Category Archives: Divination Master Post

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards

A Career Cross Spread (Example Reading)

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When I was taught to read playing cards, the cross spread was presented to me as a general spread. However, over time I discovered that it can also be used to answer specific questions of a general nature, or simply to explore certain compartments of the querent’s life. Here is a recent spread on a male querent asking about his career:

A career cross spread. Divination with playing cards

To summarise the main meanings of the various fans:

  1. Left: past-present
  2. Center: in the heart, sometimes present
  3. Right: present-future
  4. Above: thoughts, would like
  5. Below: dislikes, problem
  6. To the side: future/answer

The cool thing about larger spreads is that sometimes we can just identify a single spot that answers the question clearly, and everything else gives details that may or may not interest the querent. Here, the clear answer occurs in the right spot: 9♣️ 8♣️ 8♠️, which translates as “for a long time the job will give the querent tears”.

Now that we have identified a clear sentence, let’s fill out the details. Since the sentence is quite negative, let’s look at other negative spots. In his heart, the querent has the 3♠️ which brings difficulties, complications etc. But it is followed by cards that bring hopes of a solution (the two Hearts). Clearly there has been something that caused the querent to start hoping.

Now look at the fan above: he would like a contract (3♣️) that gives him happiness (10♥️). Between these two cards we find the sickness card (6♠️). This could indicate that it is a vain hope or a sick hope, one that is not grounded in reality. On the left we see that he has a small income (3♦️) but works hard (5♣️ J♣️) so it’s not that he doesn’t deserve job security. Below we see a difficult situation with a man that might be his boss or a superior. Clearly he is not the teacher’s pet (the Q♣️ simply shows that the querent’s troubles reflect badly on his love life).

The final fan unfortunately robs the querent of all hope, although it argues that there will be help from a man. To dig deeper I should have done another spread. As it stands, the detail is quite vague.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, Uncategorized

Robert Fludd’s Geomancy – Book I Pt. 3

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Fludd discusses some preliminary rules.

On the projection of sixteen lines, divided into four orders, constituting the first four geomantic figures

Before proceeding to the projection of the [geomantic] lines, which are made up of points, we shall lay down certain rules to explain the reason and manner of creating them.

Rule 1

It is not for the artist to make a judgment on any question relating to a matter which he has already known and understood before, for by doing this he is trying God and his divine knowledge, and will err on that account.1

Rule 2

Do not count the number of points of any line, for by that reason the soul will somehow be disturbed in the calculation.2

Rule 3

If you want to work in this science, you must first describe the proposed problem, so that your understanding is not disturbed otherwise.

Rule 4

You must not make a double question, but form the question in such a way that it asks for the knowledge of only one thing; otherwise your figure will be so disturbed that you will not be able to judge anything correctly. For this reason the question must be rectified in such a way that it has a single and complete purpose.

It must be noted that these geomantic lines merge from equally distant points and must have the form of the four fingers of the hand, as will be seen in the following example, and the points of each line we must connect and concatenate in such a way, proceeding from right to left, that at its extremity to the left one or two points are left free from concatenation.

Example of a geomantic projection

This also must be done with all the lines of the aforesaid four series, and in this way will come forth the four first figures of the geomantic shield, representing the four elements with their natures and combinations, likewise the four winds, and the four parts of the world; for, as regards the elements, the four first lines will signify the element of fire, the second four will denote the element of air, the second three the element of water, and the last four the element of earth.3

Of course, the figures coming out of each series will represent an element of their series, just as in the previous figure Caput will represent fire, Causa will represent air, Puer will represent water, and Albus will represent earth. Now these four figures are called Mothers, because from them all the following figures are produced.

