Living at the intersection of occultism, fiction and philosophy, I travel the planes at a moderately quick pace. I read, I do magic, I cook for hubby. Confused by the number of things I talk about? Good, confusion is a nice thing ;)
This is a fun little reading I did some time ago for myself. I’ve waited enough to know with relative confidence that it was accurate. Basically, one day, about four or so months ago, I found a message in my folder by someone claiming I had appropriated their image without asking them for permission.
Since I only use stock photos from WP’s archives or pictures I have taken myself, I knew this could not be the case. Still, the person was threatening legal action against me, and I wanted to avoid issues, so I sent them an email asking what picture they were referring to, and saying that I could take the picture down although I highly doubted I was in the wrong.
I also pulled some cards from the playing card deck. This was the reading:
Q♠ – 2♣ – 3♥ – 10♠ – 9♥
Notice immediately the Queen of Spades. The person who sent me the email was a woman. If it had been a man, in the absence of mentions of a woman, I could have taken it to indicate some evil intent on his part. The fact that the woman is represented by a Spade does not necessarily indicate that she is trying to scam me or anything. It could very well be that she thought she was in the right and was angry (Spades) at me. The reality is that I have no real evidence from the spread about her true motives.
She is immediately followed by the Two of Clubs, which indicates a step taken, so obviously the angry woman took a step, or I wouldn’t have an email in my folder accusing me of breaking the copyright law.
Finally, note the Ten of Spades, a usually negative card, besieged by two of the most positive cards in the deck, the Three of Hearts and the Nine of Hearts. The Ten of Spades is the night, and it indicates everything that is dark, secret or obscure, but also all things that come out of nothing. The two positive cards surrounding it represent the positive solution of the problem. Therefore, the solution comes out of nothing, which, I reasoned, is the same as saying that the person writing me that email will, more or less, disappear into the night. Thus, I judged that little or nothing would come of the situation. So far I seem to be correct. The woman hasn’t answered my email. It may be that she realized she had made a mistake.
Here Abano discusses matters relating to the Ninth House and Tenth House.
Ninth House
If one shall have ecclesiastic preferment or benefit through the church. If the first and ninth figures are entering and fortunate it means good luck in these matters, especially if the first moves to the tenth or the ninth in the second, and even more if the fifteenth is lucky and good. Judge the opposite if they aren’t.
What kind of fame one shall receive from one’s deed.1 If the first and ninth figure are good and fortunate, and also the Judge agrees, it shows honor and good fame, but if not it shows the opposite. If they are Puella or Amissio it means due to women or young people, and if Tristitia or Carcer due to evil, bestial lawless men, and if Rubeus or Puer due to bloodletting or things to do with fire, and if Cauda or Conjunctio due to theft or other lawless things; but if the figures are good, and if they are Albus and Conjunctio, it means through science and the arts; and if Acquisitio or Laetitia it will be through living a good life, accompanied by good people; and if Caput or Major through great lords or through prelates and noblemen; if Populus or Via through common folks.2
On long joureys and relocations. Consider the first if the travel is by water or earth. If the joruney is by water and the first, ninth and tenth are good and watery or airy, it means good journey; especially if the fifteenth agrees. If it’s Tristitia, Rubeus or Carcer it shows accidents, and if Carcer is in the third it can also indicate one doesn’t complete the journey and will return with delay. If the journey is by land and the figures are good, fortunate, entering or exiting but good, it shows good journey, and with Minor in the eleventh it shows delays, and if Carcer is in the third, the person shall not complete the journey.3
If one shall have good fortune or not through travel. The first is the traveler, the ninth is the journey, the seventh the need he has to journey and the place where he goes, and the tenth is the person to whom he travels. If these figures are good it shows everything goes well and with ease, but if the first is unfortunate it shows accidents or trouble during the journey, and depending on whether the other houses are good or bad, judge about the accident.
And if the first moves to the sixth, he shall fall ill, and you can judge the type of illness by the figure. Ad if the first and seventh are unlucky it shows harm and trouble. If the first, second, third, fourth, ninth and tenth are unfortunate, it shows illness and death and being killed.4 If Tristitia and Rubeus are in the eighth and tenth it shows drowning and loss of wealth, and if the other houses are unfortunate but the eighth good and fortunate, it shows the querent shall go adrift at sea and will lose his wealth, but will survive.
If the first four are fortunate and entering and also the ninth and tenth, it shows good journey, especially if the Judge agrees, but if the said houses are good, but the Judge evil, it means good at the beginning, but bad ending, and if the said houses are a mixed bag and the Judge good, it means various troubles with a happy ending. Always judge based on whether the figures are good or bad, and similarly depending on the meaning of the houses, and according to the querent’s intention.
