A tarot reading with Creeper’s Will Gould

October 25, 2017

Say what you will about the effectiveness of tarot reading over the phone, but I have many friends who can vouch for my deck handing their asses to them over text. So, when supernatural season arrived, I decided to take things super-long distance with a call to Creeper vocalist Will Gould from across the ocean. In an hour-long reading punctuated with all kinds of nonsense I have omitted for your reading ease, I advised Gould about trust, creativity and the future.

Before you read on: The night before our interview, I channeled Gould’s energy and did a preliminary reading. Keep this in mind as my cards and I answer his questions…

Are you excited to have your tarot cards read, my friend?
Well, I’ve always known that you were very witchy, and this is going to be an experience, I suppose. I’m quite nervous.

I have made more people cry than not at this point, so…
Is that just in tarot card reading?

I have made more people cry than not in my life in general.
[Laughs.] In your lifetime!

I want to try to direct the cards to be more about Creeper, though, and not so personal, but they can’t help themselves.
Terrifying.

Do you have any questions you’d like to ask?
I’d be interested to know whether I’m on the right path with this current project I’m working on.

Let’s fucking figure this shit out. That’s me being super-spiritual, by the way. Swearing.
[Laughs.] I expected nothing less of you, Cassie.

I need a fortune-teller name.
We have a fortune-teller in our mythology called “Madame Darling.” Perhaps you could adopt her name.

Yes! So, last night, I did do a pre-emptive reading—though I wasn’t talking to you at the time, just channeling your energy, so it might have been off-base a bit—but last night, it was telling me you may be feeling pessimistic about something right now. Or, perhaps, doubting yourself?
That’s very interesting.

It was telling me that those feelings kind of stem from a fear of stagnation. It was saying that this comes from a deep cognizance of the comforts of the material world, and just being generally afraid of stagnating as a result of success.
That does make sense. It’s very interesting, indeed.

So, right now, I’m shuffling your cards. If you could just keep talking to me, that would help. Have you ever had your cards read?
My mother used to do tarot readings when I was younger. She was very spiritual in that sort of sense, so I have had my tarot done a few times by her. The last time I had a tarot reading done was by a guy in New Orleans, and it was on the street, and he had been smoking a lot of crack. [Laughs.] So, it was a very slow reading, and it wasn’t quite as authentic as this one. I’m shuffling a pack of cards as we speak, as well. Not tarot cards, just playing cards. So, I’m trying to imagine what you’re doing.

So, I’ve asked if you’re on the correct path. And, first of all, the answer is “yes.” The first card that came up is telling me “yes,” and it is under the “cups” suit, which is related to creativity and emotions and all the things that you put into your work. It’s basically saying you’re enjoying this and you’re going to be successful at this, and the interesting thing that comes up with the answer to your question is this sense of sharing your spirit. If that makes sense?
Right.

I think that totally makes sense as someone leading a band, speaking to and giving people voices. And I don’t know if I’m interpreting this next bit correctly, but I’ll see what you think. Have you felt—not necessarily in the recent past, but longer ago—scared or hopeless? I’m getting the feeling that this is referring to a time before the band.
I was actually very trapped before the band. It was a very strange feeling then. What had happened then was I was working in a call center, and I had done many jobs as I was growing up to support my bands. My one band broke up when I was doing this call center job, so I ended up just settling down and trying to do what I imagined a young man “should” do and work a regular job and try to have regular aspirations, etc. And I found myself really miserable and trapped. I found myself very unhappy. I didn’t quite realize how unhappy I was until I came out on the other side of it. I would wake up every day and just be absolutely miserable and like a slave to this awful place. Creeper almost walked into my life rather than being a product of [my efforts]. I always kind of see it as something that found me. It threw me into a position where I was touring so much that the job was thinking about firing me. And then, I got made redundant on the same day we signed to Warner Bros. It’s funny how these things work out. Creeper basically called me out, and I haven’t done anything like that since. It kind of pulled me out of a very dark place.

By the way, my card deck is named William. It’s not named after you, but it told me it wanted to be called William. So, whenever I read for my friends, I explain, “William is telling me…”
I keep thinking it’s me telling you.

Alright. It makes more sense now! What I’m getting is: Yes. This is the correct path for you. It has brought you out of a scary part of your life where you were uncertain. It’s given you a new courage and has restored your hope. The only thing that you’re afraid of is that something could become dishonest in it. And I keep seeing that with you. Basically, the creative, emotional part of this means a lot to you, and you’re afraid that there may be something material that will corrupt that.
Hmm. That makes sense, absolutely. I think the hardest thing to manage currently is finance, because we’re not built to be business people. It’s about what you create. As well as things are going at the moment, as soon as people can’t support themselves, it’s very hard to keep going, isn’t it? So, that is a worry in my mind. I’m so awful with dealing with those situations because it means so little to me, really, it’s difficult to focus on it, honestly, and be reasonable about it.

What I’m asking the cards right now is what challenges you may face on your current path, and it’s indicating your relationships, emotional bonds. So, you may worry about what could change over time, but you’re meant to find strength in the relationships and the bonds that you create. It’s saying something about miracles, which is interesting? But, the cool thing that’s coming up in everything is that they relate not to the physical world but have to do with creativity and the emotional side of things.
That’s very interesting. It fits very well. My entire life is dominated by creativity and other things that we’ve made and put out into the world. So, it makes sense that this entire reading is dominated by similar things that completely reflect what it’s like every day.

