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Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Four of Clubs – Friend (Amica)

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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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Four of Hearts – Love (Amore)

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Name: Love
Italian Name: Amore
Playing Card: 4♥
Polarity when Upright: Positive
Core Meanings: Love, positive feelings | a positive context, a context where the querent feels loved and safe
Polarity when Reversed: Neutral to Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Homosexuality | Lack of love, Lack of feelings | breakups, rifts | Sexual depravity

Card Description: a blindfolded Cupid soars in the air, unbound by the laws of mortals.

Suit and Number: all fours in the Vera Sibilla are connected to the context that the querent finds or will find himself or herself in. The suit of Hearts, being positive, shows that the querent will find himself in a context where they will feel loved, appreciated and taken care of, and all contexts where the querent’s emotions are heightened (usually in a positive sense).

UPRIGHT 4♥

General: the main and obvious meaning of this card is that of love. Traditionally, however, this card is described as signifying an irrational force that is impossible to tame, so this may on occasion apply. Normally it symbolizes love, positive feelings and strong attachments. There is, however, a certain sense of lively wildness about this card, which contrasts with the sense of disciplined reliability of the other main love card of the deck, the Nine of Hearts. We can say that, while in practice it usually signifies love, the Four of Hearts is connected to all contexts that elicit a strong emotional reaction.
A specific function of this card is that, sometimes, when it comes up at the beginning of a sequence, it loses its meaning of love, and it simply shows that the situation described by the following cards is what the querent is attracting to himself or herself in the near future. With negative cards, if we are not talking about love, it shows deep disappointment due to excessive emotional involvement in a situation that doesn’t end well.

Love and Relationships: this is obviously the  area where the influence of this card is most direct. As most questioners come to us asking about relationship issues, the literal meaning of the Four of Hearts, that is, love, normally comes to the fore. In itself, the Love card tells of genuine feelings, requited love and deep connection. The card, however, is easily influenced by strong positive or negative cards. Especially cards that tell of disruption or of cheating can easily taint its meaning. Furthermore, if both significators (querent and love interest) are present, their reciprocal relation and their relation to the Love card must be carefully studied to see who is more committed, who may be cheating, etc. The same is true for the Nine of Hearts, by the way.
In general, even when love is not an issue, the Love card foretells harmony and a deep connection with someone, whether it be a relative, a sibling, a friend, etc. The card qualifies all contexts as deeply positive and nourishing for the querent, and shows a deep bond of affection from the querent to the context in question.
Again, I should stress that the Four of Hearts has a rather undisciplined energy, so if the overall energy of the spread is one of flightiness, the Love card may show a flash in the pan or a relationship that is unlikely to survive the first hurdles. Cards showing thought, planning, faithfulness, consistency, effort etc. all tend to stabilize the Love card, turning the deep but capricious feeling it can signify into a deeply rooted feeling.

Work and Money: the 4♥ is not a money card. It can, of course, show love of money, though in general this is signalled by other more negative cards. It is more likely that it signifies support by loved ones, and in general the idea of being in a love-filled environment where one’s wants and needs are taken care of. It can show the ability to attract money and resources.
In career readings, it may signify a deep love of one’s chosen career path. More negative cards around it may suggest an eccessive devotion to one’s career or an eccessive emotional attachment to it. Because it’s a card of expansive feelings, for merchants and business owners the Love card can sometimes show expanding their business, though this is not a common meaning. The Four of Hearts can, of course, suggest careers surrounding topics like love and feelings.

Other: psychologically, the card indicates deep intuition and also a certain wild (but kind) spirit. It also highlights emotionality and the ability to form deep connections. Spiritually, this is one of the cards that can indicate the soul. Artistically it points to great inspirations, but with negative cards it may highlight a certain lack of discipline.

Important Combinations:
4♥ + A♣ = a marriage of love
4♥ + 3♦ + 7♠ = end of love due to different characters (the 3♦ is connected to one’s “gift” and therefore to one’s specificity as a person)
4♥ + 2♥ = living together as a couple
K♦ + 4♥ = can be a job you love or love found at work, or a positive work environment
2♦ + 10♣R + 4♥ = these days, it can easily mean finding love on a dating app

REVERSED 4♥R

General: traditionally, the main meaning of this card when it comes up reversed is that of homosexuality. Bear in mind that this oracle was devised back when everything except joyless, reproduction-oriented sexual intercourse was considered a perversion, and homosexuality was seen as the main representative of the class of perversions. Nowadays, the card can still signify homosexuality, especially if it’s relevant to the question. However, it is my experience that when a gay querent consults the cards who is at peace with themselves and is not in the closet, the 4♥, when it shows up at all, it shows up upright, and if it does come up reversed it’s to signify other things, such as a breakup or unfaithfulness or some kind of sexual perversion, since the latter remains a core meaning of this card.* Additionally, the reversed Love card can signify rifts in the couple that are hard to mend, lack of love or an unhealthy expression of feelings.

Love and Relationships: as said, this card can be a symbol of homosexuality, although it tends to take on this meaning today only in specific instances. Otherwise, the easiest way to understand this card is that it shows love problems. These can vary, based on the gravity of the surrounding cards, from arguments to unrequited love to deep rifts in any relationship to cheating and false love. It can also signify feelings of love having ended.

Work and Money: the card does not speak much about these issues, although it can show an unhealthy attachment to money. In general, it discourages investments and business ventures as the querent is not seeing things properly, possibly due to emotional turmoil or due to putting the whim of the moment before careful reasoning. It can show prostitution, but this is rarely seen as a legitimate career when represented by this card, which tends to highlight the more negative emotional side of it. Sometimes it signifies that the querent works in a context where he or she doesn’t feel loved, or worse.

Other: the card is a staple of combinations highlighting perversion and sexual debauchery (regardless of whether the querent is straight or gay). On the other hand, psychologically it can show someone who feels deeply unloved or someone whose emotional reactions are spiralling out of control. Spiritually, it shows a soul bogged down by disempowering emotions or tainted in some way, if you choose to be preachy. It can show someone who is blundering from mistake to mistake.

Important Combinations:
A♦R + 4♥R = coming out or outing
4♥R + 7♥R = sexual deviant
4♥R + 5♦ = sadness due to unfulfilling love life | it can mean not accepting one’s homosexuality
4♥R + K♦ = a bad work environment that is not nurturing and we don’t like
2♥ + 4♥ + A♣ = living together despite the lack of feelings

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

* I must stress this: do NOT consult the cards for a validation of your own personal moral code. Cartomancy was born with humans, it evolves with humans and will die with humans, and while the fact that the Sibilla was devised in the XIX century implies that sexual perversion is one of the main meanings of the 4♥R, this doesn’t mean that the moral code of XIX century Italian burgeoisie is the absolutely right one and you should live by it. Nor does it imply that your own moral standards are the right ones, nor those of your neighbor, or those of the Japanese or the Native Americans. I can’t swing a dead cat without coming by readers online who use the cards to try to prove that Orange Man Bad or that Hillary belongs in jail or that abortion is right or wrong, depending on their particular political leanings. This is nothing short of psycho-political onanism. In reality, these people are just fooling themselves and projecting their canned opinions onto the cards, which kind of defeats the purpose of using divination. Everyone thinks the universe is woven according to their moral prejudices, but, guess what, you are not that special, Rhonda.

