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

Vera Sibilla | Five of Hearts – Happiness (Allegrezza al Cuore)

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Name: Happiness
Italian Name: Allegrezza al cuore (literally Happiness in the Heart)
Playing Card: 5♥
Polarity when Upright: Positive
Core Meanings: Positive development | Commitment | Relatives
Polarity when Reversed: Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Unstable relationships | Cheating, Betrayal | Missed targets and opportunities | Problems with relatives

Card Description: a young woman dances with her brother and her betrothed, as typical of engagement parties in Italy many centuries ago, symbolizing her passage from her family of origin to her new family. Even her hairdo is typical of engaged women back in those days.

Suit and Number: Fives are generally concerned with transition. The suit of Hearts is positive and it is concerned especially with matters of the Heart, though not solely. Therefore it is a card of positive developents, things finding their footing, a step toward stability.

UPRIGHT 5♥

General: the Happiness card shows generally what it says on the surface: a happy, speedy outcome. It represents matters developing in the right direction, i.e., moving toward stability and joy. It represents all types of commitment that show the beginning of matters to be perfected later. Due to its design it also represents relatives.

Love and Relationships: Happiness and satisfaction are shown. The Five of Hearts represents sincerity of feelings and positive relationships all around. When it depicts the family and relatives, the card is neutral to positive. Because it is a card of commitment, Happiness represents an engagement (which should culminate in marriage some time later), and can be a significator card for the engagement itself, in which case it is neutral–note that the engagement doesn’t need to be official with ring and all, though it can be. If a relationship has been on thin ice it will improve. As said, it represents relatives, and the family as a group.

Work and Money: because of its connection with commitment, the Five of Hearts can signify an apprenticeship or a temporary job, but in general also stands for a positive development in the querent’s career. It can also signify a down payment, a reservation and other situations related to the idea of a first step to be followed by others in the same direction. In general, it’s a card of good augury and it promises quick good news. Being connected with the family, the Happiness card is a staple of combinations of inheritance.

Other: Psychologically it’s a card of happiness–wouldn’t you know. It represents the querent transitioning toward a happier period all around. This signification carries over to spirituality, where it can also point to vows and solemn promises (the concept of promise may apply in all contexts).

Important Combinations:
5♥ + 3♠ = feeling abadoned by your family | walking away from an engagement or promise
5♥ + K♦ = a temp job
5♥ + 6♥ = a down payment | florid finances
5♠ + 7♥ + 5♥ + 6♥ or 6♣ = inheritance
5♥ + 9♠ = holding off on a promise, stalling, an engagement that seems to last forever

REVERSED 5♥R

General: Negative all around. It represents promises not kept, broken engagements, shaky personal relationships, cheating and issues with relatives.

Love and Relationships: it is one of the cards that can announce infidelity and cheating, but in general it reverses the idea good personal relationships found in the upright position. The family is especially to be distrusted, but as a rule, whenever you ask about someone, e.g. if they will do what they say they’ll do, this card is a resounding no.

Work and Money: also negative, representing the inability to reach one’s goals (if other cards are positive, it could show that you’ll reach only some of them). The idea of instability also applies to finances and career, as well as that of interpersonal issues.

Other: in general, this card can create setbacks in all sectors of life. Psychologically it points to stress and disappointments.

Important Combinations:
5♥R + Face card = a relative to be kept at arm’s length
5♥R + 4♦ or 9♥R = cheating, lies
5♥R + 6♣R = not getting your wish
5♥R + 2♥U/R = disharmony at home
5♥R + 10♥ = heavy quarrels with family members or among partners

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

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

Vera Sibilla | Four of Spades – Sickness (Ammalato)

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Name: Sickness
Italian Name: Ammalato (literally “Sick Man” or “Sick One”)
Playing Card: 4♠
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Illness, Sickness | Downtime, Interruption of usual routine | Broken, Noxious, Bad for you | Dejection
Polarity when Reversed: Neutral to Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Blockage, Stop | End of a situation, for better or worse | Confinement | Economy, Avarice

Card Description: a man lies in bad, a suffering expression on his face.

Suit and Number: Fours represent the querent’s context. Spades are a decidedly bad suit. The Four of Spades, therefore, signifies a situation that is rotten, noxious or “sick” in some way.

UPRIGHT 4♠

General: A decidedly negative card, it is one of the significator cards for bad health, as it is obvious. The type of illness or the organs affected will be shown by the cards coming up next to it. I will not waste more than a line to tell you that you should forebear from diagnosing people, especially if you are not a physician. The notion of “sick”, however, carries to all situations. More broadly, the idea of sickness can also imply that the querent is forced out of his daily round and somehow stopped from acting. This is rarely to be taken in a positive sense.

