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Video: The Vera Sibilla Twos
Tag Archives: Gypsy Cards
Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate Protection or Improvement
Two of Hearts – The House
In most situations, the House card is relatively neutral, as it often indicates the person’s home environment or family, or some other place depending on the combinations. However, in itself the card, when upright, symbolizes a protective environment where the querent feels safe and taken care of. Figuratively, it shows situations that are solid, positive and protective (so you feel at home).
Eight of Hearts – Hope
The Hope card’s main meaning is that of representing the hopes and wishes of the querent, and the cards following it will tell us if they come true or not. However, it also indicates the solution of trouble or compensation for it, as the card says “there is hope”. This is especially the case when the Eight of Hearts comes up after a negative sequence of cards. Sometimes the Hope card’s intervention may not be enough to give us what we want, but it will make sure that we come out of a situation still alive and breathing, and with some kind of hope.
King of Hearts – The Gentleman
The King of Hearts is, in most situation, a neutral person card, indicating a married man or an older man. However, it does indicate someone who has our interest at heart (unless it is reversed or surrounded by cards of dubious moral quality). He is the archetype of the philanthropist who is out to help others. For this reason, in spiritual readings, it represents God or a saint.
Two of Clubs – The Peacock
The best card in the deck, the Two of Clubs represents divine intervention (due to its symbolism of completeness and rebirth). It often shows up to protect us from the worst that could happen, or to increase the quality of something that is already good. It often shows positive undercurrents that do not manifest immediately in all their positive import, but which will save us, protect us or enrich us when they do manifest. For this reason it is known as the talisman card.
Five of Clubs – Fortune
While the Two of Clubs indicates divine intervention, the Five of Clubs represents gifts from heaven in the form of good luck. It often indicates positive turns of events, a turn of the wheel that brings us something we want us, or at least something good. Unlike the Two of Clubs, it retains its positivity when reversed, but it becomes delayed or less blatant, maybe a bit less satisying
Seven of Clubs – Gratification
The Seven of Clubs is a card of satisfaction, but it also represents our ability to reach our aims and ambitions in the real world. It represents the achievement of goals and reaching of landmarks in one’s life (marriage, promotion, property, recognition, etc.) However, the card can also represent “a light at the end of the tunnel” when it falls after negative cards, indicating, as it were, our ability to pick ourselves up.
Ten of Clubs Reversed – Levity
The Butterfly is a symbol of carefreeness, lack of focus and lack of attention. When it is reversed, however, it shows carefulness with one’s finances and, even more importantly, the arrival of good occasions that need to be seized. Although it is not a card of protection per se, it does show us a way out (a new therapy, a new job opportunity, a new meeting, etc.)
Three of Diamonds Reversed – The Gift
Again, not a card of protection, but still a welcome sight. It shows situations that somehow sort themselves out, at least in part. It is a relatively weak card, so the presence of very difficult situations may be mitigated only in part, and often it shows some kind of improvement rather than triumph.
Four of Diamonds Reversed – Falsehood
When upright, the cat brings falseness and negativity in general. Negativity is to be understood broadly as situations that are negative or bad for us (even when there is no direct lying involved). When it is reversed, the same card brings positivity, relief, solution of trouble.
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The New Doctor (Example Reading)
I find it funny how sometimes the Sibilla just steamrolls you with just three cards. A friend of mine had an appointment at a new psychiatric clinic and wanted to know if the new doctor was any good:
I don’t there is much need for interpretation here: the change brings her to someone who is her enemy. Doesn’t mean he will tie her to the train track, but he is not reliable (Butterfly). Interestingly, she was under the impression she was going to be visited by a female doctor, but it turned out that one had too much on her hand, so my friend ended up with the male enemy. In her words, he is probably the one who needs a psychiatrist.
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Vera Sibilla Cards That Become Better When Reversed
In some card-based divination systems, reversals carry a negative connotation. Reversed cards are said to either decrease the influence or deteriorate the positive aspects of the card. The Vera Sibilla does not adhere to this view. Reversed cards have peculiar meanings which may sometimes be even unrelated to the upright counterpart, at least at first (in reality, if you think about it, you will almost always find the correlation).
Consequently, some Sibilla cards are actually better when reversed than when they are upright, at least generally speaking. Sometimes this better connotation is general, while at other times it refers to specific topics. Here are some examples.
