The literary landscape in Italy is rather dismal, as far as the occult arts are concerned, even though in recent years something seems to be changing. But Il Tarocchino di Bologna (the Little Tarot of Bologna) by Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti is not a very recent book, and this makes its outstanding quality even more of a surprise.
The book is divided into several sections, some authored by Vitali and some by Zanetti. Andrea Vitali is possibly the greatest living tarot historian (and a damn good diviner too), the one who has shed the most light on the history and origins of the tarot, bursting a lot of bubbles in the process. His section is, as usual, well documented and written, and generally aims at showing that the tarot probably originated not in Milan but in Bologna.
But, as undisputed as Vitali’s expertise in the field, our focus in this review is Zanetti’s section on cartomancy. This is well organized and competently written. Aside from a brief preamble, the largest part of her section of the book is dedicated to the meanings of the cards, which she has researched in various ways, including by looking for old decks with the meanings written on them.
Zanetti, like Celi (and currently like me), uses a 45-card deck. The deck, however, differs: instead of one Stranger, she uses two, one of them taking the place of the Ten of Coins. As I mentioned elsewhere, these discrepancies are to be expected from a tool of popular divination that was invented in a non-globalized world of isolated villages and streets. Even some of the meanings differ, as I explained in this post, where I talked about the fact that she interprets the Page of Swords not as a letter but as a young man.
Each card is presented with their Italian and Bolognese dialect name, a brief iconographic rundown, the list of meanings, an example reading with a three-card method, a saying from the Bolognese popular tradition that illustrates the meaning of the card, and a combination. Some combinations are exceedingly curious and stray far way from the original meanings of the cards.
The spreads covered by Zanetti are also interesting and worth studying. One is a variation of the great staircase spread I talked about, but Zanetti gives very specific and somewhat rigid rules for interpreting it. She then covers a pyramid spread and a variation of the cross spread, the thirteen card spread and, finally an oracle made up of only three cards.
The only small concern is the rigidity with which Zanetti treats combinations of two cards. My experience is that cards must be first and foremost combined logically based on the context of the question and the other cards, but she asserts that when two specific cards come together they always have a specific meaning regardless of everything.
This, I have found, may be true when many cards come together. For instance, even if you ask about love, if someone in your life is about to drop dead, lots of cards will amass in that regard, not just two. Yet Zanetti treats two-card combos as if they were powerful enough to transcend the question (and yes, she does give a combination about death). Again, this is a question of method and personal experience. It does not detract from the validity of her experience, but it does highlight one of its peculiar traits.
So is this book worth having? To this my answer is a big fat yes. Both Vitali’s and Zanetti’s sections are well thought-out and insightful.
When someone teaches someone else the traditional meanings of the cards, they often don’t waste too much time giving them a rundown of all the applications of the one or two keywords they give them, especially at the beginning. Keep in mind that in many traditions, at least in Italy, the initial instructions for card reading are passed down on Christmas Eve, so the explanations must be quick enough to fit into one evening where you have plenty of other stuff to do.
Usually, the initial instruction is followed up by a more thorough explanation later, but the new reader is also expected to “lavorare le carte”, literally to “work the cards“. This means that while they are being given a vocabulary (the keywords) and some grammar and syntax (the various spreads and combinations) they are supposed to develop their own language.
Think about it: we all speak English on this blog, yet each of us speaks a different version of it, not only because some of us are native speakers while some aren’t, and not just because some come from the US, some from GB, some from Australia, etc. but also, and especially, because each speaker of a language has their own slightly different version of it, owing to their character, personal history, experiences, education, talents and many other factors.
This may sound like an admission that language is random and infinitely pliable at will, but it isn’t. Your own language is an emanation of you as a person, but who you are as a person is not fully under your control. In fact, the diviner and occultist in me believes that it is only very slightly under your control.
What is true for regular speech is true for the speech of the cards. Once you are given the meanings of the cards, it is not a matter of reinventing them, but rather of discovering how the meanings work for you, of understanding what your particular, individual dialect is. This is a never-ending process, because the language of divination is a difficult second language to learn and because there is no human native that can help us.
But let’s discuss an example of how you take a single keyword and turn it into a web of interrelated meanings. In the Bolognese Tarot, which is my current obsession and is quickly becoming one of my favorite systems, the Queen of Coins is called “the truth”. There. If you were sitting on grandma’s lap on Christmas Eve and she were passing the meanings down to you, that’s what she would say. The truth. Period.