Tenth House
Of abundance and dearth.5 If you want to know whether the year will be abundant or not, look at the first, tenth and eleventh.6 If the figures are earthy and good it means abundance. If they are fiery it shows dearth. If Airy, also dearth, but less. If Watery, it’s mediocre. Always consider the Judge, the fourth and the Witnesses. If you want to know the time of the year when there will be more dearth, i.e., at the beginning or at the end, judge by the first and fourth figures, and if the first is good and the fourth bad or worse than the first, it shows the end is worse than the beginning, and vice versa. Likewise one can judge the month of May,7 by giving the first to the beginning and the fourth to the end (of the month.) If you want to know what kind of plant will be abundant or will be lacking, look at the figures. Acquisitio, Puer or Laetitia show wheat. Populus or Via show small grains. Carcer and Tristitia indicate chestnuts and fava beans. The other figures are middling.
If it shall rain. You must observe the same rules as above, and note that Watery figures portend rain, and the other figures depend on their particular signification. Keep in mind, though, that Tristitia indicates precipitations.8 And if you want to know when, look at the first and fourth, as discussed above, and also look at the Judge, and note also whether the first four figures are Watery.
To know what kind of occupation is more useful (to the querent) Look at the tenth figure and compare it to the first, and judge their virtue and conformity, and depending on the properties and virtues of the planets. Also note whether the second and the Judge agree, but if they are contrary to one another, look at the proportion of the greater part.9
If one shall obtain a fief or lordship.10 If the first and tenth are entering and fortunate and fixed, and if they are the same figure or are conjunct, it means obtaining what one desires, especially if the Judge is Conjunctio, except if the first goes to the eighth or twelfth, or if the figures are exiting and unfortunate, for this means contrarieties. It’s especially bad if the eleventh is unfortunate, or the Judge and Witnesses. And if the figure leaves you doubtful, add up the first and tenth, and judge by what it shows.
What fortune one shall have in one’s fief. If you want to know this, look at the tenth figure, and in what house it moves, and judge accordingly, especially if the Judge agrees with the tenth. If it moves to the second, it increases wealth peacefully, but if it is in the twelfth he shall obtain money through avarice, and the people will be inimical to him, and may be despoiled or assassinated by his officials.
If it is in the third, he shall be loved by the people for his justice and good work. If it moves to the fourth, he improves his position and patrimony with great honor. If to the fifth, he shall be glad with many children, and will be loved and honored by neighbors with messengers, gifts and friendship. If it moves to the sixth, he shall be loved by his servants and family, but may fall sick or maybe be poisoned.
If to the seventh, he shall be cruel to his people, and much hated,11 and his enemies shall wage war against him, and he shall be lascivious.12 If it moves to the eighth, he shall be a vile man, shy and fearful, and the people will rise against him. If the ninth, he shall travel a lot and with great honor, and his status shall increase. If the tenth is in the first and fourth houses, it means a terrible man, who shall subjugate other lords to himself, and be truthful and just, and if it moves to the eleventh, he shall have glory through his army, and be feared by his men, but if in the twelfth it shows ruin, disobedience of one’s subordinates, and if also to the eighth, he shall be killed or at least chased away, and if together with the eleventh, betrayed by his subjects or family or advisers.13
MQS
Footnotes
This section is interesting because usually we would judge fame from the Tenth House, not the Ninth. ↩︎
This section is not altogether clear, as it is not always easy to see when Abano means fame and when infamy. ↩︎
The Third House shows shorter journeys, so maybe Carcer in the Third indicates the shortening of the journey. Nowadays, it is conceivable that a journey by air would be indicated by an airy figure. ↩︎
The First, Second, Third, Fourth, Tenth and Eleventh are the houses on the querent’s side of the Geomantic Shield. ↩︎
The Medium Coeli or Midheaven is the point where the Sun peaks during the day, and as such is related to the ideas of “high” or “up above” and therefore to the sky and to the weather. ↩︎
The Eleventh House is broadly considered positive, and it is called the Good Demon, possibly indicating a gift from the Heavens. ↩︎
I don’t understand why Abano is refering to the month of May, unless it has to do with agriculture. ↩︎
Possibly because it points downward, or because it shows a ‘sad’ weather. ↩︎
“Et quando fussino contrarie vedi la proportione della maggior parte”. This sentence is unclear, unless Abano is perhaps merely refering to judging by the most numerous testimony/figure in the chart. ↩︎
These rules may just as easily be applied today to discuss questions about promotion or trophies. ↩︎
Likely because the Seventh House opposes the Ascendant, which in Mundane Astrology represents the people of the country. ↩︎
This whole section may seem useless today, but with a little fantasy it may be applied, for instance, to how a new superintendant or boss will be with the people under him. ↩︎
(Note: this is a collection of the meanings attributed to the cards by some occultists in the past centuries. It does not reflect my own study or opinion of the cards. It is only meant as a quick comparative reference as I develop my own take.)