Ace of Clubs – Marriage
The Ace of Clubs reversed is not automatically better than when upright, and on occasion it may even be worse. However, it carries a connotation of materiality that can be very welcome in readings about wealth or about physical relations (as opposed to legal/spiritual relations when the card is upright.)
Three of Clubs – The Journey
The Journey card in the Vera Sibilla usually refers to physical movement, though it can sometimes represent a change of heart or a change of pace. When it falls reversed in a reading, it can indicate trouble when journeying, but its broader meaning is that of positive evolution of a situation. The card is powerfully benefic and it can free us from vicious cycles and other sticky situations.
Four of Clubs – The Friend
When upright, the Friend card can refer to a literal (female) friend or to the idea of friendship and support in general. When it is reversed, it indicates help, recommendations, being taken care of. Usually, the help represented by the reversed card is more on the material side, or it can show in the form of a professional’s advice.
Ten of Clubs – Levity
The Butterfly is a problematic card in the deck, as it shows lack of focus, fleeting situations. Reversed, it can represent a serious effort, the ability to hold on to your money and, more broadly, to fleeting situations that bring positive chances. If I were to liken this reversed card to a geomantic figure, I would choose Fortuna Minor.
Three of Diamonds – The Gift
The Gift card is generally positive when upright. When it is reversed, however, it does not diminish, but rather increases its positive significance. It indicates the solution of problems, especially material problems. When it is upright, the gift usually comes from someone, whereas the reversed Gift card shows the gift coming to us from the situation itself, which becomes more positive or less complicated.
Four of Diamonds – Falsehood
The upright Falsehood card is rarely neutral and almost never positive. When it is reversed, however, it shows the positive unmasking of lying, the discovering (usually in time) of hidden factors that could have caused harm and, in general, it shows situations that end with a sigh of relief.
Ace of Spades – Sorrow
The Ace of Spades is a very difficult card to receive in one’s reading. When it is reversed, the blow is softened. The sorrow of the title is still there, but it is dimeanished diminished and can be overcome. It is also a symbol of toil and focused struggle or work as opposed with just crying with your head in your hands.
Four of Spades – Sickness
When it comes up reversed, the Four of Spades has a variety of meanings, some of which negative, though less legative than when the card is upright. However, when it is followed by positive cards, it can represent the end of a stagnant and blocked situation.
Six of Spades – Sighs
My experience has shown that the reversed Six of Spades is one of the most complex cards in the deck. Although it can have negative meanings (see here an example), broadly speaking it indicates the end of sighs. It shows moving on, overcoming torment, accepting what you cannot change, etc.
Nine of Spades – Prison
Like the Four of Spades, the Nine of Spades reversed can have a variety of meanings. However, in and by itself, this card represents the end of imprisonment, freedom and having paid your dues/done your time, literally or figuratively.
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A Long Long Time (Reading Example)
Sometimes in readings it’s not immediately clear whether the cards start by describing the past, present or future. There are times when they jump immediately into the future, while at other times they only talk about past and present situations and we need to keep adding cards to find out what happens next. More often, though, the cards start with the past/present and then move on to the prediction, or at least this is my experience.
In this case I was asked by a querent if she would find a job. Note that I started with five cards and then added more to get more details, but I here want to concentrate on the first five:
The first four cards (Widower, Perseverance, Fortune and Death) deserve special attention. The Widower is the card of “being without”. It also has some affinity with the past, especially when it falls toward the beginning of the spread. The Perseverance card can sometimes indicate that something goes on for a long time (it perseveres). Usually this happens when the cards surrounding it have the same polarity or talk about the same thing.
In this case, the Fortune card is not the same polarity as the Widower, since the former is positive and the latter negative. However, Fortune is followed by Death, showing misfortune or lost chances. In this case, it’s as if Fortune + Death formed a single (negative) card, which is of the same polarity as the Widower.
Therefore the Perseverance card highlights the fact that the querent is without (work) and has been for quite a while, and has repeatedly lost chances or opportunities, or has had repeated misfortunes connected to her career. She confirmed to me that she hadn’t found a job since giving birth to her daughter a few years ago. Actually, she hadn’t looked that much for a job, but whenever she had she had been passed over in favor of someone else.
The Child card is a card of beginning, and in a way it shows the start of a new phase. This fact is highlighted by the Death card being at the end of a negative sequence, so that while it is a negative card in itself (because it follows the Fortune card) it also ends the negative period thanks to being followed by the Child.