The truth is a complex thing, and throughout history different people have understood it to be something different. In itself, it is an abstract concept. After receiving it, you need to make it concrete, i.e., you need to discover how the word “truth” is used in your particular divination dialect. Let’s give it a try (and this is my dialect, obviously. It may or may not overlap with yours).
The truth is what truthful people tell, so obviously the card qualifies people as truthful, dependable, reliable. Next to a person card, the person will be all these things, probably.
Once you know the truth about something, you know about it. Knowledge is therefore another aspect of truth. Who has knowledge? Professors, for sure, and people who have studied something. One might counter that so many graduates today are ignorant fools filled with prejudices they never questioned. And one would be right. Archetypally, though, the connection (the ‘signature’) holds, similarly to how astrologically scholars are ruled by Mercury, even if scholars are often up their asses.
Study, teaching, learning, explaining, science, discovering, bringing to light, intellectual (or at least not physical) occupations seem to also be concepts that beautifully complement that lonely keyword “truth”. But all these aren’t just descriptions for abstract knowledge. What is a less abstract form of knowledge? Expertise, for sure. If you call the plumber, he may not be able to tell you how the categories of Aristotle’s logic apply to your toilet, but he sure knows how to stop it puking out scum. And that’s a good deal more helpful. So a plumber with the truth on his side is certainly a plumber you want to hire.
Today, the word wisdom is almost forgotten, or relegated to describing dubious practices with no scientific stamp of approval. But wisdom used to be deeply connected to knowledge. The Queen of Coins, therefore, surely describes the ability to lead your life the right way, or to lead others the right way.
Especially in the West, the idea of truth has always been connected with the ability to see. “I see” we say, when we understand something. This may sound shallow, but it actually has its roots in the old Greek notion that the truth is what the mind sees beyond the illusions of the senses. The word “idea”, which is what we have in our minds and which we hope to be a truthful representation of reality, comes from the root ‘vid-‘, which is the same root as the latin ‘videre’, to see. So the Queen of Coins stands for sight and for the eyes, and for windows, which bring light (understanding) into the home and from which we see how the world outside looks like. And so on and so forth.
These associations can be discovered by practice and by decoding the combinations that are usually passed down. Again, it is not a matter of making up. It is, literally, a process of discovery.
(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 Ten of Swords from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck
Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)
The time period is the third decanate of Gemini, June 11 to June 21, under the rulership of Saturn and Uranus. Well-Dignified: in spiritual matters, the end of delusion; the overthrow of limiting conditions; break-up of restrictions. In material affairs, sudden and unexpected changes, not always unfortunate in the long run, but disappointing when experienced: interference from from others. and.loss through indiscretion in writmg or signing contracts. lll-Dignifled: failure, desolation, misery. Keyword: Destruction (From the Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card. Divinatory Meanings: Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death. Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
The Ten of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith tarot
Aleister Crowley
The Ten of Swords is called Ruin. It teaches the lesson which statesmen should have learned, and have not; that if one goes on fighting long enough, all ends in destruction.
Yet this card is not entirely without hope. The Solar influence rules; ruin can never be complete, because disaster is a sthenic disease. As soon as things are bad enough, one begins to build up again. When all the Governments have smashed each other, there still remains the peasant. At the end of Candide’s misadventures, he could still cultivate his garden.
[…]
The number Ten, Malkuth, as always, represents the culmination of the unmitigated energy of the idea. It shows reason run mad, ramshackle riot of soulless mechanism; it represents the logic of lunatics and (for the most part) of philosophers. It is reason divorced from reality. The card is also ruled by the Sun in Gemini, but the mercurial airy quality of the Sign serves to disperse his rays; this card shows the disruption and disorder of harmonious and stable energy.
The hilts of the Swords occupy the positions of the Sephiroth, but the points One to Five and Seven to Nine touch and shatter the central Sword (six) which represents the Sun, the Heart, the child of Chokmah and Binah. The tenth Sword is also in splinters. It is the ruin of the Intellect, and even of all mental and moral qualities.
In the Yi King, Sol in Gemini is the virtue of the 43rd Hexagram, Kwai, the Watery modification of the Phallus; also, by the interlacing interpretation, the harmony of these two same Trigrams.