MQS

Footnotes
  1. Asking a question whose answer we know implies that the actual question is “Does this really work?” which is a question no system can answer from within itself, therefore the question implies doubt in the author of the system ↩︎
  2. Counting the points not only implies trying to cheat the system, but it also robs the divination of its random, inspired aspect. ↩︎
  3. The elemental attributions of the figures is not of major practical importance, but it serves to respect the connection between microcosm and macrocosm and to anchor the question to a cosmic mechanism. ↩︎
Card Combinations, Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards

Three Court Cards! (Example Reading)

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They are the bane of many a reader: Court Cards are seen as difficult to read, in part because they clearly represent people, and so refuse to be banished into the realm of woolly platitudes inhabited by way too many readers, in part because locating them within the querent’s life can be objectively difficult.

In cartomancy with playing cards, however, the inherent signification of the cards can help us: The Queen and King of Clubs are almost always the main protagonists (the querent and his/her significant other), though there may be exceptions. I know of cartomancy systems where the querents are represented by the Heart suit, but this is just semantics.

Then we have the Heart court cards, of which the Jack is a child, a pet or something fresh and immature and small and the Queen and King represent people close to the querent’s heart. This is actually a modern interpretation: traditionally, they would be people sharing the querent’s bloodline, but modern times require modern solutions. I have found that the Heart courts can simply indicate very dear friends. For gay people, usually the significant other is a Heart card of the same sex, although occasionally the cards simply use the Club cards. We need to stay open. The Jack of Clubs can indicate friendship, help, cooperation.

The Diamond suit represents people usually unrelated to the querent, though they can indicate relatives by marriage. More usually, they show colleagues, acquaintances, bosses, rich people or people who have a more neutral or even cold perspective of the querent compared to the Hearts. The Jack of Diamonds usually represents a message.

Finally, Spades show people who are downright inimical to the querent, or who wield power over the querent’s well-being and enforce an objective set of rules, such as the police, doctors, judges, etc. This is especially the case for the King. The Jack can represent enmity, scheming, etc.

All Jacks can indicate children or very young people, though in practice this is more likely with the Jack of Hearts.

Usually, one court card within a reading is already more than we can tolerate, but sometimes we find that there are ONLY court cards. This is an example of a reading a did yesterday for a man who asked about his relationship:

A marriage-related three-card spread

When more than one court card shows up, it is important to look at the cards between them, as they show the nature of their relationship, or what’s between them.

It is easy to jump to conclusions here: there’s a woman between you two! You have a lover! This could very well be the case, actually, but it is always important to keep in mind that, with so few cards on the table, more than one interpretation is possible. Here are some possibilities:

  1. There could actually be a woman between them. He may have a lover (or, more rarely, she may have a female lover)
  2. It might be a threesome
  3. There could be a woman who interferes but who is not a lover: it could be her mother, her friend, any other person.
  4. There might be a person mediating between them in a positive way
  5. He might know her from work or from a business context, since sometimes, two queens or two kings together can represent a single person, merging the qualities of two suits.

So, how do we know which interpretation applies? Well, first off, we ought never to play Nostradamus: in doubt, we ask. This may sound unimpressive, but our aim is not to impress, but to give accurate information. Still, with experience, we may rule out a couple of possibilities as being less likely:

  1. This is a simple three-card spread. If the querent were in some kind of odd polyamorous arrangement, the cards would not lead off with three court cards, but by telling us the querent is weird. This may sound politically incorrect, but the cards are keyed to a rather traditional view of the world. This doesn’t mean they are a compass of morality: it’s just their language. They highlight the strange and untypical in rather clear ways. Three court cards together aren’t strange enough.
  2. This is a simple three-card reading. If the querent had a hidden lover they would tell us the relationship is in danger, or at least they would highlight the lover by assigning her to the Queen of Spades rather than Diamonds (The Queen of Diamonds can be a lover, but it requires more hints from the surrounding cards). Even the Queen of Spades wouldn’t necessarily be a lover, but at least we’d know she’s trouble.
  3. This is a simple three-card spread. If there were a positive influence mediating between them, the cards would have given her to the suit of Hearts, or they would have omitted the information altogether and told us the querent and his significant other are in a positive phase (the mediator isn’t that important, and a three-card spread only has space for what’s important).

