Category Archives: Fortune-telling

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Tarot

Tarot Encyclopedia – The King of Coins or Pentacles

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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 King of Coins or King of Pentacles from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is from the beginning of the last decanate of Sagittarius to the end of the second d ecanate of Capricorn, De cember 12 to January 9. This period combines the rulerships of the Sun, Saturn and Venus .
Well-Dignified: the ability to see the workings of Divine Law in the phenomena of the physical plane – thus rulership. In divination, a dark man, friendly to the Querent, practical, steady and reliable. He is good at the practical application of ideas and theories. Things tend to prosper and increase under his direction. He is slow to anger, but furious when aroused. Ill-Dignified: good theoretical insight into the workings of Divine Law, but inability to apply it to everyday experiences. In divination, a man selfish and materialistic. Such a man could have some power to solidify evil forces and express them but is nevertheless somewhat stupid.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

The figure calls for no special description. The face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne. The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. In many old Tarot packs this suit stood for current coin, money, deniers. I have not invented the substitution of pentacles and I have no special cause to sustain in respect of the alternative. But the consensus of divinatory meanings is on the side of some change, because the cards do not happen to deal especially with questions of money. 
Divinatory Meanings: Valour, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

(Note: Crowley and the Golden Dawn swapped around King and Knight. This is in part true of Waite as well.)
The Knight of Disks represents the fiery part of Earth, and refers in particular to the phenomena of mountains, earthquakes, and gravitation; but it also represents the activity of Earth regarded as the producer of Life. He rules from the 21st degree of Leo to the 20th degree of Virgo, and is thus concerned greatly with agriculture. This warrior is short and sturdy in type. He is clothed in great solidity of plate armour; but his helmet, which is crested with the head of a stag, is thrown back, for at the moment his function is entirely confined to the production of food. For this reason he is armed with a flail. The disk which he bears, moreover, is very solid; it represents nutrition. These characteristics are borne out by his horse; a shire horse, solidly planted on all four feet, as was not the case with the other Knights. He rides through the fertile land; even the distant hills are cultivated fields.

Those whom he symbolizes tend to be dull, heavy and preoccupied with material things. They are laborious and patient, but would have little intellectual grasp even of matters which concern them most closely. Their success in these is due to instinct, to imitation of Nature. They lack initiative; their fire is the smouldering fire of the process of growth.

If ill-dignified, these people are hopelessly stupid, slavish, quite incapable of foresight even in their own affairs, or of taking an intelligent interest in anything outside them. They are churlish, surly, and jealous (in a dull sort of way) of what they instinctively realize is the superior state of others; but they have not the courage or intelligence to better themselves. Yet they are always irritably meddling about petty matters; they interfere with, and inevitably spoil, whatever comes their way.

In the Yi King, the fiery part of Earth is represented by the 62nd hexagram, Hsiao Kwo. This is as important as its complement, Kung Fu (see under Prince of Cups); it is a “big Khan”, the trigram of Luna with each line doubled. But it is also suggestive of the Geomantic figure Conjunctio, Mercury in Virgo, corresponding very closely indeed with the Fire of Earth attribution in the Qabalistic system.

To the Chinese sages, moreover, the shape of the figure gave the idea of a bird. The meaning is, accordingly, modified by human influence of the more frivolous and irresponsible kind, Shakespeare’s “little wanton harlotry”, the French cynic’s “Souvent femme vane”, and the fickle mob of Coriolanus; indeed, of History itself. But Mercury in Virgo symbolizes Intelligence (and even creative Idea) applied to Agriculture; and this (once more!) harmonizes perfectly with the Ten of Disks, which is ruled by this Planet and this Sign. This adds to the superabundant mass of proof that this whole system of symbolism is based upon Realities of Nature, as understood by the materialist School of Science-if such a school survives in some obscure and obsolescent University! Such coherence, such introverted exfoliation, cannot be the chance parallelism of the dreams of nebulous philosophies.