I feel like right now in my life, sometimes it’s difficult to sort out the untrustworthy people from the trustworthy. I guess I’d be interested if there are untrustworthy people in my life. Are there people I need to cut out in order to move forward?

With the things that have come up with you, there are mentions of trust, so I think it was kind of pointing that out already. First up: It is saying that not everyone surrounding you is trustworthy, and it’s showing me that with the suit of pentacles. There is a sense of selfishness and people who want to stray from a path. It’s showing me wasted money and things like that. As far as your unconscious thoughts about it, there is, again, the hope that this has brought you and being afraid that that could slip away, or that opportunities could slip away. Perhaps that’s referring to your fears about the people who may not be trustworthy—that they could lose opportunities for you or bring things down in some way.

[I pause.] What the hell is this trying to tell me.

It’s showing me also sneakiness? Or theft? Backstabbing-type things. It’s also telling me that you can’t lack the nerve to confront this person or people when you see these things happening. It’s saying to trust your instincts, so if you get suspicious, you’re probably right. Logically, you should always wait until you have some sort of proof, but perhaps the best thing you could do is straight-up ask someone. The person who reacts strongly to an accusation is usually guilty.
It makes perfect sense. I think that’s actually very helpful. So, what I’ve found out so far is to be wary of finance, money. That’s very interesting. Also: William has really showed me I’m on the right path with this next thing I’m working on, which I’m very pleased about, as well. It’s nice to have the reassurance. What does William foresee over the next 12 months? That would be interesting to hear. I’m in a very creative space at the moment. I’m looking forward to tour but also reconvening ideas is an important thing for me at the moment—kind of re-calibrating and setting up for whatever we do next.

The next 12 months, good sir: Lots of things are being told to me right now, and… they’re not all great. [Laughs.] William already warned you that there could be opportunities lost because of someone untrustworthy or who was straying or not doing something in your interest. So, opportunities could be lost. It’s telling me that’s something you need to look out for within the coming months. And it’s trying to advise that you stay in touch with your feelings because if you grow out of touch with them, I think you’re more susceptible to the not-so-great things that could happen. It’s showing me there is something that is going to bring you down, but it’s temporary. You’re going to be able to face it. In all of this, teamwork is tantamount and is going to lead to positive things. That’s been something of a recurring theme throughout this. So, bad things could happen, but you’ll recover from them. It’s not going to be the end of the world. It might not even be anything that is that dramatic. It’s just that you’re going to bounce back no matter what comes your way. It’s going to be through teamwork and mutual belief that you’re going to make it through. Make use of what you have and stay close to your friends.
I guess I’ll have to look out. Keep on my guard. I’d like to know if William has anything to tell me that I didn’t ask. Anything he feels like I need to know. He likes to be in control, this William. [Laughs.]

It’s telling me that right now you’re worried about forging ahead blindly or wasting your efforts.
It certainly makes sense. Behind the scenes right now, there’s very little I can say about it, but it’s a very pivotal moment in the band’s career and creative direction. And although everything is very good at the moment, there are a lot of warning signs, you know? It’s just difficult sometimes, because I’m something of a control freak, and it’s difficult to lean on other people doing things and trust that they’re making the right decisions, where I feel like I should be on top of everything all the time. Apart from money, because I don’t know anything about it, I find it tricky not knowing who to trust, who’s right and who’s wrong. There are a lot of different parties at the moment, and each of them tell me they’re the right one. It’s hard to know who’s the one to believe in, you know?

Yeah. And that makes sense, because it’s telling me about disagreements or troubled partnerships or being afraid you’ve misjudged something. That’s what’s kind of underlying everything right now. Everything it’s telling me is that there’s a feeling of having a clouded future, of sorts. From all the other things we talked about today, it doesn’t seem like something that you should worry about, but it’s what it’s telling me you’re preoccupied right now.
Absolutely.

It’s also telling me… [Cackles.] This isn’t a very nice thing to say, but I told you “William” isn’t very nice.
That’s okay.

It’s saying that at the root of this, within yourself, you may not be caring or thinking about other people.
Sometimes, when you’re doing these things and you’re focusing on this stuff, you tend to put these projects before absolutely everything to make sure it’s right. A fear of losing sight of the muse sort of thing? Sometimes, I don’t think people understand that’s the reason things are successful or appealing or why things have gone OK. What I’ve found is the best way to deal with those situations is to completely trust the muse and the subject of what you’re doing at all costs, and kind of getting things done. You have to focus on that and push everything out of sight. So, it would be absolutely like me to be doing something creative at the peril of others. [Laughs.]

Altogether, it’s saying: Right now you may be putting your emotions above other people while you’re preoccupied with this fear that you may be plunging yourself into something, or a fear that you’re going to have disagreements. Underneath it all, it’s that fear of a clouded future, troubled partnerships and, on some level, sadness and worry that there could be loneliness involved?
I’m very lucky in that I’m surrounded by a lot of people all the time. I’ve not had that problem since I was much younger. But certainly, the feeling of, like, I’m very eager to move forward. I’ve always been that way. As soon as I’ve done one thing, I’m ready to move on to the next one straight away. I’m in the middle of an album cycle for a record I really believe in and performing a sort of character I really believe in, but I’m also ready to move on to the next thing. I think everything feels really still at the moment and a little stale, perhaps, for me. So, the feeling of stagnating is a feeling I can relate to.

Absolutely. That was the first thing I read in my preliminary reading. This sort of mental stagnation. Literally, the card meaning is “mental stagnation.”
Dude. That’s very accurate.

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