The cards following the first five simply described the work environment and the various ups and downs she will face, but they are less interesting.
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Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate Negative Feelings
I already made a post about positive feelings. This is a follow-up on the other side of the coin. As usual, this isn’t meant to be exhaustive. Note that many cards indicating difficult feelings are just reversed cards whose upright meaning is positive.
Three of Hearts Reversed – The Balcony
When upright, the Three of Hearts relates to the sense of sight, both literally and figuratively. Reversed, it can represent someone who is blinded by emotion, especially such emotions as rage or lust (the “red” emotions). It can indicate the inability to control oneself as a result of such emotions.
Four of Hearts Reversed – Love
Aside from being an indication of depravity, the reversed Love card can, and in fact is more commonly found to relate to unrequited feelings, emotional dryness and deep emotional scars from disappointment, usually in love.
Seven of Hearts Reversed – The Scholar
Upright, the Scholar card represents the mind in its best aspects of intelligence, creativity and having a solid grip on reality and on one’s problems. When it is reversed, it represents either someone who is cold and calculating (the lower octave of the mind) or someone who feels impotent and easily overwhelmed by problems.
Eight of Hearts Reversed – Hope
When reversed, the Eight of Hearts is a harbinger of sorrow, disappointment and unfulfilled hopes and wishes. Being a card that is strongly connected with one’s inner optimism, the reversed Hope card becomes one of pessimism or even of mild depression (by itself).
Nine of Hearts Reversed – Faithfulness
Upright, the Dog card of the Sibilla indicates friendship and loyalty, as well as deep and strong attachment to someone, something or an idea. Reversed, it is an indicator of rebellion, unreliability and biting the hand that feeds you, from thankless teens to political activists depending on the context.
Ten of Hearts Reversed – Perseverance
Upright, the Ten of Hearts can indicate solid, reliable people, lasting feelings and certainty. When it falls reversed in a reading, the Ten of Hearts become an indication of turmoil and of not being able to control oneself, one’s instinct and one’s rage.
Two of Clubs Reversed – The Peacock
When it comes up reversed, the Peacock card embodies the negative side of the symbolism of the animal, namely pride, haughtiness, an inflated ego that is easily slighted and self-centeredness. Depending on the surrounding cards this can go from a mild drama-queen complex to serious pathological deviancy.
Seven of Clubs Reversed – Realization
The Upright Seven of Clubs represents our realization in the world, our ambitions and our sense of accomplishment. When it comes up reversed, it shows insecurity, dissatisfaction with one’s existence, and fear, especially understood as feeling under attack in one’s life projects.
Eight of Clubs Reversed – The Reunion
Reversed, the Reunion card has many difficult meanings relating to groups and one’s social contacts. However, it is also a card of disillusion, sadness and depression. It represents someone who has lost momentum and is prey to inner turmoil, self-doubt and similar feelings.
Nine of Clubs Reversed – Merriment
Coming up reversed in a reading, the Nine of Clubs reverses the hakuna matata feeling of its upright counterpart. It becomes a card of joylessness, and it can also represent feeling isolated from others, sometimes even as a consequence of other people taking shots at us.
Four of Diamonds – Falsehood
The Falsehood of this card must be understood broadly as a feeling of “wrongness” and negativity. In this sense it is the opposite of the Dog card. It represents being ill-disposed or displeased with something, and negative feelings brewing right below the surface.
Five of Diamonds – Melancholy
The title speaks for itself. Upright, the card can be an indicator of disappointment, sadness, pining, melancholy and dissatisfaction. By itself it is not a tragic card, but it does slow you down. Reversed, the card becomes much more impactful and its effects long-lasting.
Seven of Diamonds Reversed – The Child
When it falls reversed, the Child card embodies the negative side of children: childishness, in the main, but also a general sense of inexperience and that the world is too complex for us to understand and tackle.
Nine of Diamonds – The Fools
The Fools indicate feelings of unwarranted exaltation and self-confidence, mistaken conceptions, as well as easily aroused feelings of aggression. They depict a volatile atmosphere where things can go seriously south.
Ten of Diamonds – The Thief
The Thief is a card of betrayal, whether literal or metaphorical. It represents ill-will toward someone or something, and the desire to do wrong things. This needn’t be tragic, as there are many situations where the sneakiness of the Thief borders on amorality rather than immorality. Still, this card is always a warning.