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Three of Spades – The Widower (Vedovo)

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Name: The Widower
Italian Name: Vedovo
Playing Card: 3♠
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Removal, Abandonment | Loss, Lack, Deprivation | Loneliness, Aloneness, Oneness | An elderly man
Polarity when Reversed: Extremely Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Bereavement, Grief | Trauma, Traumatic loss | Mental alienation, folly, aberrant conduct | A ritual or rite of some kind

Card Description: in a cemetery, an elderly man prays by his late wife’s tomb.

Suit and Number: all threes are connected to the idea of movement. Since Spades are a negative suit, the concept of movement is interpreted as a removal, and by extension the losing of something.

UPRIGHT 3♠

General: a mostly negative card with only one neutral meaning, when it is a significator. In that instance, it is the male counterpart to the Old Lady, representing an elderly man, not necessarily a bad one. Experience, however, shows that it is somewhat more common for the Two of Spades to act as a significator for an old woman than it is for the Three of Spades to act as a significator for an old man.
Otherwise, this is a negative card, whose primary significations are connected to (usually unwanted) removals and to loss. A particular function of this card is that it can deprive us of whatever the card preceding it signifies, but usually only in a negative sense.

Love and Relationships: The Widower is connected to the idea of loneliness and abandonment. It refers to solitude, usually unwanted, unless other cards contradict it. It  often signifies strong interpersonal difficulties and an inability to reach out to people. Often, this card heralds separation and abandonment, or moving away from the family, with all the typical feelings associated with it, from sadness to regretregret to suffering. By analogy with the concept of removal, the 3♠ can signify feelings of hatred, repulsion, disgust, rancour, incompatibility, estrangement, depending on the supporting cards.
The Widower is connected with the idea of oneness, aloneness, etc. There is only one case in which this is positive, and that’s when it is surrounded by the Four and Nine of Hearts, in which case it represents the one true love. Further, when the Three of Spades is surrounded by cards signifying merry-making and jollity, it can show someone who is alone but has fun.
More usually, though, this card stands for lack of support and being left out in the cold. If the other cards show a long-distance relationship, the Widower can show that every inch of distance between the two lovers is like a fresh wound.
Like the Old Lady, this card can signify the ex, in this case the ex man, but it can also happen that an old situation be signified by the Old Lady regardless of gender. Be flexible.

Work and Money: naturally, this card is connected to financial loss and lack of means and resources. It often signifies loss of employment or being forced to abandon a project, but it can also come up to show a relocation, again usually an unwanted one. Occasionally, with positive cards, it can imply that the person works alone and independently, for instance they man have their own business. This, however, is rare.
Due to its connotation of lack and absence, the Widower can show practices that fall outside the confines of the law (they are without the law or lawless). This is especially true if cards like the Priest come up before it, so that the Widower acts as a negation.

Other: psychologically, the Widower is connected to loneliness, helplessness and a marked inability to reach out to people or to express oneself (it is one of the cards that can identify autism). Most of the times, the card shows a psychologically difficult situation.
Due to its connection with removals, it can show the concept of abroad, but usually with a tinge of negativity.
In spiritual readings, great care should go into the analysis of the surrounding cards, as the Widower can say very different things. It can show an intense need to be alone and contemplate life or meditate (it is connected with hermitages and similar places). However, it can also show someone who is godless or someone who feels abandoned by god.
This is one of the cards that if show up in sequences of bereavement, although this signification is highlighted more when the card is reversed.

Important Combinations:
6♥ + 3♠ = loss of money
K♦ + 3♠ = work-related removal or working alone | with other negative cards, loss of job
A♥U/R or 8♣U/R + 3♠ = isolation, difficulty interacting with people
7♦ + 3♠ = sterility (in all areas of life)
K♠ + 3♠ = illegal, unauthorized, against regulation (literally, “without the law” or “lawless”)
4♥ + 3♠ + 9♥ = the one true love

REVERSED 3♠R

General: one of the worst cards in the deck, although it does have a neutral meaning, when it represents rituals and rites of all kinds and of all religions. Otherwise, this is the card of traumatic loss and of scarring situations. Upright, the Widower symbolizes removal and abandonment, a movement away from something. Reversed, it becomes a symbol of mental aberration and wrong conduct, the idea of straying away from normalcy, whether mental or moral.

Love and Relationships: oftentimes, the reversed Widower signals traumas surrounding relationships, whether past or future. The specifics, of course, must be read from the surrounding cards, but a rather typical scenario is when one of the two is unable to move on from the break and sinks into a depression.
This card can also show that one of the two is abusive toward the other and behaves in an irrational way. In the best case, it can show someone with horrible and morbid fetishes, but the connotation is still very negative. Whoever is described by this card, whether it be a partner, a mother or father, they were normally incapable of normal behavior and the querent should put as much distance between them as possible.
The 3♠R is another card that may show a negative group of people (from the fact that it’s a Spade and it’s the reversed of the upright Widower, which signifies loneliness). In the most harmless sense, the negative group may be a group gathering for a religious function of some kind, like a funeral (but with positive cards it can be a wedding or a christening). With negative cards, it can show gangs or cults.

Work and Money: like its upright counterpart, the reversed Widower points to losses. This time, however, they are much heavier and they are more likely to be the result of the querent having completely lost touch with reality. Needless to say, it can point to money wasted on alcohol. It can also show groups of people pressing the querent for money. The same applies to work, where it may signify criminal activities, abuse at work and horrible miscalculations that end up costing the querent dearly. It can also show a traumatic experience at work. Career-wise, it is connected (like its upright counterpart, but more strongly) to working with corpses and organized religion, as well as to all places and things that are likely to elicit a disgusted or anxious reaction, like loos, sewers, pits in the ground, graves, insects, feces, etc. It is also connected with mental illness.

Other: psychologically, the card is connected to traumas and to mental alienation. This is a heavy-hitting card, and it rarely shows only mild distress. When it shows moral aberration, it signifies that the person has lost any sense of morality and has now strayed on the wrong path.
Spiritually it is connected to rites and rituals of all kinds and of all religions. As anticipated, this is a neutral meaning.
This card can also signify a magic ritual, so it is important when it shows up in questions connected to hexes. Because it represents rituals, this is more than just the accidental projection of negative vibes to people we hate or envy (the evil eye, “malocchio” in Italian).