The character described by this card is therefore exceeding complex yet admirably well-knit; but its dangers are indicated by the symbols of Luna and the bird. In the happiest cases, the qualities thus indicated will be romance and imagination; but overweening ambition, the pursuit of Ignis Fatuus, superstition, and the tendency to waste time in idle dreaming, are perils all too frequently found in such sons of the soil. Thomas Hardy has painted many admirable portraits of the type. Ill-starred indeed and black with bile are those who have profaned the Sacred Fire, not enkindling Earth to new, more copious, more varied life, but peering in deceptive moonlight, turning their faces from their mother Earth.
(From the Book of Thoth)

AI-generated King of Pentacles or King of Coins illustration

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A DARK Winged Warrior with winged and crowned helmet: mounted on a light brown horse. Equipment as the Knight of Wands.
The winged head of a stag or antelope as a crest. Beneath the horse’s feet is fertile land with ripened corn. In one hand he bears a sceptre surmounted by a hexagram: in the other a Pentacle like that of the Zelator Adeptus Minor.
Unless very well dignified he is heavy, dull, and material. Laborious, clever, and patient in material matters. If ill dignified, he is avaricious, grasping, dull, jealous; not very courageous, unless assisted by other symbols.
Rules from above 20 Degree of Leo to 20 Degree of Virgo.

Etteilla

Dark man.
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Dark Man, Trader, Shopkeeper, Banker, Stockbroker, Calculator, Speculator. – Physics, Geometry, Mathematics, Science. – Teacher, Professor.
Reversed. Vice, Defect, Weakness, Defective, Defective conformation, Deformed nature. – Abnormality, Ugliness, Deformity. – Corruption. – Stench.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards, Reading Example, Spirituality and Psychology, Tarot

Using Playing Card Divination on Psychological Questions (Example Reading)

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There is a general stigma toward certain forms of divination such as cartomancy with playing cards, namely that they are good at discussing mundane issues, while the Tarot should be used for deeper questions. This presupposes two things: that deeper questions don’t take place in the same world as regular life and that the Tarot is too deep to talk about everyday occurences. Both these beliefs are wrong.

The Tarot is perfectly capable of talking about whatever it wishes, just like playing cards, the Sibilla deck and every other oracle. The first presupposition, though, is more insidious and requires a bit more discussion.

The oldest extant series of tarot meanings has been retrieved in Bologna. The meanings there are what you would expect from a fortune-telling deck: the Ace of Swords is a letter, the Ace of Cups the house, the Hermit an old person etc. Furthermore, some rare examples of tarot fortune-telling in pre-modern Italian literature confirm that the Tarot has probably been used for such aims long before the occult revival started by Court de Gébelin, which slowly removed the Tarot from real life and confined it to the realm of “higher metaphysics”, that is to say, of psychological onanism.

In order to justify this “higher” (I would say emptier) use, several hypotheses on the Tarot’s origins have been put forth, depending on what was considered fashionable and not too easily disproven at the time. First it was the Egyptians, then the Kabbalists, then the Cathars, etc. Instead of being seen for what it obviously is, namely a wonderful product of European Neoplatonic Christian art that anyone before the Enlightenment would have immediately understood and considered familiar, and that only the ignorance of our post-Enlightenment metaphysicians could try to disguise as a distant voice coming from distant secret masters to apply in the understanding of distant matters, rather than an immediately obvious tool to mirror immediately obvious real life situations, which are all instances of an eternal story that constantly tells itself.

So yes, the Tarot can talk about daily experience. In the same way, other, more apparently mundane forms of fortune-telling can talk about problems that some would consider ‘deep’. Just like the Tarot, they can talk about it in immediate terms, immediately understood by anyone with who has some understanding of symbols.

Here’s an example of playing cards used for a ‘deeper’ reading. The querent is a woman I met at an Enneagram convention. She asked what was the reason for her constant bouts of depression. These are the cards:

“Why am I always depressed?”

There is a sickness in her life, signaled by the Six of Spades. There are no cards of deep trauma, but something definitely needs healing. This card falling first sets the tone. The Jack of Hearts represents a child, a project, etc. Next we have the Nine of Diamonds, which is a card that represents the realization of ambitions, but more broadly can represent ambition. Then we have the Three of Spades and the Five of Diamonds. These two cards oftne indicate turning away from something. But the Three of Spades also comes directly before the ambition card. So she has turned away from some ambition. Two possible interpretations that came to mind are that she had the ambition of having a child but couldn’t or that she turned away from a childhood ambition.

I asked her, and it was the second possibility. She’d had big dreams for her life when was a child, but some disappointments had led to seeing them as unrealistic and she had let go of them. I told her that she hadn’t really let go of them, otherwise the Six of Spades wouldn’t have shown up: those ambitions still fester inside of her, and the fact that she is not doing anything about them could make her sick if she isn’t careful. These cards clearly show that she needs to go after her dreams, perhaps in her free time. Alternatively, if she doesn’t want to, she needs to truly let go of them and move on.