The Ace of Swords from the Builders of the Adyum (BOTA) tarot deck
Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)
The time period is from the beginning of Libra to the end of Sagittarius, Sept. 23 to Dec. 21., representing the conjoined power of Venus, Mars and Jupiter. In divination , when the sword is turned downward it is ill-dignified and has a negative significance. In ceremonial magic the sword in this position is used for the invocation of evil forces, while with the point upward it denotes invocation of spiritual forces. Keep this in mind in divination , as an ill-dignified Ace of Swords shows need to control and overcome negative emotions and thoughts. Keyword: Activity (particularly mental force in operation). (From the Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
A hand issues from a cloud, grasping as word, the point of which is encircled by a crown. Divinatory Meanings: Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling. Reversed: The same, but the results are disastrous; another account says–conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
Aleister Crowley
The Ace of Swords is the primordial Energy of Air, the Essence of the Vau of Tetragrammaton, the integration of the Ruach. Air is the result of the conjunction of Fire and Water; thus it lacks the purity of its superiors in the male hierarchy, Fire, Sol and the Phallus. But for this same reason it is the first card directly to be apprehended by the normal consciousness of Mankind. The errors of such cards as the 7 and 10 of Cups are yet of an Order altogether higher than the apparently much milder 4 of Swords. The study of the subtle and gradual degradation of the planes is excessively difficult.
In nature, the obvious symbol of Air is the Wind “which bloweth whithersoever it listeth”. It lacks the concentrated Will of Fire to unite with Water: it has no corresponding passion for its Twin Element, Earth. There is indeed, a notable passivity in its nature; evidently, it has no self-generated impulse. But, set in motion by its Father and Mother, its power is manifestly terrific. It visibly attacks its objective, as they, being of subtler and more tenuous character, can never do. Its “all-embracing, all-wandering, all-penetrating, all-consuming” qualities have been described by many admirable writers, and its analogies are for the most part patent to quite ordinary observers.
But, it will instantly be asked, what of the status of this Element in the light of other attributions? In the Yetziratic World, is not Air the first element to follow Spirit? Is not Vayu the first emergence of the phenomenal from the arcane obscurity of Akasha? How may one reconcile the doctrine of Mind with the fact that Ruh, or Ruach, actually means Spirit itself? “Achath Ruach Elohim Chiim” (777) means “One is the Spirit (not Air) of the Gods of the Living”? And is not Air, the element attributed to Mercury, also most properly the Breath of Life, the Word, the Logos itself?
The student must be referred to some less raw, cursory, elementary and superficial Treatise than this present bat-eyed, penguin-winged, bluebottle-brained buzzing. Nevertheless, although Air is in no system the lowest, and so cannot claim benefit of clergy from the doctrine that Malkuth automatically resolves into Kether, the following reference seems not wholly to lack either cogency or pertinence.
The Ruach is centred in the airy Sephira, Tiphareth, who is the Son, the first-born of the Father, and the Sun, the first emanation of the creative Phallus. He derives directly from his mother Binah through the Path of Zain, the sublime intuitive sense, so that he partakes absolutely of the nature of Neschamah. From his father, Chokmah, he is informed though the Path of Heh’, the Great Mother, the Star, our Lady Nuit, so that the creative impulse is communicated to him by all possibilities soever. [How strikingly this fact confirms the counterchange of IV and XVII, above fully expounded: as a link between Chokmah and Tiphareth, the Emperor would have no great significance, and this exquisite doctrine of the Three Mothers would be lost.] Finally, from Kether, the supreme, descends directly upon him, though the Path of Gimel, the High Priestess, the triune light of Initiation. The Three-in-One, the Secret Mother in her polymorphous plenitude; these, these alone, hail him thrice blessed of the Supernals!
