‘Spooning may lead to forking’
And other insights from another dimension
When was the last time you had your tarot cards read — let alone by a reader who delivers her spiritual counseling with a Missour-uh accent and a load of f-bombs? Better question: when was the last time you did this in a space decorated floor-to-ceiling with, I kid you not, spoons?
If you can’t answer that question, then you must book an appointment with Sister Moon Unit. Hopefully this past weekend was not your only chance to get a reading at — where else? — a space featuring a carefully curated lifetime collection of spoons.
My friend and I were looking for something fun to do on Saturday. She’d seen something online about readings, so we booked appointments. I hadn’t quite realized that the tarot event was a special fundraiser supporting a new Quad Cities museum, the Mississippi Spoon Gallery. (I also had not expected my tarot reader would tell me stories about her ex-husband, but there you go.)
When we arrived, I was glad to get my curiosity satisfied about this little spot located on River Drive in Davenport. I’d driven past countless times over the last several months and could tell something was moving in, and wondered what it would be (but I missed the grand opening back in August).
As we introduced ourselves and explained that we were there for tarot appointments, I checked out the small gallery — or what I thought was the gallery — of framed displays of souvenir spoons that owner Cammie Pohl has collected throughout her life. Full disclosure: Cammie, a professional tour guide, is not a total stranger; she was one of the two women who arranged an overnight bus trip I once took to Washington, D.C., which is a whole ‘nother story, but one that required me to pack only a protest sign and a pink knitted hat. Beyond knowing we had that experience in common, I didn’t know her story. Not about the spoon collecting, nor the dramatic childhood circumstances that play a part in her love for all things spoon.
At first, as I noted the QC-themed postcards and shirts for sale, I wondered, in all honesty, who would really want to take time to tour such a place. But then I immediately remembered the big white cruise ships that have been docking nearby as of late. I pictured streams of tourists looking for something to do and ending up in a spoon gallery, and this idea cheered me. Especially if these tourists are older and into history, this place will serve as a delightful little excursion.
I also noticed that the room seemed to have a smoky odor of sage. Ah, of course. Sister Moon Unit was, like the Great Oz, hidden from view, behind a set of curtains. My friend and I debated for a second about who should go first.
When Cammie led me back to see the tarot reader, who she referred to as her “sister,” (more on that in a second), and as she pulled back the curtains, I was overwhelmed not by the sage smell getting even stronger, or by Sister Moon Unit’s eclectic garb, but by a huge display room covered top-to-bottom with cases of souvenir spoons. There was even, I would later realize when Cammie gave us a full tour, a “spoondalier.”
I loved listening to Sister Moon Unit tell me what the cards revealed, especially when it was interspersed with colorful commentary. I won’t go into what she told me, but there was some stuff she got right. At the end of our session, she blessed me with a sage-smoke cleansing (even asking me to lift up each foot so she could go under), and gave me a long hug — a 33-second hug, to be exact, because threes will be showing up in my dreams and I need to pay attention, she said.
When it was my friend’s turn for a reading, I returned to the main lobby to learn more about the museum.
Cammie is passionate about her collection, and she proudly pointed out collections that had won blue ribbons at past Iowa State Fairs. She has the spoons gathered into interesting themes, like collections of spoons advertising or depicting silent film stars, World’s Fairs, women’s suffrage, and has spoons from places you might not expect a souvenir, like a hospital for the insane (… I know, right?). She has antique spoons that were once used for chocolate testing, (and no, they are not tiny and pink). For history buffs, and especially those who like a non-traditional way to get pulled into history, the spoon gallery is your jam. (And you know there are preserves-related spoons in this place.)
But the story I will remember the most (even more than the one Sister Moon Unit told me about stealing someone’s bike when she was a kid), is the one about how Cammie got into this in the first place.
It’s a story about Cammie’s great-grandmother giving her three boxes, and telling her not to open them until she got married or bought her first house. While this might sound like a fairly run-of-the-mill thing for a young woman to experience upon marriage or another milestone, a gift from a great-grandmother takes on more significance when you learn that Cammie grew up in the foster care system.
I came away knowing that Cammie is not just a collector with a quirky hobby (or a leader of women on their way to historic marches) … she is a survivor.
She’s also got a foul-mouthed, sassy “sister” — blood relative or not, who cares? — who prescribes palo santo smoke as a cleanser, and gives half-a-minute hugs. Right under the light of the spoondalier.
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YES! You captured the evening so eloquently (and with way more details than I could summon on my own). So. Much. Fun.