MQS

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

Daily Playing Card Reading and Tarot Reading Example

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I don’t often use the cards to track day-to-day happenings, but sometimes, if I’m feeling inspired, I will draw three cards to see what’s going to happen the next day. Of course, daily readings are much harder to make sense of because they require you to tone down the language of the cards. Still, if something out of the ordinary is set to happen, the cards will capture it quite clearly.

A couple of days ago, I was alone at home as my husband had driven to his mom for a couple of days to help her. I couldn’t go as I had a deadline and couldn’t waste time traveling. Still, he was set to come back the following day.

I felt compelled to draw three cards for the following days. You can see them in the picture: these were the King of Hearts, the Three of Clubs and the Three of Spades.

Daily reading with playing cards, confirmed by the tarot

The King of Hearts and the Three of Clubs together usually indicate a married man. My husband, of course, is a married man, if you can believe it. But the Three of Spades usually represents a removal or at least problems intervening between two people. I didn’t think too much about it, and that was a mistake, because if I had been reading those same cards for someone else I would have certainly predicted that their partner wouldn’t come home.

It was only on the next day that I remembered the cards. Out of curiosity, I asked the Tarot if my husband would come back that day.

The cards of the cut show the Popess and the Stars, in this case probably his mother taking care of him. We then have Judgement and the Juggler / Magician, which among other things could indicate work-related communication. The Charriot, showing the journey, is then slowed down by Temperance and brought to a halt by the Hanged Man. After that, the Pope / Hierophant (my husband) and the Emperor (me) unite again.

Later that day my husband said that he had unexpectedly received some work-related task that he needed to take care of from his laptop that evening and wouldn’t be able to drive back home. He came back the next day (yesterday).

MQS

Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Tarot

Tarot Encyclopedia – The King of Wands

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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 King of Wands from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) Tarot

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

When well aspected the powers listed above are expressed by a personality represented by the King of Wands. However these same qualities when overly strong or intense can express as cruelty, oppression, ostentation and pride. Thus in Tarot divination, besides the basic principles expressed by Ab, the Father, and Yod, the Creative principle, the King of Wands has these specific meanings:
Well Dignified: an ardent, impulsive, influential man; one possessed of authority and strongly marked by the quality of leadership; somewhat hasty in temper but just, generous and friendly. lll Dignified: the same general type but cruel, ill-natured, intolerant and probably unfriendly to the querent.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne. Divinatory Meanings: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long. Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

(Note: Crowley and the Golden Dawn swap around King and Knight. This is in part true of Waite as well.)
The Knight of Wands represents the fiery part of Fire; he rules from the 21St degree of Scorpio to the 20th degree of Sagittarius. He is a warrior in complete armour. On his helmet for a crest he wears a black horse. In his hand he bears a flaming torch; a flame also in his mantle; and upon the flames does he ride. His steed is a black horse leaping.

The moral qualities appropriate to this figure are activity, generosity, fierceness, impetuosity, pride, impulsiveness, swiftness in unpredictable actions. If wrongly energized, he is evil-minded, cruel, bigoted and brutal. He is in either case ill-fitted to carry on his action; he has no means of modifying it according to circumstances. If he fails in his first effort, he has no resource.

In the Yi King, the fiery part of Fire is represented by the 51st hexagram, Kan. The signification there given is entirely in accordance with the doctrine of the Tarot, but great emphasis is laid on the startling, perilous, and revolutionary character of the events cognate. The Querent is advised to be apprehensive, yet cool, resolute and energetic: to beware of untimely action, but to go forward with tense confidence in his own ability.

All these correspondences of the Yi King are to be studied in that book (S.B.E. vol. XVI) and reference is here made to the text when important passages are too long to be conveniently quoted.
(From the Book of Thoth)

Oddly interesting AI-generated King of Wands illustration

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A KINGLY Figure with a golden, winged crown, seated on a chariot. He has large white wings. One wheel of his chariot is shewn. He wears corslet and buskins of scale armour decorated with a winged lion’s head, which symbol also surmounts his crown. His chariot is drawn by a lion. His arms are bare, save for the shoulder-pieces of the corslet, and he bears a torch or fire-wand, somewhat similar to that of the Zelator Adeptus Minor. Beneath the chariot are flames, some waved, some salient.
Swift, strong, hasty; rather violent, yet just and generous; noble and scorning meanness.
If ill dignified — cruel, intolerant, prejudiced and ill natured.

