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Vera Sibilla | Seven of Spades – Disaster (Disgrazia)

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Name: Disaster
Italian Name: Disgrazia
Playing Card: 7♠
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Disruption, Breakup, Turbulence, Accidents | All that from the outside disrupts our plans | Aggession, Aggressiveness, Anger, Wrath | Suddenness
Polarity when Reversed: Very Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Complete Ruin or Downfall | Oppression, Enslavement, Utter Helplessness Slowness, Hesitation, Lack of development, Promising things that don’t grow | Tantrums, Childishness | Gullibility again | Being off to a bad start

Card Description: a building being devastated by a sudden fire or explosion.

Suit and Number: The Sevens in the Sibilla deal with plans and projects. The Seven of Spades represents either the ruination of projects, their disruption from unforeseen events, or it represents aggressive stances, a destructive attitude as opposed to the constructive one of the Seven of Hearts.

UPRIGHT 7♠

General: Almost universally negative, the Disaster card is connected with disruption in all its forms. It represents irrational forces destroying our carefully crafted plans or hopes, or at least forcing us to reconsider some aspects of them. It heralds sudden disturbances in all fields and it is connected with anger. When it comes up with positive cards, especially at the beginning of a row of cards, it show that the positive event will strike us soon and when we least expect it.

Love and Relationships: In the aforementioned case of the card falling with positive cards, it often signifies love at first sight, which completely disrupt the person’s lives or, if the querent is already with someone, sudden positive events for the couple (which will be described by the cards). This is just about the only positive meaning of the card. Otherwise it heralds separations, arguments and much anger. Note that when it falls after a significator card, it shows the person to be easily angered, either in general or within the context of the question, showing them to become potentially violent or abusive. When the card heralds a breakup, it is not always definitive. If cards of reconciliation follow, then the argument will be followed by making up. If it falls with other negative cards, though, it shows the end of the relationship, and the presence of other positive cards will usually show a positive future with someone else.

Work and Money: Needless to say, the Seven of Spades brings bad luck into the life of the querent. It is a card of loss, and represents the failure of projects. Career-wise it can stand for being terminated, especially without notice or without expecting it. It also represents all those things that we must deal with financially that force us to reconsider our plans, such as taxation (which clearly the Sibilla doesn’t see in a very positive light). If you are making plans of any nature, but especially financial plans, you will probably need to consider them carefully before acting them out, because there is a risk of making mistakes that will cause the plan to fail. Careers signified by this card tend to be in connection with taxes, fire, explosives, electricity and danger.

Other: Psychologically, the Seven of Spades is a card of anger, and it represents the inability to step out of your immediate reactions and feelings, but acting rather impulsively on them without stopping to consider, usually with negative or unbalanced results. It is also a card of accidents, but be careful. It is not enough to have the Seven of Spades with a card of travel to represent an accident, especially a serious one. If the other cards in the spread don’t support the interpretation, look for another one (a sudden removal, perhaps?) Because the Disaster card signifies sudden disruption and cuts, it is also the card of surgery. Spiritually it shows negative forces, the punishment of errors or, with positive cards, the end of delusion (usually in a somewhat traumatic fashion).

Important Combinations:

10♣ + 7♠ = carelessness leading to accident
K♠ + 7♠ = loss of a lawsuit, among other things
4♥ + 7♠ = argument, breakup (in itself not necessarily definitive)
7♠ + 2♦ or J♦ = a message that arrives quickly
3♦ + 7♠ = can be the breaking of an object

REVERSED 7♠R

General: brace yourselves, because the reversed Seven of Spades is THE worst card in the deck. There is absolutely nothing positive to be said about it. If, when upright, it signifies the disruption of plans and life by external forces, when reversed it shows the utter victory of those forces on the person. It’s a card of ruination, despotism, slavery, oppression. It’s everything the querent is impotent against.

Love and Relationships: When a breakup is shown by this card, you don’t need any other negative cards in the spread. The relationship is over. Period. Often it shows interpersonal dynamics where one person crushes the other, enslaves them as it were, either literally or figuratively. This varies in degree depending on the other cards, and can range from someone who is somewhat despotic to a literal torturer depending on the situation. If more than a face card shows up near the reversed Disaster card, usually the reversed face cards are the victims, or, alternatively, those closest to cards showing suffering.

Work and Money: Working conditions are likely to be insatisfactory to the utmost degree, and will usually go beyond simple pressure from your superiors. The card stands from unpaid slave work, tyrannical superiors or coworkers and an utterly nasty work environment. All projects fail without any hope under this card, and termination is also likely.

