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Video: The Seven Packs Spread
Category Archives: Vera Sibilla
Video: The Vera Sibilla Twos
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Exploring the Present Or Scrying the Future?
As a diviner, I have no objection to making predictions about what is likely to happen. I see the current taboo about the future as a mix of delusion and ignorance. Our current culture comes at the tail-end of the myth of the self-made man that has animated much of our recent (and even not-so-recent) past. This myth has strongly influenced the Zeitgeist of the current occult wave, which started at the end of the XVIII century and continues, though declining–putrefying, even–to this day.
The occult developments have in turn trickled down into pop spirituality and have fostered the belief, now extremely popular, that all it takes to change one’s reality is to tune into the wavelength where one’s delusion corresponds to objective facts, and that nothing about one’s identity is more than a socially-conditioned self-identification that can be simply deconstructed and cast off like a cloak in favor of something else as the whim of the day dictates.
This implies the idea that the future is a completely blank slate and that therefore divination can only be used as a tool for self-reflection on the present to facilitate this process of self-making and self-remaking. Unfortunately, the self-reflection in question regularly resolves itself into simply telling the querent what they already think or would like to think of themselves, but packaged in empowering language within a context in which they assume they are communing with divinity. “Wow, the Gods think exactly the same as I do! How wise!”
Anyone who lives in actual reality and has spent five minutes reflecting on it know that this view of existence is demonstrably false (although, like many false things, it contains faint traces of truth). Each of us has a path in life that is unique, containing specific challenges and opportunities, possibilities and impossibilities. Divination is good at detecting these patterns and their likely outcome in the near future.
Still, I find that there is value in employing traditional divination in exploring the present. The language of traditional divination is frank, crisp and concrete, as it comes from a deep understanding of the fact that, if what is above is as what is below and what is within is as what is without, then what is above or within cannot be a metaphysical soup of saccarine inanities, but must correspond to the complex interplay of pleasure and sorrow of the below and without.
In other words, if a tiktok psychic might tell you that you always end up with the wrong guy because you have a soul contract that stipulates that you need to come into contact with your inner queen, traditional divination is more than happy to let you know that it’s because you are a basic harlot who chooses basic idiots.
This is not to say that there is a god or a spirit judging the querent through us or through the oracle: it is merely a dispassionate look at your life from a dispassionate observer on a simple example of causality. It also does not imply that we, as diviners, shouldn’t learn to speak with tact and diplomacy. However, the employment of actual divination techniques allows us to shed light on the querent’s present in terms that might actually be helpful to them.
We never leave a divination session unaltered. The knowledge we gain changes us necessarily: me knowing about X is not the same as me not knowing about it. If X is in my hands, then knowing about it can give me some power over it. If it isn’t in my hands, then knowing about it gives me awareness of the limits that define my unique path through life. That’s growth, too.
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Video: The Aces of the Vera Sibilla
An Interesting Divinatory Phenomenon About The Past
This article is going to be as vague as it gets. It pertains to certain observations I’ve made over the course of the years practicing divination, first with playing cards and the Sibilla, then with regular Tarot and now with the Bolognese Tarot, but it is not a unified theory, and in fact, it is even hard for me to put it into words.
We all know how time is difficult to define in divination, especially by cards. Sometimes it’s even hard to say if the cards are describing the past, the present or they are directly starting off with the future. This is even more true when using non positional spreads, where one or more lines of cards are interpreted together. My observations are mainly about non positional spreads, and how sometimes they seem to signal that they are talking about the past.
In all decks (at least, in all decks I use) there are cards connected with the person’s thoughts, or at least with their inner or emotional world. A person’s inner world is a complex thing, since it is a mix of hopes for the future, memories of the past, illusions, dreams, traumas, etc. All decks I use also contain cards that show ending, death, disruption and radical change, indicating the end of a life path.
The thing I’ve noticed is that, when in the first couple of lines of a spread (or within the first couple of cards in a longish one-line spread) there is a card connected to the person’s inner world and then a card of ending, that section of the spread usually talks about the past, and more specifically the distant past (that is, not just a couple of months back). This is because the card of disruption tells me that the situation the cards are talking about is over, while the card relating to thoughts or emotions says that the thing exists only as a memory, something that has left a mark on the person’s soul.
I recently did a spread for someone with the Bolognese Tarot. Unfortunately I didn’t save a picture of it and forgot most of it (it was one of those “I’m sure I won’t forget it” moments). It was a question about love, and in it both querent and quesited (the love interest) showed up only as thoughts, followed by cards of disruption. It turned out they had been together eight years ago, she had left him on the advice of a friend who thought causing drama would strenghthen his commitment. Instead he moved on, and she was still waiting for him to come back. In this instance, the thoughts reenacting the break-up were like ghost impressions reliving that pivotal moment in her past.
