When we give a reading about extraordinary questions like the occult or the paranormal, it is easy to fall into the trap of wanting to confirm the querent’s bias or subjective experience.
This is why I tend to avoid queries about such things as past lives: for one, I don’t believe in reincarnation, or rather, I believe that the soul of the world constantly reincarnates through every individual that is born, but I don’t believe in the existence of seprate or individual souls that reincarnate karmically; for two, I fail to see the importance of knowing about what one might have been in a previous life; for three, suppose I tell someone that they were an illiterate farmer, when another reader convinced them they were a cool witch who was burned at the stake for her mystical powers, how is the querent going to choose who is right apart from their whim of the moment?
Still, certain topics, such as magic or spirits, are within my tradition and I do believe in them, so I accept readings, but I warn querents that the likelihood of something of the sort happening in their life is very low even if they go looking for it, let alone randomly.
This one querent thought there is a ghost haunting the third floor of the building she moved to. This is the spread that came out:
A card reading about a ghost
As can be seen, even without interpreting the spread, there is no trace of haunting in the cards. The final two cards, the Nine of Diamonds and the Ten of Diamonds, are a lucky combination, they can show success, protection or even simply the fact that the “energy” is clean, not charged with magical or paranormal forces. The querent shows up at the beginning of the spread with the Three of Diamonds, which is a doubtful card in this context. It makes me think more about random things that she, the Queen, misinterpreted.
The Jack of Hearts is even more doubtful. It could show the presence of a child (a living child, that is) or an animal (again, a living one) who does something the querent misinterprets. The querent said that there are both children and animals in the building, so that’s a possibility. Frankly, I should have either added cards or done another spread.
Still, this is enough to make me think that there is a non-paranormal explanation for the querent’s experience, so the spread is enough to answer the question in that regard.
The funny thing is that, after the reading, the querent started talking to me like I am not very competent at reading cards. I am obviously open to being wrong, and I understand that it must be frustrating being told that one’s subjective experience is probably the result of a misinterpretation (it must feel like ‘gaslighting’, to employ an overused word). All I could do was trying to be as understanding as I could in delivering the answer.
After all, for every instance of real haunting or real magic (at least, real according to the oracle) there are thousands of cases of people who spend years burning sage to smoke out a presence that isn’t there, yet the ghost who isn’t there often ends up influencing their life more than those that are there.
(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 Seven 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 Aquarius, February 9 to 18, under the rulership of Venus. Well-Dignified: partial success; the Querent is too easy-going or does not draw sufficiently on his reserve force; he has good opportunities but may not make the most of them; he is likely to compromise too easily. Ill-Dignified: love of ease and display cause loss; the Querent suffers from the insolence of others and may be insolent himself; there is danger that his own confidence may be betrayed, or that he may be led into betraying the confidence of others. Keyword: Instability. (From the Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand. Divinatory Meanings: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other. Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
The Seven of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith tarot
Aleister Crowley
The Seven of Swords is called Futility. This is a yet weaker card than the Seven of Wands. It has a passive sign instead of an active one, a passive planet instead of an active one. It is like a rheumatic boxer trying to “come back” after being out of the ring for years. Its ruler is the Moon. The little energy that it possesses is no more than dream-work; it is quite incapable of the sustained labour which alone, bar miracles, can bring any endeavour to fruition. The comparison with the Seven of Wands is most instructive.
[…]
Netzach, in the suit of Swords, does not represent such catastrophe as in the other suits, for Netzach, the Sephira of Venus, means victory. There is, therefore, a modifying influence; and this is accentuated by the celestial rule of the Moon in Aquarius.
The intellectual wreckage of the card is thus not so vehement as in the Five. There is vacillation, a wish to compromise, a certain toleration. But, in certain circumstances, the results may be more disastrous than ever. This naturally depends upon the success of the policy. This is always in doubt as long as there exist violent, uncompromising forces which take it as a natural prey.
This card, like the Four, suggests the policy of appeasement. The symbol shows six Swords with their hilts in crescent formation. Their points meet below the centre of the card, impinging upon a blade of a much larger up-thrusting sword, as if there were a contest between the many feeble and the one strong. He strives in vain. (From the Book of Thoth)
The Seven of Swords from the Thoth tarot deck
Golden Dawn’s Book T
TWO Angelic Radiating Hands as before, each holding three swords. A third hand holds up a single sword in the centre. The points of all the swords “just touch” each other, the central sword not altogether dividing them. The Rose of the previous symbols of this suit is held up by the same hand which holds the central sword: as if the victory were at its disposal. Symbols of Moon and Aquarius.