With that in mind, I asked the querent if he knew his girlfriend from work or from a business context, and he denied this. I asked him then if there was a woman causing some issues between them. He smirked and said: “A friend of hers doesn’t like me, she’s trying to break us up.”

Obviously, this spread doesn’t tell us how it’s going to end. It just describes the situation rather than how it will evolve, and more cards should be drawn.

MQS

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Tarot

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Five of Cups

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(Note: this is a collection of the meanings attributed to the cards by some occultists in the past centuries. It does not reflect my own study or opinion of the cards. It is only meant as a quick comparative reference as I develop my own take.)

The Five of Cups from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The Five of Cups is the first decanate of Scorpio, ruled by Mars, time period October 22 to October 31.
Well-Dignified: strength, power to do; ability to introduce needed changes and let go of relationships, prejudices and false ideas that are hindering spiritual progress.
lll-Dignified: loss in pleasure, vain regret, disappointment, sorrow and loss of those things which have been much desired; treachery, deceit; unexpected troubles and anxieties; disappointments in love, broken engagements, broken friendships.
(Note: These sorrows and disappointments, as indicated by the Five of Cups, lll Dignified, are often the necessary destruction before the beginning of a new and greater expansion and growth in the life of the Querent, depending on his basic understanding and evolutionary level.)
Keyword: Defeated desire.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding. Divanatory Meanings: It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration. Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

 […] the Five of Cups is called Disappointment, as is only natural, because Fire delights in superabundant energy, whereas the water of Pleasure is naturally placid, and any disturbance of ease can only be regarded as misfortune.

This card is ruled by Geburah in the suit of Water. Geburah being fiery, there is a natural antipathy. Hence arises the idea of disturbance, just when least expected, in a time of ease.

The attribution is also to Mars in Scorpio, which is his own house; and Mars is the manifestation on the lowest plane of Geburah, while Scorpio, in its worst aspect, suggests the putrefying power of Water. Yet the powerful male influences do not show actual decay, only the beginning of destruction; hence, the anticipated pleasure is frustrated. The Lotuses have their petals torn by fiery winds; the sea is arid and stagnant, a dead sea, like a “chott” in North Africa. No water flows into the cups.

Moreover, these cups are arranged in the form of an inverted pentagram, symbolizing the triumph of matter over spirit.

Mars in Scorpio, moreover, is the attribution of the Geomantic figure Rubeus. This is of such evil omen that certain schools of Geomancy destroy the Map, and postpone the question for two hours or more, when Rubeus appears in the Ascendant. Its meaning is to be studied in the “Handbook of Geomancy” (Equinox Vol. I, No.2).
(From The Book of Thoth)

AI-generated illustration for the Five of Cups

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A WHITE Radiating Angelic Hand, holding lotuses or water-lilies, of which the flowers are falling right and left. Leaves only, and no buds, surmount them. These lotus stems ascend between the cups in the manner of a fountain, but no water flows therefrom; neither is there water in any of the cups, which are somewhat of the shape of the magical instrument of the Zelator Adeptus Minor. Above and below are the symbols of Mars and Scorpio for the Decan.

Death, or end of pleasure: disappointment, sorrow and loss in those things from which pleasure is expected. Sadness, treachery, deceit; ill-will, detraction; charity and kindness ill requited; all kinds of anxieties and troubles from unsuspected and unexpected sources.
Geburah of HB:H (Disappointment in love, marriage broken off, unkindness of a
friend; loss of friendship).
Herein rule HB:LVVYH and HB:PHLYH.

Etteilla

Legacy
Upright. This card, in its natural position, means, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned: Inheritance, Succession, Bequest, Gift, Donation, Endowment, Estate, Transmission, Will. – Tradition, Resolution [=Decision]. – Kabbalah.
Reversed. Consanguinity, Blood, Family, Avi, Ancestors, Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Uncle, Aunt, Cousin, Cousin. – Filiation, Extraction, Race, Lineage, Alliance. – Affinity, Attachment, Relationship, Ties.