Important Combinations:
6♥ + 3♠R = a traumatic past
6♦ + 3♠R = processing a trauma | mental aberration | planning to do something wrong, wrong conduct
7♥R + 3♠R = derangement | intelligence bent to negative ends
4♥ + 7♠ + 3♠R = being profoundly scarred by a breakup
3♠R + K♠ + 8♣ = a religious rite of some kind

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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Three of Diamonds – The Gift (Presente di Pietre Preziose)

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Name: Gift
Italian Name: Presente di Pietre Preziose
Playing Card: 3♦*
Polarity when Upright: Neutral to Positive
Core Meanings: Movement of goods, Parcels, Objects in General | Offers, Gifts | Opulence, Wealth
Polarity when Reversed: Positive
Reversed Core Meanings: Gradual resolution of difficult situations

Card Description: on a table a small jewel box lies open, revealing its rich contents.

Suit and Number: threes are connected to the idea of movement, while Diamonds are cards connected with money and everyday life. The Three of Diamonds is the card that represents movement of goods and parcels arriving. It represents gifts and proposals in general, and has a connection with wealth and the freedom to do what you want and go where you go.

UPRIGHT 3♦

General: on the whole a positive card, but it has some neutral connotations. It is mainly the card of goods coming and going and, by similitude, of gifts or proposals coming and going. It also represents wealth and being materially free from worry, and it is the significator card for most objects (the exception being means of transport (3♣, 6♠) and books and letters (2♦).

Love and Relationships: this is not a card that speaks of feelings. In the main, it represents people who are wealthy or who makes us gifts or proposals, and in that sense it is positive. However, the validity of the gift must be ascertained by looking at the cards nearby. Metaphorically, it can represents that a person is of great value to the querent, although this usually signified by other cards (such as the Handmaid). It can, however, signify that someone gives us advice, and whether this advice is good, or whether we will follow it or not, will be disclosed by the other cards in the spread.
Because this card has a connection to people’s character (see the section “Other”), with positive cards it can represent a couple getting along fine (it can also represent an engagement ring and therefore signal the consolidation of the couple) while with negative cards it signifies the potential for a breakup due to being too different. Just a month or so ago I pulled some cards for myself and the spread was 10♥ + 3♣ + 5♥ + 2♠R + 3♦ + 8♣ + 9♥. The cards showed a journey to my hometown to visit relatives where there would be some tension due to differing character traits, but in the end things would turn out fine. That’s exactly what happened last week.

Work and Money: an excellent card for financial and career readings. The Gift is the card of jewelry, finery, opulence, etc. It is connected to the idea of freedom from financial worry. It indicates good business sense and good business advice. It is the card of exclusive markets and and social progress. The concept of gift or proposal or opportunity that the Three of Diamonds embodies must be understood as anything that arrives toward the querent that will allow him or her to get where he or she wants. This is often the case with job proposals or being short-listed for a promotion. It can also signify someone’s patronage or being taken under a powerful person’s wing, if near a significator in the right context. Because of the concept of gift, the card can take on the meaning of being gifted at what we do. It represents people who make spectacular career choices, and it represents working with (usually precious) objects.

Other: as we have seen, the Gift card represents the movement of goods. It also represents, therefore, parcels and packages, and any object in general, regardless of it being precious.
The card does have a psychological meaning, signifying one’s gifts and talents, and more in general what someone brings to the table in terms of outlook, and can therefore signify the person’s values and character. This is usally a shade of meaning, as this card tends to be more on the material side most of the times, but as shown by the example above, it is a shade of meaning that can come up in a reading.
Artistically this is a card of talent or fame, and also represents (obviously) artifacts (usually not books, but be flexible). The cards surrounding it may show whether we are using our talent or not, whether our artifacts have a public or not, etc.
Spiritually, other than religious paraphernalia, the card can show someone with high values, someone who has a noble soul, but this is pretty rare. With negative cards it can signify materialism and someone who is not in touch with reality as they only have first world problems.

Important Combinations:
3♦ + J♦ = a parcel | news concerning an offer
3♦ + K♠ = a loan or help from the authority
3♦ + 2♣ = opulence, a great gift
3♦ + 10♣ = a trinket | a misplaced item
3♦ + K♦ = a job offer or a rich job

REVERSED 3♦R

General: there is no rational reason why this card should be positive when reversed. At least, none that I could find. And yet it is positive. Very positive. 90% of the times, its meaning is that of difficult situations slowly sorting themselves out. Everything else is just a minor shade of meaning that rarely comes into play. However, unlike the Two of Clubs and the Five of Clubs, this card is not very strong, meaning that if surrounded by negative cards it will fail to solve all problems.

Love and Relationships: this is a very material card, and does not in the least talk about feelings. Usually, the difficulties that it solves are of a practical or material nature. If the couple has material problems, this card normally heralds a resolution, for instance if they are waiting for an adoption procedure to go through.
With negative cards, or if the question is pertinent, this card can behave, on rare occasion, like its upright counterpart does when surrounded by difficult cards, namely, it points to differences in values and someone who is wrong for you (though not necessarily a bad person). With cards of enmity and shady situations, it can rarely show the presence of a powerful negative person influencing the situation.

Work and Money: excellent card on the whole, as it points to the sorting out of difficult situations. Often, it represents difficult material conditions that slowly lose their grip on the querent. Similarly, if the querent is waiting for a deal to go through or for some bureaucratic red tape to clear, this card is an encouraging sign. With negative cards it shows problems that are only partially or superficially solved. Alternatively, it can point (but rarely) to cheap gifts or cheap proposals, and in general something that has no great value. This include cheap tips and cheap pieces of advice, or even advice given to hurt. Again, though, this is rare.

Other: there are other layers of meaning of this card that come out, albeit seldom, when it is with negative cards. It represents not making full use of your talent (basically, the opposite of the upright card) or even wasting your life. Artistically it can represent damaged objects or lack of talent (or not having developed a latent talent). Psychologically, in addition to someone who is wasting their life, it can signify someone who is cheap and superficial.

Important Combinations:
K♣ + 3♦R = a therapy that slowly cures you of your ailment | in general, a good solution
5♦ + 3♦R = melancholy and dejection slowly coming to an end
4♣R + 3♦R = a recommendation or help that solves the issue
K♥ + 3♦R = a protector or benefactor helping you (Q♦ for a woman, 2♠ for an older woman)
2♦ + J♣ + 6♦ + 7♣ + 3♦R = graduation

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

* in some recent versions of the deck, the 3♦ and 8♦ are swapped. I don’t know why this was done, but I’m guessing it was a mistake, especially considering the graphic similarity between the numbers 3 and 8 in the decks where the swap was made. In the 1850s version, the card is the three.

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Three of Clubs – Journey (Viaggio)

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Name: Journey
Italian Name: Viaggio
Playing Card: 3♣
Polarity when Upright: Neutral to Positive
Core Meanings: Journey, Travel | Change, Change of Mind, Change of Phase | A means of transport
Polarity when Reversed: Positive
Reversed Core Meanings: Positive transformation, Evolution | Positive Change of Phase, Coming out of stagnant situations

Card Description: A man is riding his horse through the countryside. In the distance we can still see the city he has just left behind.

Suit and Number: threes are all cards of movement. Nowhere does this connotation come to the fore more than in the Three of Clubs, the Journey card, which means travel three times out of four. Occasionally, it can mean a change, especially a change of outlook.

