself I would return, and in the last 25 years since...I haven't. :( If...no, WHEN I revisit I will be sure to get a reading.

[Elizabeth Owen]

Thanks for posting this Mark. Just as an aside
Henry Glassie, reknown cultural anthropologist, spent years as a street portraitist in New Oreleans, before Dr. Kniffen got " 'a hold" of him.
The idea of the street readers fleeing the Quarter makes me very sad. It, along with the ancient tea leaf reading cafe, are part of my earliest metaphysical memories. Growing up in the town of Jimmy Swaggart (Baton Rouge) made Tarot decks hard to find. I bought my second one-the Aquarian Deck on Bourbon St. sometime in 1979. I will support a street reader when I go home in October. I haven't been back to Louisiana since last July.
Many blessings,
Elizabeth Owen

[Lilli]

It really breaks my heart to know that many of my friends (who are square tarot readers) won't be so easy to find next time I get a chance to come home. But give it time and the square will have 50+ out there again after all Dragon James and Gypsy never give up.

Merry meet and merry part you are always blessed be.

[Chancey Freeman]

Does anyone remember Jerik or Draco or Caitlin and Wolf- are they back? If they made it- tell them rebecca from Kaldi's said hello - these are brave and gentle folks. I love yall.

[Sunny]

I WAS at one timeone of those 50 Tarot readers on the Square from 1991-3...often sitting right next to either Jerik or Professor Purp,le!!! Thanks for allthe memories. Itr must be really different now since Katrina. Did you ever know Cindy the lady reader who was one of Jeerik;s cronies that made chain mail? I wonder what happened to her as well. I believe my favorite artist, Richard Hunter has passed. He had moved to Bay St. Louis as did Meret and Gregory FEdin but surely they wouldn't be THERE either!!!
Sunny