Category Archives: Card Reading

When Mothers Smother (Reading example)

When we read for people and they only give us a broad question, I think it’s important to remain open to the twists of fate the cards are showing us, as well as to have an open dialogue with the querent  Sometimes querents lie, but more often they are either confused or fail to focus on the ‘real’ question. In the following case, the querent’s question wasn’t wrong, but it hid more than it showed. The querent is a woman of around 25. She asked me about her career without specifying anything.

A career reading using the Vera Sibilla

The querent is anagraphically covered by the Queen of Clubs, the young maiden, so we can initially assign this card to her. She is reversed, showing trouble.

The first line of the pyramid indicates the influence of a (probably older) woman. She is surrounded by the House and Love, but on the same line we find the Seven of Spades reversed. This is one of the worst cards in the deck, so whenever we see it we must tread carefully.

I asked the querent if an older female relative, possibly her mother, is involved in the issue, and at this point the querent tells me she works with her parents in the family business.

The Seven of Spades reversed represents tyranny and oppression, so I ask her if her mother is somewhat authoritarian, and she confirms. Note though that the mother is surrounded by two positive cards, hence the ‘somewhat’ in the statement. Furtermore, look at the angles of the spread: Good feelings, oppression, but not too much (Butterfly). I am aware that smothering mothers are how some serial killers get started, but this mother, while not positive, could be worse. She smothers the querent out of (real) love. She is oppressive, but not a sociopath.

Be it as it may, the querent clearly suffers from this situation (she is reversed) and therefore hopes to move away (Hope + Journey), as the Hope card can indicate the hopes of the querent or of the person preceding it, which in this case is again the querent. Probably the querent wants to find her sense of self and freedom. This would be understandable even under normal circumstances, let alone in this case. I asked her if she wanted to leave and again she confirmed.

But, woe and alas, look how the spread ends! Money is tight (Money + Sickness) so whatever job she is looking for is going to probably make her start at the very bottom. Thus we end with the Ten of Clubs, the Butterfly. This card indicates all those things that are fleeting and not rooted in the querent’s destiny. Thus her hopes are just fleeting, at least in the foreseeable future, due to the rotten (Sickness) money situation.

MQS

The Lost Coins (Example Reading)

Readings about lost objects are hard. I am very much less than infallible in finding them. The reason is quite simple: most questions have a limited number of likely answers and an even more limited number of unlikely ones, so it is usually easier to make sense of the cards. “Yes he’ll marry you”, “No, he hates you”, “There doesn’t seem to be much tenderness left in the relationship, but with some effort you can keep it going a while.” There is, of course, some skill for finding nuances involved, and a good reader will add some details, but in general, the possible answers are relatively limited.

But a lost object can be anywhere, and we can either be very right or very wrong, with little space for “yes, but…” and “no, although…” Especially if we’ve never seen the place where the object was lost, it becomes hard to read the symbolism of the cards without reading our own fantasy into them. As far as I am concerned, much depends on how clear the cards decide to be with me. Since I have nothing to prove, I have no problem throwing my hands up and saying “Dunno” if that is my honest answer.

As we are moving all our stuff from the old house into the new one, plenty of things have gone momentarily missing, in the sense that I don’t know which of the dozens of boxes we’ve brought along they are in, and frankly I’m not too eager to start searching.

Except that I started itching to do some I Ching readings, and I couldn’t find my I Ching coins anymore. I did remember putting them somewhere where “I know I will find them”. The problem is that I have done the same with so many of my things in the last couple of months that the trick doesn’t work anymore. So I asked the cards for a pointer:

K♣ – 2♥ – 5♣

In general, what makes this reading relatively easy, compared to other lost item readings, is that it does not describe the place where the coins are, but rather their relationship to me. The King of Clubs is my significator. It is followed by a card, the Two of Hearts, which indicates ‘close to home’, but also ‘close’ in general. I know I cannot have left the coins in the neighborhood, which is naturally signified by the Two of Hearts, so I take it to mean ‘close’.

That Five of Clubs is interesting. In general it represents effort, but it is connected also with the body in general, understood as moving, acting ‘machine’, and also the hands. Close at hand, maybe? Or close to my body?