MQS

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards, Tarot, Uncategorized, Vera Sibilla

Which Card Prevails?

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I’m taking inspiration from a question I got asked recently to talk about an important topic in cartomancy. Sometimes (in fact, many times) the cards appear contradictory, with positive and negative cards mixed together. The question I was asked is, which cards prevail in the reading.

Before starting the interpretation, it is usually a good thing to get a general look at the cards to see the ‘tone’. Are they mostly positive? Are there places in the spread that seem difficult? Are there cards that answer the question directly? You don’t need to come up with the interpretation right away, but it’s good to be aware.

However, this general bird-eye view is not enough. Usually, in cartomancy, we read the cards from left to right as if they were a sentence, stringing the meanings together. Therefore, as a general rule, 5♥️ – 4♠️ is worse than 4♠️ – 5♥️. In the former case, the abundance is broken or blocked, while in the latter case the brokenness and blockage are overcome.

In this sense, it is important to pay attention to whether the negative points in the spread come at the beginning, in the middle or at the end, because. Even if there’s two negative cards out of five, if they come up at the end they can obstruct success. If they come at the beginning, it may be a passing problem.

Again, though, let us avoid purely mechanical rules. Suppose a five-card spread is all positive and shows the querent getting what he wants, and then at the end there is one negative card. This card may show not failure, but that the fulfillment of the wish comes with problems. In these cases it is always good to either add cards or do another spread.

Similarly, the cards are entirely negative and show failure, a single positive card at the end doesn’t necessarily show that the querent will get his way. It could be showing that there will be new opportunities. Again, additional cards or a new spread may be warranted.

When we ask a question and a card directly connected to it comes up in the spread, it is always important to look at the cards surrounding it, especially if they are of the same suit, and even more important are the cards following it, because they will show us what will happen to the significator of the question.

For instance, if the question is about a pregnancy, the 5♥️ followed by positive cards is encouraging. If the question is about work, the 8♣️ surrounded by Spades could show serious problems or even unemployment. In a marriage question, the 3♣️ surrounded by Hearts shows a loving union.

These are rules of thumb. Every spread is unique and must be judged on its own merits and in its own structure.

MQS

Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Tarot

Parrots and Betrayed Deals (13 Card Spread Reading Example)

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As I mentioned here, I got a new parrot from a local breeder and I had an interesting reading concerning it. The reading was done using the Bologna Tarot in its 45-card variant. We had already gotten some pictures of some of the available birds, and we had settled on a gray cockatiel, because it looked like the one I had as a kid. As the day approached, I asked the cards if everything would go alright. This is the spread I got:

Is the bird handover going to go smoothly?

Although I’ve already talked about the 13 card spread, when used with the Bolognese tarot there are some peculiar aspects to it (it is, after all, one of the “official” traditional spreads to be used with this deck). Traditionally, when a yes-or-no question is asked, the following rules apply:

  1. If the Death card shows up in the spread, it’s a yes (as sure as we all die)
  2. If the Angel (Judgement) card shows up, it’s a good chance
  3. If both show up, it’s a sure thing
  4. If the Angel and the Devil show up, it represents great satisfaction within the context (the Devil is in itself a negative card, but it is redeemed by the presence of the Angel)

Well, in my (still limited) experience with this tarot deck, I have found that it’s best not to rely too much on mechanical rules: the cards must always be interpreted, and exceptions allowed for. Still, it is encouraging to see both the Angel and the Death card as answer. Let’s interpret the cards row by row, as they came up very clear and orderly (it is not always like this, unfortunately):

