Editor’s note: What activities and practices have gotten us through the pandemic? What have we learned about ourselves during this dismal time? Baltimore Watchdog reporters wrote personal essays and interviewed people on this topic. Here’s what they found.
By Mariama Fofana
Just before quarantine began last spring, Taina Garcia visited her grandfather, Esteban, a certified shaman. She asked him for guidance on how to become more spiritual. Over the last 15 years, Esteban has read angel cards every morning as part of his daily routine. Angel cards are meant for those who feel a sense of higher beings. People using them often seek direction in life and are on the lookout for positive messages and spirituality.
As a child, Garcia lived with her grandfather for about five years and watched Esteban perform his readings. Garcia began her own spiritual journey last winter, when Esteban recommended that she start reading angel cards. He gave her a deck. This deck contained 36 cards with illustrations of angels and spiritual images that include words of guidance written along the bottom of the card.
The Friday after Garcia got the deck of cards from her grandfather, she attempted to read angel cards that night. She watched as the sun went down and admired the change of colors in the sky from an ethereal pink to a smoky purple. Garcia lit candles around her room and laid flat on her bed, breathing in and out thinking positive thoughts. Once a few minutes went by she sat up crossing her legs and shuffled the deck. Mimicking the technique she watched her grandfather do, Garcia spread out all 36 cards and handpicked five cards, turning them over one by one.
The cards she selected had on them messages about manifestation, generosity, abundance, joy and honesty. Surprised at the reading, Garcia was hopeful that her life in quarantine would be positive as she was struggling with the idea of being confined to one space for a long period of time. For the rest of the night, Taina slept peacefully.
Since Garcia has received the cards from her grandfather she has practiced readings over and over, becoming so comfortable doing them that she has made it a part of her weekly routine. Before she does a reading, she meditates for about 10 to 15 minutes. To invite a certain energy into her environment, Garcia begins by burning sage or incense. This cleans the energy and prepares her mind for meditation allowing her to connect easily. Garcia meditates while sitting up with her legs crossed and her hands dangling off of her knees surrounding herself with crystals (selenite, a universal crystal used to charge other crystals). She then makes sure to fix her posture by straightening out her back while she inhales then exhales. As she takes deep breathes her mind clears.
There are many techniques for reading angel cards. As a beginner, Garcia discovered she prefers to shuffle the deck with her eyes closed until the cards start falling out of her hands by themselves. She then chooses five cards that have fallen and lays them out to read, which will be her reading for the week. Another way she reads is by shuffling the deck and laying out the cards then hovering her hand over the cards and chooses the ones that the energy is drawing her to. To make sure the cards are accurate she asks spirit guides to help her with the readings. Though she has had some bad reads where negative cards reoccur, “If the cards don’t correspond to my life I don’t try to make it fit,” she said. Garcia looks forward to seeing the wealth card that represents abundance, and the manifestation card so she can be in control of thinking positively.
Garcia also got into wearing crystals. She noticed trends on TikTok of people sharing their knowledge of astrology – and she was inspired. Now Garcia wears four crystals every day. She puts on the green aventurine crystal bracelet that represents wealth, an amethyst ring for protection, a rose quartz necklace for love and a clear quartz necklace for overall healing. Since she has been wearing them, the crystals’ energy keeps Garcia feeling protected and in a positive mood.
At first, Garcia was skeptical of posting her spiritual journey on social media because she is aware of the common misconceptions and did not want to be judged. She began posting her activities through her private social media and noticed that a lot of people took interest. Since then, she has done a few readings for close friends. Garcia has encountered people who do not support her journey, including her best friend, who is very religious.
“I understand that not everyone is on the same path, not everyone is on the same journey, not everyone is going to be open minded,” she said, “especially if you don’t break the misconceptions you have and understand that people practice different things. But I don’t get upset because I know people do things differently and you can’t really disrespect what someone believes in but that also goes both ways.”
Garcia said she’s become more in touch with herself. She has learned to be levelheaded and is more in control over her emotions. Instead of reacting to a problem with anger as she used to do, she has learned to take a step back and evaluate the issue. She then takes her time to come up with ways to effectively solve them. This journey has allowed her to look forward to something during this pandemic ever since her first reading.