Etteilla

Country man
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Country Man, Good and Stern Man, Well Intentioned Man, Honest Man. – Conscience, Probity. – Farmer, Worker, Cultivator.
Reversed. Good and stern man – Indulgence, Severity, Forbearance, Condescension.

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

Geomancy – Reconciling the Judge and the Chart

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We’ve seen that the process reading a Geomancy chart divides into two phases: the assessment of the chart and the assessment of the court.

If the chart and the court seem to hint at the same result all is well and good. Problems start when they appear to diverge and say different things. One way the old geomancers faced this possibility was by throwing random techniques at the chart so as to tease out a straight answer. In this, they were similar to old horary astrologers (“the significators are moving away and are in detriment, but ah, look at that Part of Fortune!”)

I like to keep things simple. An understanding of the first principles is more effective, I believe, than an endless array of techniques designed to allow the reader to say whatever he feels like saying at the moment. Geomancy is a “simple and short science” to quote Abano.

Abano himself, in his book, often talks about the Judge as if it described an ultimate state of affairs beyond the immediate result. This is something that I have found in other old books as well.

We only have eight possible Judges, so the Judge won’t be able to offer much subtlety in its verdict. Even after we factor in the Witnesses we still have a limited oracle. But think about it: a real-life judge doesn’t usually have much to say except to either rule for or against someone. Sure, he can tweak this or that detail, but that’s about it.

The judge’s ruling usually determines who’s happy with the result and who isn’t, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes a judge may rule in your favor but empty your victory, or conversely he may rule against you but still grant you the one small thing you care about.

Therefore, in a Geomantic reading the Judge usually describes the general tone of the answer, especially how the matter ends (well, so so or not so well). The interrelationship of the figures in the chart, though, is much more specific as it describes in more detail what happens concretely.

This is not a matter of “perfection means yes”. Perfection doesn’t mean yes. Perfection means contact or connection. Usually, of course, contact with something or someone is a positive sign as we generally want to obtain something, but context is key. “Will I be able to leave this abusive relationship?” with the two significators perfecting is a clear no.

Suppose in this example that the significators perfect, showing continuance, but the Judge is Fortuna Major. Maybe the spouse starts taking their AA meetings seriously, or depending on the other signs in the chart it may show that the querent isn’t capable of leaving now but will at a later point (Fortuna Major shows long term success)

On the other hand, there’s plenty of situations where we get our wish but later regret it. “Will I get the job?” and the first and tenth connect, but Carcer is the Judge: yes, but you won’t like it one bit.

Some like to bring in a sixteenth figure, usually called the Reconciler or the Judge of the Judge. This figure is obtained by adding the Judge to the first house figure. This can show you how the end of the matter affects the querent, but it is not a substitute for working out the meaning of the chart. All in all, the sixteenth figure only gives details, never the answer.

Greer, in his book, offers a ton of suggestions on how to deal with an obstinate chart that resists interpretation, including using certain figures to derive a new set of Mothers. Frankly, if you are that desperate, you may just as well interrupt the divination and ask the question again the next day. In all honesty, though, it has never happened to me.

The key to interpreting any oracle is to be reminded that divination is a language and language describes the world. The oracle is always a mirror of real life situations, not an abstract set of simbols.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Playing Cards, Sibilla della Zingara, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

Yes, Pregnancies May Be Predicted in Divination

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I read somewhere that pregnancies cannot be predicted because it is impossible to bring someone into the equation who doesn’t yet exist. The cards (or any other method) supposedly cannot talk about inexistent people, and they may only be used to check on pregnancies that have already started.

I certainly agree that it may not be wise to use divination on health-related issues, especially on such delicate topics, since we diviners are fallible, and should never forget it.

That it *is* possible to use them to this end, though, is confirmed by experience. I believe I even discussed a spread where I predicted that a woman would become pregnant, even though the question wasn’t even about pregnancy.

The idea that the cards cannot talk about people that don’t exist, though, is poppycock. The child may not exist, but the woman’s body certainly does. If we can predict that the woman’s body will betake itself to a job interview, to the mall or to a date, it’s unclear why we shouldn’t be able to predict that an organism will start growing inside of it after a spirited round of nooky.

MQS

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

Don’t Mess with the Cards (Example Reading)

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Some weeks ago I made an experiment. I asked the cards if an item I had ordered would arrive the next day, knowing full well it was a Sunday. The cards’ response was:

Playing Card Reading – Will the Parcel Arrive Tomorrow?

The cards are pissed off: you’re being an idiot (Jack of Spades) tomorrow is rest day (Four of Hearts) negative answer (Eight of Spades).