Ace of Spades – Sorrow
The Sorrow card is the card of tears, of the broken heart and of the sense of being cut off from one’s source of happiness. In itself it is a very difficult card to go through, but when not piled on by other problematic cards it can show just a sense of discouragement that the person can muscle through with some mental discipline.
Three of Spades – The Widower
Another difficult card, the Widower represents isolation, loneliness and serious interpersonal issues. Being the card that signifies “oneness” and the single individual, sometimes it can show things done alone, with no negative connotation, but more often than not it foretells difficulties in one’s loneliness. When reversed, it becomes a rather tragic card.
Four of Spades – Sickness
Although this is the card that indicates literal sickness, it can also be interpreted metaphorically on occasion. It often signifies feeling sick, disturbed or down, but it can also be the card of sick and morbid feelings which cannot find a healthy expression.
Six of Spades – Sighs
Among the less difficult Spades in the deck, the Six of Spades represents everything we desperately long for and await, hoping it will come to us. It is a less serene version of the Eight of Hearts, as it contrasts its composure with a sense of uncertainty and fear of losing what one wishes to get.
Seven of Spades – Tragedy
Another card of “red” feelings, this one indicates anger and wrath. It shows explosive energy disrupting one’s life, which, from an emotional standpoint, usually signifies that we are feeling slighted or wronged or somehow unable to restrain our ire.
Eight of Spades – Desperation and Jealousy
In the main, the Eight of Spades is a card of literal jealousy and envy, but it can represent all those situations where we look at others with toxic feelings in our heart. It can also signify desperation and tears, and a sense of being trapped in a corner with no way out.
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Pangs of Conscience (Example Reading)
Sometimes the Sibilla’s chattiness is exasperating: there you are, trying to get a straight answer about whether he loves you or not, and she just wastes your time telling you about what his aunt thinks about the whole thing. At other times, though, the Sibilla is a drama queen in the type of language she uses. Here’s a simple example of the latter behavior.
It’s an old reading from at least ten years ago, when a friend and I were relatively fresh out of college. She had been desperately looking for work for some time but without success, and, like most desperate people, she’d started looking in unconventional places. She’d answered an ad that would require her to move to Poland or the Czech Republic (can’t remember) for a stage followed by a part-time offer if all went well.
The first contact was by phone, yet she had some suspicions. She didn’t seem to be able to get a straight answer out of the guy interviewing her. So she asked me to pull some cards on the dude, and here’s what came up:
I don’t think we need much interpretation to see that there’s something fishy at best about the offer, and at worst it’s a total swindle. The Thief and the Enemy can obviously show anything from an actual thief to a mobster to an assassin, depending on the other cards. Here we have no hint of violence, so we’ll stop at swindle.
The most interesting card here, though, is the reversed Six of Spades. When it is upright, the Six of Spades represents someone who sighs after someone or something, whether because he or she longs for it or because they have pangs of conscience about it.
When it is reversed, the Six of Spades can be a good card if surrounded by positive cards: it can indicate letting go of an addiction, for instance, or of an unrequited love. Broadly speaking, it indicates not sighing anymore.
In this case, though, the reversed Sighs card is surrounded by terrible cards, cards that indicate someone who would hurt others, at least financially, for his own profit. Therefore, the Six of Spades reversed simply shows he has no pangs of conscience about it, which in turn makes him even more dangerous.
Well, my friend did some snooping around and she soon came into contact with other people who had answered the ad. By piecing together the information they had, it turned out that it was a swindle. I am not sure what would have happened, had they gone to the “stage”. Probably they would have been duped out of some money. Anyway, I’m sure glad she didn’t go.
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Example Spread: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?
I’ve been having some fun with the answer spread with my playing cards but so far I had never used it with the Sibilla. This is an example of a spread I did two days ago, when hubby invited a colleague over for dinner. My question was simply how the dinner would go. It is a mundane question, useful for trying out a new spread.
The Sibilla is, thankfully, very clear here. The first column, the one that supposedly gives us the background of the question, shows hubby (the King of Hearts) extending an invitation (the Gift, a proposal).
The central column generally gives us the answer to the question. Usually, the Hope card, when reversed, makes things go up in smoke. Together with a card such as the Conversation, which talks about gatherings, clearly the appointment does up in smoke or is at least dalayed.
The final column usually gives us additional information. The reversed Ace of Spades is generally less dangerous or less disappointing than when it is upright, but another meaning it has is that of a repeated occurrance. What repeated occurange? The Reunion, i.e., another gathering card.
