We meet in her airy parlour at Fisherman’s Way. It was fate that drew me here. Stuck in traffic at Chalong, a small sign had caught my eye. I had to know what was in the bag.

Fascinated by the accuracy of past fortunes told, Wan studied with the nation’s grand masters to learn the ancient craft. Under Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen, the Astrological Association of Thailand trains devotees to read into the future.

Bag of mystery

Wan produced the goods. A delicious red handbag, dressed with jewelled trinkets, sat loved and all mysterious, on the reading table.

“This is my favourite bag and quite expensive, but I just had to have it,” says a smiling Wan with a twinkle in her eyes.

Inside are the tools of her trade.

Charmed

An unusual necklace of amulets calls for explanation. Various coins of beloved royalty adorn the collection. There was Rama IV and the son of Rama V -God of the Navy and protector of southern Thailand.

A stately symbol of Rama IX, the Great ruler of the present Chakri dynasty of Thailand, has a special place on Wan’s pendant.

“My mum kept that coin for me when I was born forty two years ago,” explains Wan. “She said the coin was made to protect the army fighting the communists back then”.

Another talisman bears the image of a monk who, according to Wan, “learnt a lot from Buddha and gives knowledge to fortune tellers”.

A colourful Victoriana charm is an interesting addition. Wan points to a portrait on her table, it is Pamela Colman Smith the most famed tarot card artist of all time.


The velvet pouch

A braid trimmed, navy velvet pouch contains a card deck adorned with illustrations by Colman Smith - who was born in London to a New Yorker father and Jamaican mother and travelled the globe studying the arts.

Wan draws her influence from the artist whose psychic symbolisms pass on knowledge to those who seek. She herself has visited far flung places from England to Abu Dhabi.

A gift from her teacher Tanakorn Sinkasem, the head of Thailand’s astrological society, Wan’s tarot cards are a popular item

“Many people come to me to predict the future for them and to solve their business problems,” she says.

For those who choose the tarot, ten cards are selected and interpreted according to Wan’s intuition. The client will ask many questions to satisfy their needs.

Date of birth

“The most accurate system is by the numbers,” says the fortune teller, referring to the science of numerology.

In her bag are working sheets designed to pinpoint the numbers of influence, with total accuracy depending on the exact time of birth.

“What time were you born?” she asks. Only my mother knows that, I reply.

I notice Wan has the exact same shade of my favourite lipstick. This colour of passion is hard to come by. The last time I found it was in Isaan, of all places, and ran out just recently.

“It’s L'oreal No. 456,” Wan tells me.

This is my lucky day. I send a phone message to mum in Sydney: ‘what time was I born?’

- Kerrie Hall