King of Coins – Page of Coins – Seven of Cups: there have been talks (Page) with a man concerning business (King). The Seven of Cups is generically positive here.
Angel – King of Cups – Ace of Coins: There is help (Angel) from a man of the house (King) concerning money (Ace). My husband paid in part for the parrot and the cage and food.
Fool – Knight of Cups – Hanged Man: This is the most interesting row in the spread. It shows something that brings chaos or confusion (Fool) and that betrays or upends (Hanged Man) the agreement (Knight of Cups)
Love – Queen of Coins – Death: True (Queen of Coins) Love (Love) is confirmed (Death)
Ace of Wands: Success, positive ending

So in general what we can say from the spread is that the breeder is trustworthy, my husband helps me and I will be very satisfied, but still the deal will somehow be changed in an unexpected/confused way.

What ended up happening: we got there and the breeder introduced us to the various chicks that were ready for adoption, including the one we had settled on. But as we were playing with them, a white cockatiel chick quickly flew onto my shirt looking for cuddles. Obviously, it was love at first sight (see the true love in the spread), and we got that one instead.

I believe this change of plans is shown in the spread by combination of Knight of Cups (agreement, conciliation) followed by the Hanged Man (betrayal, upending). Our initial agreement was upended (or “betrayed” in a metaphorical sense), but still everything ended on a positive note.

NOTE: look how “dry” this reading is. Traditionally, tarot was not interpreted by musing on how the pictures looked, but by applying clear and specific meanings.

MQS

astrology, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Playing Cards, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

“Will I Ever Be Happy?” Or, How to Torture Yourself With the Cards

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I’ve already written a couple of articles on unanswerable questions. Some of them are unanswerable for logical reasons, others because they ask about something on which no objective standard of measurement exists. Some are also unanswerable for ethical reasons (“Tell me when is the best time to rob the bank.”)

But occasionally someone comes along who asks a question that we instinctively feel is unanswerable, yet we can’t put our finger on why. It’s happened a couple of times to me that someone would ask me something to the effect of “Will I ever be happy?“

Obviously no one whose life is coming up roses would seek out a diviner of all people to ask such a question. These queries are put to the cards or the skies in a moment of weakness. My experience in these situations is that the cards behave in one of three ways. They:

  1. Show the cause of the person’s unhappiness rather objectively, and whether the problem is likely to be overcome over the next few months (usually not)
  2. Are generically very negative, without a specific sense to them
  3. Are generically very positive, without a specific sense to them

In the first instance, the cards usually show the problem not getting resolved, not necessarily because it never will be, but because the person is still knee-deep in it. The fact that they chose to frame their question in such tragic terms tells us that, whatever the nature of their problem, it goes beyond its specific objective nature and it has wounded the person in their soul.

Extreme care is advised in dealing with people in such a state of difficulty. They come to us broken and they should, at the very least, not leave even more broken. Furthermore, it is not unlikely that they have started consulting many diviners, obsessively asking the same question in hopes of getting a magical solution to their issue dropped in their lap. It would be good to advise them to stay away from divination for a while, unless we are capable of pointing out a solution they haven’t thought about, which unfortunately is rare.

When the cards are generically positive or generically negative, they are merely reflecting the person’s state of confusion: the bleakness of their outlook or the irrational hope for unexpected redemption. I don’t think there is much that we can do in such situations, except telling them that their upset shows in the cards and that, life being a succession of phases, even this one will pass. Sometimes, in such situations, talking to them in our quality of human beings is better than talking to them in our quality of diviners. In extreme cases, having a hotline number handy may be helpful.

Really there isn’t much sense in asking this question except to torture ourselves. We as diviners should know this when asking our own questions, but many people don’t, so it’s best to be prepared.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards, Reading Example

The Proposal (Example Reading)

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Here’s a quick one I thought was interesting. A querent wanted to know if her boyfriend would propose to him. This is the reading:

K♣️ – 3♦️ – J♥️ – Q♣️ – 2♣️

Notice that the two querent cards both come up in the reading. They are separated by the Three of Diamonds and the Jack of Hearts. I didn’t think the Jack could represent a literal child, but to be on the safe side I asked the querent and she said they have no children. If they did, it could have shown a relatively loose relationship but with children.

