Tag Archives: Cartomancy

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Six of Pentacles or Coins

(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 Six of Pentacles from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is the second decanate of Taurus, under the rulership of Mercury, from April 30 to May 10. Meanings:
Well-Dignified: practicality and determination; discretion and diplomacy; gain by letters, writing, travel, speaking, teaching, commissions and through advertising, study, books and all things ruled b Mercury.
Ill-Dignified: Loss through the same things.
Keyword: Prosperity.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as to his goodness of heart. Divinatory Meanings: Presents, gifts, gratification another account says attention, vigilance now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc. Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

The Six of Pentacles from the Rider Waite Smith Deck

Aleister Crowley

The Six of Disks is called Success; the ruler is the Moon. This is a card of settling down; it is very heavy, wholly lacking in imagination, yet somewhat dreamy. Change is soon coming upon it; the weight of earth will ultimately drag the current down to a mere eventuation of material things. Yet the Moon, being in Taurus, the sign of her exaltation, the best of the Lunar qualities are inherent. Moreover, being a Six, the solar Energy has fertilized her, creating a balanced system for the time being. The card is worthy of the name Success. Remember only that all success is temporary; how brief a halt upon the Path of Labour.

[…]

The Number Six, Tiphareth, as before, represents the full harmonious establishment of the Energy of the Element. The Moon in Taurus rules the card; and this, while increasing the approach to perfection (for the Moon is exalted in Taurus and therefore in her highest form) marks that the condition is transient.

The disks are arranged in the form of the Hexagram, which is shown in skeleton. In the centre blushes and glows the light rose-madder of dawn, and without are three concentric circles, golden yellow, salmon-pink, and amber. These colours show Tiphareth fully realized on Earth; it reaffirms in form what was mathematically set forth in describing the Ace.

The planets are arranged in accordance with their usual attribution; but they are only shown as disks irradiated by the Sun in their centre. This Sun is idolized as the Rose and Cross; the Rose has forty-nine petals, the interplay of the Seven with the Seven.
(From The Book of Thoth)

The Six of Disks from the Thoth Tarot deck

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A WHITE Radiant Angelic Hand holding a rose branch with white roses and buds, each of which touches a Pentacle. Pentacles are arranged in two columns of three each:

* *
* *
* *
Above and below are the symbols Taurus and Moon of the Decan.
Success and gain in material undertakings. Power, influence, rank, nobility, rule over the people. Fortunate, successful, liberal and just.
If ill dignified, may be purse-proud, insolent from excess, or prodigal.

Tiphareth of HB:H (Success in material things, prosperity in business).
Herein rule the Angels HB:NMMYH and HB:YYLAL.

Etteilla

The present
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Present, Presently, Now, Immediately, At the instant, At this time, Today, Attending, Witnessing, Contemporary. – Attentive, Careful, Vigilant.
Reversed. Desire, Vow, Ardor, Haste, Passion, Searches, Cupidity, Want, Jealousy, Illusion.

MQS

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.

MQS

A Crush on an Unhappy Man! (Example Reading)

This is not the first time I do a reading for someone who has a crush on a colleague. The girl in question asked me if a love story could start with him

A love reading using the Bolognese Tarot (Thirteen Card Spread)

I used the Bolognese Tarot to answer this.

This is one of those spreads that let themselves be interpreted in more than one direction: not just horizontally but vertically as well. The First two things that caught my eye were the first line, with the King of Wands (him) trapped between the Tower (prison) and the Seven of Coins (tears); and the vertical line on the right, with the Ace of Wands and the Ace of Cups together, indicating a family, but the two cards are hemmed in by the tears and the Moon (again, negativity).

So this is an unhappy man we are talking about. In the following line, the Angel card, which would provide happiness and solutions or at least peace, is blocked by the Hermit. Note that the Ace of Wands, which can indicate attraction, is also affected by the blockage, so while he may be somewhat attracted by the querent, he is not gonna act out on it.