Either reading would have been correct. I found the coins in an internal pocket of my jacket where I usually don’t keep anything and don’t bother looking.

MQS

The Copyright Claim (Example Reading)

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.

MQS

Spirituality and the Sibilla (Example Reading)

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.

MQS

Is He An Atheist? (Card Reading Example)

Traditional cartomancy, like all traditional divination systems, is full of tips on how to handle spiritual topics. The difference with contemporary psychobabble is that in traditional cartomancy we deal with a spirituality that is rooted in the earth and in everyday life rather than in Mind/Body/Spirit section poppycock. As I often remark, in such systems spirituality is seen as the logical next step for someone who is acquainted with real life, not as a consolation prize for someone who is trying to avoid it.

The querent asked if her boyfriend believes in “a superior being”, by which I assume she meant God (“being” is probably a more reassuring term compared to “bearded guy holding a lightning bolt”). She places great importance on the topic, but he seems to avoid talking about it. This is a playing card reading. In the next days I will also post a Vera Sibilla reading done on a similar question by a different person some time ago.

A♥ – 8♣ – 9♣ – K♥ – 7♣

Seeing this, I asked the querent to draw three more cards to open the reading on the Ace of Hearts, which yielded the 2♠, the 2♣ and the 6♣.

The first thing I noticed was the complete absence of Spades (except in opening the spread, but that’s a very weak Spade). This generally bodes well for spirituality. However, there is also a majority of Clubs, which indicate struggles and difficulties. There is no need to interpret the spread card by card. The spread indicates a slow or difficult relation with the divine. Belief is not denied, but it is rendered heavy, problematic.

The first card is the Ace of Hearts, which can indicate “inner” issues, but because the first card in a spread can also represent the cause of a situation described by the following cards, I ventured to interpret it as issues relating to the home causing the querent’s boyfriend to falter in his faith. The three additional cards with which I opened the spread on the Ace of Hearts reinforced my idea that there must have been a difficult atmosphere at home surrounding the topic.

What about the King of Hearts? Is it the dad? Well, no. Traditionally, in spiritual readings the King of Hearts is God himself (just like in the Sibilla): he is the lord (King) of your inner life (Hearts). Surrounded by all those Clubs, the God-side of the boyfriend’s life suffers, is stifled. Yet it is there, since the King of Hearts comes up and is not surrounded by Spades.

I asked the querent to give another three cards to open the spread on the King of Hearts. These were the 10♠, the 4♣ and the 10♥. At night (Ten of Spades) he speaks (Four of Clubs) spiritually/finding consolation (Ten of Hearts). He prays to God at night.

MQS

On Death (Example Reading)

Of the many subjects that have been banished to the realm of shadows in contemporary divination, none have become more unspeakable than death. Under no circumstances should we be reminded of our mortality and finitude, largely because these are all things that fly in the face of the “you can be whatever you want” ideology that many diviners now espouse. Divination proves that no, we can’t be whatever we want. Certain patterns of our life are laid out for us and there is precious little we can do about them except, maybe, work on our ability to accept them.

Obviously, as diviners we wield a certain degree of power over our querents, and as such we ought not to abuse it to terrorize them. I don’t usually talk about death unless the question is specifically about it or unless the context somehow allows for such a discussion. But I am also no moralist lecturing the querent on what they should be asking. In this case I was asked by a woman about her father’s wellbeing after being diagnosed with a serious illness. I told her I would not diagnose anything, but I would merely look at the general flow of his life.

2♥ – Q♥ – Q♠ – K♠
10♠ – K♣ – 9♠
8♠ – Q♦
10♥

I said it largely to comfort her, but the cards have their own language that cannot be overruled by any consideration. The pyramid can largely be summarized in one word: “funeral“. There isn’t much to discuss or interpret. Look at that group of people cards: these are not specific individuals. They are just meant to indicate many people together.

Then we have the Nine of Spades, Eight of Spades and Ten of Speads interspersed. These show great evil, tears, darkness. You get the picture. In the context of this question, many people together for something tear-related is called a funeral. So there is going to be a funeral: the father won’t survive.

