News

June 25, 2007

‘White witch’ says she can help tune in your future

RORY SWEENEY rsweeney@timesleader.com

KINGSTON – Journalists deal in facts, observations, credible assertions and official statements by necessity – otherwise they get sued.

But some things, which don’t receive official scrutiny, rarely are observed and whose utterance immediately mark their speakers as “kooks,” can only be reported on faith and claims. Such is the quandary of Ann Drago, a registered nurse and self-proclaimed “white witch.”

A while ago, Drago had offered her services as a Tarot card reader as thanks for finding some articles she wanted, and I finally took her up on it last week.

The Drago home on Maple Street is fairly unassuming. The closed-circuit camera was odd, yes, but the rest was normal. Even the iron fence and salt across its entrance went unnoticed – until Drago explained their significance as evil repellants.

Inside the spotless, well-furnished home, Drago was set up at the kitchen table, armed with a glowing candle, smoldering sage, a hunk of some crystallized mineral and the oversized, blue-and-yellow deck of cards in which my future awaited.

As her husband, Bob, hovered nearby, Drago handed me the deck and told me to shuffle. Admittedly, I botched it – any card shark would have immediately sat down for a game. But in my defense, the cards were big and there was no room on the table for a proper job.

“I can tell you, before you shuffle, you’re going to have prostate problems,” she said. Nice start.

She likes to mention she was born with a veil over her face and even brought her mother, Marilyn Bolinski, to the reading to vouch for it, which she did. Science describes it as a bit of amniotic membrane covering the face that doctors simply discard, but popular belief used to hold that it was a sign of future greatness.

From those auspicious beginnings she began card reading at age 3 and was expelled from Catholic high school for doing so. She says her family fears her gift, which is why she remained a “closet reader” until last year when Zena, her friend from psychic shows, persuaded her to go public.

Back at the table, she’s slapping down cards and rattling off prophesies faster than I can write them down. My death wasn’t among them, and even if it had been, she said she’d skip it because she’s afraid of being wrong, though she says she never has been.

According to the cards: I’m a dreamer who keeps to myself, whom people judge, though wrongly because I’m a good person and I have the world at my feet. “You’re not going to stay here,” she said. “It’s a move to bigger and better things.” Eh, vague so far.

She went on: “I’m getting that you drink too much,” which will soon be a problem. We’ll see about that.

Then she hit me with the hard stuff. Someone close will die soon; I’m hung up on a heartbreak that keeps me from meeting women; I’ll be married within two years; there’ll be kids, a boy and a girl; and a brown-haired, brown-eyed man I know “can’t be trusted. He’s a liar, and he’s a thief.”

Now, I’m 24, so there’s potential for any of that, but do I believe it? Well, don’t bet on the marriage, but I’ll definitely check for my wallet whenever I see any brown-haired, brown-eyed guys I know.

Ann said she’s predicted everything from 9/11 to rectal tumors, sometimes in pretty vulgar ways. Bob and Marilyn affirmed the premonitions, which Bob called “amazing.

They’re “like seeing a commercial” that can’t be turned off, Ann said, only ignored. “Sometimes, it can be a real pain in the ass.”

Yes, she’s still Catholic, and she doesn’t care what the church might think. Religion is like a wheel, she said, and her Creator is my God is someone else’s Allah and another person’s Yahweh.

“I basically work with Archangel Michael. He’s my boss,” she said.

Someday, she’d like to have her own divination TV show, but now she just travels to psychic expos.

Before I leave the reading, she tells me I have the blue aura of a teacher, “very attractive, very warm, very loving.”

She sends me Archangel Michael’s white aura of protection and shakes off all my negative energy. She mentions she can throw colors into people’s homes to health them.

Sensing I’m still somewhat skeptical, she gives me a hug and says she loves me.

I smile and thank her, but I’m still considering something she said earlier. “Look,” she’d said, “I know it’s strange. I don’t blame you for thinking this woman’s a lunatic. Let me tell you, when it starts happening to you, then you’ll feel it.”

I’m still not betting on the marriage.

Home remedies

Feeling negative? Ann recommends these cures:

• For a clear aura, take a hot sea salt bath. Sea salt is “one of the purest minerals” and cleanses away negativity.

• To ward off negative energy and evil, burn sage. Evil’s terrified of it.

• For a general cure-all, burn holy candles.

• Spread salt at the doorstep. Evil won’t cross it.

• Install as much iron as possible, such as in fence form or perhaps a horseshoe over the doorway. Archangel Michael carries an iron staff, so evil is afraid of the metal.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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