The following line was a bit harder to decipher, but I saw it as him having a daughter and being especially attached to her: note the Page of Cups, the girl, of the house (Ace of Cups) brings him jollity or happiness (Ten of Cups). It later turned out he has more than one child but he is more attached to the girl. It is possibly one of the things that keep him in the marriage.

In the end, there is probably going to be no relationship with the man: the relationship card (te Ace of Swords) is negatively affected by the Moon, and the querent will only have a business relationship (Star) with him.

One thing I need to emphasize is that the querent knew the dude is married, but didn’t tell me, not because she wanted to try me, but because in her mind she thought it was somehow “obvious”. It is always interesting to see how querents take our ability to see things for granted (only to be sorely disappointed when we make the most minor mistake).

MQS

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Six of Swords

(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 Six of Swords from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The Six of Swords corresponds to the second decanate of Aquarius under the rulership of Mercury, January 30 to February 8.
Well-Dignified: success after a period of trouble or anxiety; difficulties
overcome; change of scene, possibly a journey by water; something
mysterious effects a change o f circumstances for the better; success
earned by the Querent’s laborious efforts.
Ill-Dignified: sudden changes; circumstances dominate the Querent; he is in danger of being over-confident or conceited; too much effort expended for small results.
Keyword: Patience
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A.E. Waite

A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted that the work is not beyond his strength. Divinatory Meanings: journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient. Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

The Six of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith tarot

Aleister Crowley

The Six of Swords is called Science. Its ruler is Mercury, so that the element of success turns away from the idea of division and quarrel; it is intelligence which has won to the goal.

[…]

Tiphareth shows the full establishment and balance of the idea of the suit. This is particularly the case with this card, as the intellect itself is also referred to the number Six. Mercury, in Aquarius, represents the celestial Energy influencing the Kerub of the Man, thus showing intelligence and humanity.

But there is much more than this in the symbol. The perfect balance of all mental and moral faculties, hardly won, and almost impossible to hold in an ever-changing world, declares the idea of Science in its fullest interpretation.

The hilts of the Swords, which are very ornamental, are in the form of the hexagram. Their points touch the outer petals of a red rose upon a golden cross of six squares, thus showing the Rosy Cross as the central secret of scientific truth.
(From The Book of Thoth)

The Six of Swords from the Thoth Tarot deck

Golden Dawn’s Book T

TWO hands, as before, each holding two swords which cross in the centre. Rose re-established thereon. Mercury and Aquarius above and below, supported on the points of two short daggers or swords.

Success after anxiety and trouble; self-esteem, beauty, conceit, but sometimes modesty therewith; dominance, patience, labour, etc.

Tiphareth of HB:V (Labour, work, journey by water).
Ruled by the Great Angels HB:RHa’aAL and HB:YYVHL.

Etteilla

Road
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Road, Avenue, Walk, Course, Passage, Path, Way. – Path, Tract, Gait, Origin, Conduct, Means, Manner, Way, Expedient, Run, Career, Walk, Pattern to be followed, Track, Footprint, Sending, Commissary [= Deliveryman].
Reversed. Declaration, Declaratory act, Development, Explanation, Interpretation. – Charter, Constitution, Diploma, Manifest law, Ordinance. – Publication, Proclamation, Ostensibility, Manifesto, Publicity, Authenticity, Notoriety. – Denunciation, Census. – Enumeration. – Knowledge, Discovery, Unveiling, Vision, Revelation, Apparition, Appearance, Admission, Confession, Protest, Approval, Authorization.

MQS

Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate People

There are plenty of cards, in the Vera Sibilla, that can indicate individuals (see here for groups). Here are the most common (keeping in mind that most of the cards have other associations as well, and may indicate concepts or situations):

Seven of Hearts – The Scholar
The Scholar can represent the figure of a lawyer, a notary, or more in general a professional. Traditionally he is said to be in his 40s or early 50s, but we need to be flexible with age. He can also be a member of the family or even a partner.