Love and Relationships: Other than to signify sick relatives and loved ones, the Four of Spades is a card of sick relationships. In general, all bonds represented by this card are bad for the querent, whatever the reason may be. At best, it signifies that a relationship has run its course and is falling sick, as it were. Often this means that there are structural problems that have been accumulated and never resolved that make the situation hard to salvage (but also look at the following cards). If together with more sinister cards, it can point to morbid feelings poisoning a person’s mind with regard to the querent, such as jealousy or hatred.
Often this card can signify a person who lacks and needs support. This is true in all contexts, but it is especially true if the querent is single, a situation that this card can represent, with the added meaning that loneliness bears heavy on the person’s mind and soul.

Work and Money: The Sickness card represents all jobs to do with sickness, obviously. More typically, though, it is a card of unemployment. The general feeling is that of situations that are overwhelming for the querent, especially if he’s not working, so it rarely shows up for someone who can afford not to work.
Finances are structurally in bad shape with this card, and may need a lot of effort in order to “cure”. Investments are to be avoided, and when they aren’t, they are invariably bad. Likewise, offers made to the querent tend to be rotten on the inside, often hiding problems that will become obvious later on.

Other: Both psychologically and spiritually, the Four of Spades is a card of dejection. It is often present in constellations of cards showing depression, though not necessarily clinical depression, if the other cards are not really bad. The idea of sickness applies also to objects, so a package may arrive containing a broken item, or food may be spoiled.

Important Combinations:

4♠ + K♣ + 7♠ = surgery (if K♠ instead, by a specialist)
6♣ + 4♠ = unemployment (also if 4♠R)
4♥ + 4♠ = a “sick” love, one without healthy outlets
10♥R + 4♠ = complete dejection and lack of willpower to plough through a situation
4♠ + 10♣ = a minor illness (but if followed by negative cards, an illness that is underestimated)

REVERSED 4♠R

General: A neutral card, but with generally negative undertones. It is mainly a card of blockage, of situations that cease to evolve. This is reflected in a function this card has, which is of bringing situations to an end. This is only true when the card is preceded by good cards and followed by bad ones, or vice versa.

Love and Relationships: At best, the reversed Four of Spades shows coldness, distance and lack of intimacy. It is also the card that shows being on a break. If the cards following it are positive, the relationship will later resume. If the question is if someone will make a move, this is a bad sign, especially if the card comes up next to the face card representing the person in question. With cards showing jealousy, the meaning of avarice typical of the card turns into possessiveness. It is also a card of loneliness and seclusion.

Work and Money: on material questions, the card’s meanings vary wildly depending on the surrounding cards. Surrounded by positive cards, it points to wise management. It signifies one who can rely on his own ability to manage the situation, as opposed to the helplessness of the upright version. More often than not, it is a sign of avarice, especially in a metaphorical sense: someone will refuse to help us out economically. If surrounded by disastrous cards, it can show utter poverty. Career-wise, it can still point to unemployment, or, at least, being stuck.

Other: psychologically the card points to sterness, seriousness, a morose demeanor, sort of saturnine. Spiritually it can be connected to religion, especially organized religion, whose aim is, technically, to help those in need (as represented by the upright Four of Spades). The card also has a connection to reclusion and places where one is stuck, for one reason or another.

Important Combinations:

4♠R + 2♠ + 2♥ = a retirement home
6♥ + 4♠R + 6♣ = wise management bringing in results
8♦R + 4♠R + 8♠ = financial crisis
2♥ + 4♠R + 8♥ + K♠ = a spiritual retreat, a monastery (if 4♠R + K♠, it can be a church)
4♥ + 4♠R = coldness, a break

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 Diamonds – Falsehood (Falsità)

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Name: Falsehood
Italian Name: Falsità
Playing Card: 4♦
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Negativity, Being negative, Not liking | Lies, Deceit | There is a difference between how things are and how they seem | Mistakes, Errors, Wrongness
Polarity when Reversed: Positive
Reversed Core Meanings: Unmasked lies, Unmasked plots and enemies | Relief from trouble, Improvement, Solution

Card Description: a demonic-looking cat sits on a chair, preventing someone from reaching the pantry on the other side.