The card represents the Sword of the Magus (see Book 4, Part II) crowned with the twenty-two rayed diadem of pure Light. The number refers to the Atu; also 22=2 X II, the Magical manifestation of Chokmah, Wisdom, the Logos. Upon the blade, accordingly, is inscribed the Word of the Law, This Word sends forth a blaze of Light, dispersing the dark clouds of the Mind. (From The Book of Thoth)
AI generated illustration for the Ace of Swords, looking more like a spear
Golden Dawn’s Book T
A WHITE Radiating Angelic Hand, issuing from clouds, and grasping the hilt of a sword, which supports a White Radiant Celestial Crown; from which depend, on the right, the olive branch of Peace; and on the left, the palm branch of suffering. Six Vaus fall from its point. It symbolizes “Invoked,” as contrasted with Natural Force: for it is the Invocation of the Sword. Raised upward, it invokes the Divine crown of Spiritual Brightness, but reversed it is the Invocation of Demonic Force; and becomes a fearfully evil symbol. It represents, therefore, very great power for good or evil, but invoked; and it also represents whirling Force, and strength through trouble. It is the affirmation of Justice upholding Divine Authority; and it may become the Sword of Wrath, Punishment, and Affliction.
Etteilla
Fructification Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Extreme, Great, Excessive. – Exaggerated, Furious, Choleric. – Extremely, Passionately, Excessively. – Vehemence, Animosity, Carriage, Impetus, Anger, Fury, Rage. – Extremity, Terms, Boundary, End, Limits. – Last sigh, Last extremity. – Divergence. Reversed. Pregnancy, Germ, Seed, Sperm, Matter, Impregnation, Generation, Conception, Fructification. – Childbirth, Puerperium. – Fertilization, Production, Composition. – Enlargement, Increase, Multiplicity.
They called it the Hermit Planet, though no one existed who spoke its native tongue.
Lured by the promises of eternal life found in its electromagnetic field, travelers came to it from all over, meandering through its statue-rimmed roads, hunting the promised wondrous resin.
When they found it, they drank of it exclusively for three thousand days, waiting for the miracle.
Thus did vitality slowly dim in their stiffening limbs; thus did their minds drown in syrup, till life was evened out in their stilled nature, and fear merged with bliss, and flesh with bone and earth. Pure, unobstructed presence.
If you bump into a broken link, please report it to me here or reply to this post. Every now and then I see that someone has clicked on a broken link but for the life of me I could not figure out which one(s) doesn’t or don’t work. Thanks!
There is a number of cards in the Vera Sibilla that can indicate groups or at least hint at them. Each card stresses a different aspect of the experience of groups, and must be read within the context of the whole spread. As usual, this list is not meant to be exhaustive. Context is key.
Ace of Hearts (Conversation)
The Conversation card represents the act of talking, and therefore (except the querent is a lunatic) it implies someone else. It can broadly refer to the ability to express one’s thoughts or even one’s qualities with others, and is a deeply interpersonal card. It also refers to a usually tight-knit group of people, often people living together or family members,
Two of Hearts (House)
The House card does not directly refer to people, but it does refer to a close environment where people either live (a literal house) or are found (any kind of building). For instance, next to negative cards, or if reversed, it can show that the querent isn’t happy in their house, usually due to interpersonal conflict with family members or other people who spend time in that place.
Five of Hearts (Happiness)
The Happiness card can refer to relatives and blood relations or, in general, one’s “clan”. It can be another significator for the querent’s family, but it refers to relatives in a usually broader sense. However, it can also indicate groups of people held together by common interests, a clan of sorts, such as a political party. This is quite rare though. When reversed, it shows trouble with relatives.
Ten of Hearts (Perseverance)
Traditionally this card can refer to the querent’s town or motherland. Occasionally it can show how they are seen or if they are talked about in their town. This is somewhat rare.
Ace of Clubs (Marriage)
The Ace of Clubs represents all official acts binding two or more people together. It is the card of pacts, agreements, marriage, contract, partnerships. It can represent a business where people cooperate in the creation of something (a product).
Four of Clubs (Friend)
The Friend card can refer to a literal (female) friend or relative, but it can also represent a circle of friends, and the idea of a supportive environment where the querent is taken care of in a spirit of friendship or cooperation.
Eight of Clubs (Reunion)
Traditionally this is the card of reconciliation, of meetings, etc. However, it represents also a coming together, and this coming together doesn’t need to involve only two people. It can also more generally represent the querent’s interpersonal skills. When reversed, these skills are not present or are put to the test by difficult people. This is also the “more than one” card of the Sibilla (e.g., more than one job, more than one child, etc.)
Nine of Clubs (Cheerfulness)
This card can indicate one’s wider circle of acquaintances, but in general also friends or groups of people, often not tied by very deep bonds of affections. When reversed, or when near negative cards, it can refer to bullying by other people or serious problems in a particular environment due to being hated. Traditionally it also represented people from the countryside, but this is an older reading.
Ace of Diamonds (Room)
Like the House card, the Room doesn’t refer to people directly, but it can represent them indirectly by pointing to the environment they spend time in, usually an office, a shop or similar.