The signification is perfectly harmonious with that of the Ten of Swords It represents the damping down of the Creative impulse, weakness, corruption, or mirage affecting that principle itself. But, viewing the Hexagram as a weapon or method of procedure, it counsels the ruler to purge the state of unworthy officers. Curiously, the invention of written characters to replace knotted strings is ascribed among Chinese scholars to the use of this hexagram by the sages. Gemini is ruled by Thoth; 10 is the key of the Naples Arrangement; and Apollo (Sol) is the patron of literature and the arts: so his suggestion might appear at least no less suitable to the Qabalistic correspondences than to their double emphasis on Water and the Sun. Apart from this, however, the parallelism is complete. (From the Book of Thoth)
The Ten of Swords from the Thoth tarot deck
Golden Dawn’s Book T
FOUR hands holding eight swords, as in the preceding symbol; the points falling away from each other. Two hands hold two swords crossed in the centre, as though their junction had disunited the others. No rose, flower or bud, is shewn. Above and below are Sun and Gemini, representing the Decan.
Almost a worse symbol than the Nine of Swords. Undisciplined, warring force, complete disruption and failure. Ruin of all plans and projects. Disdain, insolence and impertinence, yet mirth and jollity therewith. A marplot, loving to overthrow the happiness of others; a repeater of things; given to much unprofitable speech, and of many words. Yet clever, eloquent, etc., according to dignity.
Malkuth of HB:V (Ruin, death, defeat, disruption). Herein the Angels HB:DMBYH and HB:MNQAL reign
Etteilla
Affliction Upright. In terms of spiritual medicine, this card, in its natural position, signifies: Crying, Tears, Sobbing, Moaning, Sighing, Lamenting, Complaining, Afflictions, Regrets, Sadness, Pain, Wailing, Lamentations [= Poetic lamentations], Desolation. Reversed. Advantage, Gain, Profit, Success. – Grace, Favor, Benefit. – Ascendant, Power, Empire, Authority, Might, Usurpation.
I recently received some questions from a visitor to this website. One of them was in which sense the Sibilla is considered “chiacchierina”, i.e., chatty.
This is an interesting question, because it gets to the heart of how divination works (and not just divination with cards). I don’t want to foster the belief that the Sibilla is more capable of conveying information than other divination systems. This would be false advertising. Every deck and every system is capable of informing us.
But the way in which the Sibilla informs us is rather unique. Here we get into the specific character that each deck and system has. The Sibilla is like an off-beat aunt with a poor sense of boundaries.
A girl once asked me how her crush for a guy would develop. The girl had moved in with her grandma and the grandma disapproved of the guy. The Sibilla started off not with an answer to the question, but by telling me that the girl’s grandma disapproved of the situation. If I had asked another one of the decks I work with, I probably would have gotten a more straightforward answer.
It takes working with each deck in order to understand their language and personality, but these always emerge sooner or later. This is also probably why old folk diviners believed that each deck has a spirit attached to it that lives inside its cards and infuses them with its peculiar traits, a belief that I tend to share, since it explains this phenomenon much better than the impersonal Jungian theory of synchronicity.
The reality is that each (valid) divination system is chatty in its own way. I’ve heard the Bolognese tarot being referred to as chatty, and as I work with it I understand that its chattiness really is a factor, even though it is less chaotic than the Sibilla.
I did a reading recently with the Bolognesw tarot that I unfortunately forgot to record. It was one of those instances of “of course I will remember it.” The one thing I do remember is that the Tower featured prominently in the reading and did not take on a nefarious meaning, instead just indicating a place other than the home.
This gave me the idea of collecting here the combinations I have actually experimented in practice so far.
Tower + Queen of Coins (Truth) = School, Place of learning (this combo was in the reading I did recently)
Tower + World (big) = A palace (in the example of the reading I did, it was a tourist attraction)
It is not an endless list, as you can see, but then again the Tower doesn’t always come up in a reading, and when it does it doesn’t always indicate a place, and when it does it isn’t always clear what kind of place it represents, based on the other cards. But this short list is what my experience has borne out so far, and it clearly shows how the cards operate as small particles of meaning that gravitate toward each other to create complex structures.
Obviously, much depends on the context and on the other cards. The Ace of Coins, for instance, is the table, but it is also a big money card, so with other material cards it could turn the Tower into a bank instead of a restaurant. What I can say for certain at this point is that my experience with the Bolognese tarot shows the Tower isn’t necessarily an evil place (like a hospital or a prison) as some strands of the tradition seem to indicate, but its meaning can be modified by the presence of positive cards.
Fludd discusses the signification of a figure springing from one house to another.