Eight of Hearts – Hope
There are two schools of thought concerning the Hope card. According to some it doesn’t represent a woman, while according to others it can (traditionally, a younger or blonde woman). I have found that it is rare for this to be the case, but it could happen.

Nine of Hearts – Faithfulness
The Faithfulness card can represent support, and occasionally it will show up alone indicating a concrete someone, i.e., a friend, who shows us support.

Jack of Hearts – The Boyfriend
It is common for this card to indicate an actual person, often the unmarried male querent or a male who is in love, or positive, or belonging to the family.

Queen of Hearts – The Girlfriend
Same as with the Jack, only applying to women.

King of Hearts – The Gentleman
The King of Hearts is traditionally the figure of a protector or benefactor, someone who aids us. He is typically in a good position to do so. He can be a father or loving husband (when upright), but can also represent the married male querent or a boyfriend who is older or has a position in society.

Four of Clubs – The Friend
The Friend card can represent friendship as a concept, as well as partnerships and other situations where people come together for a common goal. However, it can often indicate a female friend or relative.

Jack of Clubs – The Servant
The Jack often represents a younger man, one up to 30 years of age, or unmarried. However, it can also represent a colleague or friend, regardless of age. It can also indicate a son, if relevant. Usually he is already known to the querent (the Italian word ‘domestico’ can mean servant but it also implies familiarity with the house).

Queen of Clubs – The Maiden
The Maidan can be the female counterpart of the Servant, showing a younger unmarried woman, sometimes a daughter.

King of Clubs – The Doctor
The Doctor card often indicates health issues or the need to take care of something. However, it can also represent a man with a certain social position or with a degree (if next to a female card, then he turns into a woman with those characteristics). It can show the figure of a professional whose advice or help will be required, or a boss.

Seven of Diamonds – The Child
Often it is a metaphorical child, but sometimes the Seven of Diamonds can represent a literal one, usually very young (toddler). It can combine with other cards (the Servant or Maiden, for instance) to indicate a teenager. It is the card of pets as well.

Eight of Diamonds – The Handmaid
A card strongly connected with the coming and going of money and with work, the Handmaid can also be the figure of a female colleague or a female servant (like a cleaning lady). Traditionally she is from a different town, but this is not always the case. She can also be a stranger or a foreigner.

Ten of Diamonds – The Thief
Rarely a literal person, but in connection with negative cards it can show someone who steals, either literally or metaphorically.

Jack of Diamonds – The Messenger
Rarely a person card, the Messenger often heralds the arrival of news and the knowledge of facts. However, it can occasionally represent a young man, traditionally dark-haired.

Queen of Diamonds – The Wife
A card that often represents what it says on the tin, the wife shows a woman who is married and may have children. It can indicate a woman who has achieved some level of success (could be a colleague or boss).

King of Diamonds – The Merchant
Usually this card signifies the querent’s work life. However, it occasionally signifies a literal merchant or someone who a transactional view of life and relationships.

Two of Spades – The Old Lady
Often one of the most complex cards in the deck, the Old Lady has a whole host of metaphorical meanings. The literal meaning, though, is that of representing an older woman, a grandmother, a widow, someone close to retirement, a woman of 60+, and so on. The card can also stand for an ex (your old woman).

Three of Spades – The Widower
As with the Old Lady, so with the Widower, but for men. It can represent an older man, a grandfather, an ex, a widower or divorced man. It is somewhat rarer for the Widower to be a literal person, compared to the Old Lady.

Ten of Spades – The Soldier
Another often cryptic card to interpret, the Soldier can also indicate a young man, in his 30s or early 40s (again, taking it with a pinch of salt), who is muscular or sexy or who wears a uniform. It can also indicate a stranger or a foreigner.

Jack of Spades – The Enemy (male)
The male enemy card can stand for a literal enemy, or for someone who is against the querent for some reason, either as a rule or in a particular situation (your uncle whose car you crashed into a tree can be your enemy too, when he finds out). It can also represent a place where people are inimical to the querent.