Nine of Diamonds (The Fools)
This card is the opposite of the Cheerfulness card, and is the only (upright) card that directly points to interpersonal problems, problematic groups, enmity and instability in a group setting and similar situations. It can represent hooligans, gangs, rioters or, more simply, a disunited family.
Three of Spades Reversed (Widower)
In general, the Widower reversed is the card of trauma, of serious loss and of bad behavior. However, it can also point to ritual settings that involve more than one person. The ritual setting needn’t be negative (it can be a christening, for instance). However, with negative cards it can signify dangerous groups, especially sects.
(Note: this is a collection of the meanings attributed to the cards by some occultists in the past centuries. It does not reflect my own study or opinion of the cards. It is only meant as a quick comparative reference as I develop my own take.)
The Ace of Cups from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck
Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)
Well Dignified: fertility, productiveness, development, multiplication, happiness, pleasure, gratification, fruition of desires; cheerfulness, geniality, gaiety. lll Dignified: too much emphasis on pleasure; over-intensity of the desire nature; trouble in love. Keyword: Desire force (From the Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
The waters are beneath, and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana. Divinatory Meanings: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof. Reversed: House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
Aleister Crowley
This card represents the element of Water in its most secret and original form. It is the feminine complement of the Ace of Wands, and is derived from the Yoni and the Moon exactly as that is from the Lingam and the Sun. The third in the Hierarchy. This accordingly represents the essential form of the Holy Grail. Upon the dark sea of Binah, the Great Mother, are Lotuses, two in one, which fill the cup with the Life-fluid, symbolically represented either as Water, as Blood, or as Wine, according to the selected purpose of the symbolism. This being a primordial card, the liquid is shown as water; it can be transformed into Wine or Blood as may be required.
Above the Cup, descending upon it, is the Dove of the Holy Ghost, thus consecrating the element.
At the base of the Cup is the Moon, for it is the virtue of this card to conceive and to produce the second form of its Nature. (From The Book of Thoth)
AI-generated illustration for the Ace of Cups
Golden Dawn’s Book T
A WHITE Radiant Angelic Hand, issuing from clouds, and supporting on the palm thereof a cup, resembling that of the Stolistes. From it rises a fountain of clear and glistening water: and sprays falling on all sides into clear calm water below, in which grow Lotuses and Water-lilies. The great Letter of the Supernal Mother is traced in the spray of the Fountain. It symbolizes Fertility — productiveness, beauty, pleasure, happiness, etc.
Etteilla
Table Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Table, Meal, Feast, Gala, Banquet, Nourishment, Food, Nutrition. – Guests, Services. – Invitation, Prayer, Supplication, Convocation. – Guest, Hotel, Inn, Tavern. – Abundance, Fertility, Production, Soundness, Stability, Steadfastness, Constancy, Perseverance, Continuance, Duration, Follow-through, Assiduity, Persistence, Steadfastness, Courage. – Picture, Painting, Image, Hieroglyphic, Description. – Tablet, Portfolio, Office, Secretary. – Natural tablet, Bronze tablet, Marble tablet, Law. – Catalog, Index of subjects. – Harmonic table, Garden table, Holy table. Reversed. Mutation, Permutation, Transmutation, Alteration, Vicissitude, Variety, Variation, Inconstancy, Lightness. – Exchange, Barter, Purchase, Sale, Market, Treaty, Convention. – Metamorphosis, Diversity, Versatility, Reversal, Reversal, Revolution, Reversal. – Version, Translation, Interpretation.
Here Abano discusses matters relating to the Seventh House and Eighth House.
Seventh House
Of marriage The first and second house are for the man, the seventh and eighth for the woman.1 The first signifies the person, the second his wealth, the eighth the wife’s dowry. If these figures are good they show a positive outcome. If the third figure is conform to the first and seventh, the marriage is mediated by messenger [intermediary],2 especially if the eleventh is conform to the third. If the fourth is conform to the first and seventh, it means the marriage is arranged by one’s relatives, especially if the fifteenth figure confirms it. If the second house is bad it means the husband’s (lack of) wealth is a problem, and so judge for the wife if the eighth is unfortunate. Similarly, if the first or seventh are bad, either the husband or the wife cause problems, and if the third, the mediator, and if the fourth, the family. If the first or seventh are unfortunate and move to the sixth, it shows that the marriage won’t happen due to sickness or because one of the two has a physical defect.3
If the spouse shall be chaste and honest4 Look at the first and sixth, seventh, eighth, fourth and twelfth. If you find good figures, it shows the spouse to be chaste and honest, especially if the figures move to other houses. But if the figures are evil, it shows the contrary, especially if they move to other houses, especially if Populus is born from those houses. If Puer is in the sixth and seventh, it shows the wife to be cheating with a young(er) man, and if it is in the seventh and eighth, it means it’s common knowledge.5 If in these places you find Rubeus, and if it moved as we have said above, it means the same, and similarly if in those houses you find Rubeus and Tristitia or Puer and Laetitia. And again, the more you find Populus in the whole figure, all the more dishonest the spouse is shown to be. But if the you find that the figures add up to Carcer, it shows honesty and reserve, and if the above mentioned figures cause Tristitia in the twelfth it means dishonesty with a family member or with a vile person, or with an almost beast-like man. And if Puer or Rubeus were formed in the twelfth, it means dishonesty with young men or with strangers, especially if they are conform to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth.