UPRIGHT 3♣

General: a very simple card, mostly self-evident in its signification: a change of place and everything connected to it, from distant places to means of transport. Sometimes it takes on more psychological shades of meaning. There are, however, two fundamental things to keep in mind with this card.
One is the direction in which the horseman is looking. This usually shows where we are directed, whether it be a person, a place or a situation. Be flexible, though.
The second thing to keep in mind is a specific function this card has of bringing movement to the spread. Often this quality of the card is activated when it comes up after a slew of difficult, slow or static cards, and it will show the arrival of a new phase. This is usually positive.

Love and Relationships: the obvious meaning this card often takes on is that of needing to travel in order to meet someone. In more general terms, it can show long-distance relationships. When we are studying the dynamic among a group of people (or within a couple), the card signifies a change in how the relationship works. This is usually for the better, as it also signifies that the people involved are capable of assessing the situation and making adjustments. This is a flexible card, after all. With negative cards, however, it can signify changing one’s mind on something, going back on your word, etc. This is usually rare, though.

Work and Money: again, the most common signification will be that of a business trip or a work-related journey. Whether the trip is good or bad, it will be shown by the cards around it.
The card is especially connected with commerce and with importation and exportation, as well as with travel and physical activity. It signifies also the ability to innovate.
The meaning of change can also apply to the  the subject of work and finances. Often this card pops up in a reading when the querent is in a difficult situation but things are about to improve. I remember once doing a reading for a rather unlucky young man. His cards were 6♣ + 4♠R + 5♦ + 3♣ + 7♣. The first three cards showed a difficult period of unemployment (6♣ + 4♠U/R is typical of unemployed people). The 3♣ showed that the static period was coming to an end and he would finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (7♣).

Other: the Three of Clubs is connected with the action of sending, just as the Three of Hearts is connected to that of receiving. Psychologically, the Journey card is a card represents a psychological change, often a positive one. It heralds processes of transformation, not necessarily conscious or  deliberate, that make a person change their outlook on life or on a specific situation.
The 3♣ is connected with distant places and with cars and motorcycles, but also with other means of transport. It is also a card of physical movement, of keeping mobile, etc. Spiritually it often shows conversion, but in general it represents a process of transformation of one’s beliefs.

Important Combinations:
3♣ + 2♥ = leaving your home (if they were swapped, moving)
3♥ + 3♣ = arrival
3♣ + 3♠ = removal (often, the place or person that is left is found between these two cards, e.g., 10♥, the town or country, Q♥, the woman you love, etc.)
9♦ + 3♣ = a journey beset by difficulties | leaving on the spur of the moment and without forethought
3♣ + 9♣ + 8♣ = a trip to the country

REVERSED 3♣R

General: on the whole, more positive than when upright. It loses the meaning of journey (except when it signals a delay or setbacks during one) and it becomes a card of positive evolution. It is no longer required to look at where the horse is pointing toward, but the function of heralding new phases is maintained, and this time we are assured that the new phase is positive.

Love and Relationships: usually, it represents the end of a period of difficulties in all types of relationships. It is also especially good as it shows that the people involved are maturing and leaving counterproductive behaviors behind. If the querent is lonely, especially if he or she has been going through a difficult emotional period, this card promises the end of such period. After a difficult break, the presence of the Three of Clubs reversed shows events taking a positive turn. When you meet someone, this person is likely to sweep you off your feet, and new encounters in general are likely to have a follow-up or further evolution. When surrounded by very negative cards, the reversed Journey can signal that someone will in time reveal themselves different than what we think them to be now.

Work and Money: it is in this sector that this card has the best potential, as it mostly represents investments that bear fruits and social advancement. It represents social progress in general, and career advancement which usually comes with recognition. Although, like with the upright card, the 3♣R can show developing new ideas and models, it tends to be a more material than psychological card, and it is generally more likely to show improved material conditions.

Other: this card can also represent a surprise, generally a positive one, but if near very negative cards, it can mean that the negative event will take us by surprise and will pull the rug from under our feet. The only circumstance where this card is mildly negative is when the cards are pulled for a journey. In this case, the fact that the card comes up reversed can foretell breakdowns and delays, or simply journeys that won’t happen. Only near very negative cards can it show an accident. Needless to say, if you are looking to buy a means of transportation, you should avoid it.
Psychologically this card represents renewed hope and the ability to let go of old patterns. Spiritually it represents miracles and healing in a broad sense.
This card has a strong connection with the idea of breaking out of old molds and breaking vicious circles in general. The upright card can have the same meaning, but the subtle difference is that when it is upright, the new phase arrives to us, while with the reversed card we break out of the old phase.

Important Combinations:
A♠R + 3♣R = breaking free of a cycle that keeps repeating
3♣R + 7♥ = advancement, recognition
3♣R + 7♠ + 5♠ = a journey that is best avoided
5♦ + 3♣R = end of a sad period
6♥ + 3♣R = finances looking up

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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Three of Hearts – The Balcony (Belvedere)

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Name: Balcony
Italian Name: Belvedere
Playing Card: 3♥
Polarity when Upright: Neutral to Slightly Positive
Core Meanings: Arrival, Visit, Arrival of Developments in the Area Enquired About | Waiting for Something or Someone to Arrive | Distance, Abroad
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Lack of Arrival, or Delay in Arrival | Lack of Insight, Lack of inner life, Animalistic, Violent Character

Card Description: a young woman on a balcony looking into the distance through a small telescope, probably waiting for someone to arrive. She holds the instrument the wrong way

Suit and Number: Threes are cards of movement, and Hearts are cards of feelings, of positive things and circumstances that bring people together. As a result, the Three of Hearts represents arrival, distance being reduced.

UPRIGHT 3♥

General: It’s a dynamic card that signals the quick approaching of developements. In itself, it is faintly positive, but in practice its meaning often depends on the cards that follow it. It is also connected with waiting for something and to long distance.

Love and Relationships: especially when followed by a face card, it represents the arrival of someone, a visit, etc. In itself, this has a mildly positive connotation, but negative cards surrounding it may contradict the message. In general, as the Balcony card signals the arrival of developments, it gives some hope to lonely hearts. Be careful, though, as the card also describes a certain anxiety waiting for someone to arrive in someone life (not in an exessively negative terms, though. This is not the Six of Spades, remember).
Because of its connection to the sense of sight, the card, in specific combinations, may show someone prying in other people’s business or even spying or hiring a detective.
The Balcony is mildly positive when a reconciliation is expected, because of its connection with the idea of arrival and therefore bringing people together. It does need other supporting cards, though.

Work and Money: the card doesn’t say much in this respect, other than announcing the arrival of something, someone or a new situation in the near future in the field enquired about. Often it shows the arrival of offers, correspondence, checks, occasions or situations to beware of, depending on the cards that follow it. 
Because of its dynamic nature, the Balcony is often welcome in unemployed people’s readings, as it is usually followed by cards that show the unblocking of the difficult situation. Professionally, it is connected with all jobs where the sense of sight (looking, searching, etc.) plays a major role. Since it is also a card of distance, it can point, depending on the other cards, to professions connected with it.