“Everything that I have been doing over quarantine, the last year I feel like a whole different person,” she said. “I’m much more positive. I feel like the things in the past may have weighed me down giving me a lot of anxiety. But this has put me in a different headspace.”
By Lia Johnson
COVID-19 halted social gatherings and forced everyone to spend more time than usual at home. Days blended together. Weeks passed by. The season changed from spring to summer. Ashley Hylton, like many of us, had extra time on her hands. But Hylton didn’t spend her time binging shows on Netflix. She used this time to order and read astrology books about love and relationships, the zodiac signs and how to practice astrology.
“I was home not doing much, just working…it gave me an escape,” Hylton said.
Hylton has long been interested in astrology. Her friend, Kayla, introduced astrology to her during their senior year of high school. Hylton would read her natal chart, a snapshot of the sky at the time of birth, often to learn about personality traits, major life lessons and her destiny. But Hylton never thought to charge a service fee for reading someone else’s chart.
That all changed during the pandemic when Hylton opened her astrology service business, Lunar Bbe Astrology, in August.
Donald Harris, a 19-year-old photographer and friend of Hylton’s brother, needed Hylton’s help to explore his career path in late June. A favor bloomed into her business idea. On a breezy summer Friday evening, Harris texted Hylton asking her to read his sun, moon and rising signs. The sun sign rules your personality. The moon sign rules your emotional core. The rising sign rules your outer appearance to others.
Hylton was stuck in the house that night. She replied, asking for his time of birth, birth date and birthplace. Hylton put the information into her natal chart generator, cafeastrology.com. She gave Harris insight about his Capricorn sun, Libra moon and Cancer rising as a quick summary. She was able to tell that he is creative and will use his photography to make a living. Harris smiled and felt overjoyed that Hylton could foresee his creative success. He told her that he thought the overview reading brought him more clarity. He insisted Ashley start offering in-depth services for readings.
“I was really touched that I helped someone that young still trying to figure out themselves, so why don’t I do that for others?” Hylton said. “That’s how it basically started…I knew I could make this a business.”
Hylton did just that.
Since then, the list of reading services she offered grew. Natal chart readings. Love and relationship readings. Destiny readings. Hylton launched her business using Instagram’s platform in August. Prospective clients inquire and purchase services using a Google form located in her Instagram bio. Her most popular service, natal chart readings, involves her indicating which zodiac signs rule each person’s 12 houses, defined moments in your life, and your personal planets’ alignments based on the time of birth, birth date and birthplace.
Hylton’s natal chart readings require a lot of time. Research takes about a month. Hylton gathers information from the 12 houses and hand writes notes about each house and what she sees in the charts. With natal charts, Hylton makes assessments of what happened in a person’s past and what she foresees about the future. Hylton uses her intuition and astrology books to complete her notes. After notes are complete, she records her notes as two separate audio files to send to clients — one audio for the 12 houses and another audio for personal planet alignments. Hylton doesn’t place a time constraint for readings. Audio files are unedited and are about 40 to 50 minutes long.
In preparation for my natal chart reading from October, Hylton lit a yellow candle for her ancestors’ altar. The yellow candle aroma filled the air with a lemon scent. Her bedroom was silent. Hylton input 1:04 a.m. as my time of birth, 10/04/1997 as my birth date and Cheverly, Maryland, as my birthplace on cafeastrology.com. The natal chart was generated. Hylton read the chart from the first house and worked her way to the 12th. She hand wrote notes and referred to her textbooks.
Hylton spread out the research of the houses and personal planets over the next three weeks while she balanced virtual graduate school at the University of Maryland Global Campus and her full-time human resources specialist position. Hylton recorded two audio files the following Friday evening. She sent audio files to me on Saturday via text message. Hylton provided me insights — about my future career in teaching or education, about valuing communication in my relationships, about my future marriage and about seeking partners that mirror my father’s personality characteristics.
Hylton was grateful for the time the pandemic allowed her to study and offer astrological services.
“I don’t think I would have done it…if it wasn’t for the pandemic,” Hylton said.
Hylton’s busy commuter schedule wouldn’t have allowed time to read astrology books or study. Before the mandatory telework and virtual classes, Hylton would commute between work in Washington, D.C., and night classes in Largo, Maryland. COVID-19 meant an abundance of free time. Hylton used this downtime to help others on their astrological journeys into self-awareness.