14 minute read
FORTUNE TELLER
The story of the little fib:
“Once, after a visit to Grandma Wilson, Kathy and I were talking about grandma reading us stories from the Bible. My mom overheard our conversation, chuckled, and told us that grandma could not read or write. She was telling us the stories from memory. We could not believe it because she would follow along with her finger in the Bible and would turn the pages.”
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The story of true love:
“When my mom was a young girl and thought she was in love, she begged Grandma to read the tea leaves for her. So Grandma sat my mom at the kitchen table, made the tea, and read the leaves. Grandma told my mom she would meet a man who had returned from the war —
Worlds War II had just ended. They would marry and move far, far away across a great mountain to live in a beautiful valley below. It wasn’t long before my father returned from the Pacific, where he served in the navy during the war. They met at church, married, moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and traveled over the Rocky Mountains.” The story of the reading that broke a family:
“My mother’s brother, Clinton Conrad, enlisted in the army during World War II and was shipped to Europe. My grandma Conrad, concerned for his safety, went to her mother — great-grandma Wilson for a reading. [She foretold that] Clinton would be shot and buried in a foreign country, but he would rise again. Of course, this was not the news her daughter hoped to hear. The family was upset and angry over the reading. Later, my grandma Conrad got the news from the military that Clinton had been killed. Right or wrong, my relatives blamed his death on my great-grandma Wilson. At some point, the family was notified that the military was wrong; Clinton was alive. Clinton had been captured by the Germans in Poland along with other soldiers. The soldiers were lined up and shot. Each soldier fell backward into a mass grave dug by the Germans. Clinton survived the gunshot and eventually was able to dig his way out of the grave. He went on to marry a Polish woman, returned to the United States, and served in the army until he retired. Grandma Wilson stopped reading tea leaves for a long time, but people kept begging her for readings, and eventually, she began readings again. Many in the family never forgave her for the bad news and stopped visiting her.” Schyrlet Cameron shared photos from her family in the mid 1900s. This is her great grandma Wilson, a known forntune teller, surrounded by her family.
The stories of knowing when death was coming:
“Grandma Wilson told us she knew when someone close to her would pass away. She would be awakened during the night by the sound of a wooden stick being drug along the side of the house. It would start on one side and continue around the entire house before the sound stopped. She would not know who it was, but she knew someone would soon pass.”
“Grandma Wilson told us that sometimes if a family member was going to pass away, she would get a warning. She would be awakened in the night by the figure of the person, headless, standing at the foot of her bed. One night she was awakened by the figure of a headless man dressed in black standing at the foot of her bed. She recognized it as her husband, and soon after, he passed away.”
My Great-Grandma the Psychic
Many great-grandmothers are remembered for their cookie recipes, the life lessons passed down through the years, or the resemblance to the next generation. However when you remember your ancestors, it is a special little connection between them and you. Some great-grandmothers are remembered by people outside their immediate family, and some are remembered for their skills and talents.
Schyrlet Cameron remembers her great-grandma Wilson — the fortune teller.
Schyrlet said her great- grandma Wilson told fortunes by reading tea leaves, and she had many visitors.
Schyrlet and her sister Kathy were often present during these “visits” from ages 4 to 9.
“She didn’t advertise her special ability, but neighbors and family often stopped by for what she called a visit,” Schyrlet said. “Many times, as young girls, Kathy and I were directed to sit quietly and play with our dolls when company came calling.
“Guests were ushered to the kitchen table, and cups and saucers were taken from the pantry. Grandma spooned a teaspoon of dark loose tea leaves into each cup, and then hot water from the kettle, heating on the wood stove, was poured over the leaves, filling each cup. Sipping the brew, conversation centered on the weather, crops, and family.”
Great-Grandma Wilson would drink her tea and study the person who came for their visit.
“When just a sip or two of liquid was left in their cup, she would place a clean cotton dishtowel on the saucer and flip the cup over to allow the excess liquid and tea leaves to drain onto the towel,” Schyrlet remembered. “Next, she slowly and carefully inverted the cup and returned it to the saucer. Turning to her visitor, she would caution, ‘The future is not fixed. Choices you make in the present can change everything.’ Then, peering into the cup, she let the tea leaves tell their story.”
Schyrlet and Kathy were born to Dale and Bernice (Conrad) Flood.
“My great-grandma, Wilson’s daughter, married a Conrad,” Schrylet said. “The Wilsons, Conrads, and Floods lived near the James River near Hooten Town Bridge. The Conrads live on the side near the community of Possum Trot, not far from Hurley. The Floods live on the side nearest Highlandville.
“My parents married and moved to Oregon, where Kathy and I were born. When I was 3 or so, we moved back to Missouri and lived in Springfield near my Grandma Wilson’s home.”
Schyrlet remembers her childhood home with no indoor plumbing and a metal wash tub with a scrub board where her mother did their laundry.