Due to the Two of Hearts, I thought this was going to be within two weeks (not the funeral, but the death). It ended up being almost a month (timing is always tricky). In general, I think the cards meant “soon”.

But what about the Ten of Hearts at the end? Shouldn’t it nullify the evil meaning of the other cards? Usually it does, but the Ten of Hearts also represents Heaven or paradise. In the context of readings about this sort of issues it indicates that death comes as a release from the sufferings of life. As such, as weird and unfathomable as this sounds to us in the realm of the living, the spread is positive: it ended well because it ended in death. As a matter of fact, I have been told that the father was serene and peaceful till the end.

Why Predict Death? Philosophical and Practical Implications

I hope I haven’t put off anyone with this post, but the fact is that death is possibly the most salient event in life, so it makes sense that divination should be able to address it. The readings I do about this sort of issues are very rare, and I generally warn the person that I am fallible and have been and will be wrong again.

Other readers may choose to avoid such questions altogether. This is a legitimate choice, as no one should be forced to read about topics they feel uncomfortable about. However, it is also important to recognize that such questions are legitimate and that there is nothing inherently dark about them. It all depends about the context and about the attitude of the diviner (and of the querent, of course).

One may ask what the point is of divining about death and other such topics, since the querent cannot do much about it. In reality, there is plenty of non-morbid reasons to want to know about it: one may wish to set their affairs in order, or simply get a head start in getting closure. In pre-modern Western astrology, as well as in Chinese astrology, the prediction of the native’s death, or at least of whether they had enough life force in them to lead a relatively long life, was one of the first things the astrologer looked for. This is obvious: you can’t predict fame to someone for next year if they’ll be gone tomorrow.

Most importantly, a sober and serviceable approach to such topics has the ability to make us appreciate life from the point of view of the eternal, from the recognition that many things escape our control and we are truly actors in a cosmic play.

MQS

On Prayer Before Divination

Some days ago I was talking to a fellow occult student and we were comparing notes on how we go about the process of divination. When I told her that I tend to say a little prayer before divination she was surprised, so I thought it would make for a nice topic.

First off, I do not think that praying before divination is mandatory, nor do I think that it’s the prayer that makes divination work. It doesn’t matter if it’s synchronicity, as Jung said, or if it’s the spirits that live inside the cards, as my first teacher told me, or if it’s the Soul of the World, as the Platonists believe, or if symbols are living beings, as I believe: the point is that the cards always rearrange themselves in a meaningful pattern, the planets always find themselves in the right aspects, the right geomantic figures always emerge, the right I Ching Hexagram always forms.

As such, in a way, divination is a natural activity, so much so that it’s probably one of the earliest activities humans have undertaken. The reading of symbols came much sooner than the reading of characters, because symbols occur naturally to the mind whenever we realize that X means Y. The moment the first men drew any kind or conclusion from any kind of observation, divination was born.

And yet, I believe that divination is also essentially extraordinary. In a way, divining is as normal as cleaning your cat’s litter box, but in another sense it is also very different. In divining we read a part of the whole (the divination system) to derive conclusions on the whole (life itself). Indeed most divination systems are universal languages that mirror the complexity of the Macrocosm.

As such, divination cannot be decoupled from a global understanding of life, and this global plane is where philosophy, spirituality and occultism unfurl their wings.

In my own view, occultism is divided into three branches: devotion, divination and magic. But these three aspects are not discretely separated. For instance, theurgy brings together magic and devotion. Divination and magic are often coupled together, such as in electing the right time to make a talisman or in asking if a magical action is warranted or advisable or effective.

Praying before divination brings together devotion and divination. It is a way of recognizing the extraordinary import of the action I’m about to take, despite this action being, in another sense, perfectly ordinary.

It helps me more than it helps the divination system itself. Nor does it have to be prayer. I know of some people who wash their hands before divining. In Imperial China official diviners had to cleanse themselves before attempting divination, and this is true all over the world.

