Card Table at the Center of Café Pasqual

(Wednesday, May 2, 2013)  I’m walking up a sidewalk on the edge of a hilly street in Santa Fe. I take a playful skip-step and a group of 20-somethings in the crosswalk behind me do the same, laughing. The man walking in front of me turns his head back and smiles at me. We are all in a very joyful mood. I think to myself, this is why I am happiest in the mountains: the people I meet are open and friendly.

I turn into a restaurant doorway, Café Pasqual, which has the reputation for being one of the best restaurants in Santa Fe. (I met the owner when I took my first class at Santa Fe Clay in 2006. Anne and I ate there last year, and Cullan and I a few years earlier.)

It doesn’t look like Pasqual’s, though. It’s much bigger, with several dining rooms instead of one tiny one (the real café is so small that patrons who have never met are seated at tables together). The hostess greets me and brings me to a small square table at the center of the main room. I feel really lucky to get in the door, much less have my own table at this legendary restaurant. The smiling man from the street is seated across from me, to my left. He looks like Dr. Sparrow of the IASD (a lucid dreamer).

I have a few tarot cards wrapped in silk in my left hand, which I place on the left side of the wooden tabletop. The waitress comes up on my right to greet me. (The entrance is at my back and the register is to my right, near a large bank of windows. I can see another row of windows in front of me.) I look up at her and begin to place my order. When she moves away, I gaze at the cards and notice that the stack has increased in depth; it appears to now be a full deck. The waitress returns, coming up from behind me this time, and silently places a tarot card, face up, on the right side of the table, near my right hand.

The top edge of the card is torn off. It’s a minor arcana card that depicts a woman standing alone, wearing a long, draped dress. When I awake, I don’t remember which card it is, but the only Rider options are the 8 of swords and the 9 of pentacles. I drew the 9 of pentacles this morning in my meditation, so I have to suspect it was that card.

Day notes:

Yesterday Bonnie sent me a photo of the card spread from our birthday party.

The form of this dream is the same as the Puma in the Meadow dream: a square shape (dining room/walking path) with a dream character in the center (me/puma). The character of the man on the street looks back at me, as does the puma. The terrain of both dreams is rolling hills; both dreams have kitchens that feed many people.

Pasqual: Easter child, Passover

9 of pentacles: self-discipline, ability to mother yourself, to give birth to a good life for yourself