The Three of Diamonds represents small projects within the couple. It is not negative, but falling next to the querent’s boyfriend it made me think that he was still a bit immature (especially with the Jack) or at least that he didn’t have big projects in mind. However, we find the Queen followed by the Two of Clubs which represents some steps taken. To me it looked as though she would be the one to take action, either proposing herself or pressuring him to commit further.

What ended up happening is that the querent fell pregnant and told the boyfriend she wanted to at least move together. They are apparently making arrangements to find a place, and an engagement may be on the horizion in the next few years.

Could I have foreseen the pregnancy? Maybe, with the Jack of Hearts so central to the spread. Still, it didn’t feel like a pregnancy spread (and after all it wasn’t even the question).

What I find interesting about the spread is how it describes the nature of the querent’s relationship and who wants to take it to the next level

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

Robert Fludd’s Geomancy – Book I Pt. 2

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Fludd discusses how the diviner should prepare to a geomancy reading.

The Preparation of the Soul of the Diviner Prior to Making a Figure

Since this knowledge is founded on [an operation of] the soul,1 it is certain and manifest that no truth can be guaranteed in it, except in so far as the soul permits it.

Therefore it is required that he who wishes to be versed in this art, before he begins his operation, should have a good and clear conscience, and that his body and spirit should be governed without disturbance, and that he should not think worse of another than of himself,2 nor should his mind be spare in judgment, and not tend to negation more than to affirmation. He should be a just judge of the question proposed.

Finally, he must trust in God almighty, who is the author of all knowledge and truth,3 and pray to him that through this knowledge he will be allowed to find the truth that his heart longs to know.

All of this having been properly considered, and with a soul well established in the proposed matter, he will immediately make the projections of the points.

Hence it is that so much fallacy and uncertainty arise in this art. This is also the reason why the same art is immediately regarded as nothing, namely, because some, falsely ascribing the name of artists to themselves, neglecting God, and not being moved in the least by the pacification of their souls and of the pleasures of the body, falsely judge of the things proposed, and by this reason render this secret and very profound art so despised, that it is also commonly regarded as the most falsified of all.

The fault, then, is not in the science, but in those who profess it: the science is doubtless most truthful, but its proponents are often hindered by ambiguities and difficulties because of their vicious dispositions.

For who can doubt that the soul can direct any part of the body to the true knowledge of the future more easily than the whole body itself?4

When we perceive that she governs her whole body in such a way that she foresees the future every day and every hour, that is to say, that she will arrange such a business the next day, and ride to this or that city, and do other things the following week, or even that she will marry at this or some other time, or that he would carry out his purpose and plan at such or such an hour, etc.5

MQS

Footnotes
  1. As established in the previous chapter. ↩︎
  2. To the modern reader, these tips may seem to have a moralistic taste, but we should keep in mind that, aside from being in part a product of the times, they may be boiled down to the very sensible idea that a diviner, as intermediary between the querent and the divine, should purify himself of that which keeps him away from the divine. One cannot be a bridge between A and B without being capable of reaching both sides. Aside from being against Christian morality, “thinking worse of another than oneself” also implies being engrossed in outside world nonsense. ↩︎
  3. A fundamental truth of all divination is that its knowledge does not originate within the diviner. ↩︎
  4. That is, the soul is more capable of the body of considering the future. ↩︎
  5. This remark may appear odd, but from an occult standpoint it does make sense: our soul is capable of conceiving the future because it is integral part of an inner world (which opposes and complements the outside world, of which our body is an integral part) wherein the normal rules of time don’t unfold as they do outside. ↩︎
Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Tarot

Bolognese Tarot – The 45-Card Method Meanings

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In another post, I detailed the main meanings of the 50-card method, which is the one my teacher uses. Here I am going to talk about the other main method for using the Bolognese tarot using 45 cards. I have this from a contact of mine, who gave me permission to explore it and talk about it. The two methods are equally powerful: the absence of 5 cards does not reduce the ability to predict, because the meanings, though similar to the 50-card method, are distributed slightly differently across the cards. Supposedly, the 45-card method is slightly older.