If the querent shall have (the love of) the lover or girlfriend If the first and seventh are fortunate and entering, benign and conform one to the other, it shows obtaining what he wants. If the first moves to the eighth or sixth, it means he will need to insist a little, but if the seventh moves to the second she will insist with him, but the mutation still shows a positive answer.6
Of partnerships and similar affairs If the first, second, fifth, seventh and eleventh figures are good, fortunate, fixed, it shows the partnership is good, especially if the second and seventh are the same figure. If the figures are fixed and fortunate it will last, but if not it shows they won’t. If you want to know who will cause problems, look at which side of the chart hosts more signs of instability and ill will, and judge in the same way as with marriage.
If one’s enemy will cause one offense If the seventh is fortunate and positive it means the enmity is of small moment, unless the enemy is a woman, because it still means ill will toward the enemy.7 But if the seventh is unfortunagte and strong and malicious, it means a great and powerful enmity, especially if the twelfth is equally evil. Look also at the fifteenth, and which planets are more fortunate, whether in the first or seventh, and in the other angles, whom they conform to. And if the first and seventh are good, fortunate, entering and the seventh conjuncts the first, or vice versa, it shows reconciliation and peace. If the figure that conjunct the other also moves to another place, it means that the reconciliation will happen through the persons signified by those houses. Always consider the fifteenth and the Witnesses. If there is no conjunction and no translation, but only conformity of the first and seventh, look at the Judge, whether it is also found in another house (of the first twelve), and the more you find it, the more the two parties shall make peace.
Whether there will be war or peace Assign the first house to one side and the seventh to the other, and look on whose side there are more fortunate figures, and look whether the figures that signify war are in the seventh or the first, or if the figures are fortunate, entering and good. If the figures are good, there is no war, but if they are malicious and fortunate in war, they mean war from the side where they are, and it will be as bad as the figures are, and the side will win that holds the more fortunate figures. Rubeus, Tristitia, Puer, Conjunctio are fortunate in war. Carcer, Amissio, Laetitia are unfortunate in war. If Popoulus or Conjunctio are in the sixth, seventh, eighth or twelfth it means death and great loss of blood, and fleeing, and great cruelty.8 If in those places you find Rubeus and Carcer is in the eighth it means death, prison, fires and flames, and if in the seventh and eighth you find Puer it shows great victory, but always look at the tenth, fifteenth and first, whether they move.
Of litigations The first is the querent, the seventh is the other party. The figure that is stronger and more fortunate wins, and if Amissio is found in either, that party shall lose. Laetitia and Puella signify concord, while Tristitia and Rubeus are very evil. And if the first moves to the sixth, eighth or twelfth, the person shall lose, but if the seventh moves in the same way, the other party shall lose. And if the whole figure is occupied by figures of more or less positive import, there will be agreement.
Of fled servants, prison and lost items If the first, seventh, eighth figures are conform and are entering and fortunate, it shows retrieval, and vice versa if they aren’t. If the first is in the sixth, the servant has not fled, but has hidden, and if the figure is Carcer, he hasn’t changed place, if not very little, especially if the first, fourth and the Judge are entering and fortunate. Acquisitio and Fortuna Major signify retrieval, but the opposite figures show the opposite.
Whether the absent party shall come back, and how soon If the first house is fortunate and well-meaning, and similarly the seventh and ninth, it shows the absent party is well and in good state,9 and vice versa if the figures are bad, especially if the sixth is unfortunate. Also look at the fifteenth and tenth. If the first is unfortunate and moves to the eighth it means death, especially if in conjunction with Carcer, Rubeus or Conjunctio.
