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Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

When Mothers Smother (Reading example)

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When we read for people and they only give us a broad question, I think it’s important to remain open to the twists of fate the cards are showing us, as well as to have an open dialogue with the querent  Sometimes querents lie, but more often they are either confused or fail to focus on the ‘real’ question. In the following case, the querent’s question wasn’t wrong, but it hid more than it showed. The querent is a woman of around 25. She asked me about her career without specifying anything.

A career reading using the Vera Sibilla

The querent is anagraphically covered by the Queen of Clubs, the young maiden, so we can initially assign this card to her. She is reversed, showing trouble.

The first line of the pyramid indicates the influence of a (probably older) woman. She is surrounded by the House and Love, but on the same line we find the Seven of Spades reversed. This is one of the worst cards in the deck, so whenever we see it we must tread carefully.

I asked the querent if an older female relative, possibly her mother, is involved in the issue, and at this point the querent tells me she works with her parents in the family business.

The Seven of Spades reversed represents tyranny and oppression, so I ask her if her mother is somewhat authoritarian, and she confirms. Note though that the mother is surrounded by two positive cards, hence the ‘somewhat’ in the statement. Furtermore, look at the angles of the spread: Good feelings, oppression, but not too much (Butterfly). I am aware that smothering mothers are how some serial killers get started, but this mother, while not positive, could be worse. She smothers the querent out of (real) love. She is oppressive, but not a sociopath.

Be it as it may, the querent clearly suffers from this situation (she is reversed) and therefore hopes to move away (Hope + Journey), as the Hope card can indicate the hopes of the querent or of the person preceding it, which in this case is again the querent. Probably the querent wants to find her sense of self and freedom. This would be understandable even under normal circumstances, let alone in this case. I asked her if she wanted to leave and again she confirmed.

But, woe and alas, look how the spread ends! Money is tight (Money + Sickness) so whatever job she is looking for is going to probably make her start at the very bottom. Thus we end with the Ten of Clubs, the Butterfly. This card indicates all those things that are fleeting and not rooted in the querent’s destiny. Thus her hopes are just fleeting, at least in the foreseeable future, due to the rotten (Sickness) money situation.

MQS

Card Combinations, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Spirituality and the Sibilla (Example Reading)

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As promised in a previous post, I’m discussing a (rather old) reading on spiritual issues. It is common to believe that the Tarot is better suited to talk about spiritual issues and oracles such as the Sibilla or Lenormand are more useful for practical, everyday events. This is not true. The Tarot can be just as practical, and the Sibilla (and, I assume, other oracles) can be just as clear about spiritual issues. The thing that makes people think otherwise is that they are used to that kind of tarot reading where the psychic spends the whole time pulling pseudodeep psychobabble out of their butt by looking at the pictures on the cards. That’s not a tarot reading, that’s a therapy session (for the reader, not for the querent).

Spirituality is part of real life, and as such all oracles can talk about it, but always in real-life terms. Here the querent was a man and had asked me generically about his spiritual life.

A spiritual reading with the Vera Sibilla cards

The first thing I was able to detect was the presence of the Priest in the second row. The Priest is usually not a real priest, and rather indicates a figure of authority. We also have, it seems, the significator card for the querent, represented by the Boyfriend, or Jack of Hearts, in the first line. The Priest is accompanied by the Dog/Faithfulness. This is a very good card, even outside of a love reading. It shows that, whoever the Priest is, he (or she) is good, trustworthy and has the querent’s best interest at heart. Furthermore, they are true believers.

The Thought card perplexed me a little, so I skipped over it (though you can see that the Thought card is just under the querent, so it turned out that it was the querent’s thinking process setting into motion). However, I did ask the querent if he was in contact with some kind of spiritual authority and he confirmed it, though he said it wasn’t a traditional priest or minister. This doesn’t matter: all kind of spiritual authorities can be signified by the Priest card.

The querent’s line, the first, has the card of God in it. This is the Peacock (when reversed, it represents the Devil and demons, as well as pride and haughtiness). The Peacock indicates totality, wholeness, miracles, etc. when upright. But it is followed by the Hope card reversed. Hope is the card of faith, but it is reversed, thus showing unbelief.