Suit and Number: Fours show the querent’s context. Diamonds are a mixed suit, especially from a social standpoint. The Four of Diamonds shows the context in which the querent is moving is negative, or uncertain, wrong for him, whether because of his subjective reaction or because something is amiss, it depends on the context and other cards

UPRIGHT 4♦

General: The card is so explicit in its depiction that it’s easy to jump to conclusions and say that someone is lying. As a matter of fact, unless it makes sense within the context of the question, or unless other cards strengthen the idea of actual deceit, you need to be very careful around this card. The concept that best applies is that of “wrongness”. In general, however, it is also the card of negativity.

Love and Relationships: The Four of Diamonds does not automatically represent cheating. It generally shows a lack of sincerity, and the other cards will tell you why. It can also, more broadly, show a relationship that is shaky due to incompatibility, i.e., because two people are wrong for one another. There is a general sense of a relationship not reaching a deep level of “wholeness”. Due to its connection with surfaces as opposed to reality, it can show a superficial bond. It may also show outright dislike. When it represents an environment, it qualifies it as wrong for the querent, and if confirmed by the rest of the spread, rumors and gossip and ill will.
The only time the 4♦ is neutral is when it represents “false” relatives, that is, relatives by law, such as adoptive children, step-mothers as well. In this case, the card shows up next to a face card. It is a rare meaning, however.

Work and Money: Obviously, the meaning of wrongness and negativity carries into the field of finances and career as well. It can represent wrong financial decisions, carelessness, blunders etc. It can show that the querent is working in the wrong field, not following his true passion. Whenever a contract or papers in general need to be signed, this card acts as a warning that the document is, at best, incomplete, at worst, a scam. Either way, it is best to read everything carefully. It is never a good sign, but how bad a sign it is will depend on the rest of the cards.
As this card can also represent having a bad attitude toward someone or something (being “negative” toward them) it can show being refused an offer, or, sometimes, having a bad attitude toward money or the job.

Other: The concept of appearances differing from reality can be applied broadly to most situations. Psychologically it generally points to illusions and being unable to tell what’s truly going on in one’s life. The idea of negativity also has esoteric connotations, as it can show the famous “evil eye”. It does not necessarily show a black magic ritual, more the transmition of negative thoughts toward the querent (or by the querent toward someone else). Spiritually, the Four of Diamonds can show a negative environment or illusions about reality on the part of the querent. Sometimes it can be interpreted as the querent holding on to spiritual illusions. The card is connected to the pantry and kitchen as far as places are concerned, but more the pantry.

Important Combinations:

4♦ + 2♦ = wrong information, or incomplete, or misleading
4♦ + 9♥ = lies, not all is as it seems
4♦ + 10♦ + 8♠ = a swindle
6♦ + 4♦ = a bad idea or a wrong idea (if 6♦R, a negative plan, or even the evil eye)
4♦ + 10♣ = a mistake due to carelessness (same with 7♦, though that could be also a stepson)

REVERSED 4♦R

General: A great card. Although it shows the unmasking of lies and deceits, and therefore points to their existence in our life, the underlying sense is that the discovery is made in time to save the querent a lot of grief, unless the other cards show otherwise. It is also a card of relief, solution, improvement. A function of this card is that it walls negative streaks shown by negative cards preceding it, making them end.

Love and Relationships: The obvious meaning would be the discovery of a lie from the partner, but in general it can show an honest conversation to clear misconceptions. This can have apparently negative outcomes, such as realizing you are not meant to be together, but in the long run this card is always favorable. If, however, a break-up is not shown in the card, it simply signifies improvement in the relationship.

Work and Money: the Falsehood card, when it comes up reversed, is always a good omen. If the querent has been scammed, the scam will come to light and, save with disastrous cards, the worst will be averted. In general, it is a card of economic relief, of things improving after they have been on the wrong track. It can point to being somewhat miserly, as opposed to the wastefulness of the upright card, but this is rarely a problem, and frankly it is a very feeble meaning.

Other: psychologically, the 4♦R can represent the end of a difficult spell or of a period of negativity. Esoterically, it shows either the absence of a hex or that the evil eye is being averted, or that the person responsible is unmasked. Spiritually it broadly shows relief, and piercing through the veil of illusion.

Important Combinations:

Q♠ or J♠ + 4♦R = discovery of enemies
K♣ or 4♠ + 7♠ + 4♦R = surgery providing relief
10♠R + 4♦R = unmasking of secret plots
A♥R + K♠ + 4♦R = winning a legal dispute
9♠ + 4♦R = unblocking of a situation

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 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