It was in the Red Room.

Angels watched over us from the ceiling.

We were the only two mortals in the room.

He took two golden coins out of his pocket – emblazoned with the carousel horse on one side and “House of the Rock” on the other. He dropped them into the slot and the mechanical orchestra whirreled to life. The sounds of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy filled the room.

He took my hands in his – on the anniversary of the day we met. He spun me around slowly – under the watchful tigers, under the red lanterns, under the mini crystal chandeliers.

We were a blur in the mirror.

The perfect mirror for a spell.

This is how we did it….
we were 6 days away from the last day of our Kickstarter. I needed to “see” our dream coming true. I needed to look at the mirror and see us as “victorious”.  Mirror magic is one of my favorite kinds of magic – you can start like this:

1. First, look at your own eyes in the mirror.  Stare for about two minutes until it almost looks as if you are looking into someone else’s eyes.  Sometimes listening to music helps (the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the background was perfect).
2. After about two minutes, it will almost be as if you are seeing yourself in a different light.  When I do this, it’s almost as if I am meeting myself in the mirror.  That day, I looked at my eyes in the mirror and imagined myself as being successful in our dream.  I imagined myself being confident and strong.
3. Then, if you are doing this with a partner, like Burke and I did – look at your partner’s eyes in the mirror while they look at yours.  See that person in the mirror being successful and strong as well.  See their dreams coming true and see them as a person in charge of their own story.
4. We whirled nine times clockwise in front of the mirror, and turned one time counterclockwise to “lock” our dream into motion.

The song ended.  He produced two more golden coins from his pocket.  We held each other watching the the instruments play – mechanically, beautifully, hypnotically.

I dug into my own bag then and felt my beloved tarot cards at my fingertips….

I shuffled before the tigers and the ghosts of the orchestra and asked the cards to speak.

And speak they did:

The Ace of Wands:

• Using creative force to conceive a dream and open to greater possibilities.
• Showing enthusiasm to be ready to tackle the world and create an aura of excitement.
• Proceeding with courage – daring to take a stand and going beyond limits.
• Having confidence knowing things will work out.

The last notes of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy wound down and there was silence.

And in that portal of The House on the Rock, in that magic and bizarre place, I finally knew.