Two out of three wouldn’t have been bad, but Morgan may have been hitting on three out of four Tarot readings a year ago when we asked her to cast the cards for the city of Syracuse, the Syracuse University football team, Destiny USA and City Eagle.

“Optimism,” she called out as we walked into the Enchanted Bazaar for a debriefing on her projections.

“The steel is going up.” Her observation on the commencing construction at the Carousel Center expansion site underscored her reading of the Three, Five and Nine of Swords, which last year indicated healing, working out of details and ultimate victory for both the city and the developer. The configuration has also indicated the need for patience, which will still be needed in the coming year, according to Morgan’s dealing of the Prince of Swords upside down.

“They can’t rush,” Morgan said, turning over the remaining cards in a reading for the coming year. “But the Justice card right side up is the helper card. They are working the sand out of the gears. What was important was to get the first step, the main thing was to get started. But the Three of Pentacles calls a warning, raising a question of whether they have the technical know-how for those glass domes in terms of withstanding the heavy snow. That card shows there’s something here that isn’t quite finished.”

Last year’s reading for SU football glowed with optimism shrouded in warning: the King of Swords had brought a clear message of small problems over and over, too much freelancing and not really listening to the coach. “The mistakes are still central,” Morgan said as she turned over the Ten of Swords, “but they’re being learned from.”

Throughout the difficult season, Morgan had not seen the firing of the coach in the cards, and was anxious to see what was in store for the coming season. She was happy to see the Six of Staves. “No championship season, but massive improvement,” she said, reflecting on the tremendous local recruiting successes and the motivation for the new recruits from the very real possibility that they could see significant minutes on the field. “Alums will be coming back as mentors. There will be as real passion, a willingness to play, knowing this is still a major stage.”

But optimism for the coming season was, as last year, tempered by caution, with a warning from the Princess of Cups that the coach will need to take a fresh look at his approach. “The card says these kids just aren’t hearing it,” Morgan said, “just not soaking in the information.”

“Stagnation,” Morgan had intoned last year when the Transformation card began the reading for Syracuse. “But more of a moving the spirit from one lifetime to the next.” The Queen of Pentacles predicted someone new coming to town with a lot of good ideas, but the Five of Cups indicated entrenched resistance. This year the Moon card came up as Morgan noted that the new person in town was Eliot Spitzer.

“It shows his ideas are getting shot down because he’s too radical to get people on behind him,” she said of the new reading. “Like his idea about the drivers’ licenses. This Five of Cups shows people will be willing to help, but needing the balance. It can’t be all him.”

For the City however, the Princess of Steps reversed showed miscommunication on a massive degree, according to Morgan. “It has caused the decline of momentum in the spirit of ideas, a fire blazing down to a bead of coals. But this Wisdom card shows that people will be taking those ideas and running with them, often separately, and not necessarily through government.”

Lasat year’s reading was good news for City Eagle, with a caveat from the Moon card of conflict from a legal problem, but one which would be only temporary and make everybody want to read the paper. Unless someone’s waiting to file last minute, the legalism never arose.

“It’s still shining bright,” Morgan said as she turned the Moon card up again. “There’s lots of new energy, but a different tension that’s holding off on celebration.”

Morgan stayed cosmic through the Four of Pentacles reversed: more freedom, more stability, and the Devil card reversed: getting out from under a thumb.

Then she turned techno. “Just a feeling from the universe,” she said. “People who graduate from college here, or leave to move to places across the country want to be in touch with what’s going on here. They’re not trusting the Post Standard so much anymore. Get on-line.”