Of the signification of the 16 figures, when they duplicate in a question, that is, when similar figures are found in different houses, such as two Via, two Populus, etc.1
The figure in the first house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Second, especially if it fortunate and fixed, and so the opposite, which is valid for all other houses.2 In the Third, good situation between relatives, brothers, sisters or neighbors. In the Fourth, it is a bad mutation3 but not excessively so, unless the figure is Cauda Draconis. In the Fifth, mirth, vivacious and gluttonous companions, new clothes, music, melodies, antique things, good according to the mind’s opinion,4 so that one couldn’t wish things to be better, unless the figure is Cauda Draconis. In the Sixth, sickness, tribulations, fears. In the Seventh, fearful things due armies or evil women; good [signification], unless Cauda or Via are there, which denote all evil in this house, unless a question has been made for a gathering, or for marriages and enemies, for otherwise they show danger. In the Eighth, evil, great wrath or death or injury, loss, hurtful words, evil tribulations, but if the figure is good, it signifies the acquisition of the inheritances of the dead. In the Ninth, something good, a firm and stable change to acquire some thing for another,5 and to negotiate some religious business or of the Church, or with ecclesiastical men or people, or with messengers or those who return from a journey, unless Cauda and Rubeus come up in a question made for a journey. In the Tenth, all good, so that the thing cannot be better, and especially for the acquisition of honor and dignity, unless Cauda or Rubeus are there. In the Eleventh, good, so that it is not better in the question propounded; for it signifies hope, a good friend, especially if it is Major, Via or Acquisitio. In the Twelfth, the querent will fall into some tribulation, or a serious illness, or the loss of some thing, or defiance from enemies; nor can the thing be worse if the figure is Cauda.
The figure in the second house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: in the Third, gain from parents, brothers, sisters or neighbors, if the figures are good, but if bad, the opposite. In the Fourth, what the querent thinks of gaining from his father, or from some great lord [he will get], if the figure is good; if bad, [he won’t get them]. In the Fifth, what the querent thinks of gaining from food, or clothes, or news that will come to him with letters, or loss by fire.6 In the Sixth, future illness of the family, or some loss, or fear, or great tribulation, or disease, or some evil thing. In the Seventh, marriage, loss from a woman, great enmity for the querent, or robbery, or the thoughts of women about lust, or quarrels, threatening words, change from place to place. In the Eighth, the return of an absent person, or of some other member of the family. In the Ninth, gain for the querent, religious or ecclesiastical, or a priest, or some other similar thing. In the Tenth, the Necromantic arts,7 or that the querent will win the love of some woman, or Lord, or great Majesty, or sciences according to the good or evil of the figures. In the Eleventh, fortune in that house, or in the family, or through the family, or through gain, or friends, or merchandise; for this is the force and power of the whole question. In the Twelfth, the imprisonment of some member of the family, or a serious illness, a serious molestation, or the destruction of someone from the family, of what you have gained, great accidents, or future tribulation and anguish.
The figure in the third house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Fourth, brothers, sisters, companions, neighbors, messengers [arriving ] to the questioner, profit or loss according to the nature of the figures. In the Fifth, joy, gladness, speedy news from friends, letters and messengers. In the Sixth, tribulation, diseases, some fear, loss through a servant, or machination, or evil enemies. In the Seventh, quarrels, change of place, there will be hatred and discord between brother and sister, anger against the questioner, marriage, etc. In the Eighth, death or danger from the past, thoughts about a woman, or about one’s enemies, or fear, and future profit from evil thoughts. In the Ninth, an occasion for the Clergy, great journeys to be made,8 benefits of the Church, some great prelate or honor. In the Tenth, brothers and sisters will attain to some arts,9 or great marriages, or great dominion, or they will become great prelates, or be exalted to honor. In the Eleventh, fortune or good favor from someone. In the Twelfth, imprisonment, long illness, occupation, or entering into [a period of] tribulation, from which there will be no easy way out.
The figure in the fourth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Fifth, the father will rejoice with his children, or an uncle, or a relative, or some friend, or the father will make a profit through his children. In the Sixth, the father will soon fall ill, or he will be forced into great labor in his house, or in the town where he lives. In the Seventh, marriage or enemies, or lascivousness, or a change of state, or a change of land. In the Eighth, mortality will enter the land10 and inheritance of the questioner, or some tribulation, or, if he is outside his country, a return. In the Ninth, the death of priests or their loss in the Church. In the Tenth, the questioner’s honor, gain, riches. In the Eleventh, the questioner will be fortunate in some profitable matter, so that he will suddenly make a profit in it, and indeed through some of his friends, or some of the querent’s friends will give letters to those living in his house, which will bring the questioner much profit. In the Twelfth, long anguish and sadness, illness, envy, betrayal of the land of some lord, or of someone of his blood, but if the figure is good, it will not do much harm.
