“Tell me again, from the beginning, why you are doing this.” Snake took the tablet back from me. A spreadsheet scrolled across the screen. The screen bulged slighty.
I started from where I first saw the cards at the Mexican chain grocery store. Then the half-ass research because I was curious. Then the finding of the Borinquen site, and the espirito that reached out and gently nudged my shoulder. How my borinqueña blood actually itched at the touch, like something long dormant starting to stir, and the realization that this circumvents all the bullshit my father’s family had done to lock me out of my blood heritage. How I purchased both espada española decks because they were cheap only to find they were 2 different decks with a subtle twist in systems. The sifting through pages and pages of Google search results (in English and Spanish) for a list of meanings, and finding there is no standardized set of meanings. Finding five sets to use as a launching point for discovering my own meanings, and distributing them for others wanting to explore the decks as well. And ending with what happened when I entered those lists into a spreadsheet for my personal use.
“You did take precautions against lying spirits, right?” Snake reached out to touch the bulge, the screen flattened as if avoiding him.
“I did. But I worry I might not have gone far enough. How far is my uncle’s reach? I had pretty much written off all of Puerto Rico as unattainable.”
“But it… this particular spirit, this espirito, reached out to you personally, based on blood?” He touched the screen and scrolled through the data. The tablet responded normally. “What’s left to do?”
“Establish my personal meanings for the 40-naipe espada. Then for the extra 8 cards that would make it a 48-naipe espada. It is in that process, that the espirito that nudged me will be able to come forward fully. The deck will be the bridge.”
Snake handed me the tablet. At once, the screen bulged outward. The crown of the bulge followed by finger. “Another possessed deck? Or two?”, he asked.
“No, not this time. Once I get the meanings, then any deck would do. American playing cards, strips of paper, tarot minors with extra cards removed. The espada española is my bridge to that espirito. But once that connection is established, the paper won’t matter.” I touched the screen and the data scrolled to the top and moved over a column of meanings. My finger now rested on the column label. “Mine.”, was entered for me. It was a column absent in the Waking data. “But I’ll only read espada style with espada cards. Just because I can do otherwise doesn’t mean I should, after all.” The data suddenly scrolled down and over. My finger was now resting on an entry marked, “Satisfaction.”
“Espada Española divination in the Carib usually means some sort of engagement with an African Diasporic Tradition. You are not part of that.”
“I know. And I’m not going about this as if I were. Besides, I physically can’t. I don’t have an ofrenda, I’m not under a House, I don’t belong to any Tradicion. This is between me, and the espirito that is reaching for me.”
Snake stood and kissed me on the forehead. “As long as that espirito understands there are tighter bonds than blood, and that there are others that have standing claims on you, then I will not interfere. But I reserve the right to enforce those claims if necessary.”
Snake left for the back rooms. Leaving me alone with the tablet and the data that was the last barrier between me and the espirito.