Other: The card signifies one who is completely at the mercy of a despotic power, be it traumas, addictions or other people. Psychologically it shows someone who is unable to get back to their feet. With cards of evil, it shows someone with a very dark soul. Spiritually it shows the triumph of evil forces, and it can signify possessions and dark magic.

Important Combinations:

7♠R + J♣ + 9♦ or 9♣R = a young man slave to an addiction
7♠R + K♦R + 5♦R = work bordering on slave labor
7♠R + Q♦ or K♣ = a tyrannical mother or father
J♥ or Q♥ + 7♠R + 8♠ = a boyfriend or girlfriend who are overbearing due to jealousy

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

Card Combinations, Cartomancy, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla | Examples of Combinations – The Sevens

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In this article you will find some examples of combinations using the Vera Sibilla. Most of these combinations are handed down by tradition. Studying and decoding combinations is a very good way to improve your cartomantic vocabulary, but bear in mind that the exact meaning of a combination depends on many other factors, such as the context of the question and the other cards in the spread, so I would encourage you to keep an open mind. As a rule, you will find that if you do not pose a question and these combinations come up, they will mean what the tradition says they mean 3 times out of 5. Also, keep in mind that it’s useless to try to combine every card with every other card beforehand so that no surprises will ever come up in a spread, just as it is useless to try to combine every word in a dictionary with every other to study a language. That time is best spent actually practicing.

NOTE:
R = Reversed
U/R = Upright or Reversed (doesn’t matter)
* = This combination has to come up in this specific order
3♦ = The Gift (Omaggio)
8♦ = The Handmaid (Donna di Servizio)
C = Cuori (Hearts)
F = Fiori (Clubs)
Q = Quadri (Diamonds)
P = Picche (Spades)

Seven of Hearts (7♥) – Scholar (Letterato)

7♥ + 2♥ = the contract for buying, selling or renting real estate | can be a 7♥ish place (look for clues in the other cards) | it can represent a male person connected to the home or family (brother, uncle, even a partner)
7♥ + 4♥ = it can herald a reconciliation or signify serious projects for the couple (the 7♥ is a symbol of being serious about something, and the ability to make projects)
7♥ + 8♥ = an artist
7♥ + 10♥ = a contract for a permanent job | it’s a symbol of dependability, serious projects and talent
7♥ + A♣ = a contract (technically, signing a contract in front of a notary public, but not necessarily) | it may represent a partnership
7♥ + 2♣ = great intelligence or talent (or excellent contract)


7♥ + 3♣ = buying or selling a vehicle (+2♠, an old one, + 7♦, a new one)
7♥ + 7♣ = can be a renowned professional  | a good name in your field | again, a work contract
7♥ + 10♣ = lack of seriousness | a contract that is signed too hastily, if cards like 9♠ follow, showing that you’ll find yourself “imprisoned” by a clause
7♥ + K♣ = traditionally, bureaucracy and red tape (often followed by cards of blockage or slowness or loss of money)
7♥ + A♦ = a professional’s office (can also mean a desk job or, these days, working from home)


7♥ + 2♦ = legal documents
7♥ + 3♦ = a wealthy contract offer
7♥ + 4♦ = a contract not to sign | can be intelligence bent to evil ends or lack of talent
7♥ + 6♦ = the mind, the use of one’s intelligence
7♥ + 10♦ = a contract opportunity that will be snatched away | it can mean lack of faithfulness


7♥ + A♠R = signing a contract | extending a contract after its end
7♥ + 5♠ = end of contract or lack of it
7♥ + 6♠R = going to a professional for advice (look at the other cards for what professional)
7♥ + 7♠ = can be a breach of contract | something that doesn’t go as planned
7♥ + 9♠ = a binding contract
7♥ + 10♠R + 4♦ or J♠ = a hidden clause in a contract (if 10♦U/R or 8♠, it will cost you a pretty penny, if 9♠R, you’ll regret it)

7♥R + 4♥R = sexual depravity
7♥R + 5♥R = cheating
7♥R + 6♥ or 8♦ or 3♦ = to be in for the money or for material advantage or to climb the social ladder
7♥R + 6♦ = a calculating individual | lack of ability or common sense


7♥R + 8♦R = one possible interpretation is a low IQ | a scumbag, the oily type
7♥R + A♣U/R = traditionally, someone wants to marry you for the money
7♥R + K♦R = incompetence or lack of talent
7♥R + 9♠ = it can be impotence (the A♣U/R might be present)
7♥R + 7♣U/R = among other possible explanations, it may mean lack of recognition

Seven of Clubs (7♣) – Gratification (Gran Consolazione)