The figure in the fifth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Sixth, disease by contusion or corrosion, or in other such ways, or news of children, the capture of some small beasts. In the Seventh, a gathering for a wedding or for trade, the joy of friends, fortune for women and children. In the Eighth, mortality, and the danger of some evil to come, the return of an absentee, and letters of joy, profit or news. In the Ninth, the son of the querent will be a cleric or a priest of the Church or a religious person, or he will make a great and long journey, or will have great joy through the honor of the Church, that is, through a man of the Church. In the Tenth, the son will have dominion, and the mother and sister will rejoice or find joy, or some assistance from [those in a position of] honor, or profit from the lord, or a prelature, or he [the son] will be a judge or teacher. In the Eleventh, the son will have dominion or fortune over his enemies, or in trade or in a similar matter or in news, or his friends will rejoice over his children. In the Twelfth, illness, imprisonment, great enemies for children, or some loss for the querent, or strangers will rejoice.11
The figure in the sixth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Seventh, disease, or the servant or the woman of the querent, or his companion, will suddenly become angry or will end up among enemies, or the querent and his woman will fall into the hands of robbers, or disgrace, which they will nevertheless escape from as much as possible. In the Eighth, the servants or the beasts of the querent will fall into danger or tribulation, pain or sadness, and he will be beaten, or he will lose some object, and he will be absent and in the company of enemies of his house, or the woman of the querent will be familiar with someone else.12 In the Ninth, the servant or the animals of the querent will make a fortunate path, diseases will befall a cleric, or will hinder his exaltation, or the servants will have the company of the clergy, and especially with good and fortunate figures, such as Acquisitio and Major. In the Tenth, those who will remain in the place about which the question was made will be sick or oppressed by some Lord.13 In the Eleventh, fortune, and your enemies will envy you. In the Twelfth, a disease among one’s animals, or the querent himself will fall ill or be imprisoned and suffer loss either through useless beasts or through a long journey.
The figure in the seventh house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Eighth, the death of one’s woman, iniquities and all those things which pertain to the seventh house, namely lost merchandise, etc. In the Ninth, the companion of the querent will return to his country, and the clergy will be enemies to the querent, or his wife will enter religious life or go on a long journey. In the Tenth, honors to those who are represented in the seventh house, or the servant of the querent will be a familiar of his wife, or of his enemies. In the Eleventh, a friend will immediately become an enemy, or someone will immediately become a friend to the querent,14 or he will gain in some matter, or will suffer some loss from his friends. In the Twelfth, occupation of large animals, or the querent will fall into a serious and long illness, or imprisonment, or a long journey, or poverty, or that some letters will bring him loss in a short time, which should be kept secret as proof.15
The figure in the eighth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Ninth, a judge of the enemies or of the woman or of the friend of the querent will attain great exaltation in the church, or he will be absent on a journey, or death threatens someone.16 In the Tenth, loss for the querent, or the death of the lord, or a defect in good will, or an impediment in some thing, or the absence of some lord. In the Eleventh, the death of the querent, or he will acquire some thing, or the inheritance of a dead man, or that while absent he will acquire friends, or that friends will restrain the hatred of the querent. In the Twelfth, secret enemies of the querent, who labor mightily to oppress him, or while absent he will be imprisoned or sick, or while imprisoned he will die.
The figure in the ninth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Tenth, being friends with priests or clerics, or the querent will suddenly marry a wife, or messengers will come from some place, or from the querent’s mother. In the Eleventh, the journey of women, or a cleric will be your friend, or your fortune will be in the church, or you will have possessions in the church. In the Twelfth, sadness during a the journey for the querent, or he will have trouble with his horse, or a cleric will be imprisoned. This is a bad place for the querent.
The figure in the tenth house means, when it is duplicated in the following houses: In the Eleventh, the house or place of some lord, the completion of his fortune and hope, or that he will be a friend to some great lord, through whom he will be fortunate. In the Twelfth, that the questioner will be shortly in great tribulation or illness, or will be imprisoned, or his enemy will be made a priest, and that the petitioner will have great loss from beasts.