No one divines willy-nilly. No one *should* divine willy-nilly. This has nothing to do with respect (unless you are receiving information from a particular spirit), it has nothing to do with asking deep questions (divination should always be practical) and it has nothing to do with not having a sense of humor (you can have a sense of humor, in spite of how bland and vapid many of us are). It does have to do with knowing what place divination has in the scheme of things and reaching that place. I do it through prayer, others may do it by just taking a second to clear their mind, but everyone does it one way or another.

MQS

Can I Trust Him? Well, Can He Trust You? Vera Sibilla Reading With a Twist

Querents are not always paragons of virtue. There are usually two sides to most stories. I generally distrust people whose past is littered with psychos, crazy ex and narcissists. While someone CAN be that unlucky, the general trend seems to me to be more that people who have trouble in every relationship tend to be the cause of the trouble. “My love life is always a mess!” Of course it is, Rhonda, you are always in it!

As I said, there are usually two sides to each story, but as diviners we rarely hear the other one, so what we are stuck with is the querent’s own version, their word that the universe is constantly conspiring against them and a divination system usually saying exactly the opposite. And we are stuck in the middle of the perfect storm, carefully trying to thread the fine line between politeness and truth.

We were at a friend’s house and she had invited over another friend. The latter asked me the question: “I’m always unlucky in love. I’ve started dating this new guy, can I trust him?” Our friend made an odd face I could not decipher as we did the spread. These were the cards:

Is he reliable?

As I already discussed, sometimes the cards describe the development of a situation as if it were a book. At other times, they recreate a scene that can almost be observed with the characters calling attention to what they symbolize. This is one of those situations.

Right off the bat we notice that both querents are present. They are within the age range of the Queen of Clubs and Jack of Clubs. However, the mere fact that they are represented by these cards in a love question shows that this is not the romance of the century and will probably end, sooner or later. The cards, though, tell us something else.

Look at the Queen of Clubs! She is reversed and occupying the center of the spread. Usually, when the Young Maiden (Giovane Fanciulla) is reversed, she is afflicted by something, as opposed to other significators which, when reversed, tend to show problematic behavior.

This is unless the Maiden is reversed and near cards that show problematic behavior. This is exactly the case here. She is together with the Four of Diamonds, the Falsehood card (which, notice, is on her side of the spread, not on the guy’s side) and the Ten of Clubs, the Levity or Carefreeness card.

On the other hand, we have the Ten of Hearts, i.e., the Perseverance card, on the side of the boyfriend. Although the Perseverance card is not one of major feelings, it still shows him to be dependable. She, however, is depicted by the cards as being not only somewhat whiny, but also a little flighty (someone might say a little floozy, especially since she comes up reversed with the Ten of Hearts at the end of the spread)

In this situation, I tried to sugarcoat it to the querent by telling her that he is rather dependable, though this romance was probably not the one that would lead to marriage, and that he also had doubts about her, and that she should make sure not to send mixed signals.

Upon leaving, our friend pulled me aside and she told me that the girl has literally been the “butterfly” of the group, landing from man to man, being unreliable and not learning anything from experience. This is very well described by the reversed Queen of Clubs, who, in a negative context, can show a woman with a princess complex who thinks everyone else is at fault.

MQS

Is This Course for Me? (Playing Cards Reading and Horary Astrology)

I’m always on the look-out for opportunities to deepen my knowledge of esoteric topics. Since the esoteric world is filled to the brim with junk covering a couple of pearls on the bottom (but don’t worry, things don’t get much better outside of lalaland) it is very useful to know some forms of divination to supplement my bullshitometer.

I recently came across a certain course on traditional Italian witchcraft which passed all my preliminary tests (no mention of Wicca or neopaganism, relating anecdotes on practices I’m already familiar with and know are valid, etc.)

Still something was off, though I couldn’t put my finger on it. On thing was probably the reference to authors, like Raven Grimassi, who have been largely debunked. I asked the heavens for a sign, and then pulled some cards. Let’s start with the cards. They were:

4♣ – 2♠ – K♦ – 2♣ – 6♦

Right off the bat, I don’t like the teacher being represented by a King of Diamonds. The King of Diamonds is the merchant, the banker, the one whose end goal is money. If he had been the King of Hearts or even the King of Spades I would have been reassured. You may argue that obviously a course is offered to earn money, to which I respond that there is a difference between earning through your passion and earning through other people’s passion.