Other: On rare occasion, it can signify that a situation is still in development, but this is usually only a very slight nuance. In general, it shows that the situation has not ended yet, that it is still attracting new developments. Of the connection of this card with the sense of sight we have already spoken. This also extends to the psychological and spiritual aspect of this card. While on one hand it signals a slight trepidation, on the other it shows insight and the ability (or, with negative cards, need) to look within oneself. In general, it represents introspection. It can also represent someone who is watchful or on the lookout. Which option is true will depend on the context of the question and, more importantly, on the other cards. The Balcony is connected with the sense of sight, so it can signifies looking, searching for, etc.
Again, due to its connection with sight, the card represents clear weather, good visibility while traveling, and tropical locations (more generally, it means “abroad”, though).

Important Combinations:
3♥ + 2♦ + 6♥ = arrival of a check
3♥ + 8♥ + 3♣ = can mean traveling abroad
3♥ + 2♦ + A♥ = chats, discussion boards, dating apps
J♠ or Q♠ + 3♥ + 10♠R = someone spying you in secret
3♥ + 4♥ or 9♥ = love is about to knock at your door

REVERSED 3♥R

General: a negative card. In the best case scenario, it represents delays. Depending on the other cards, it can even show that someone or something won’t arrive. It points to situations that are over and won’t develop further. It represents vain waiting. Upright, it represented sight, insight and introspection. Reversed, it signifies the lack of all those things, showing an animalistic, rageful, wanton character.

Love and Relationships: if you are waiting for someone to make their move, with this card you may be waiting a long time. If you are single and hoping for someone to rescue you from this dreary mess we call life, you may be covered in ivies before that happens (especially if other cards of delay piles up on top of this one).
When this card does show the arrival of someone, you need to be very careful about letting them into your personal space. The reason why will be clarified by the following cards.

Work and Money: the same meaning applies to financial and career readings. It is connected with long periods of delay in the arrival of news, situations, developments etc. With negative cards, it shows situations where hoping further would be futile. Money that has been loaned will be awaited in vain, and loaned that have been applied for will similarly be waited for vainly. In work readings, it can show a situation with no prospects, and with other cards it can point to a dead-end job.

Other: the psychological traits represented by the Balcony reversed are extremely important and potentially color readings in all fields of life, including love and career. This card represents the opposite of the upright version. It shows, in the best-case scenario, extreme shortsightedness. More often, though, this shortsightedness extends to being unable to see other people’s perspectives and using them selfishly for one’s own gratification. Both spiritually and psychologically, it points to a lack of introspection which results in bestial behavior, understood as behavior that debases one’s humanity (or that of the people around us). Commonly, it refers to anger issues, an inability to control one’s rage. Depending on the context and the other cards, it can also signify an inability to control one’s pants. Sometimes it represents both. In general, this card shows that the person is unable to observe themselves and their basest impulses before acting on them. 

Important Combinations:
3♥R + 10♠ = stranger danger, arrival in your life of someone you shouldn’t trust
3♥R + 10♥R = angry outbursts
3♥R + 4♥R + A♣R = sexual assault
3♥R + J♦R = awaited parcel that doesn’t arrive
3♥R + 4♣ + Q♠ = arrival of a friend you should keep at arm’s length

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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Two of Spades – The Old Lady (Vecchia Signora)

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Name: Old Lady
Italian Name: Vecchia Signora
Playing Card: 2♠
Polarity when Upright: Neutral
Core Meanings: decline, waning, weakening |     an elderly woman | slow, structural changes, stagnant situations | Everything old | a visit or short trip | good advice
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: An old crone, an intriguing old woman | Sharp decline | separation, removal, inability to get along | situations that are stale, obsolete, without perspective

Card Description: an elderly woman comfortably seated in a large chair, probably waiting to receive a relative.

Suit and Number: Twos are cards of strengthening, extension, development. The suit of spades, however, is generally negative. The Two of Spades is therefore a card of weakening, stagnation, decline and waning.

UPRIGHT 2♠

General: a neutral card with a slew of meanings, possibly one of the hardest to read in the deck. The core of the card, we’ve seen, has to do with decline, slowness, waning. It is everything that is reaching its natural conclusion, from life to contracts, from a school year to a relationship, and so on. From here it takes on symbolic meanings by analogy, including old age, everything old, experience, etc. It represents slowness and slow, structural changes, things that develop slowly and move slowly and little if at all, or things that stagnate, even. By analogy with the idea of little movement, it represents short trips and especially visits as opposed to long travel and journeys. It is also a face card, a significator for an old woman, usually 60+.

Love and Relationships: when the Two of Spades represents a person, she is an elderly woman. The meaning is neutral and depends on the context. Usually, she’s an elderly relative of friend, or a colleague who is close to retirement. Whatever the case, the person is experienced and, with positive cards, will either help or advise the querent well.
When the Old Lady is not a person, it can take on a whole host of different meanings. When it signifies the type of relationship between two people, it usually one grounded in trust, affection and affinity, albeit possibly lacking in excitement. It can also show that the relationship is stable and has deep roots, and whatever change will happen to it is going to be gradual and structural rather than random and on a whim. With less positive cards, it shows a bond that is weakening and waning or a stagnant relationship.
In relationship readings specifically, the 2♠ can signify an ex. However, unless a heart card comes nearby (e.g., Q♥), it means that the querent has no feelings left.

Work and Money: with positive cards, the Two of Spades can signify slow, structural changes for the better that bring stability. It is connected to accumulated savings and with speculations that mature slowly. With specific cards, it can point to a traditionally wealthy family that has the querent’s back, and to old objects of considerable value. With negative cards, it points to financial decline, projects that stagnate or a collaboration that no longer yields fruits and is going to be interrupted. It can represent traditional business models or inherited businesses and working with the elderly or with old things, concepts, objects. It can also be an old job, a job you’ve already done in the past. With positive cards it can also represent old projects that finally being to give results. Needless to say, the Old Lady is connected to retirement.

Other: there are four important concepts to remember that can be applied to most questions: a situation that is waning and reaching its natural conclusion; slow structural change; short trips and visits; everything old, traditional, connected to the past.
Psychologically, it represents maturity and the ability to learn from experience. It also represents serenity and acceptance of what’s to come, as the person knows the difference between what can be changed and what must be faced with stoicism. It is also connected with conservatism and traditional values, without a negative connotation (unless with negative cards). It can mean being attached to one’s roots. Spiritually, it shows, again, slow changes and traditional forms of spirituality. It can also signify a deep connection with the divine that renounces the flashy stuff but knows what’s truly important, and the ability to learn lessons from every curve ball that life throws at us. Artistically, it has a connection with old objects and classical art as opposted to avant-garde schools.
Note that when surrounded by negative cards, being a rather weak card, the Two of Spades takes on some of its reversed meanings.