Schyrlet said there is little known of her great-grandma Wilson’s life before this time.
“We do not know her maiden name, but her first name was Kizzy,’ she said. “We never knew my great-grandpa Wilson because he passed before we were born. We know she was probably born around 1870, and she passed some time in the 1960s.”
The girls would visit their great-grandma Wilson at her three room white home.
“The living room had a dresser, her bed, a wood stove, a couch, and a wooden rocker that no one was allowed to sit in except grandma,” Schyrlet said. “She had no electricity or indoor plumbing. The kitchen had a white pie safe, a white wooden table, and a wood cooking stove. At the back of the house, she had a small garden and a chicken pen. Grandma was always neatly dressed, and her gray hair streaked with white was combed and styled in a bun at the back of her head.”
How does one tell a fortune from tea leaves?
“Grandma told us she studied the wet leaves in the cup,” Schyrlet said. “The shape of the wet leaves, color,
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Fares H. Masri arrangement of the clusters on the sides and bottom of the cup helped her to answer questions, offer advice, and even forecast the future.”
The sisters said their great grandma Wilson was a very religious person.
“She had a Bible and knew the stories by heart,” Schyrlet said. “She once said her father told her to use her gift for good and never for financial gain. She used the tea reading to help people. Grandma never taught us how to read tea leaves because she felt it was not something you could teach another; it was a gift you were born with. Some in the family felt it was a curse, not a gift.”
The first step in reading tea leaves was for great-grandma Wilson to grab a white teacup.
“The color was important because white allowed her to see the leaves and patterns more clearly,” Schyrlet said. “Next, she spooned loose black tea leaves directly into the cup and poured the hot water. When the tea was right for drinking, she invited her guest to begin sipping it as they concentrated on the question they wanted to be answered.”
When ready to read the tea leaves, great-grandma Wilson would instruct her guest to hold the cup in one hand and swirl the cup several times.
“Next, the cup was turned over on a white cloth. The cup rested on the cloth for a few minutes, then the cup was rotated several times and placed upright on the table. The tea leaves would be stuck to the cup. Grandma would look into the cup, and story time began.”
When the sisters would visit their great-grandma Wilson, she would sit in her rocker, and the girls would sit crosslegged on the floor facing her.
“It was our favorite time,” Schyrlet said. “That is when we heard some of the most amazing stories.”
Stories that will now be shared with the public for the first time. n
by Melinda Pardo
Melida V. Pardo is a Cox College dietetic intern who is fully committed to help others achieve better health through nutrition. She is interested in the role of food and nutrition in promoting wellness and preventive care.
Gut Health Top Priority
Overconsumption of sugars and sweeteners is associated with an increase in the cases of disorders such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The relationship between sugar and these disorders has been assumed to be partly via the gut microbiome. The microbiome is composed of the totality of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi present in the gastrointestinal tract. The inference is that increased intake of sugars and sweeteners has changed the pools of carbohydrates accessible by the microbiome, forming unique environments in the gut filled with growing microbes, some of which are bacterium. The increased prevalence of these disorders is becoming a serious public health issue that is more severe compared to infectious diseases transmissible from person to person, resulting in a greater number of deaths. In both children and adults, the World Health Organization strictly endorses lowering the intake of added sugars and sweeteners to below 10 percent of the total energy consumption and proposes a further decrease to less than 5 percent. Several studies have focused on the harmful impacts of western dietary patterns on well-being and the intestine. While intake of dietary fat coming from fatty foods and fried foods is well evaluated, the precise effect of sugars and sweeteners is not properly accounted for, even though refined sugars and sweeteners total up to 40 percent of daily caloric consumption within developed nations. Excessive intake of sugars and sweeteners is related to numerous organ and tissue dysfunctions. Both sugar and sweetener consumption and high blood pressure disturb the intestinal barrier, hence raising the permeability of the gut resulting in intense gut microbiota dysbiosis (reduction in microbial diversity), which in turn leads to disturbance in the immunity of the mucosal that facilitates the susceptibility of infections. One way to improve the health of our gut is by reducing the consumption of sugars and sweeteners and increasing probiotics and prebiotics in our diet, such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, nuts, and seeds. Probiotics are live microorganisms that generally improve and restore the gut flora or good bacteria. Probiotics can be found in yogurt, kombucha (fermented tea drink), fermented soy, and fermented vegetables. Prebiotics are compounds in food that induce the growth of beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. Some examples of prebiotics are legumes, bananas, berries, tomatoes, artichokes, onions, garlic, broccoli, asparagus, and flax seeds. Salads can be made into a fiberrich prebiotic boost by adding blueberries, cranberries, cashews, and edamame. Add some Greek yogurt-based dressing to get those probiotics in and enjoy this salad with kale, lettuce, or spinach. n
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