Yet it is not a clear atheism. Look at the Six of Spades, the Sighs card, right between the querent and the combination of lack of faith in God: the querent is sighing about his lack of faith. He is uncertain and tormented. I remember judging that he was probably a wobbly agnostic, and upon asking he confirmed that he had doubts (I didn’t ask him “are you a wobbly agnostic?” of course. We need to be kind to the querent).

It turned out, the querent had long banished spirituality from his life, had gone for an engineering degree, had been active in the skeptic community online, etc. However, some personal experiences had made him doubt his position.

Look at the last three cards of the pyramid. The Prison reversed shows unburdening, unshackling, freedom, etc. (when not followed by negative cards). Then we have the Conversation card. When reversed, it shows change. Finally, the Child, which shows a new beginning. I don’t know about you, but liberation + change + new beginning sounds like a spiritual conversion.

Furthermore, look at the angles of the pyramid plus the center: the Peacock (God), the querent, the new beginning (Child) and the Faithfulness card. This is a very positive indication.

Still, just to make sure, I asked the querent to draw two cards, and these were the Gratification and Fortune, confirming the good outcome.

As far as I know, the querent has since chosen his spiritual path.

MQS

Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Can I Trust Him? Well, Can He Trust You? Vera Sibilla Reading With a Twist

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Querents are not always paragons of virtue. There are usually two sides to most stories. I generally distrust people whose past is littered with psychos, crazy ex and narcissists. While someone CAN be that unlucky, the general trend seems to me to be more that people who have trouble in every relationship tend to be the cause of the trouble. “My love life is always a mess!” Of course it is, Rhonda, you are always in it!

As I said, there are usually two sides to each story, but as diviners we rarely hear the other one, so what we are stuck with is the querent’s own version, their word that the universe is constantly conspiring against them and a divination system usually saying exactly the opposite. And we are stuck in the middle of the perfect storm, carefully trying to thread the fine line between politeness and truth.

We were at a friend’s house and she had invited over another friend. The latter asked me the question: “I’m always unlucky in love. I’ve started dating this new guy, can I trust him?” Our friend made an odd face I could not decipher as we did the spread. These were the cards:

Is he reliable?

As I already discussed, sometimes the cards describe the development of a situation as if it were a book. At other times, they recreate a scene that can almost be observed with the characters calling attention to what they symbolize. This is one of those situations.

Right off the bat we notice that both querents are present. They are within the age range of the Queen of Clubs and Jack of Clubs. However, the mere fact that they are represented by these cards in a love question shows that this is not the romance of the century and will probably end, sooner or later. The cards, though, tell us something else.

Look at the Queen of Clubs! She is reversed and occupying the center of the spread. Usually, when the Young Maiden (Giovane Fanciulla) is reversed, she is afflicted by something, as opposed to other significators which, when reversed, tend to show problematic behavior.

This is unless the Maiden is reversed and near cards that show problematic behavior. This is exactly the case here. She is together with the Four of Diamonds, the Falsehood card (which, notice, is on her side of the spread, not on the guy’s side) and the Ten of Clubs, the Levity or Carefreeness card.

On the other hand, we have the Ten of Hearts, i.e., the Perseverance card, on the side of the boyfriend. Although the Perseverance card is not one of major feelings, it still shows him to be dependable. She, however, is depicted by the cards as being not only somewhat whiny, but also a little flighty (someone might say a little floozy, especially since she comes up reversed with the Ten of Hearts at the end of the spread)

In this situation, I tried to sugarcoat it to the querent by telling her that he is rather dependable, though this romance was probably not the one that would lead to marriage, and that he also had doubts about her, and that she should make sure not to send mixed signals.

Upon leaving, our friend pulled me aside and she told me that the girl has literally been the “butterfly” of the group, landing from man to man, being unreliable and not learning anything from experience. This is very well described by the reversed Queen of Clubs, who, in a negative context, can show a woman with a princess complex who thinks everyone else is at fault.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

A Clear Daily Sibilla Reading

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Daily readings are not always very clear, for a couple of reasons. First, since we don’t live in an action movie, not every day is the setting of some memorable event. Second, the cards could sometimes bring up a minor situation that we barely pick up on. Third, I have personally found in my practice that torturing the cards for daily glimpses is not always a good idea, if done systematically, as sometimes it causes me to feel I’m losing my connection with the cards. That’s why I only draw three cards for the day every once in a while, when I feel inspired to.