Queen of Spades – The Enemy (female)
Same as with the Jack, but for women.

King of Spades – The Priest
The King of Spades often indicates an institution, the government, a judge, etc. It can also sometimes represent an older man who is not inimical to the querent, but who is somewhat cold toward him or her, but is still fair (unless the card is reversed).

MQS

Recovery From Surgery (Example Reading)

Plenty of readings this time of year, and an above average number on health issues. An acquaintance of ours, an elderly man whom we know from theater, had to go under the knife for major surgery, my husband and I decided to see how the situation would evolve. I used the 45-card Bologna tarot system and the 13 card spread.

Recovery from Surgery. Spread with the Bologna

I am immediately reassured by the lack of dramatic sequences. However, the first row is interesting: Death can indicate a major turning point, the Chariot is the bed card in this tradition, and the Tower is a place of suffering, such as a hospital. Death and Tower can be a tragedy or painful situation. Technically you’d need the Knight of Swords together with the Chariot and Tower to predict surgery, but considering I didn’t even need to predict it (I knew it already) the cards are being remarkably specific.

We also find that his thoughts (the Knight of Wands) are not at ease (the Fool and Justice, that is, irrgularities on his idea of what is right). It could simply indicate bewilderment at the question of how he is going to move on from this. Note that the Tower weighs his thoughts down.

In the following row we see that there is love and care around him (Seven of Cups and Love) and that this care is going to have to last quite a while (Temperance). The recovery is going to take its time. Finally, the cards reassure us that the people and doctors taking care of him mean well and know what they are doing (the Queen of Coins is the truth, wisdom and knowledge).

All in all it could certainly have been worse.

MQS

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Six of Cups

(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 Six of Cups from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

Time period is the second decanate of Scorpio, from November 1 to November 10 under the combined influences of Jupiter and Neptune.
Well-Dignified: the meanings in specific divinations are based on the influence of Neptune and Jupiter in Scorpio combined with its natural 8th house; deep emotions, ardor, enthusiasm, generosity; money through marriage or business partner, or by inheritance; the beginning of steady gain in business or pleasure, but beginning only; peculiar circumstances.
lll-Dignified: deceit in reference to partner’s money; loss of inheritance through some sort of swindle; danger of death on water, or through poisons or anesthetics; some reversal of fortune.
Keyword: Betterment
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. Divinatory Meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as–for example–on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct. Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

The Six of Cups is called Pleasure. This pleasure is a kind of pleasure which is completely harmonized. The zodiacal sign governing the card being Scorpio, pleasure is here rooted in its most convenient soil. This is pre-eminently a fertile card; it is one of the best in the pack.

[…]

This card shows the influence of the number Six, Tiphareth, in the suit of Water. This influence is fortified by that of the Sun, who also represents the Six. The whole image is that of the influence of the Sun on Water. His fierce, but balanced power operates that type of putrefaction-he is in the Sign of Scorpio-which is the basis of all fertility, all life.

The lotus stems are grouped in an elaborate dancing movement. From their blossoms water gushes into the Cups, but they are not yet full to overflowing, as they are in the corresponding card below; the Nine.

Pleasure, in the title of this card, must be understood in its highest sense: it implies well-being, harmony of natural forces without effort or strain, ease, satisfaction. Foreign to the idea of the card is the gratification of natural or artificial desires. Yet it does represent emphatically the fulfilment of the sexual Will, as shown by the ruling Sephira, planet, element, and sign.