I am unsure about the preceding combination of Four of Clubs and Two of Spades, but it likely represents contradictory (2♠, arguments, going apart) doctrines (4♣, that which is told). The Two of Clubs and Six of Diamonds traditionally represent limping (insecure steps). The King of Diamonds is not secure enough in his knowledge. Limping is still better than being bed-ridden, so there is something good to the course, but probably not enough to offset the negatives.

Horary Astrology Reading

Let’s look at the horary chart:

Is the course good for me?

The Moon is the Lady of the Ascendant and thus represents me. Magic is higher knowledge, so it’s Ninth House. This is Jupiter. The two malefics Mars and Jupiter are present in the Ninth house, and are both peregrine, so they afflict the house.

The Moon is in her sign, but she’s also tucked away in the very malefic Twelfth house. Interestingly, the Twlefth house represents witchcraft, but only in the sense of something done behind the querent’s back to hurt him, not magic in general (which, again, is higher knowledge). So while I’d be capable of learning (Moon in own sign) my position is not good. There’s something iffy.

Jupiter is mildly dignified by term and in the succedent Eleventh house. The Moon is in sextile with Jupiter, which is technically good, but it is separating from it, indicating growing divergence. The Moon’s next aspect is a square of the Sun, which is negative. The Sun rules the second house, the house of money. So proceeding would put a strain on my finances. This isn’t necessarily to say that it costs too much in absolute terms, but it costs too much compared to its quality. Interestingly, Jupiter is disposited by Venus, which is in detriment and moving toward the Sun, which hurts her, so Venus has a rather excessive love of my money compared to the necessary love of knowledge.

All in all, based on both readings, I would say that the course would probably contain some valuable information, but would not be a great investment in my education.

MQS

Love Fool (Horary Astrology and Playing Cards Reading)

This is the first time I use my new interest, Horary Astrology, in conjunction with playing cards. Let’s see what they have to say. The question was asked by a friend of mine who just broke up with her girlfriend. He wants to know if there is a future. This reading was made a couple of days ago.

Relationship reading, is there a future?
Answered with horary astrology

The querent is Mars, lord of the Ascendant, while the quesited, i.e., the girlfriend, is Venus lord of the Seventh. The Moon indicates the flow of the action.

In a night chart, Mars is dignified by triplicity in Pisces, and is angular, while Venus is exalted, also in Pisces, and also angular. The first thing that strikes me is that Venus is moving away from Mars. Furthermore, the Moon is separating from a difficult square with Jupiter in the Seventh. I asked my friend if he had broken up with her or she had broken up with him, since from the chart it seems it was her initiative. He didn’t like to admit it, but said she had left him.

Note that Mars is in triplicity, so a decent Mars, but also conjunct Saturn. Saturn is peregrine. Also note that Venus, the girlfriend, is exalted, and exaltation is sometimes an indication of haughtiness. Clearly she thought she could do better than Saturn-like Mars as she moved away from him. My friend then told me she told him she didn’t like the fact she is to attached to her.

Well, CAN she do better? Venus is about to change sign, from Pisces to Aries, whereupon she will not only lose all her dignity, but she will also enter her detriment. Let us look at the Moon now. The Moon separates from the square with Jupiter and moves toward a sextile with Mercury Retrograde. Sextiles are positive aspects. If we put together the indications, we have: 1) Venus moving away but regretting her decision 2) A future positive contact 3) the contact is about things that go back (retrograde)

This seemed to me a sign of reconciliation. Just to be on the safe side, I had the querent pull three cards from the playing card deck. These were:

5♠ – Q♣ – 3♥

The cards are quite clear. The Five of Spades is a card of imprisonment, but it also indicates regret (which is what you are supposed to feel in prison). Then we have her significator, followed by the Three of Hearts. I would have preferred to see a Six of Hearts to show reconciliation, but the Three of Hearts will do. In this case, the added shade of meaning seems to be that the cards don’t even consider the breakup effective, because the Three of Hearts show things that flow positively without interruption.

I will update this post when I know the outcome.

MQS