Jeaux. It’s a funny way to spell my name. Why? It’s a long story.
My sister MG and I traveled to Paris and stayed with her dear friend named Scott; she had a joyful habit of calling him Scott-Oh! Because it is always such a lovely surprise to see him and say his name. I was studying art history and taking French language classes and Scott-Oh! was helping me apply what I was learning during our visit. I asked him how a Parisian might say “You go girl!” MG and I used the phrase to cheered each other on… The three of us laughed about it for a couple days: word games over wine, fresh bread and cheese. “Allez CoCo!” Scott-Oh! shouted one night, “You go you sassy girl!”! Allez CoCo, indeed.
Another helpful French lesson indulged my amazement at how four letters sound like one: “eaux” pronounced “o”. Croissants and lattes offered a giddy mise en scene for jumping through the possibilities: Bingeaux! Lasseaux! Jumbeaux! …Scotteaux! The name stuck.
All these years later, I’ve taken up the magical vibrations from that trip for imagining my Tarot reading practice. As I reached back across time to borrow the word play, I had a funny dream. It seemed to bless my intuition about the name: Ask Jeaux.
My dream was about Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand (please read all about her here). A writer and renown cartomancer working in Paris during the turn of the 19th century, she consulted with many royals during her career including Napoleon and Josephine.
In my dream, Marie Anne and Josephine were very close; they were co-advisors. I dreamed about a moment when Lenormand sought input from her royal confidant. She wrote a message and sent it by raven to Josephine. The loyal corvid delivered. When Josephine received the rose-scented note, she blushed and smiled. On the envelope, Lenormand scribed “Jeaux”, her secret nickname for the Empress.
I adore this painting by Danhauser, it surely informed my dream! Look how small Napoleon appears in the composition, static and unmoved.