Important Combinations:
2♠ + 5♠ = the natural end of something
2♠ + 8♦ or J♦ or 3♣ = visit
4♥ + 2♠ = feelings slowly declining | an ex
7♣R + 2♠ = decline in status
Q♠ + 2♠ = the mother-in-law (in a neutral sense)

REVERSED 2♠R

General: A very negative card on the whole. When it represents a person, best case scenario she’s dead. If she isn’t, then she’s trouble. Its upright meaning of decline and weakening is retained, but here it becomes much sharper and more likely to be harder to accept. While the upright 2♠ represents visits, the 2♠R represents separations and the inability to get along and putting differences aside.

Love and Relationships: when she’s a woman, hopefully she’s kicking the bucket, thus justifying the reversed position. When she’s alive and well, however, she represents a spiteful old crone with all the stereotypical traits of spiteful old crones, from pettiness to hypocrisy to meanness to pearl-clutching prejudice. She is also a skilled liar who will make life difficult for the querent.
When the card doesn’t represent a woman, she can describe a relationship of any type that has run its course and has no future. Alternatively, it can signify a relationship that has no nurturing or reassuring quality for the querent. It is a sign of coldness and frigidity.
This card predicts falling outs and arguments and is generally a harbinger of separation and of a fundamental inability to get along and compromise. It can also show, depending on the other cards, that something that has been said and done in the past still weighs on the relationship.
The card can still represent a person from the past, but in this case the reversed Two of Spades acts as a definite warning.
When people are trying to improve their relationships by changing their behavior, the Old Lady reversed implies that the change will be short-lived and soon the relationship will revert back to the same old problems.
Just as this card can show situations that pull people apart, it can show situations that pull people together for the wrong reasons, and so it can, albeit rarely, identify negative groups, bad company and the wrong crowd.

Work and Money: again, very negative, but much depends on the other cards. The 2♠R taints our relationship with colleagues and can herald a loss of employment. It also represents a work environment that is stale and offers no growth opportunity. In general, it shows lack of enterprise and initiative, and when it comes to business models, it shows them inadequate and behind the times. More in general, if the cards show a past mistake, the reversed Two of Spades signifies the inability to get over that mistake and improve things. This is the card of ventures that have ceased to be profitable. Depending on the context, it can show a business that has no future or someone who has no feasible plans for their financial or career future.
Financially, this card also signifies avarice and a miserly attitude. Metaphorically, this meaning can apply also when the querent is asking for money, e.g., requesting a loan, in which case it will be denied.

Other: psychologically, the card is connected either to reactionary views and fundamentalism or to immaturity and weakness of character. Either way, it signifies someone who has no clear perspective (and whose advice must be avoided). In general, it shows someone or something that has no future or someone who has no feasible plans. Usually, it highlights a person who is incapable of changing. It represents anything that is ossified.
Upright, the Old Lady was a card of traditional values and roots. Reversed, it can represent someone who has no roots, like a waif or orphan, or who gives up their roots, such as abandoning the family, giving up one’s citizenship, etc. (in these cases, the card is neutral and must be read in context).
Spiritually, the card represents fundamentalism and a greater attention to form and rituals than to substance. It also shows spiritual views that are cruel and unforgiving. It also points to someone who hasn’t been able to learn anything from life. In esoteric reading, it often signifies an evil hexer.


Important Combinations:
2♠R + A♥U/R or 8♣R = inability to get along
6♦ + 2♠R = extreme conservatism, obsolete views or plans | lack of enterprise or initiative
2♠R + 4♦ = intrigues, schemes, hypocrisy
2♠R + 6♥R = hoarding, not wanting to give or share
2♠R + 5♠ = sharp decline and end of a situation

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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Two of Diamonds – The Letter (Lettera)

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Name: Letter
Italian Name: Lettera
Playing Card: 2♦
Polarity when Upright: Neutral
Core Meanings: Letter, Message, Telephone Call | News, Information, Books, Diplomas, Reading, Studying | Documents | All things papery and/or written
Polarity when Reversed: —
Reversed Core Meanings: —

Card Description: a hand in the act of delivering a letter.

Suit and Number: All twos are concerned with addition, increase,strengthening, elaboration. Diamonds, in the Sibilla, are concerned with the mind, information, daily situations, inputs. What we get is the Letter, which gives new inputs and adds developments to daily life in the form of news and messages, strengthens the mind with studying and books, etc. The concept of ‘written things’ must be understood broadly, as writing something is associated with reasoning it out, this card has to do with elaborating projects near the appropriate cards or in the appropriate context.

UPRIGHT 2♦

General: A generally easy, neutral card. It is mainly the card of news, messages and calls. It is connected with documents, books, study and is a very swift card, usually. There isn’t much to say about this card.

Love and Relationships: The Two of Diamonds does not speak of feelings. However it often shows up in love readings to predict messages and developments in the form of the arrival of communications from another person. When two people have broken up, it gives hope of receiving news from the other, but whether the message is good or bad will be shown by the other cards. It is connected to the idea of tending to one’s relationships, keeping up with people. In general, though, it predicts the specific arrival of messages.

Work and Money: Financially, the card is connected to banknotes and to checks, but more in general it shows the arrival of communications about money. Similarly, in career readings the Letter can herald communications in that field. It can also signify documents and papers. Professions connected with this card are bookkeeping, postman, librarian, journalist/news anchor, writer, in general office jobs, jobs connected with paper and documents, job connected with communication.

Other: the card signifies all objects made of paper. It is a speedy card. Psychologically it has a very vague connection with anxiety and nervousness, but this is such a subtle thing you can safely ignore it 99% of the times. Because it signifies written things, this card implies a certain elaboration of one’s ideas, unless other cards show otherwise. Spiritually it concerns messages from the divine plane and scriptures and grimoires. Artistically it is connected to writing and intellectual pursuits in general. The card is also important for students, as it can signify a number of things, from a test to the books they need to read, to the diploma or degree they need to earn, to school reports, etc.

Important Combinations:
2♦ + J♦ = important news | correspondence
2♦ + 6♦ = elaboration of plans | studying
2♦ + 3♠R (+5♠) = a telegram concerning someone’s death
2♦ + 10♦ = loss of document or letter (or it being stolen)
2♦ + K♣ = diagnosis, prescription | can also be a degree (not necessarily in medicine)

REVERSED 2♦R

General: traditionally, the Letter does not have a reversed meaning. Whether it comes up upright or reversed is a matter of indifference. However, it does tend to show up reversed when the other cards qualify it negatively, such as when it represents a negative diagnosis, a fine, a summons, etc. or if a letter or document is lost. But even if it came up upright, it wouldn’t change the negative connotation that the surrounding cards would give it, nor is there anything to worry if the spread is positive and the Letter is reversed.