A figure existing in the eleventh house signifies, when it doubles itself in the twelfth house, imprisonment, hatred of enemies, a similar thing.
MQS
Footnotes
That is, if the same figure is found in two different houses. This, as we shall see, is generally interpreted as the two houses being linked together. Some of Fludd’s interpretations are straightforward, others rather obscure. Similar chapters are often found in other handbooks of geomancy as well. Their value consists not so much in their offering interpretations that need to be memorized, but rather in the kind of mental exercise that they allow the reader to engage in. ↩︎
This sentence doesn’t mean much. Fludd is simply asserting that the signification of the link between the two houses is colored by the positive or negative meaning of the geomantic figure. ↩︎
Mutation in the sense that the figure in the First house moves to the Fourth. ↩︎
Somewhat obscure. I think Fludd means that this connection between First and Fifth houses is good concerning whatever the querent is thinking about. ↩︎
Possibly referring to a business-related journey ↩︎
The connection of the Tenth house with necromancy is unclear. ↩︎
Probably due to the connection of Third and Ninth houses, which both pertain to journeys. ↩︎
The Tenth house is the house of art in the older Aristotelean sense of poiesis, i.e., practical science, which is what allows people to gain money. In short, it is one’s learned trade. ↩︎
Joy is here brought into the equation by the Fifth house. ↩︎
That is, intimate. Older astrological texts are filled with lists of testimonies to look for to establish whether the querent’s wife is faithful, or even if he is exploring herself. I suggest we leave these things in the past. Still, from a purely didactical standpoint, Fludd’s paragraph makes sense. ↩︎
Here we see how ambiguous this type of interpretation can become if we don’t keep the question in mind: it could go either way, namely that a friend (Eleventh) becomes an enemy (Seventh) or that someone else (Seventh) becomes a friend (Eleventh). ↩︎
The bed symbolism is almost as widespread in cartomancy as that of the table, of which it is a natural counterpart. The table often stands for conviviality, nourishment, feasting and interpersonal contact, and it often represents situations happening during the day. The bed, by contrast, is a nocturnal symbol of retreat and rest, and can stand for sickness, but also for physical intimacy, depending on the other cards. As usual, it is admirable how the card readers of yore used to weave simple and effective symbols of daily life in their reading systems, which allowed them to talk about reality.
The oldest mention I could find of a card representing the bed is in a little-known system for reading Italian regional playing cards with a reduced pack of 25 (instead of the full deck of 40). In this method, the Four of Coins is the bed card. It tends to represent situations becoming static or sick, or it can talk about passion, depending on the other cards. It can also indicate that something happens in the evening or at night. Interestingly, in another system I’m aware of, this time utilizing the full pack, the Four of Coins is the table, while the Five of Wands is the bed.
In the Bolognese Tarot, which is the oldest used divination deck we have written records of, the Chariot is the bed card. This has got to be one of the most puzzling bits of symbolism of the deck: a card that is usually indicative of forward movement, travel, progress, launching forward is seen as a card of static sickness, likely due to how the chariot is represented, with the horses crouching at the sides, as if the forward movement had stopped.
Truth be told, in the oldest extant document on divination with the Bolognese tarot, which dates back to the Pre-Napoleonic period, the Chariot is still considered a card of journey, but shorter than the World card, which is assigned the meaning ‘long journey’. This may indicate that the meaning of the card evolved through time, from ‘little journey’ to ‘little movement’ to ‘not much movement’ to ‘staticity’. Another likely possibility is that different meanings were used by different strands of the tradition, one of which hadn’t yet been put down in writing. This latter possibility is confirmed by the fact that there are readers who who assign both meanings to the Chariot, depending on the cards that surround it (static cards activate the static meaning, active cards the moving, active meaning).
The bed card is also present in some of the oracle decks that originated in the XVIII century as parlor games. In the Sibilla we have two bed cards: one is the Four of Spades, the Sickness card, which interprets the symbolism of the bed in its more static and negative sense of needing to interrupt one’s routine and of situations that are not healthy. The other bed card is the Ace of Diamonds, the Room, which can indicate any room in a building, but which in itself stands for the bedroom. As an extended meaning, it is the card of intimacy, so the presence of cards indicating love or physical contact can lead to rather hot interpretations.
