Name: Sickness
Italian Name: Ammalato (literally “Sick Man” or “Sick One”)
Playing Card: 4♠
Polarity when Upright: Negative
Core Meanings: Illness, Sickness | Downtime, Interruption of usual routine | Broken, Noxious, Bad for you | Dejection
Polarity when Reversed: Neutral to Negative
Reversed Core Meanings: Blockage, Stop | End of a situation, for better or worse | Confinement | Economy, Avarice
Card Description: a man lies in bad, a suffering expression on his face.
Suit and Number: Fours represent the querent’s context. Spades are a decidedly bad suit. The Four of Spades, therefore, signifies a situation that is rotten, noxious or “sick” in some way.
UPRIGHT 4♠
General: A decidedly negative card, it is one of the significator cards for bad health, as it is obvious. The type of illness or the organs affected will be shown by the cards coming up next to it. I will not waste more than a line to tell you that you should forebear from diagnosing people, especially if you are not a physician. The notion of “sick”, however, carries to all situations. More broadly, the idea of sickness can also imply that the querent is forced out of his daily round and somehow stopped from acting. This is rarely to be taken in a positive sense.
Love and Relationships: Other than to signify sick relatives and loved ones, the Four of Spades is a card of sick relationships. In general, all bonds represented by this card are bad for the querent, whatever the reason may be. At best, it signifies that a relationship has run its course and is falling sick, as it were. Often this means that there are structural problems that have been accumulated and never resolved that make the situation hard to salvage (but also look at the following cards). If together with more sinister cards, it can point to morbid feelings poisoning a person’s mind with regard to the querent, such as jealousy or hatred.
Often this card can signify a person who lacks and needs support. This is true in all contexts, but it is especially true if the querent is single, a situation that this card can represent, with the added meaning that loneliness bears heavy on the person’s mind and soul.
Work and Money: The Sickness card represents all jobs to do with sickness, obviously. More typically, though, it is a card of unemployment. The general feeling is that of situations that are overwhelming for the querent, especially if he’s not working, so it rarely shows up for someone who can afford not to work.
Finances are structurally in bad shape with this card, and may need a lot of effort in order to “cure”. Investments are to be avoided, and when they aren’t, they are invariably bad. Likewise, offers made to the querent tend to be rotten on the inside, often hiding problems that will become obvious later on.
Other: Both psychologically and spiritually, the Four of Spades is a card of dejection. It is often present in constellations of cards showing depression, though not necessarily clinical depression, if the other cards are not really bad. The idea of sickness applies also to objects, so a package may arrive containing a broken item, or food may be spoiled.
Important Combinations:
4♠ + K♣ + 7♠ = surgery (if K♠ instead, by a specialist)
6♣ + 4♠ = unemployment (also if 4♠R)
4♥ + 4♠ = a “sick” love, one without healthy outlets
10♥R + 4♠ = complete dejection and lack of willpower to plough through a situation
4♠ + 10♣ = a minor illness (but if followed by negative cards, an illness that is underestimated)
REVERSED 4♠R
General: A neutral card, but with generally negative undertones. It is mainly a card of blockage, of situations that cease to evolve. This is reflected in a function this card has, which is of bringing situations to an end. This is only true when the card is preceded by good cards and followed by bad ones, or vice versa.
Love and Relationships: At best, the reversed Four of Spades shows coldness, distance and lack of intimacy. It is also the card that shows being on a break. If the cards following it are positive, the relationship will later resume. If the question is if someone will make a move, this is a bad sign, especially if the card comes up next to the face card representing the person in question. With cards showing jealousy, the meaning of avarice typical of the card turns into possessiveness. It is also a card of loneliness and seclusion.
Work and Money: on material questions, the card’s meanings vary wildly depending on the surrounding cards. Surrounded by positive cards, it points to wise management. It signifies one who can rely on his own ability to manage the situation, as opposed to the helplessness of the upright version. More often than not, it is a sign of avarice, especially in a metaphorical sense: someone will refuse to help us out economically. If surrounded by disastrous cards, it can show utter poverty. Career-wise, it can still point to unemployment, or, at least, being stuck.
Other: psychologically the card points to sterness, seriousness, a morose demeanor, sort of saturnine. Spiritually it can be connected to religion, especially organized religion, whose aim is, technically, to help those in need (as represented by the upright Four of Spades). The card also has a connection to reclusion and places where one is stuck, for one reason or another.
Important Combinations:
4♠R + 2♠ + 2♥ = a retirement home
6♥ + 4♠R + 6♣ = wise management bringing in results
8♦R + 4♠R + 8♠ = financial crisis
2♥ + 4♠R + 8♥ + K♠ = a spiritual retreat, a monastery (if 4♠R + K♠, it can be a church)
4♥ + 4♠R = coldness, a break
Other Combinations: Vera Sibilla | Examples of Combinations – The Fours