Partial success. Yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserves of strength were used up. Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining, through not continuing the effort. Love of abundance, fascinated by display, given to compliments, affronts and insolences, and to spy upon others. Inclined to betray confidences, not always intentionally. Rather vacillatory and unreliable. Netzach of HB:V (Journey by land: in character untrustworthy). Herein rule the Great Angels HB:HHHAL and HB:Ma’aKAL.
Etteilla
Hope Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Hope, Expectation, Expectation, Pretending, Founding, Overestimating, Founding, Designing, Willing, Wanting, Wishing, Vowing, Wanting, Taste, Fantasy. Reversed. Wise opinion, Good advice, Salutary warnings, Instruction, Lesson. – Observation, Reflection, Note, Caution, Thoughtfulness. – Reprehension, Reprimand. – News, Announcement, Posting. – Consultation, Admonition.
Nothing prohibits anyone from using whatever spread they prefer, or even just from laying out a row of cards. However, traditionally, the smallest spread used with the Bolognese Tarot is the thirteen card spread, which is a small tableau of cards used to answer a specific question or explore a specific theme (although nothing prevents you from laying it out for a general reading. It will respond anyway). This is a spread I have already presented, and it is one that is used with many decks in Central and Northern Italy in particular. The layout is as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
The Thirteen Card Spread
Some readers take out the significator for the querent or even the significator for the question and put them on top of the layout (above card 2) before starting to shuffle. I prefer to have all cards in the deck and have not found it necessary, but feel free to experiment.
The cards may be read in rows or in columns, and which direction is the primary one depends on which tradition you come from. Personally I tend to see rows as the primary reading direction, but I will look at columns if there is clear information contained in them. I have found that the columns tend to describe the situation rather than to predict it. But don’t force yourself to read in every direction possible: simply read the information where it is found, and leave the rest.
There is no strict differentiation between past, present and future. However, I have found, personally, that at least the first row, or sometimes two (and on occasion even three), contains the past or present of the situation. Occasionally the cards simply jump ahead into the future from the start.
Be open about it: it may sound confusing in theory but in practice it is often quite clear. For instance, if you see the cards changing from good to bad or vice versa (or simply changing “tone”) in the first row or two, that’s usually a sign that the cards before the change happens are the past/present, and the others the future. In doubt, simply ask the querent: we are not there to play Nostradamus, so it’s fine to ask for help in interpreting the spread.
The final card, number 13, doesn’t have any specific preassigned meaning. However, I have found that it can either simply be a regular part of the spread (simply coming after card 12 or under card 11), or it can highlight an important detail, or something that will be true, regardless of what the previous cards say. For instance, if the spread is a disaster but the thirteenth card is good, it can tell us the querent will have some kind of satisfaction, or will be protected.
Yes-or-No Questions
Now we come to an odd bit of tradition. I will relay it as it has been taught to me, and then I’ll give you my two cents. Although the thirteen card spread is not unique to the Bolognese Tarot, the Bolognese Tarot adds another layer to the spread.
This is relevant only when the question is a yes-or-no question. If it is, then, according to some traditions, the answer is yes if the Death card comes up in the spread or while cutting the deck (it says: “yes, as sure as the fact we all die”). If the Angel card comes up, according to some it’s a maybe, while according to others it’s a no but with positive developments; if the Death and Angel cards both come up, not necessarily together, it’s the best possible outcome (a super yes, as it were). If neither card comes up, it’s a no.
Some also add that if the Death card doesn’t come up but the Angel and Devil card come up in the spread, not necessarily together, it’s also a yes (the Devil card alone would be a no, but if you remember the combinations, Angel+Devil means good news or satisfaction). Others still also believe the answer is yes if three or four Kings come up in the spread.
Now I’m going to tell you what my experience is. My experience is that there is something to these rules, but it is not all so cut-and-dry. The spread always needs to be interpreted as describing a concrete situation, and the yes or no comes from our evalutation of whether the picture presented by the cards matches what the querent wants or not. It’s happened more than once that the Death card was present but the answer (confirmed by experience) was a no, or vice versa, the answer was yes with no yes-marker present.
Focus on interpreting the cards. If the Death card comes up, what does it say in the context? Does it show some sharp change? Does it show inner suffering? Does it confirm something? If so, look at the cards around it: what is it saying yes to? Sometimes it is obvious that the Death card comes up for no reason other than to say “yes” to the question, while at other times it is a regular card, like the others. Again, be flexible, record your experience and learn from it.
As a diviner, I have no objection to making predictions about what is likely to happen. I see the current taboo about the future as a mix of delusion and ignorance. Our current culture comes at the tail-end of the myth of the self-made man that has animated much of our recent (and even not-so-recent) past. This myth has strongly influenced the Zeitgeist of the current occult wave, which started at the end of the XVIII century and continues, though declining–putrefying, even–to this day.