The Kipper deck does not have two bed cards, but it does contemplate the symbol of the bed in the card “a short sickness”, which depicts a patient in bed being visited by a doctor. This is mostly a card of sickness, but many German-language sources I’ve read consider it also an ingredient in combinations about intercourse, partly due to the presence of the bed and partly due to the doctor touching the sick man’s wrist, which is supposed to be indicative of physical contact, if supported by other cards.
Working on my review of Andrea Vitali and Terry Zanetti’s book on the Bolognese tarot I came across some interesting information that matches what some Bolognese tarot readers have confirmed.
If you read my section on the card meanings of the Bolognese tarot, you will see that I call the King of Swords “Spadino”, which literally means “little sword” or, more appropriately in this context, “little sword bearer” (the ‘bearer’ part is implied). This is because the people I have chiefly learnt from all agreed on this one name, independently from one another.
When we read Zanetti’s section on the divinatory meanings of the cards, though, we find that she calls the Page of Swords ‘Spadino’, identifying the figure with a young man. This is in contrast with the tradition I’ve received, whereby the Page of Swords is just a letter or message. Zanetti does say that the card can also sometimes signify a disquieting letter, but she chiefly identifies the Page with a young man.
The Page of Swords and the King of Swords in the Bolognese tarot / Tarocchino bolognese
I must say I find this option strangely titillating, as the Page of Swords, Spadino, would then be a male counterpart to the Page of Cups, Coppina, ‘little cup bearer’. The ending -ino, which in Italian points to something small or young, definitely fits the Page more than the King. Zanetti denies that this parallel between Coppina and Spadino exists, because the Coppina is supposed to be always negative (she’s traditionally the little floozy who snatches hubby away). But I have not found this to be the case: the Page of Cups is just a young (or younger) woman.
Ultimately, as my understanding and practice with the Bolognese tarot evolves, I know I will have to create my own deck (all traditional readers seem to have done so, preserving a part of tradition and integrating it with their own discernment and experience). Tradition is, after all, not something fixed, but something that is handed over to us (from the Latin tradere) and that we must administer intelligently.
Another interesting fact is that Zanetti emphasizes the intellectual aspect of Spadino, calling the card “young man and his thoughts”. This is in contrast with what I’ve learned from Germana Tartari, my teacher for the 50-card method, whose grandma taught her that the Knight of Swords can sometimes represent the King of Swords’ thoughts, in a kind of parallel to the Knight of Wands being the thoughts of the King of Wands.
The fact that so many traditions seem to exist should not discourage us from engaging with them. Keep in mind that the Bolognese tarot tradition evolved locally, with each city, village or even street having slightly different versions of it. Thus, this is less a matter of who is right or wrong and more one of systemic preference and whether integrating different system together leads to new systems that work, or whether it is best to keep them separate. This is something that can be established only through trial and error.
This is a recurrent question I get. Some people are of the opinion that reading decks have something akin to a shelf life, after which they stop answering or they become impregnated with negative energy from all the readings. I often get asked if this is the case.
To which my answer is: under normal circumstances, your deck will keep answering you (or at least it will keep working, even if it occasionally snubs your questions) for as long as you use it. This has been my experience, as well as that of all my teachers, and I’ve had the good luck having many teachers.
My first teacher, from whom I learned to read playing cards and the Sibilla, followed the Italian tradition that divination decks need to be old, must have been used to play at the local inn and the people playing with them must have covered them in offensive swearwords (read here my hypothesis on why this tradition exists).
This obviously doesn’t apply to the Sibilla, since Sibilla decks, as well as similar decks like Lenormand or Kipper cards, are pretty much the only card decks specifically designed for divination. But tarot was a playing card game, and playing cards… well, it’s in the name, and so, according to my teacher, they needed to be “giocati e bestiemmati” (played with and offended with swearwords). And after you got a hold of one such deck, you probably were going to use it for as long as you lived.
When I started learning the tarot, my other teacher held on to her first deck as if it was a relic, and it did answer her beautifully. She was of the opinion, however, that the deck could stop answering correctly or become more negative in its answers if you read for many people with a tragic life. When this happened, she usually took the deck to church and had it blessed by the priest. I honestly cannot say I ever needed this, but there you have it.
As for the Bolognese tarot, I do not know what deck the person who taught me the 45-card system used, but I do know that my teacher for the 50-card system still uses her grandmother’s deck. Another person I am in contact with, who uses 49 cards, still uses the deck her teacher gifted her.
As for me, I have a conservative outlook on life, and I don’t throw away something unless I really, really have to. The Sibilla deck I use is the one I bought when I started learning, and while I don’t insist on always using the same playing card deck, I still occasionally whip out my old one.