If the sixth is unfortunate and moves to the first or in conjunction with it, it means a deadly infirmity, and similarly when the first and seventh are unfortunate are united somewhere in the figure. But if the sixth is unfortunate (but doesn’t move) it shows an illness that shall pass, especially if the eighth is good. And if you want to know whether the absent party shall come back soon, look at the first and ninth, and if they are Cauda, Acquisitio or Laetitia he shall come back soon. If Populus or Via, very soon. If the eighth is good and is in the first, he will come back in a month, if in the second, in two, and so on. And if the said figure is in the second and in the eighth, entering, he shall come in a month.10
Eighth House
Whether one shall die within the year If the first figure is the same as the eighth, or if it is conjunct to it, it is an indication of death, especially if it is also in the thirteenth or fifteenth house. If you want to see what kind of death one shall suffer, look at the nature and quality of the figure, and judge as follows: if it’s Rubeus, it indicates fire or steel (that is, being wounded by an arm,) if it is Puella, being beaten to death, if it is Carcer due to a long sickness, phlegm, melancholy or various health issues; and similarly judge of every other figure depending on its virtue and meaning and quality.
On who shall die first between two people Consider the eighth and see if it is in the house of the person you are inquiring about, or if it in conjunction to it, or if it is in the first house, and judge accordingly who shall die first.
If one shall have the money back If the eighth and the first are entering and fortunate it shows getting the money back without difficulty or problems, vice versa if they aren’t. And this is especially true if the thirteenth and the fifteenth agree, but when they don’t, and if on the side of the first house you find weak figures, it means getting back the money with great trouble. If the eighth is in the third it means one’s siblings will help, and if in the fourth, the relatives, and if in the fifth, one’s children, etc.
If the bad thing you fear shall come to pass Consider the first, second, eighth and twelfth.11 If they are lucky it shows the thing won’t come to pass, but if some of them are unfortunate, it shows it shall partly come to pass, and if they are evil, it shall come to pass, and the bad thing will be identified by the type of figure. If the first figure is in conjunction with the eighth or the eighth with the first, it means harm to the person. If the second is in the seventh or ninth, it means harm to one’s wealth. And so judge all the other things with respect to the eighth house according to the meaning of the house and the thing inquired about. Always keep in mind the Witnesses and the Judge.
MQS
Footnotes
This statement is interesting for a number of reasons. I will only mention one. Abano does not say that the First is for the querent and the Seventh for the spouse, but that the First is for the man and the Seventh for the woman. It would be easy, especially in the current cultural climate, to attribute this to Medieval sexism. I am not saying that it doesn’t play a part, but there could be more. In many Medieval astrological texts the Seventh house, as noted before, is assigned to women, and when delineating marriage from the birth chart different procedures seem to have been used to predict a man’s marriage as opposed to a woman’s, the method for the man involving the seventh house, the one for the woman being more weighed toward other considerations. ↩︎
It would be easy to update this interpretation to show the influence of social media in bringing two partners together nowadays. ↩︎
The modern doctrine would dictate that the marriage happens if the first figure springs to the Sixth House. ↩︎
The Italian title is “if she will be chaste and honest”, again presupposing a female Seventh House. ↩︎
This passage is exceedingly complex. It is not clear if Puer in the Sixth indicates a younger man because it is Puer or because it is in the Sixth (which is below the Seventh). The thing being common knowledge when it happens in the Eighth is possibly due to the fact that the Eighth house is above the horizon. ↩︎
Of interest here is that the querent can obtain the lover by moving to the Eighth or Sixth House, but the Seventh can only spring to the Second, not the Twelfth. ↩︎
This passage is not clear. It seems to imply that a good figure in the Seventh House still bodes ill if the enemy is a woman. ↩︎
These attributes seem ill-fitting for Conjunctio. ↩︎
Older astrology handbooks are filled with indications on delineating the Eleventh House in a horary question to know whether what one hopes will come to pass. Abano here applies the same method to the Eighth house to delineate one’s fears. ↩︎
As promised in a previous post, I’m discussing a (rather old) reading on spiritual issues. It is common to believe that the Tarot is better suited to talk about spiritual issues and oracles such as the Sibilla or Lenormand are more useful for practical, everyday events. This is not true. The Tarot can be just as practical, and the Sibilla (and, I assume, other oracles) can be just as clear about spiritual issues. The thing that makes people think otherwise is that they are used to that kind of tarot reading where the psychic spends the whole time pulling pseudodeep psychobabble out of their butt by looking at the pictures on the cards. That’s not a tarot reading, that’s a therapy session (for the reader, not for the querent).
Spirituality is part of real life, and as such all oracles can talk about it, but always in real-life terms. Here the querent was a man and had asked me generically about his spiritual life.