Note that 1) there are some books (in Italian) that discuss the 45-card method, but each gives its own version, and the method I know is also partially different. This is normal: every village and city has its own folk tradition, especially in a country as culturally decentralized as Italy 2) again, the meanings are eminently practical 3) as with the 50-card method, I arranged the majors in the usual order, even though it is different from the Bolognese order of the trumps

Major Trumps

Bolognese Tarot, Major Trumps

The Fool. Strangeness, Instability, Creativity
The Juggler. A Child, A pet, Immaturity, Something New
Love. Love, Feelings, Affection, Passion, Harmony
Chariot. The bed card, Sickness, Static Situations (because the horses seem to rest)
Justice. Justice, The Law, Fairness, Equilibrium
The Hermit. Obstacle, Blockage, Small ailments

Bolognese Tarot, Major Trumps

The Wheel. Fortune, Chance
Strength. Energy, Power, Fortitude, Good Health, Active stance
The Hanged Man. Betrayal,1 Upending
Death. Loss, Mortification, Change, Yes to a yes-or-no question
Temperance. Time, Patience, Waiting
Devil. Being bedeviled, Anger, Jealousy

Bolognese Tarot, Major Trumps

The Tower. Prison, Hospital, Sacrifice, Being impeded or limited
The Star. “Stuff”, Objects, Material things, Your work life, Business
The Moon. By Night, Darkness, Sadness, Falsehood, Negativity
The Sun. By Day, Light, Happiness, Positivity
The Angel. Help, Friendship, Peace, Protection, Solution
The World. Travel, Journey (literal or metaphorical), Around the world

The Suit of Cups

Bolognese Tarot, Suit of Cups

Ace. The Home, The House, The Family
Seven. The City, The Surroundings, Also the family, Protection
Ten. Blooming, Flourishing, Celebrating, Fun, Happiness
Page. A young woman, sometimes a female rival, Comfort, Help
Knight. Adjustment, Agreement, Positive development
Queen. A mother, A woman in your family, A motherly figure
King. A father, A man in your family, A fatherly figure

Suit of Wands

Bolognese Tarot, Suit of Wands

Ace. Victory, Union, Sex, Ability to succeed
Eight. A road, A path, Taking Steps
Page. The thoughts of the female querent
Knight. The thoughts of the male querent
Queen. The female querent, An important woman
King. The male querent, An important man

Bolognese Tarot, Suit of Coins

Ace. Big Money, Abundance, Satisfaction, The table
Seven. Tears, Sadness, Melancholy
Ten. Small money card, Small satisfactions, Tranquillity
Page. Discussions, Talks, Communications
Knight. News (especially good news, but news in general), Sometimes a young man
Queen. The Truth, Truthfulness, Wisdom, Knowledge, A blonde woman
King. An important man, A doctor, A graduate, A professional, “Important” in general

Bolognese Tarot, Suit of Swords

Ace. Something knocking at the door, About to happen, Contract, Relationship, Being bound, Hands tied
Eight. Suffering, A thorn in the heart
The Moor.2 A priest, A person in uniform, A surprise, Unexpectedness
Page. Letter, Message, Post, Contacts
Knight. Fighting, Ill-disposition, Cutting, Problems
Queen. A dark-haired woman, A problematic woman, Affliction in general
King. A dark-haired man, A young man, A problematic man, Immaturity in general

MQS

  1. See my note on this card in the 50-card method ↩︎
  2. This method only uses one of the four moors, and the person who gave me this method counted it as a sword card, probably due to the spear ↩︎