2♥ + 7♣ = real estate | can be the workplace
7♣ + 10♥ = wealth and/or prestige accumulated over time (with K♥ it might show a wealthy industry owner)
7♣ + 9♦ + 8♠ or 6♥R = squandering (instead of 9♦ you may find 10♣)
7♣ + 9♦R = gradually losing your prestige or privileges (if the 7♣ is reversed it would be worse)
K♦ + 7♣ = it can point to a promotion


A♥ + 7♣ = discussing business
7♣ + 3♣R or 8♦ = upward mobility, social elevation
10♠U/R + 7♣ = it can mean winning a competition (9♣ could be present showing the moment you feel the thrill of victory)
J♣ + 6♦ + 2♦ + K♣ + 7♣ = getting a degree or passing an important test
Negative cards + 7♣ = a light at the end of the tunnel
7♣ + PersonR = it might be someone who lacks a sense of security

A♥ or 8♣ + 7♣R* = a talk or meeting with no concrete outcomes
7♣R + 2♣ or 5♣ = a situation that seemed to be a dead end suddenly turns out for the better (depending on the other cards, it can be a rags to riches kind of situation)
7♣R + 8♠ + J♠ or Q♠ = slander, mobbing
3♦ + 2♠ + 7♣R = can be a loss of social status (if +7♠R, it is irreversible and disastrous)
Person + 7♣R = someone who is inhibited by fears or doesn’t feel secure in their position (the same might be the case if the 7♣ is upright and the person card is reversed)
K♦ + 7♣R = among other possibilities, a dead end job (if with 9♠, the querent won’t leave it)

Seven of Diamonds (7♦) – Child (Bambino)

A♥ + 7♦ = meeting new people | it’s a symbol of truthfulness
3♥ + 7♦ = arrival of a baby (or of something new)
7♦ + 4♥ = a new love or the first love
7♦ + 9♥ = complete honesty in love and in any other field (can also be a new love)
7♦ + J♥ or J♣ = a young boy (if the Js are reversed, they have problems)


7♦ + Q♥ or Q♣ = a young girl (especially the Q♣)
7♦ + 8♣ = meeting someone new | it can be a total renewal of one’s life (going back to something in a a new way)
7♦ + 10♣ = naivety (often found with cards of loss like 6♥R or 6♣R)
7♦ + 9♣ + 2♥ = a baby shower or a birthday party (especially with A♠R)
7♦ + 4♦ = usually a mistake due to inexperience or naivety | one who plays dumb (false innocence) | a stepson or an illegitimate son (or daughter)


7♦ + 8♦ = a babysitter | a new phase of life | a new offer or new job
7♦ + 2♠* = a beginning that is already old and declining | granny and nephew
2♠ + 7♦* = the end of a phase and the beginning of a new one | also granny and nephew
7♦ + J♠ = can be a negative young boy (if also 9♣R and/or 8♠ a bully, if 6♥R or 8♦R, he wants your lunch money!)


7♦ + A♣ + K♠ = an adoption (only if the question is specific, otherwise other cards are needed)
A♦ + 5♥ + 7♦ = a playground
3♥ + 7♦ + 3♦ = a videogame (10♣R would show electrical appliances)

7♦R + A♣ = indecision about marriage or a contract (in which case the A♣ can be switched with the 7♥)
7♦R + 6♠ = a situation that will take a very long time
7♦R + 10♣ or 4♦ = it accentuates the idea of gullibility
A♥ + 7♦R = hesitation in speaking or opening up, but if also K♠, it could be a trial or hearing that will draw out over a longer period than expected
7♦R + 7♣R = insecurities and fears inhibiting someone | a situation that draws out and won’t have practical outcomes
7♦R + J♦U/R + 3♦ = delay in the arrival of a parcel (if J♦R, the delay is longer)

Seven of Spades (7♠) – Disaster (Disgrazia)

A♥U/R + 7♠ = an argument
7♠ + 2♥ or A♦ = can be a domestic accident
7♠ + 3♥* = an unexpected arrival/visit
7♠ + 3♥R = a great wrath
4♥ + 7♠ = a breakup (not necessarily forever though)


6♥U/R + 7♠ = financial difficulties
7♠ + 2♣ = a small accident with no consequences
7♠ + 5♣ = a stroke of luck
7♠ + 4♦ + 4♠ = a stroke, period (the 4♦ represents the heart as an organ) | can also be a surgical mistake
7♠ + 3♦ = can be destruction of property or a broken object