The occult developments have in turn trickled down into pop spirituality and have fostered the belief, now extremely popular, that all it takes to change one’s reality is to tune into the wavelength where one’s delusion corresponds to objective facts, and that nothing about one’s identity is more than a socially-conditioned self-identification that can be simply deconstructed and cast off like a cloak in favor of something else as the whim of the day dictates.
This implies the idea that the future is a completely blank slate and that therefore divination can only be used as a tool for self-reflection on the present to facilitate this process of self-making and self-remaking. Unfortunately, the self-reflection in question regularly resolves itself into simply telling the querent what they already think or would like to think of themselves, but packaged in empowering language within a context in which they assume they are communing with divinity. “Wow, the Gods think exactly the same as I do! How wise!”
Anyone who lives in actual reality and has spent five minutes reflecting on it know that this view of existence is demonstrably false (although, like many false things, it contains faint traces of truth). Each of us has a path in life that is unique, containing specific challenges and opportunities, possibilities and impossibilities. Divination is good at detecting these patterns and their likely outcome in the near future.
Still, I find that there is value in employing traditional divination in exploring the present. The language of traditional divination is frank, crisp and concrete, as it comes from a deep understanding of the fact that, if what is above is as what is below and what is within is as what is without, then what is above or within cannot be a metaphysical soup of saccarine inanities, but must correspond to the complex interplay of pleasure and sorrow of the below and without.
In other words, if a tiktok psychic might tell you that you always end up with the wrong guy because you have a soul contract that stipulates that you need to come into contact with your inner queen, traditional divination is more than happy to let you know that it’s because you are a basic harlot who chooses basic idiots.
This is not to say that there is a god or a spirit judging the querent through us or through the oracle: it is merely a dispassionate look at your life from a dispassionate observer on a simple example of causality. It also does not imply that we, as diviners, shouldn’t learn to speak with tact and diplomacy. However, the employment of actual divination techniques allows us to shed light on the querent’s present in terms that might actually be helpful to them.
We never leave a divination session unaltered. The knowledge we gain changes us necessarily: me knowing about X is not the same as me not knowing about it. If X is in my hands, then knowing about it can give me some power over it. If it isn’t in my hands, then knowing about it gives me awareness of the limits that define my unique path through life. That’s growth, too.
(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 Seven 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 Scorpio, November 11 to November 20, under the subrulership of the Moon. Well-Dignified: possible victory, but the person to whom the card applies may be too indolent to take advantage of his opportunities for commanding circumstance. Success may be gained, but not followed up; necessity for choosing only the highest objectives. lll-Dignified: illusionary success; lying and deceit; drunkenness; violence, even lust. Keyword: Illusion (From the Oracle of Tarot course)
A. E. Waite
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit. Divinatory Meanings: Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested. Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project. (From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)
The Seven of Cups from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Aleister Crowley
The Seven of Cups is called Debauch. This is one of the worst ideas that one can have; its mode is poison, its goal madness. It represents the delusion of Delirium Tremens and drug addiction; it represents the sinking into the mire of false pleasure. There is something almost suicidal in this card. It is particularly bad because there is nothing whatever to balance it-no strong planet to hold it up. Venus goes after Venus, and Earth is churned into the scorpion morass.
[…]
This card refers to the Seven, Netzach, in the suit of Water. Here recurs the invariable weakness arising from lack of balance; also, the card is governed by Venus in Scorpio. Her dignity is not good in this Sign; one is reminded that Venus is the planet of Copper, “external splendour and internal corruption”. The Lotuses have become poisonous, looking like tiger-lilies; and, instead of water, green slime issues from them and overflows, making the Sea a malarious morass. Venus redoubles the influence of the number Seven.
The cups are iridescent, carrying out the same idea. They are arranged as two descending triangles interlaced above the lowest cup, which is very much larger than the rest. This card is almost the “evil and averse” image of the Six; it is a wholesome reminder of the fatal ease with which a Sacrament may be profaned and prostituted.
Lose direct touch with Kether, the Highest; diverge never so little from the delicate balance of the Middle Pillar; at once the holiest mysteries of Nature become the obscene and shameful secrets of a guilty conscience. (From The Book of Thoth)
The Seven of Cups from the Thoth Tarot
Golden Dawn’s Book T
THE seven cups are arranged as two descending triangles above a point: a hand, as usual, holds lotus stems which arise from the central lower cup. The hand is above this cup and below the middle one. With the exception of the central lower cup, each is overhung by a lotus flower, but no water falls from these into any of the cups, which are all quite empty. Above and below are the symbols of the Decanate Venus and Scorpio.