Well, yesterday (Saturday) I asked the same question just to try the cards, since I was waiting for another parcel. Here’s the answer I got:

Playing Card Reading – WIll the Parcel Arrive Tomorrow?

Obviously, the answer is positive, though I did not stop to think too much about it. I thought the cards had simply given me a wrong answer because I wasn’t being serious.

Yet, today the doorbell rang. It was my neighbor with a parcel for me. It had arrived yesterday in the afternoon and had been delivered to him by mistake.

Looking back at the cards, the Three of Clubs represents intermediation, someone who does things in your stead – in this case, collecting the parcel. The Two of Hearts, which usually just shows imminent things, in this case represented what’s “near the home”, i.e., the neighborhood.

Moral of the story: don’t mess with the cards, they know better.

MQS

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

Whodunnit? Playing Card Reading on Theft and How to Identify People

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It’s not just about love. Playing cards (and any other oracle) can be used to identify people, find lost objects and animals and many other things. Unfortunately, this type of reading is extremely complex, and I have a less than stellar track record in this regard (as opposed to the lady who taught me, who was sort of known for finding lost rings and describing thieves)

The reason for the difficulty is that the world’s complexity is almost endless, and we only have a limited number of cards at our disposal, so that there is always a need for combining card meanings in new and clever ways to signify everything. One of the subjects I want to touch on in a next article on the philosophy of divination is exactly the fact that the limits of our imaginations can also be the limits of our ability to make predictions.

Furthermore, the language of the cards is otherworldly, at least as far as making predictions is concerned, so that the oracle will not necessarily answer the question in a linear form that is readily understood. This is why my error rate by people descriptions and by finding lost items tends to be higher than in other readings. Sometimes I can’t so much as make sense of one of the cards, let alone the whole composition.

There is, however, a reading I want to share because of how clear the cards were, which makes this a good case study. A woman had lost her bracelet and, after looking for it everywhere, was beginning to suspect her niece of stealing it, possibly as a game. Here’s the spread:

Playing Card Divination, A Reading about Theft

There is one woman in the spread. She is next to the Ace of Clubs. This is extremely important. The Ace of Clubs represents initiative, and if you ask whether someone will or won’t do something, if their significator comes up next to the Ace of Clubs (or the Five of Clubs, representing action, or, sometimes, even the Two of Clubs, which means taking steps) it shows the person will do it.

In this case, though, we are talking about theft. So this woman took the initiative, i.e., she stole the bracelet. She is next to the Eight of Clubs, which represents work. So this is not the querent’s niece, but a coworker or superior.

Note, though, that she comes up as the Queen of Diamonds, not as the Queen of Spades, so there is no inherent ‘evil’ about her. Furthermore, we have the Three of Diamonds next to the Eight of Clubs. The Three of Diamonds represents all activities that are done part-time. Metaphorically, therefore, the woman is not a ‘full-time’ thief, i.e., she doesn’t have the habit of stealing. She probably just seized the moment to have something that caught her fancy. The Ten of Hearts closing the spread shows the possibility of a happy ending.

To be more sure, I asked the querent to pick another card for the Queen of Diamonds, and she chose the Four of Clubs. So this is a woman the querent speaks to habitually. Furthermore, even though the Queen is a Diamonds, and should technically be very fair, she is surrounded by Clubs, which represent a dark complexion and/or hair (but not as dark as Spades)

Well, some days after the reading the querent’s coworker, a woman of dark complexion and hair, came forward to her, wracked with guilt, and gave her back the bracelet, which the querent had left on her desktop unattended. The woman said she didn’t know what had possessed her to steal the item.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Sibilla and Playing Cards, Linguistic Differences (Reading Example)

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This is not the first time that I compare divination to language. Divination systems *are* a form of language. Each has its own vocabulary, its syntax and its grammar. However, there is more to languages than just these three things (and possibly more, if you are a linguist)

Languages don’t exist in a vacuum. They are spoken concretely by concrete individuals. Each individual has his or her character, quirks, idiosyncrasies, which hugely influence the way they speak.

The Vera Sibilla is notorious for its chatty nature. She is like that old aunt with no sense of personal space who spends the afternoon drinking coffee with her neighbors and spilling tea on others without much in the way of connecting themes. Playing cards, on the other hands, tend to be more sober and to the point. In a way, I find they are easier to interpret, exactly because they are more predictable. Tarot, I find, is also more to the point, although it is more complex in other respects.

Here is an example of the same question asked by the same querent, but answered with the Sibilla first and with playing cards second.