Obviously, this sort of things tend to happen for major events, whether positive or negative, and it shows how our inner structure is a bit like a geological section, with different eras still present, but hidden from view.
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Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate Protection or Improvement
Two of Hearts – The House
In most situations, the House card is relatively neutral, as it often indicates the person’s home environment or family, or some other place depending on the combinations. However, in itself the card, when upright, symbolizes a protective environment where the querent feels safe and taken care of. Figuratively, it shows situations that are solid, positive and protective (so you feel at home).
Eight of Hearts – Hope
The Hope card’s main meaning is that of representing the hopes and wishes of the querent, and the cards following it will tell us if they come true or not. However, it also indicates the solution of trouble or compensation for it, as the card says “there is hope”. This is especially the case when the Eight of Hearts comes up after a negative sequence of cards. Sometimes the Hope card’s intervention may not be enough to give us what we want, but it will make sure that we come out of a situation still alive and breathing, and with some kind of hope.
King of Hearts – The Gentleman
The King of Hearts is, in most situation, a neutral person card, indicating a married man or an older man. However, it does indicate someone who has our interest at heart (unless it is reversed or surrounded by cards of dubious moral quality). He is the archetype of the philanthropist who is out to help others. For this reason, in spiritual readings, it represents God or a saint.
Two of Clubs – The Peacock
The best card in the deck, the Two of Clubs represents divine intervention (due to its symbolism of completeness and rebirth). It often shows up to protect us from the worst that could happen, or to increase the quality of something that is already good. It often shows positive undercurrents that do not manifest immediately in all their positive import, but which will save us, protect us or enrich us when they do manifest. For this reason it is known as the talisman card.
Five of Clubs – Fortune
While the Two of Clubs indicates divine intervention, the Five of Clubs represents gifts from heaven in the form of good luck. It often indicates positive turns of events, a turn of the wheel that brings us something we want us, or at least something good. Unlike the Two of Clubs, it retains its positivity when reversed, but it becomes delayed or less blatant, maybe a bit less satisying
Seven of Clubs – Gratification
The Seven of Clubs is a card of satisfaction, but it also represents our ability to reach our aims and ambitions in the real world. It represents the achievement of goals and reaching of landmarks in one’s life (marriage, promotion, property, recognition, etc.) However, the card can also represent “a light at the end of the tunnel” when it falls after negative cards, indicating, as it were, our ability to pick ourselves up.
Ten of Clubs Reversed – Levity
The Butterfly is a symbol of carefreeness, lack of focus and lack of attention. When it is reversed, however, it shows carefulness with one’s finances and, even more importantly, the arrival of good occasions that need to be seized. Although it is not a card of protection per se, it does show us a way out (a new therapy, a new job opportunity, a new meeting, etc.)
Three of Diamonds Reversed – The Gift
Again, not a card of protection, but still a welcome sight. It shows situations that somehow sort themselves out, at least in part. It is a relatively weak card, so the presence of very difficult situations may be mitigated only in part, and often it shows some kind of improvement rather than triumph.
Four of Diamonds Reversed – Falsehood
When upright, the cat brings falseness and negativity in general. Negativity is to be understood broadly as situations that are negative or bad for us (even when there is no direct lying involved). When it is reversed, the same card brings positivity, relief, solution of trouble.
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My First YT Video: Cross Spread Tutorial
I finally decided that there was no point in learning the theory of how to make videos. Much better to make crappy ones until something goes right. So yea, here’s the first video on my channel.
Please be patient, I am a very special kid.
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The New Doctor (Example Reading)
I find it funny how sometimes the Sibilla just steamrolls you with just three cards. A friend of mine had an appointment at a new psychiatric clinic and wanted to know if the new doctor was any good:
I don’t there is much need for interpretation here: the change brings her to someone who is her enemy. Doesn’t mean he will tie her to the train track, but he is not reliable (Butterfly). Interestingly, she was under the impression she was going to be visited by a female doctor, but it turned out that one had too much on her hand, so my friend ended up with the male enemy. In her words, he is probably the one who needs a psychiatrist.
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Why I Don’t Do Horoscopes, Taroscopes Or Interactive Readings
Some weeks ago I got asked why I only present readings I did for myself or others, and don’t do interactive readings which may be useful to more people. The question was asked in good faith and in good faith I answered. But I thought it made for a nice article. As usual, I will be brash and abrasive, because I’m not an easy person, but I mean no disrespect to any particular individual.