Possible victory, but neutralized by the supineness of the person: illusionary success, deception in the moment of apparent victory. Lying, error, promises unfulfilled. Drunkenness, wrath, vanity. Lust, fornication, violence against women, selfish dissipation, deception in love and friendship. Often success gained, but not followed up. Modified as usual by dignity.
Netzach of HB:H (Lying, promises unfulfilled; illusion, deception, error; slight success at outset, not retained). Herein the Angels HB:MLHAL and HB:ChHVYH rule.
Etteilla
Thought Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Thought, Soul, Spirit, Intelligence, Idea, Memory, Imagination, Understanding, Conception, Meditation, Contemplation, Reflection, Deliberation, Viewpoint, Opinion, Feeling. Reversed. Plan, Design, Intention, Desire, Will, Resolution, Determination, Forethought.
In this article I discussed a horary reading I did for myself on whether the new house we moved to would be good. My interpretation was that the house was generally good, but that there might be problems with the neighbors due to Saturn, ruler of the third house, afflicting the cusp. It turned out that the neighbors were normal people, it seemed, and that there was a problem with the manager.
Well, that was until last week, when the new manager contacted my husband, who represents the homeowners, to tell him that one of our neighbors hasn’t been paying his share of the bills for some months. Hopefully we won’t have to end up in front of a judge, but it is turning out to be quite an annoyance.
There is a small lesson to be learned, I think, from this whole thing. Often when I read for others, they contact me after a week telling me that they were excited about the prediction but nothing has come to pass. It is easy, right after a reading, to forget that readings can take months (sometimes many months) to materialize.
This is also where we, as readers, need to be honest with the querent. It is easy to turn our sitters into addicts hanging on to our every word, asking for a reading on whether they should shift their weight on their right or left ass cheek when sitting on the toilet, needing to be reassured every week of what we are saying.
Personally, I rarely accept to redo readings unless enough time has passed, or unless something absolutely new and unforeseen comes up that I hadn’t predicted. Still, it is normal for querents (and for us, when we are the querent) to assume that the first thing that happens is the materialization of the final result instead of a step in its unfoldment.
Fludd discusses the meanings of Populus, Via, Conjunctio and Carcer in the various houses.
Populus
In the First House, a multitude of thoughts about water, journeys, peoples and nations. In the Second House, with good (figures), a much fortune and riches; with evil much trouble. In the Third House, multitude of relatives, neighbors, and little journeys, both good and bad, according to the nature of the figures.1
In the Fourth House, abundance of water, laboring for an inheritance, fruits, according to figures. In the Fifth House, a multitude of children, letters and news, joy or sorrow, kisses and embraces, gathering of people for delights and joys, fruits, according to figures, and so on in the rest according to figures. In the Sixth House, a number of animals, slaves, sickness, injuries, and other things according to the figures.
In the Seventh House, a multitude of people gathered, women, enemies, good or bad according to the nature of the figures. In the Eighth House, a multitude of people assembled for a death, or a multitude of good or evil, according to the goodness or malice of the figures. In the Ninth House, a multitude of journeys, dreams, knowledge, people on the way, multitudes.
In the Tenth House, a multitude of enemies, kings, of people before judges, doctrines, assembly for good or for evil, according to figures. In the Eleventh House, a multitude of friends, good fortune, beasts, servants, children, or inconveniences, according to the nature of the figures which have been found in the vicinity.2 In the Twelfth House, a multitude of enemies, inconvenience, long imprisonment, tears, debts, beasts, and slaves.
In the Thirteenth House, much profit to him that goes to any magnate,3 of loss, change, and the like. In the Fourteenth House, a multitude of people, assembled, either for good or for evil, according to the figures next to it. In the Fifteenth House a multitude of good or evil, a gathering of people for good or for evil, according to the figure from which it comes, for if it comes from good figures, it denotes much good, if from bad, the opposite.
Note that this figure, found in the first house, represents a merchant of various things passing through the countryside.
Via
In the First House, a good journey, little profit, thoughts of small fruits. In the Second House, loss or gain, according to the neighboring figures. In the Third House, brothers, neighbors, water, a good journey, light4 business, journeys for a brother or cousin, comparison of wealth.5
In the Fourth House, parents, labors, lands, the concealment of tainted things, the end of things, poverty, poor parents, poor inheritance. In the Fifth house, letters, messages of little importance, little fruits, poor manners, poor children, little joy. In the Sixth House, poor animals, bad luck, unstable servants, sudden increase of disease, deliverance from disease,6 misfortune of animals.