In the Yi King, Sol in Scorpio is represented by the 20th Hexagram, Kwan, which is also “Big Earth”, being the Earth Trigram with doubled lines. Kwan means “manifesting”, but also “contemplating”. The Kwan refers directly to an High Priest, ceremonially purified, about to present his offerings. The idea of Pleasure-Putrefaction as a Sacrament is therefore implicit in this Hexagram as in this card; while the comments on the separate lines by the Duke of Chau indicate the analytical value of this Eucharist. It is one of the master-keys to the Gate of Initiation. To realize and to enjoy this fully it is necessary to know, to understand, and to experience, the Secret of the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O.
(From The Book of Thoth)

A fairytale-like AI-generated illustration for the Six of Cups

Golden Dawn’s Book T

AN Angelic Hand, as before, holds a group of stems of water-lilies or lotuses, from which six flowers bend, one over each cup. From these flowers a white glistening water flows into the cups as from a fountain, but they are not yet full.
Above and below are Sun and Scorpio referring to the Decan.

Commencement of steady increase, gain and pleasure; but commencement only.
Also affront, detection, knowledge, and in some instances contention and strife arising from unwarranted self-assertion and vanity. Sometimes thankless and presumptuous; sometimes amiable and patient. According to dignity as usual.
Tiphareth of HB:H (Beginning of wish, happiness, success, or enjoyment).
Therein rule HB:NLKAL and HB:YYYAL

Etteilla

Past.
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: the Past, Formerly, Withered, Formerly. – Formerly, Anteriorly, Of Yore, Once. – Old age, Decrepitude, Antiquity.
Reversed. Upcoming, Future. – What comes next, Afterwards, Posteriorly, Further. – Regeneration, Resurrection. – Reproduction, Renewal, Reiteration.

MQS

The Hothead (Example Reading)

If you ever happen to receive a comment from someone whom the cards describe in the following way:

2♠️ – 6♦️ – 2♣️

you can safely flag all their future comments as spam. Their actions (Two of Clubs) presuppose (behind) a volatile and unstable temper (Two of Spades – Six of Diamonds). It is someone who is simply looking for a target to live out their idiosyncrasies depending on the fixation of the moment.

MQS

The Great Spreads With the Bologna Tarot – The Significator Spread

This is the last full-deck spread I am aware of that can be performed with the Bolognese Tarot. It doesn’t have an Italian name. The person who taught it to me, together with the 45-card method, just calls it “la stesa”, “the spread”. For her, this is THE spread, while all other systems, whether large or small, are in a separate category, as it were. My other teacher, who taught me the 50-card spread, is also aware of such a way of laying out the cards, but doesn’t have a name for it either.

To distinguish it from the other spreads I call it the Significator Spread, because it requires you to lay out a significator for the querent on the table, as opposed to the bed sheet spread and the staircase spread, where the significator remains in the deck.

In most regular readings, you are going to select either the King of Wands, for a man, or the Queen of Wands for a woman, though someone might ask to lay out the cards for someone else (e.g., a father would be the King of Cups, a daughter the Page of Cups, etc.) You may also choose to ‘christen’ the significator to connect it with the querent. Once this is done, you shuffle the deck, cut it, and then lay out the cards in the following manner:

141516Sign.272829
171819123303132
202122456333435
232425789363738
2610111239
13
4041424344

You may notice some similarities between this spread and the thirteen card spread, which also belongs to the same cartomancy tradition. Here is an example:

The Significator Spread using the Bologna tarot

In this case, the cards 1 to 13, that is, those underneath the significator, indicate either the past or the present of the querent, or sometimes the immediate future, if you’ve already discussed the querent’s past using other spreads. The cards 14 to 26 indicate what comes after (usually the nearer future), while the cards 27 to 39 show the further developments. Finally, the cards 40 to 44 can either give something upcoming and noteworthy or, according to others, simply be omitted from the spread. It is your choice. If you use the 50-card deck, you can add another row of five cards underneath.

As with the regular thirteen card spread, the central column of each thirteen-card cluster is more important, while the cards on the side either give details or may be ignored depending on the situation (after all, not all the cards in the deck are going to be read, otherwise everything would happen to everyone). Finally, remember that not every information you glean is going to be about the same topic, since this is a broad spread to tell a general future, before using shorter spreads to talk about individual topics.

MQS