Horoscopes. In reality, horoscopes are more the invention of journalists than of astrologers: astrologers just unwittingly lent themselves to the farce. Horoscopes are predicated on the fundamental misunderstanding that the place the Sun occupies at birth automatically has something to say about us. This is a relatively modern invention in the long history of astrology, and anyone who thinks about it seriously for even five minutes must conclude that, in order to say anything at all about one twelfth of the world population purely based on their month of birth, one needs to water down everything one says to the point that nothing is said at all except playing into the belief that everyone is adorably quirky (oh those Aries boys who ram through everything, oh those Gemini girls always being nutty). That some astrologers, realizing this, feel the need to add Moon signs, Rising signs etc. into the equation does not improve matters at all: a fundamentally silly idea multiplied by itself remains silly.
Taroscopes. Taroscopes are an even more modern invention. They substitute or complement the reading of a sun sign chart with a broad card reading (usually tarot, hence the name). They started popping up on social media some ten years ago as a way of feeding the sludgeflow of nonsense that is required to keep the algorithm satisfied. I am pretty sure they started out as a silly game, then some saw that it was good for business. I am even aware of established readers who haughtily denounced taroscopes for the travesty of divination that they are, only to bend the knee once it was clear the current flowed in one direction only.
Interactive Readings. Interactive readings are the height of silliness, and the perfect exemplification of the words ‘internet slop‘. Choose between Deck One and Deck Two and listen to why he doesn’t deserve you because you are such a special, intuitive an free-minded queen. Choose between the butterfly and the butter knife and listen to why all the narcissists in your life hate you for being such an authentic empath (somehow those buying into this nonsense are always surrounded by narcissists, yet they are never narcissists themselves). That’s the essence of interactive readings as a further development from taroscopes.
The reality is that divination is already hard as it is, being an imprecise and complex art due to the amount of factors to be considered and the fallibility of humans in considering them. Trying to extend it to a whole swath of people who randomly happen to bump into your video or post is beyond ludicrous.
In attempting to justify this to themselves, some readers are eternally caught between two stances: “if you bump into it, it is meant for you” and “if it doesn’t resonate it’s not the right message”, logic being the first thing to fly out the window once someone decides to be a brave and empowered little witch. Of course you’ll always find someone who responds to an interactive saying “I chose the butterfly. That’s exactly it, that’s me to a T”. And those are the unlucky ones, because they get roped into a world of self-delusion and meaningless hype: the universe seems to be constantly cooking up something big for you, according to interactive readers, so you better stick around for the next video!
So yeah, that’s why I stick to traditional readings.
MQS
Frenzy or Stillness? – The Appropriate Behavior in Divination and Magic
The way we do things, the way we say things, matters. The same apologetic arguments we find in Blaise Pascal’s most feverish and haunting pages would be enough to bring a doubter to conversion, yet when coming out of the lips of a cheap street preacher holding a sign, they are often received with distrust, when not with disgust.
The way we do and say things matters in occultism as well. The old texts of magical tradition, and even some old accounts of rituals and supernatural occurrences, are full of the frenzy-stillness dichotomy: some things seem to happen in a state of ecstasy, others in a state of torpor.
My path, both as diviner and as occultist, has been informed by the pursuit of stillness more than by that of frenzy. All the teachers I’ve had the honor to learn from have always required of me to reach a state of calm rather than one of heightened overexcitement.
In divination, there is always a moment of randomness required in order to break the barrier between what the personality thinks it knows and what is actually the case. Arranging the cards (or geomantic points, or whatever) consciously in the order we wish they would come out may teach us something about ourselves, but very little about the reality of a situation. Randomness ensures that our self-consciousness doesn’t interfere with the process of allignment between oracle and reality.
Whether through a frenzy or through calmness, randomness introduces itself into the process by bypassing the limits of our personality’s structure, with its limits and its biases. The choice between the “inspired” moment of frenzy and the “deadened” moment of calm rests on a partially different view of the relationship between individual and whole, between ourselves and the divine.
Ecstasy, which is the process of leaving oneself behind, occurs in both cases, but it occurs differently. By achieving a drunken confusion one simply rams through the walls of one’s personality, achieving contact with what is outside of it. By stilling oneself, one reaches the point within one’s core where individual and divine coincide.
Obviously, once each option is brought to an extreme, it bleads into its opposite. Pure frenzy becomes absence of limits and therefore absence of what is limited, and its movement resolves itself in calm. Pure calm is delivered from all difference from change, so it coincides with pure frenzy.
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