7♠ + J♦ or 2♦* = quick arrival of correspondence, maybe priority mail (if the cards are swapped, it may be a letter that makes you angry)
7♠ + 3♠ = separation, getting away, a bad breakup
7♠ + 4♠ and/or K♣ = a surgery
Person + 7♠ = a wrathful, angry or choleric disposition, stay away
7♠ + 6♦ + 6♣* = eureka! A sudden revelation or discovery, being struck by an idea

PersonR + 7♠R + PersonR = traditionally, slavery, slaves
7♠R + J♣R + 9♣R = a troubled youth with drug habits that he cannot kick (if 5♠ + 3♠R, a fatal overdose is likely)
K♣U/R + 2♥U/R + 7♠R = usually a tyrannical father (or boss, in which case the 2♥ is the workplace. If Q♦U/R, it’s the mother who is tyrannical)
5♠ + A♠ + 7♠R = the inability to get back on your feet after the end of something (psychological cards may show up indicating the person’s distress)


8♥R + 7♠R = a depression that doesn’t seem to go away
3♣ + 2♥ + 7♠R + K♠ = an eviction (the 10♠ would show the police getting involved)
K♠U/R + 7♠R = the government forcing you to do something | a tyrannical government, broadly (especially with the K♠R. If also 10♠, a military junta or a police state, or, more individually, it could be a deportation, especially with 3♣. If 6♥R and 3♦R or 8♦R 7♣R or A♣R or 2♥R, expropriation of goods or properties of various kind -the 6♥R is also avarice, that is, the government is avaricious with people’s stuff, in which case the 2♠R may show up too-)

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Reading – Will the University Go Bust?

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Here’s a reading from some time ago, which I recreated using my new Sibilla Originale 1850. The querent’s problem was: Will the university I work for go bust?

A pyramid spread on the question “Will the University I work for go bust?”

The first line is pretty interesting, as we get a chance to see the power of the Peacock card in action. The Two of Clubs is the best card in the deck, capable of lessening the blow of any negative card. And boy do we need it, as right before it we have the worst card in the deck, the Seven of Spades Reversed. Aside from being the card of tyranny and overbearing power, the reverse Seven of Spades talks about ruination and utter and final capitulation.

Why is the university going toward ruination? We have the Ace of Clubs, Marriage, and the Ten of Clubs, Levity. The Ten of Clubs is the card of “just a little”, while the Marriage card is about contracts and legal agreements. So, the university is at risk of going bust because there’s not enough students signing up, but the worst will be avoided thanks to the Two of Clubs, which can be visualized as a sort of divine hand grabbing the debris falling from a collapsing building and putting them back in place before they manage to fall on someone’s head.

The second line tells us something a bit more specific about what is going to save the university from the worst. The Seven of Diamonds, the Child, is about new things, and the Jack of Clubs, the Servant, is, among other things, the card of students, an interpretation which is confirmed by the Two of Diamonds, the Letter, which is one of the cards of studying and books, and when near the Servant it can identify a student. Here we are not talking about a specific student, but about students in general. There will be new (Child) students. At least enough to keep the whole thing going.

In this instance, we may also see the Child as falling between the Ace of Clubs, Marriage, and the Two of Hearts, House. Ace of Clubs + Two of Hearts is the card combo that, in job-related issues, represents a firm or a business. Here we are talking about a university, but the meaning still applies: universities don’t pay their employees in wisdom. They, too, need to make money, just like a business.

The presence of the Child inside this combination of business tells us that the university is preparing something new, perhaps new courses or maybe some new marketing ploy. The querent confirmed that they are looking to concoct some new study course that will make the university he works for more alluring.

The final three cards tell us that, although the university will manage to stay alive, it probably won’t be thriving, at least not in the next period. We need to understand “the next period” in the context of the question: we all know how public institutions tend to suck as much money as they can for as many years as they can without profit before actually being left to their fate, so in the context of a public institution, which this university is, the next period means the next few years, or at least that’s what I think.

The Two of Hearts, the House, shows the place itself, while the Nine of Diamonds, The Fools, and the reversed Three of Hearts, the Balcony, tell us something that seems to contradict the presence of the Peacock in the first line. It would be easy to interpret this combination as one pertaining to violent groups, but this wouldn’t mean anything in the context.

Aside from its usual connotations, the Nine of Diamonds talks about things proceeding irregularly, or without really looking where they are going, while the Three of Hearts is connected with sight, whether literal or figurative. Reversed, it becomes a lack of insight, so whatever it is that the university is coming up with is not going to be that good of a product for potential students to buy into.

