Name: Friend
Italian Name: Amica (which is a female noun)
Playing Card: 4♣
Polarity when Upright: Neutral to Positive
Core Meanings: A female friend or relative | support, a supportive context, a context where the querent is given the tools to move ahead | friendship, moral support | partnerships
Polarity when Reversed: Positive
Reversed Core Meanings: material help, recommendations | networking

Card Description: a young woman offers a chair to the querent, who has probably just arrived for a visit.

Suit and Number: all fours show the querent’s context. Clubs are a lucky, social suit, so obviously this card takes on the meanings of friendship, moral support, etc.

UPRIGHT 4♣

General: This card is less concerned with the querent’s feelings than the Four of Hearts, but it is usally more practical. In general, support and friendships are good keywords for this card. This is also a significator card, signifying a (usually young) woman, often a friend or a relative. As a rule, it is a straightforward card to interpet.

Love and Relationships: obviously, this card can represent the concept of friendship. It is, however, not a card of love. Therefore, in the right context, it can signify being friendzoned. In itself, however, it can also mean harmonious relationships where people help one another and take care of each other. In general, it dignifies the presence of people we can count on, and positive environments, supportive social situations, such as a self-help group or a classroom.
When it signifies a person, it is usually a positive woman we can count on. This, however, is only true when the Four of Clubs is surrounded by positive cards, as face cards always absorb the values of the cards around them. Therefore, the Friend can be shown to have two faces, a liar, a cheater or simply a good but untrustworthy person, a gossip, etc.

Work and Money: when it’s a face card, the Four of Clubs shows a colleague, normally one we can trust (although the caveats above apply here as well). It can also show a friend or relative that will help us economically or lend us money or give us tips. In career readings, it points to jobs in the service field, as well as psychologists, teachers, nun, nurses, union representatives, etc. Look at the surrounding cards for more details. More generally, the 4♣ can signify a partnership or any project involving two or more people

Other: psychologically, the card points to feeling supported, although often it shows the person supporting us. This card can also signify other people’s homes, especially a friend’s or relative’s home, though not necessarily. Spiritually, it can show a religious order, especially for women, but it is also a card of comfort.

Important Combinations:
4♣ + 9♥ or 10♥ = good friend
4♣ + Q♠ = bad friend
4♣ + K♠ + A♣ = a partnership or society
4♣ + J♦ + K♦ = can be a trade union
A♦R + 4♣ + 10♣ = a friend may carelessly divulge a secret

REVERSED 4♣R

General: It’s a very good card, more so than when upright, mostly because its effects are more readily appreciated on the material side of things. In the main, it’s a card of help and recommendation.

Love and Relationships: in love relationships, it represents flourishing and a strengthening of the bond. It may signify a reconciliation, but it needs to be attended by good feeling-oriented cards. As far as friendships are concerned, when the card is surrounded by negative cards, it can signify being without friends or without a social life. On the other hand, when with positive cards, it shows strong bonds and people we can count on.

Work and Money: this card often shows up to signify the presence of someone recommending us to someone else, e.g., for a job or promotion, in which case the results will be shown by the following cards, or to represent material help. This is also the card of networking and of developing business contacts and a clientele.

Other: not much needs to be added, as many of the secondary meanings of the upright card apply here as well. It is not, however, a face card, unless we are asking specifically about a female friend or relative, in which case the 4♣R may show the person is ill-disposed toward us or in trouble. Much will depend on the surrounding cards.

Important Combinations:
4♣R + K♣ = the recommendation of a professional or doctor
4♣R + 4♦ = underhanded recommendation (often political)
4♣R + K♦ = can be a service job
4♣R + A♥ or 8♣ = can be networking
2♦ + 4♣R = a letter of recommendation

Other Combinations: Vera Sibilla | Examples of Combinations – The Fours