Profile; Jasmine ForthrightPhilip MacKinnonAfter paying my four-dollar admission I looked for Jasmine Forthright the tarot card reader I had recently heard about. Noticing her booth just off of the front door I approached her. Relaxing in folding card chair and looking the part of a tarot card reader, Jasmine Forthright is about what you would expect. She's of average build, about five feet and five inches tall, long black hair that hangs to her waist, and shining gray-green eyes. Long black skirt, fishnet shirt and black bra underneath, pale skin and dark makeup, what most people expect when they get their cards read. The darkly lit, smoke filled, and neon paintings of the City Club in downtown Detroit fit the reading of tarot cards. Forthright's booth consists of three curtains hung from the ceiling one that covers the cement wall at the back of the booth, a small card table pocked with cigarette burns that holds an overflowing ash-tray her deck of Angel Tarot Cards, a small brass incense burner, a small plastic pitcher with "Tips" scribbled across it and another half full of 7-up and Grenadine, a stuffed teddy-bear, and two novelty skeletons on the top of the only real wall of her booth. "I've been doing people cards for about a year now, and working here for the last six months," explains Forthright. "It started as a hobby and became a business, I really enjoy it." Forthright has been interested in Tarot and other mystical arts since she was a young child due to the influence of her favorite aunt. "My parents never raised me in specific religion so I was free to explore all venues. I had an aunt who was into all kinds of mystical stuff like Tarot, Rune Stones, and Crystals. She got me interested in it as well, and for a birthday present the guy I was seeing at the time bought me a deck of Tarot Cards. I've kept it up on my own and I now have three different decks, an original Rider Waite a Renaissance, and an Angel Deck. I alternate between decks each week." Forthright explains that she doesn't consider herself a psychic or a witch. "Sometimes I get a feel from the cards, and can tell things about a person I have just met. I have a few friends who practice Magick but I have no talent in that area, I just read peoples cards." All readings are done on a donation basis, with a minimum three-dollar donation. "I added the minimum after my first month here (City Club). I had a few people who thought that since it said "Donations" they could put in a dollar or less and get away with it. On average people donate three or four dollars, one guy didn't have any cash when he thought he did so he paid me with a pack of smokes." Forthright laughs holding up a soft pack of Camel Filters, her preferred brand is Marlboro Menthol 100's in a box. Reading cards on the weekend isn't Forthright's only form of income she also works for Kirby Vacuum as a door-to-door solicitor. "People tease me about my current jobs a lot reading Tarot at a Goth Club, and selling Vacuum Cleaners aren't the best ways to make money. I'm thinking about either going to college for psychology or business. I would like to open my own Wicca/Mystic shop someday." Forthright feels that the City Club is a good place to read cards because the people who come to her are freethinking and open. "I don't get hassled with a lot of the stereotypes working here. Almost everyone here is different in some ways, and Goth's have always been more open to me then most people." Forthright explains that when she read cards for people on her breaks at past jobs she got hassled by the stereotypes that people hold. "This one guy started telling me that I was going to hell and was evil because I practiced black magic by reading Tarot. One boss threatened to fire me if I didn't stop reading for people on my breaks because it was scaring the customers." Lighting a fresh cigarette and knocking the ash off of a stick on incense she opens up about readings she has done. "It seems that people I read have one of two reactions, Damn that's accurate or, your way off with that one. It also seems that after I read someone they become my best friends." Forthright explains that people who she reads often feel an immediate kinship with her. "I have people who come back every week to talk to me about what's going on in their lives and shit. I've become friends with a couple of people outside of the club as well. I meet with one guy Philly an average of once a week for coffee." Forthright believes deeply in what she does, and thinks that it can help people. "Sometimes they don't really want their cards read so much as they need someone to talk too, ya know someone to listen to them. I do a lot of listening in this little booth of mine." She laughs pointing at the cloth walls of her booth. Some customers have presented her with small gifts as a way of saying thanks. "My Rider Waite deck was a gift from one guy who just needed someone to talk, and my stuffed bear was the same thing. The guy who gave it to me won it from a vending machine and thought that I might like it so he gave it to me." Finishing the night in the early morning, the City Club closes at 4:30 a.m., with a quick breakfast of silver dollar pancakes and a Pepsi at the Bagley Café, Forthright says goodbye to the people she works with and a few of the customers who stayed the night. "We don't usually get a lot of people who stay straight through the night but there is always a few hard-cores." She laughs walking to her bus stop. The City Club is located in the basement of the Ramada Hotel on the corner of Cass and Bagley in downtown Detroit; open from 10:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. it's an 18 and over club open to anyone as long as they are open minded. |
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