Finally, let us look at the angles of the pyramid: Marriage, Peacock and Balcony Reversed. The business (Marriage) will stay open for the foreseeable future (Peacock), but this will not necessarily be a good thing, as the Balcony Reversed is also the card that points to a lack of positive developments.

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Vera Sibilla and Numerology – The Sevens

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The sevens in the Vera Sibilla are mainly connected with the ideas of intentions, mindset, projects and planning. They speak, in other words, of our ability to conjure up visions of reality and of ourselves that may then be planted into the outside world and grown. While the sixes spoke of the passage of time and the flow of events, the sevens represent our ability to see an alternative that may be tapped into to alter that flow. Differently put, they show us how the Self reacts to that flow.

The Sevens in the Vera Sibilla Oracle – The Seven of Hearts (Scholar or Artist), The Seven of Clubs (Gratification), The Seven of Diamonds (Child) and The Seven of Spades (Disaster)

As it should by now be clear, Hearts and Spades are direct opposites of one another. The Seven of Hearts, the Scholar or Artist, represents the power of reason. Notice the difference between the Seven of Hearts and the Six of Diamonds, the Thought card. The latter is about our inner reality, which may or may not be reasonable. A passing look at the amount of psychic crap that comes pouring out whenever we hit a shrink’s couch shows us that the Thought card, i.e. what goes on on the inside, may bear little to no resemblance to reality in its absolute, objective sense.

The Six of Diamonds may show projects, but only in so far as they are inside and not yet outside. The Seven of Hearts, on the other hand, represents the ability to plan. It represents rationality, brain power, the ability to measure and count (when reversed, the idea of measuring and counting becomes the negative notion of ulterior motives, of doing something because you are calculating individual).

It is also the card connected with the skill of coherently putting together a vision of reality that may be used to then mold reality itself. Hence its connection with creativity and art, which are not the opposite of reason, but its extension into the world. As unfashionable as thinking straight is among us new-agey folks, this card is very important. The most important practical meaning of the Scholar, i.e. contracts, comes from the fact that the juridical side of life is founded on the concept of “meeting of minds”, which is what generates contracts: it’s when my mind meets yours midways to create a stable, reasonable intersubjective agreement.

Let’s turn to the Seven of Spades, Disaster, which is notoriously similar to the Tower card in the tarot. This card is, in more than one sense, the direct opposite of the Scholar. In its most general sense, this is the card of immeasurability. It shows all those things that, no matter how “scholarly” we might be, hit us from the outside, without forewarning and without any discernible cause that we might prepare for in advance. It shows shit happening because shit just happens, and that’s kind of it.

As an extended, neutral meaning, this card also represents things happening all of a sudden, and usually very quickly, though not necessarily in a bad sense. A third important meaning of this card is that of negative projects. While the Scholar is the good architect of reality, the Disaster card can show ill-will, the desire to hurt or harm another. It is connected with anger and choler, all forces that blur the line between what’s reasonable and what isn’t.

In between we have the Seven of Clubs, Gratification, and the Seven of Diamonds, the Child. These, too, are starkly different cards in many ways, although with a common tread. The Seven of Diamonds is the card of all things new and novel. It represents new projects, new plans, new things in general coming into our lives. More subtly, this is also the card of new visions, of opening up to new points of view, new stimuli, new perspectives and new ways of understanding ourselves and others.

Its archetype extends to cover ideas such as purity of soul, candor, innocence, but also naivety. The Suit of Diamonds is the suit of seeds, of all those little impulses, positive or negative, that are planted into our lives. Among the other Diamonds cards, the Child is the one that most of all represents a seed: small, ready to grow and full of promise and potential.

The Seven of Clubs, Gratification, is anything except small. It is deeply connected with our sense of self, with what makes us secure in our identity and what supports our narrative of who we are and of how who we are finds its deepest fulfillment in real life. If the Child is the seed, Gratification is the tree ripe with succulent, plump fruits.

This is not a “theoretical” card, but a very material one. In the most general sense, it is connected with our sense of stability in the world: it may have to do with fame, recognition, our good or bad name (depending on the cards around and on whether this one is upright or reversed). Furthermore, the Seven of Clubs has strong ties with the concept of concreteness and concretization: it shows the next logical step in making a situation more stable, concrete and fulfilling, whether it’s marriage (the ring in the picture) a promotion at work (the bag of money) or a positive reception by our fellow humans (the wreath).

As Alessandra Venturi says in her book, this card can be the light at the end of the tunnel, in that after a slew of negative cards it can allow us to regain a sense of balance and a more positive outlook. Whatever the field, this card doesn’t speak of emotions, but it does speak of personal fulfillment in the situation.