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

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Two of Clubs – The Peacock (Superbia)

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Name: The Peacock1
Italian Name: Superbia (also known as Carta del Pavone)
Playing Card: 2♣
Polarity when Upright: The Best and Strongest Card in the Deck
Core Meanings: The Amulet Card | Marvel, Excellence, Superb and outstanding results | Completion, Perfection, Removal of limitation and blockage | Beauty | God, Divine Power, Miracles | Outstanding, Incredible | Magic and the use of Magic
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Haughtiness, Pride, Arrogance | Overestimation of one’s abilities or prospects | Situations that cannot be improved, that have gone as far as they can | Black magic, negativity, Demonic energy, Evil

Card Description: in a walled garden, a beautiful peacock opens the feathers of its tail in a wheel. The wheel is a symbol of completion, and the peacock a symbol of immortality in the Christian symbolism of the Sibilla.

Suit and Number: twos are cards of continuation, strengthening and increase, while the suit of clubs is generally lucky. Thus, the symbolism of the Peacock takes on meanings of completion, increase of good or decrease of evil, embellishment, improvement, standing out, etc.

UPRIGHT 2♣

General: This is the best card in the whole deck. Yes, better (and more reliable) than the Fortune card. On its own, if you could choose between the 5♣, Fortune, and the 2♣, you’d be wise to pick the latter: Fortune represents luck, while the Peacock is the card of divine protection. The main function of the Two of Clubs is as ‘amulet’ or shield card, giving a positive spin to spreads, deviating the flow of the reading toward realization and happiness. Its main function is to increase the good and decrease the bad shown by the surrounding cards.
It is also connected with concepts of perfection, marvel, excellence, completion, totality, and to the removal of blockages and restrictions and to art and beauty.

Love and Relationships: the presence of this card usually allows singles to come out of difficult periods of loneliness. It is also connected with the ability to “win over” people in all fields of life and to seduce. It is a marker of self-confidence and a magnetic personality that draws people nearer. When the querent is in a relationship, the Peacock solidifies the union, making it last, and it allows the couple to get over difficult periods and arguments. Personal relationships in general are honorable and marked by a commitment to keeping one’s word. People characterized by this card are positive for the querent and usually hold the key to solving the querent’s problem. If the querent is asking about a reconciliation and the breakup happened some time ago, this card may however show that the person enquired about is already fulfilled, which means they have a new story, or it may show that the querent will be fulfilled in a new relationship. Bear in mind that there is no ‘yes’ card in the Vera Sibilla: cards must always be interpeted in the context provided by the other cards. If a reconciliation does happen, this card signals that it will bring the couple to a whole new level where old mistakes won’t be repeated. If a new relationship is shown by other cards, the Peacock signals that it’s this new relationship that will bring the querent to a whole new level or standard. If the querent has been single for a long time, it can simply show the end of the difficult period.

Work and Money: again, an extemely positive card. People who are going through a rough patch economically are often lifted up and protected. No matter how dire the situation may get, if the Two of Clubs intervenes we’ll be snatched out of the abyss. It brings freedom from worry or debt. It can also point to great career prosects and to recognition in one’s field. Businesses can expand or draw in extra clients. In itself, the card shows jobs related to beauty, the arts and professions where someone is in the public eye, or simply professions that express the querent’s true vocation. However, if the querent has been through a long spell of unemployment, it may simply signal the end of hardships, not necessarily that all of a sudden they’ll wake up the great masters of their dream job. Projects that are undertaken under this card’s influence are completed successfully and obstacles, bureaucratic red tape and difficulties tend to disappear. Everything that may limit the querent’s realization takes a blow.

Other: as said, this card points to excellence, completion, perfection in all fields. It is connected to beauty, beautiful objects and good taste. Next to a significator, it qualifies them as either beautiful, talented or key in solving a problem. Spiritually it represents God and the divine plane in general. It also represents noble magical aspirations and practices and spiritual oaths and vows. By analogy, it is the card of kept promises and honor. Artistically, the Peacock shows good taste and everything that is appealing (“eye candy”) and heralds recognition. Psychologically, it is a card of self-confidence, being at peace with who someone really is, charisma, personal magnetism and the resilience necessary to survive every experience. It also signals a person with high standards, but never a bad person.

Important Combinations:
9♠ + 2♣ = freedom from chains and limiting conditions, or solitude
2♣ + K♥ = a great protector | God (with Q♣, Mary mother of God)
5♠ + 2♣ = a positive change that may seem difficult at first
6♦ + 2♣ + 7♥ = a person of genius
3♦ + 2♣ + 8♦ = high status, nobility

REVERSED 2♣R

General: the import of this card varies from mildly to very negative. In the main, it represents the more negative side of the peacock symbolism, namely pride, vanity, haughtiness. Another meaning deriving from this basic idea is that of ego, decisions clouded by one’s ego or the overestimation of one’s ability or prospects, which may lead to problems signalled by the following cards.
When coming up reversed, the Two of Clubs is also a significator of black magic (though almost never on its own, unless a specific question is asked) and of demonic powers. Needless to say, the reversed Peacock does not function as a talisman card.

Love and Relationships: personal relationships usually suffer due to one of the two being vain, feeling superior or being too self-centered. The gravity of the situation will be shown by the other cards. As it points to rather obnoxious character traits, this card also signifies arguments and a tendency to pick fights. In any relationship, but especially in romantic relationships, in addition to the above, it shows differing sets of values causing problems and an inability to truly understand one another, as if the two were two separate universes, from the symbolism of totality and completion applied to the negative, reversed version of the card. Furthermore, if other cards concur, the symbolism of completeness of the upright version becomes negative and shows that all that could be done to salvage the relationship has been done and there’s nothing left to do. People who are alone may feel very lonely but be too proud to reach out and even feel they are owed something (think of incels).

Work and Money: generally, from a financial standpoint, the card symbolizes overspending, a tendency to miscalculate one’s odds of success, overestimating what one’s budget will accomplish and business ventures undertaken as vanity projects that no one with an objective appraisal of the situation would agree to. Businesses may fail to attract clients. With other negative cards, the 2♣R shows complete ruin.
In career readings, unemployed querents will usually struggle to find a new job. On a more positive note, with positive cards and with the appropriate querent, this card can stand for retirement, because it shows that one phase of the querent’s life is completed and now over.

Other: psychologically, the card represents someone who is haughty and thinks they are just what the world desperately needs. These days, it can also come up when someone refuses to leave his or her echo chamber that constantly reinforces their prejudices (again, from the concept of totality applied negatively). In general, it shows a big ego, self-indulgence and too much attention given to shallow things, especially appearance.
Spiritually, this is the card of Satan and all that is demonic. On a lighter note, it can point to spiritual views colored by one’s ego and prejudices and cherry picking spiritual beliefs based on one’s preconceptions (ever noticed that progressives think God’s a hippie while conservatives think he’s a hillbilly? Convenient, isn’t it?) Artistically it leads to overestimating one’s talent and can signify shallow art without depth. The Peacock reversed is also the card of black magic and demonic invocations, but don’t go around diagnosing hexes without solid evidence from the spread.