Still, there are people who believe decks can stop working after a while, including people I admire (see Josephine MacCarthy). Is there anything to it? Obviously, much depends on the theoretical framework one uses for their magical activities (which includes divination).
I was taught that divination (any divination) can stop working if you are the recipient of a curse, but that’s an extreme scenario. More often, the people who complain about their deck going lazy on them tend to torture them with repeated questions on the same topic over and over.
As much as skeptics may point out that this is proof that divination doesn’t work because it cannot be repeated ad libitum in lab conditions, it is simply how it is: if you annoy the deck it will stop answering. This simple fact shows, at least in my opinion, that there is something alive attached to the deck.
Usually, in traditional divination folklore, we would say that the deck has a little spirit hidden inside. And while this may sound like a childish explanation, it is the one that best explains my experience, as well as being perfectly in line with traditional hermetic principles. The point is that while many valiant attempts have been made at explaining divination using more or less recognized principles (see Jung’s views), we are at work with something we don’t fully understand. Some level of respect is due to this something, if for nothing else than to keep the work environment positive with whatever it is.
(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 Ten of Cups from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck
Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)
The time period is the third decanate of Pisces, from March 11 to March 20, under the sub-rulership of Mars in its Scorpio aspect. The meanings are unfortunate unless the divination refers to spiritual matters; for the combined forces of Mars, Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces on the physical levels, while they mean tremendous power of desire and sometimes the satisfaction of desire, point rather to unbalanced force than otherwise, Well-Dignified: if relating to spiritual matters, permanent and lasting success through inspiration from higher levels of consciousness; high psychic development; realization of the highest aspirations; happiness. On questions at a lower level, even if well dignified: great ambition; ultra sensitiveness; great power of realizing desires, but equally great danger of misusing that power. lll-Dignified: in spiritual questions, danger from psychism; probability of being injured mentally through unwise attempts at meditation. On all other questions: danger of self-undoing from psychism; prodigality; possibility of being influenced by others through the desire-nature; tendency to drug habits and drunkenness; disgust resulting from overindulgence; excess in pleasure. Keyword: Excess . (From The Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstacy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond. Divinatory Meanings: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent. Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
The Ten of Cups from the Rider Waite Smith tarot
Aleister Crowley
The Ten of Cups is called Satiety. Its attribution is Mars in Pisces. The watery sign has sunk into a stagnant dream, but in it broods and breeds the violent quality of Mars, to putrefy it. As it is written: “Until a dart strike through his liver.” The pursuit of pleasure has been crowned with perfect success; and constantly it is discovered that, having got everything that one wanted, one did not want it after all; now one must pay.
[…]
This card represents a conflicting element. On the one hand, it receives the influence of the Ten, Malkah the Virgin. The arrangement of the cups is that of the Tree of Life. But, on the other hand, they are themselves unstable. They are tilted; they spill the water from the great Lotus which overhangs the whole system from one into the other.
The work proper to water is complete: and disturbance is due. This comes from the influence of Mars in Pisces. Mars is the gross, violent and disruptive force which inevitably attacks every supposed perfection. His energy displays the greatest possible contrast with that of Pisces, which is both peaceful and spiritualized. (From The Book of Thoth)
The Ten of Cups from the Thoth tarot deck
Golden Dawn’s Book T
HAND, as usual, holding bunch of water-lilies or lotuses, whose flowers pour a white water into all the cups, which “all run over.” The uppermost cup is held sideways by a hand, and pours water into the left-hand upper cup. A single lotus flower surmounts the top cup, and is the source of the water that fills it. Above and below the symbols Mars and Pisces.
Permanent and lasting success and happiness, because inspired from above. Not so sensual as “Lord of Material Happiness,” yet almost more truly happy. Pleasure, dissipation, debauchery, quietness, peacemaking. Kindness, pity, generosity, wantonness, waste, etc., according to dignity.
Malkuth of HB:H (Matter settled: complete good fortune). Herein the Great Angels HB:a’aShLYH and HB:MYHAL rule.
Etteilla
The city Upright. In terms of spiritual medicine, this card, in its natural position, signifies: City, City Center, Homeland, Country, Town, Village, Place, Site, Dwelling, Home, Residence. – Citizen, Group of citizens, City dweller. Reversed. Anger, Indignation, Agitation, Irritation, Outburst of rage, Wrath, Violence.