The querent is a young man in his mid-20s we got to know at a friend’s house. He asked if he would find a job.

Vera Sibilla reading on job

Important note: this reading started as a three card reading. I had to keep adding cards because, as is often the case, the Sibilla kept giving me quirky details instead of the answer. The first three cards did not contain the answer (if I had tried to answer based on the first three cards, it would have been a no, and I would have been wrong.)

As in a recent reading I posted, the spread stards with the reversed Balcony. This time it’s followed by the reversed Falsehood card and by the reversed Peacock. The first three cards hint at the fact that is awaiting an improvement of his career (reversed Falsehood) that is not coming (reversed Balcony). The reversed Peacock shows both the struggle (it is a card of great obstacles) and the fact that he may be taking things very personally whenever something goes wrong.

Then we have the reversed significator and the reversed Love card. This means two things: firstly, that he is gay (which he confirmed on the spot) and secondly, the reversed Love card flaking the significator together with the reversed Peacock confirms my first intuition that he does take things too personally, maybe as though he were expecting employers to huddle together around him and woo him.

Since it is followed by the Merchant, which is the significator for the querent’s job, it shows again that he has emotional troubles connected with his career. Fortunately, it is followed by the reversed Ten of Clubs, which shows a favorable chance. But this card only shows a chance, not that it will be taken, so I asked the querent to pull two additional cards, and this shows that he will receive a good offer (Present of Jewels) of a part-time job (Happiness).

On to the playing card spread

Playing cards reading example on job

This one also started out as a three card reading. And it remained one. Change, Union, Part-time job. There will be a change which will lead to a part-time position.

You may say that since we had already answered the question with the Sibilla, playing cards didn’t need to add much. Maybe, but the Sibilla’s chattiness is indeed more pronounced than that of playing cards.

MQS

Card Combinations, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla Reading Example – Don’t Fixate on Combinations

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The Vera Sibilla tradition is steeped in combinations that are handed down in specific order. These combinations are important, but to understand them, you need to keep in mind that, in the olden days, at least in Italy, you would simply sit in front of the fortune teller and he or she would tell you your general future, sometimes covering your whole life. In this context, the traditional combinations are highly effective. Divination is not about numbers, but if I had to put a number to it, I would say that, in a questionless reading, classic combos are around 70 – 80% accurate.

Combinations are also an extremely valid learning tool, as you let your brain wrap itself around the deck and its language, just as it’s useful when you are very little and your parents teach you specific turns of phrases that tend to have always the same meaning. Over the years, however, you learn to create variations on the theme and you develop a more plastic language that is also more adaptable to all circumstances.

Let’s take this recent reading example. A friend of ours told his parents that he won’t be able to visit for Christmas (they live in Scheswig-Holstein, in Northern Germany, while we live in Rheinland-Pfalz, in the South-West). His mother sounded cheerful on the telephone, but he asked how she had taken the news. These cards came up:

Vera Sibilla Oracle Card Reading Example

If you were to interpret these cards according to traditional combinations, you would say something to the effect of: you need to stay away from your mother (Person card reversed next to the Three of Hearts reversed) because she is a scheming bitch (Seven of Hearts reversed)

But let us take a deeper look at the cards. The Balcony card, when upright, represents the arrival of someone or something. When reversed, often it shows waiting in vain. This implies that the mother was expecting her son to visit.

Next to the mother we have the Scholar reversed. In addition to plotting and scheming, this card also shows plans that don’t come to fruition, so we can say she was planning the Christmas together. But there is more. It is also the card of illusion and a sense of futility and sterility. To choose the appropriate meaning, let us look at the central card, the Queen of Hearts reversed.

The mother could have safely come up as the Queen of Diamonds, the Wife or Married Woman. It is crucial to understand, though, that the Queen of Diamonds is essentially attached to her roles in life, rather than to feelings. This doesn’t mean she is evil or a bad mother, only that she fulfills her role primarily because it’s her role.

The Queen of Hearts, the Girlfriend, on the other hand, is essentially a loving person, one who follows her heart and who has love to give. Coming up reversed, she finds herself frustrated in this aspect.

Knowing this, let us go back to the Scholar. In this case, it must represent futility as well all the other stuff. She feels sterile and futile as a mother.

We also need to consider that we have three out of three Heart cards, all three reversed. This shows that clearly she longs for a connection she doesn’t have. Probably not the most stable person, emotionally speaking, but not the dangerous, scheming woman that you would see in the cards according to usual combinations.

MQS