Name: Thief
Italian Name: Ladro
Playing Card: 10♦
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Loss | Theft, Robbery | Betrayal | Enmity, Ill will, Interference by third parties
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Obstacles too great to overcome | The end | heavy losses | places you’d rather not be

Card Description: a barefoot man breaking into someone else’s home to steal something valuable.

Suit and Number: all tens in the Sibilla deal with the notion of will. The Ten of Diamonds, the Thief, is a card of ill will, the will to do something bad or illegal, to take away, to interfere.

UPRIGHT 10♦

General: the Ten of Diamonds represents loss, theft, enmity and ill will. It’s a very negative card in almost all circumstances. When it closes a row positive cards, it shows that the things signified by those cards will be taken away from us. It represents all that is taken away from us, broadly. When surrounded by positive cards, it can mean that the querent will be forced to change their plans or adopt other means of getting what they want, often because of unforseen difficulties.

Love and Relationships: in love, the Thief card heralds interference by third parties, the presence of other people in the shadow playing to the querent’s disadvantage. More broadly, it can foretell a relationship that is hidden, where the people involved are usually already taken. When it describes a person, the Ten of Diamonds shows them as egoist and ready to betray, cheat etc. More in general it is a card of enmity and it mean ill will or even the desire to drain people of their emotional resources.

Work and Money: the Ten of Diamonds can stand for a literal theft, but almost never when alone. Usually it requires the presence of other cards of dubious moral quality. It can stand for scams and swindles, contracts you’d better not sign and in general the presence of hidden detrimental factors in any enterprise. More generally it’s a card of loss, and it brings taxing situations that chip away at your resources. It is only good for people planning something untoward.

Other: psychologically, the card shows negative desires, especially connected to other people’s belongings (broadly construed). It also represents all those practices that drag the soul down, loading it with negativity. The card is associated with West as a cardinal point.

Important Combinations:
10♦ + Q♠ or J♠ = thief (especially with 4♦)
2♦ + 10♦ = loss of correspondence
J♠ + K♦ + 10♦ = man stealing your job
10♦ + 9♦ = group of thieves or of ill-intentioned individuals
6♦ + 10♦ = planning to interfere or rob | psychologically it can be intrusive thoughts

REVERSED 10♦R

General: a very negative card. Its general meaning is that of insurmountable problems. It is disastrous for the economy and extremely bad in all other areas.

Love and Relationships: it can still represent betrayal, but more in general it signifies situations that have run their course and can no longer move forward. It implies definite endings and the inner emptiness that results from having lost that person.

Work and Money: it can still represent theft, but more rarely. It is usually a card of big loss, it represents losing the money you loaned, making wrong investments and gambling away your money. It is a card of unemployment and dire financial situations, and career-wise it brings ruin. If followed by positive cards, of course, it shows that a bad situation will improve and that new opportunities will arise. The presence of the reversed Ten of Diamonds, however, often puts a full stop to the situation as it has been so far, especially when together with other cards of blockage or ending.

Other: it can signify a psychological state of lack of inner resources and feeling like you’ve been robbed of all chances. The card also signifies negative or foreboding places, such as prisons, fortresses, hospital and haunted mansions.

Important Combinations:
6♦ + 10♣ + 10♦R = disastrous speculation
10♦R + 9♠ and/or 4♠ = the end, it’s over | can be a prison
2♥R + 10♦R + 9♦ + 6♦ = haunted house
8♥ + 10♦R = unrepaid loans
10♦R + 8♠ + 9♦ + A♠ + 10♠ = situation of debt leading to a tragic outcome

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