In the Seventh House, robbers, poor women, little sense,7 poor and weak enemies, a harlot, death of robbers. In the Eighth House, poverty in a foreign country, loss of inheritance. In the Ninth House, a change of letters,8 messengers of little knowledge, a good journey, benefit of the church, little gain and profit
In the Tenth House, small offices, little profit from lords and noble women, an old judge, little wisdom, loss in any thing. In the Eleventh House, poor friends, little fortune, little profit, gifts of merchandise and letters of joy. In the Twelfth House, useless animals, poor friends, easily coming out of prison, liberation from debts or from misery, and sometimes death in prison, according to the good or bad figures around, and from whom it is generated.9
In the Thirteenth House, profitable journeys and changes. In the Fourteenth House, loss in any matter, according to good or bad figures. In the Fifteenth House, travel, good outcome according to the figures from which it comes.
Note that when Via is found in the First House, it means a changeable, false and poor person.
Conjunctio
In the First House, a man of good speech, eloquence, subtlety, art and goodness, and if it is combined with good figures, goodness of heart and friends. In the Second House, the acquisition of good fortune, profits in commerce. In the Third House, the good will of relatives, the gathering of relatives and neighbors.
In the Fourth House a good path, a good end, a good friend, a profitable inheritance and legal proceedings, letters for inheritance. In the Fifth House, letters, news, gathering of good people. In the Sixth House, a long illness, evil servants and robbers.10
In the Seventh House, good company, thieves and subtle and eloquent enemies, whether in litigation or in battle. In the Eighth House, a gathering to divide the property of the dead. In the Ninth House, knowledge, a bad journey, robbers on the road, knowledge and eloquence in clerics and ecclesiastical men.
In the Tenth House, the service of lords, kings and profits in teaching or profession. In the Eleventh House, good luck, the gathering of all things, conjunction of love.11 In the Twelfth House, prisons, bad journey, bad assembly, bad people and bad life.
In the Thirtteenth House, goods and profits from one’s lord. In the Fourteenth House, a lot of luck in love and work. In the Fifteenth House, good luck in good things, bad in bad things according to the figures.
Note, when this figure is found in the First House, it signifies a prudent man, a clerk, or occupied in an office for money, of moderate build, as quickly consuming his fortunes as he is acquiring them, skilled in the liberal arts, and so on.
Carcer
In the First House, loss and imprisonment of men, timidity, sadness, sadness of heart, secret thoughts, hindrance of journey. In the Second House, servitude in all secret things, and thoughts of love of money.12 In the Third House, love of parents and profit, the love of God, hindrance and retardation of the journey, greedy brothers and neighbors.
In the Fourth House, inheritance, hidden treasures, underground houses, hidden and dark places, good inheritance. In the Fifth House, a few children, a pregnant woman, writing letters and news, rude people, raw food, dirty clothes, secret love affairs. In the Sixth House, disease in prison, a pregnant woman, a useless servant, a bad man and woman, death or a long illness, disease in a man’s secret place,13 a brute.
In the Seventh House, accidents, bad company, adultery and secret fornication with another’s woman, secret enemies, a vile thief who is caught in his robbery, ships going on water.14 In the Eighth House, death, inheritance of the dead, bad profits in a foreign land, fear of death. In the Ninth House, a road or journey from the country, death, letters and secret knowledge, secret roads, obstacles on the way, sadness in the church, sad and dangerous dreams, good sense.
In the Tenth House, good fortune, strength of dominion, a sad judge, secret opinions, dishonorable offices. In the Eleventh House, profitable friends, little profit from lords, profitable in trade through travels, gathering of good kings. In the Twelfth House, prisons, debts, graves, evil beasts, incurable disease, long imprisonment, long debts, secret enemies, but timid by nature.
In the Thirteenth House, profitable journeys, brothers and friends, gathering of good things, sad and secret thoughts. In the Fourteenth House, various thoughts, imprisonment with sadness and pain and work, debts and obligations, and these especially when it doesn*t come from good figures. In the Fifteenth House, much fire15 and destruction.
Note, when this figure is in the First House, it signifies a dark man, with a thick head, curly hair, and often ignorant carpenters, or otherwise working with wood.
General rule
It must be noted that good or evil, profit or loss, is promised through each house, according to the nature of the figures with which the figure of each house is conjoined, or from which it is generated.
MQS
Footnotes
Fludd often repeats this, but it is not always clear what other figures he means. Occasionally it seems he hints at the fact that the whole shield must be looked at and judged to see if it is broadly good or bad. ↩︎
It is not clear if Fludd is hinting at the doctrine of the company of houses. ↩︎