Important Combinations:
2♣R + 4♦ = a skewed view of reality
2♣R + 6♣R = a loss caused by overestimating one’s ability or the validity of a project
2♣R + 3♠R = black magic (if the 2♣ were upright, just magic)
A♥ + 2♣R = litigiousness, ego-trips in other people’s presence
2♣R + 7♣R = taking offence, being offended, being stung to the quick

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

  1. the meaning of the card title “Superbia” can actually be translated as “Haughtiness” or “Pride”. However, it is commonly referred to among Italian cartomancers as Carta del Pavone, which means Peacock card. The reason I use the title Peacock as main translation is that the Italian adjective “superbo” has two meanings: one connected with arrogance and one connected with excellence and everything outstanding, marvelous, perfect, the best. This latter meaning is retained by the English word “superb”, which has the same root. The ambiguity of the card’s title in Italian explains why the card has a very positive meaning when upright and a negative one when reversed. However, the English word “haughtiness” is negative and doesn’t retain the ambiguity of the Italian, hence the need for a more neutral title. ↩︎
Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Two of Hearts – The House (Casa)

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Name: House
Italian Name: Casa
Playing Card: 2♥
Polarity when Upright: Positive
Core Meanings: House, Family | Building | Harmony, Stability, Consolidation
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: A difficult home environment | A hospital, and in general all places the querent would rather not go

Card Description: a tall house, a manor almost. It gives off an aura of stability and protection.

Suit and Number: Twos are mostly concerned with how the suit extends the initial impulse of the Ace, building on it. They show elaboration, strengthening and similar ideas. The Two of Hearts is a card that brings harmony and harmonization. It shows the strengthening and consolidation of a situation, especially of positive, feeling-oriented and family-oriented issues. The house is a symbol of this kind of consolidation because buildings are, by their nature, fixed things which aren’t easily moved.

UPRIGHT 2♥

General: A positive card with some neutral connotations. Its main meanings are solidity and harmony, the querent’s home and family environment and buildings in general.

Love and Relationships: this is the field of life where this card truly shines. It is connected with harmonious relationships and strong ties. In love, it heralds a strengthening of the bond of affection and can show the couple moving in together. Even when two people do not live together, the Two of Hearts can be taken to represent their life together, and the surrounding cards will show what happens to it.
When shit hits the fan, the presence of this card can show a return to the status quo and harmony. However, if the House is followed by negative cards, it could mean that the harmony and stability are crumbling down.
The House represents family ties and a supportive home environment that may prove helpful to tackle the issues at hand. If surrounded by negative cards, though, the Two of Hearts becomes an indication of a troubled everyday life, especially at home (although the fact that the card comes up upright gives some hope).

Work and Money: In this field, the card takes on a variety of meaning. In financial readings, the card represents personal savings or family help (or, depending on the cards, family or house-related problems that sap the family’s finances). In itself, it is an indicator of financial stability and smooth financial sailing. With negative cards, it can point to financial decisions or problems that jeopardize the querent’s financial stability. It can also represent the workplace, with the appropriate cards, or a home-based business (or smart working, especially these days). In itself, the card is a symbol of something with strong foundations, but if surrounded by difficult cards, the solidity beings to show some cracks.
Needless to say, the House is an extremely important card to watch for in all issues concerning inheritance or real estate.

Other: the House can be a building in general, and the nature of the building will be specified by the surrounding cards. In itself, this meaning is neutral, and the type of buildings shown by the House when upright will tend to be more benign than if it were reversed (but don’t take it as a blanket statement, you need to look at the other cards). As said, the card brings the idea of strong foundation and strengthening in all areas.
Psychologically, this card is connected to the querent’s innermost feelings and the deeper layers of his or her personality and can therefore show his or her motivations. Artistically, when it doesn’t represent a place connected to the arts, it can show, among other things, the ability to infuse one’s work with one’s inmost feelings and beliefs.
Because of the House’s connection with the most intimate layer of things and to the idea of foundation, the card can occasionally show the reason why something is the way it is (what something is founded on). In this case, the surrounding cards must be studied.

Important Combinations:
2♥ + 7♥ = a real estate contract | a male family member | it can represent being serious about a relationship
2♥ + 9♣ = restaurant or club
2♥ + K♦ = workplace or working from home (or working door to door)
A♦ + 2♥ = the querent’s own home
2♥ + 6♦ + 7♥ = school or university

REVERSED 2♥R

General: A negative card through and through. There is no good reason for this card to come up reversed. It is still connected to the querent’s home environment, but it qualifies it negatively as a difficult place to live. It is also connected with places the querent would rather avoid (on its own, this card represents a hospital, but unless the question is specific or other cards concur, don’t jump to conclusions). Its previous connotation of stability is lost, and in its place we find rocky relationships.
When this card comes at the end of a sequence, it makes it less stable and less fulfilling.

Love and Relationships: when it depicts the querent’s family or home environment, the reversed House characterizes is as unsupportive and stifling. It represents an environment the querent can hardly flourish in, one where his or her best interested is not  taken into consideration, or one that (for any reason) saps all energy and resources, including mental resources, out of him. Personal relationships described by the Two of Hearts reversed tend to be difficult. The card becomes a harbinger of disharmony and of lack of sencere feelings, or of feelings at all. If other cards point in the same direction, the couple may end up dissolving. For someone who is alone, the 2♥R promises nothing good, as it will usually highlight that the person suffers due to his or her loneliness and doesn’t thrive.

Work and Money: the card can show a business that is going through a tough period, and with negative cards it is at serious risk of going belly up. The card also points to poor budgeting or depleted personal resources, and when negative money cards surround it, it can predict bankruptcy and financial ruin in general.
In less serious circumstances, the reversed House can mean that the family won’t support the querent financially, or that one’s achievement are below expectations or nor on firm footing.
When it refers to the querent’s workplace, the House reversed shows the environment as negative and not nourishing, or it can imply that the firm the querent is working for is not doing well.
Generally, if the querent is looking to strike a deal, the card can prevent it from going through, or it can mean it won’t be advantageous. Investments tend to turn sour under this card’s influence, and papers should not be signed.

Other: the card is connected to all places the querent would normally want to leave as soon as possible or places of corruption. In itself, the card can mean a hospital or a psych ward, especially with the appropriate combinations. However, the concept of negative building must be taken with a grain of salt, as the 2♥R is also associated with places of isolation such as retreats and hermitages.
The card is a serious warning for anyone planning on buying real estate. Here, the concept of negative place must be taken to mean that the house has structural problems and may be in serious need of renovation. The same meaning can also apply to the querent’s own home, even if he or she isn’t planning on buying it or selling it. Psychologically, the Two of Hearts reversed points to instability and of feeling unloved or not nurtured enough, and can show that one feels like the world is a hostile place for them. It can also mean the querent is going through a period where he would like to grow but can’t find an appropriate avenue to pursue, and may feel like he lacks opportunities or space.

Important Combinations:
2♥R + 4♠ = hospital
2♥R + 9♠ = prison
2♥R + 4♥R = brothel
2♥R + 5♠ = a morgue
2♥R + 9♦ + K♣ = psychiatric hospital

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