A spiritual reading with the Vera Sibilla cards
The first thing I was able to detect was the presence of the Priest in the second row. The Priest is usually not a real priest, and rather indicates a figure of authority. We also have, it seems, the significator card for the querent, represented by the Boyfriend, or Jack of Hearts, in the first line. The Priest is accompanied by the Dog/Faithfulness. This is a very good card, even outside of a love reading. It shows that, whoever the Priest is, he (or she) is good, trustworthy and has the querent’s best interest at heart. Furthermore, they are true believers.
The Thought card perplexed me a little, so I skipped over it (though you can see that the Thought card is just under the querent, so it turned out that it was the querent’s thinking process setting into motion). However, I did ask the querent if he was in contact with some kind of spiritual authority and he confirmed it, though he said it wasn’t a traditional priest or minister. This doesn’t matter: all kind of spiritual authorities can be signified by the Priest card.
The querent’s line, the first, has the card of God in it. This is the Peacock (when reversed, it represents the Devil and demons, as well as pride and haughtiness). The Peacock indicates totality, wholeness, miracles, etc. when upright. But it is followed by the Hope card reversed. Hope is the card of faith, but it is reversed, thus showing unbelief.
Yet it is not a clear atheism. Look at the Six of Spades, the Sighs card, right between the querent and the combination of lack of faith in God: the querent is sighing about his lack of faith. He is uncertain and tormented. I remember judging that he was probably a wobbly agnostic, and upon asking he confirmed that he had doubts (I didn’t ask him “are you a wobbly agnostic?” of course. We need to be kind to the querent).
It turned out, the querent had long banished spirituality from his life, had gone for an engineering degree, had been active in the skeptic community online, etc. However, some personal experiences had made him doubt his position.
Look at the last three cards of the pyramid. The Prison reversed shows unburdening, unshackling, freedom, etc. (when not followed by negative cards). Then we have the Conversation card. When reversed, it shows change. Finally, the Child, which shows a new beginning. I don’t know about you, but liberation + change + new beginning sounds like a spiritual conversion.
Furthermore, look at the angles of the pyramid plus the center: the Peacock (God), the querent, the new beginning (Child) and the Faithfulness card. This is a very positive indication.
Still, just to make sure, I asked the querent to draw two cards, and these were the Gratification and Fortune, confirming the good outcome.
As far as I know, the querent has since chosen his spiritual path.
Enneagram Type Five and Enneagram Type Six belong both to the Head triad, yet they give off markedly different energies. Fives actively employ their Head energy, using it to make sense of the world from a distance. Sixes often suppress their Head energy, don’t trust their own judgment and seek someone or something that will explain reality to them.
Being both Head types, both Fives and Sixes deal at their core with fear of the world around them.Fives thus retreat from the world into the safe realm of their own intellect, from which they observe life without being touched by it. It is often held that Fives are taking time off from real life in order to look for something, an idea or strategy, with which they may join the others and be useful or have a fighting chance, but while some great Fives really do come up with revolutionary ideas that changed the world, most Fives become lost and almost hooked on their own thinking power.
Sixes deal with fear differently. They don’t trust their own mind, so they seek structures outside of them, whether social, political, religious or other kind. For them, life is a sea of difficult choices, risks and dangers, a place where nothing seems certain. They therefore become engaged in an endless quest for the person, idea, group or thing that will give them clear answers that they don’t need to question anymore. Once they have found (or if they find) something that stands up to their scrutiny, they espouse it with militant fervor.
Fives tend to be philosophical and rational (though not always reasonable). Their approach to ideas and concepts is seldom practical, and they tend build up mental constructs not to employ them but to sharpen their overactive mind’s claws on them. Their attitude toward ideas is often playful and nihilistic. Sixes on the other hand are more practically oriented because their sense of fear is less rarefied and is almost palpable, as if they needed to actually survive from moment to moment. Their attempt at tearing down ideas and concepts is not playful at all: they keep poking holes in everything in hopes of finding the one thing where holes cannot be poked.
From a social standpoint, the difference between Fives and Sixes is often marked. Fives are withdrawn, remote, aloof. Even at average levels they are often socially inept, nor do they care to work on this aspect of their life, as they consider it inessential. Sixes, on the other hand, while often questioning people’s motivations, put on a friendly and even cheerful facade, because they are aware of how important networking is in dealing with the uncertainties of the world.
In reality, both Fives and Sixes are mistrustful of people. However, as far as Fives are concerned, rather than mistrusting people’s motives, like Sixes do, they tend to mistrust other people’s ability to understand reality better than them. On the other hand, a Six’s skepticism is generally oriented at people’s loyalties and competence in providing answers the Six can rely on. For instance, in an educational context, a Six pupil may not believe the teacher is good and is, in a way, faking it, while a Five pupil will often think they are better.