What ended up happening was that the colleague had to cancel on us to take care of her ailing mother, but we rescheduled for next week.
An interesting Experiment
According to Regina Russell’s instructions, we only read the cards in the answer spread in columns. However, let us try to read them in the order in which they were pulled, which is:
Gentleman, Conversation, Sorrow rev., Gift, Hope rev., Reunion
In this case, the situation doesn’t change that much. The Gentleman, i.e., my husband, repeatedly gifts an invitation which, with some delay (Hope rev.) ends up happening (Reunion). Though, to be fair, in this case I would have probably pulled an additional card to make sure.
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Vera Sibilla Cards Connected With Work
In the Vera Sibilla there are a couple of cards that connect more or less directly to the topic of work. Here we review them quickly to show their similarities and differences. As usual, this isn’t meant to be exclusive.
Six of Hearts – Money
Not directly related to work per se, the Six of Hearts is the money card, and as such it shows where money comes from, where it goes, whether one has it or not, etc. However, in a consultation about work, it can also indicate whether the pay is good or not, whether the business one works for flourishes or not, etc.
Seven of Hearts – The Scholar
This card is always welcome when we want to know whether we’ll get a job, as it can show the signing of a contract. It is also related to talent in one’s field, as well as certain types of job (intellectual or desk jobs).
Ace of Clubs – Marriage
Again a card that can represent the signing of something. Marriage is anything that gives us rights and obligations with respect to someone else, and a job contract is exactly that. It is also an important card for business deals and partnerships
Six of Clubs – The Surprise
This is a small money card, but because it represents money being received, it can symbolize the wages and therefore being employed. For instance, together with the House card it can sometimes represent the place where you gain money, i.e. the workplace.
Seven of Clubs – Realization
The Seven of Clubs is the card of worldly ambition and it can therefore stand for the querent’s career (I’m always reminded that in German the word Beruf, work, comes from the word Ruf, fame, the name you make for yourself in the world).
Eight of Diamonds – The Handmaid
This is another card that is strongly connected with money and where it comes from and where goes toward, but it is also a card of employment (a handmaid works for someone else). When it signifies the querent’s work, it is essentially a synonym of the Merchant card.
King of Diamonds – The Merchant
This is THE work card, the one you usually want to see in a question about work, and four times out of five, when it pops up in a different kind of question it still indicates the influence of the querent’s job on question, though the card also has other less common meanings.
King of Spades – The Priest
Not directly related to the querent’s job, but this card can represent the institution or company the querent works for (especially if it is relatively big). Needless to say it can stand for many other things, such as works related with the law or religion (with specific cards) or even works where one wears a uniform (the Soldier also represents a uniform, but usually it shows less socially important types of employment, such as being a builder).
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A Sibilla Slide Show (Example Reading)
One of the things I enjoy the most about cartomancy (not just with the Sibilla. Most decks will do it) is how they tell a story of the querent’s life, either in general or in a particular sector, and we get to experience it as if it were a slide show of someone’s vacation. Here is an example about a querent who asked, generally, about her career (don’t mind the chaotic layout. The cards are essentially to be read in a row. I started with five cards and I had to rearrange the spread to take the picture once the layout had become too unwieldy from drawing additional cards).
The first thing that caught my eye was that Scholar (Seven of Hearts) showing a legal contract, caught between the reversed Sickness card and the Death card. I enquired if the querent had recently lost her job or if she was about to, then the King of Spades (the law) popped into view, next to the Death card which shows unbalanced things, so I added if she considered the termination to be wrongful in some way.
It turned out that the querent had just been fired, a couple of weeks prior, from her job and that she thought they had fired her after wringing her dry of her business contacts.
Notice, though, how the cards immediately clear up as soon as that nasty initial constellation is overcome: we have important contacts (Letter and Messenger) that will put her on the right track (the Peacock). There is still anxiety (Sighs) surrounding her work (Merchant) but she is going to get a temporary job (the Five of Hearts) probably working with people (all the people cards) and that will solve quite a bit of her problems (the Four of Diamonds reversed at the end).
She ended up getting in contact with a smaller business than the one she had worked for, but one with a more positive environment, where the boss offered her a very well-paid temporary position to be a representative of their product to new clients. I also told her that if she was thinking of suing her old employers for wrongful termination, she probably had a leg to stand on. She said she was thinking of suing, but wasn’t sure.
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