Today was one such day, and it was very clear:

Daily vera sibilla reading

The cards talked about a communication reaching me, but that was the extent of my interpretation. I did not try to read further into it, because what is valid for a general reading is not always valid in a daily reading, where the interpretation needs to often be toned down.

If I were to interpret these cards for someone in a regular reading, I would tell them that their partner would communicate to them that they no longer have anything in common and it’s over. The Surprise, The Six of Clubs, represents, when upright, all situations that flourish easily, and therefore it shows compatibility, while, when reversed, it represents falling out of love due to growing apart.

Well, this is exactly what happened today. Only, not to me. I was the one who received the communication, but not from my husband. I received it from a friend who told me she and her partner were breaking off their relationship, because “they don’t even recognize each other anymore”

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla – My Friend’s Misadventures

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It is well-known that the Sibilla is damn chatty, sometimes too much. Every deck can veer off topic if it needs to, but the Sibilla has a penchant for it, whereas, for instance, regular playing cards are usually easier to keep on a leash. Still, I believe what I’m about to show would have popped up with any other deck, since the cards usually warn us of unexpected happenings, whether positive or negative. This is a spread we did for a friend of mine in January. He wanted to know about his love life.

Vera Sibilla Reading, my friend’s misadventure

The thing that immediately struck me is that the cards clearly were not talking about my friend’s love life. Instead, judging by the first line, they were depicting something difficult that was going to happen. I must confess I was not capable of organizing my garbled thoughts into a coherent prediction back then, even though looking at it now it seems obvious. I believe a part of me knew what the cards were talking about but didn’t want to give the news to my friend. I knew the cards were talking about danger at the hand of some people, and that a man would help him. I told him so much, but of course this was too vague to be of help.

Here is what happened around a month later, as told by the cards. While out of his house (Journey) he was attacked (Widower reversed. I made a mistake in reenacting the spread) by a small gang of criminals (Enemy, Fools). Fortunately (Levity reversed) a man saw the whole thing, chased off the strangers and helped my friend (Friend reversed, Fortune reversed). My friend sprained his ankle badly, I’m guessing this is why the Fortune card is reversed, showing delayed fortune, but is otherwise unharmed, except the anxiety (Sighs).

I think part of the problem of reading for friends is that, because you don’t want them to come to any harm, your mind tends to censor you a bit. Still, an interesting case study, and a story that could have ended much worse.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Sibilla Reading – Why Is He Acting Strange?

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Sometimes the cards speak like directors of a theater piece, ordering characters around in a way that makes almost intuitive sense and gives a visual representation of the issue. This is not always the case (some readings are super hard to decipher) but when it is it becomes almost impossible to doubt that divination truly works.

Here’s an example. A friend of my husband asked me why her boyfriend was acting strange. These were the cards (the reading started out as a three card reading, but I kept adding cards until I was satisfied):

Vera Sibilla Reading: Why is he acting strange

Look how the characters seem to relate to one another like characters in a play. We have Juliette, the Queen of Hearts. Behind her is the Five of Diamonds, Melancholy. She is dissatisfied. Then we have the Jack of Hearts, Romeo. Between them is a card. This can either represent an action or a state of affairs. Because the Melancholy card describes a state of affair, it seems more likely that the reversed Ace of Hearts also represent their current state of affairs, one of miscommunication, instability and a general sense of incompleteness.

Following is the Queen of Clubs. This can be another character, but sometimes she acts as a “pointer”: wherever she points her finger is where the problem lies. In this case, because she is reversed, she points to her right (otherwise it would be to her left). Then we have the card of secrets (the Soldier, reversed) and that of homosexuality (the Love card, reversed) and a male figure. The answer is obvious.

A couple of months after the reading a gay friend of hers saw her boyfriend on an app, who then came out as bi, validating the spread. This is not the first time I’ve encountered this kind of issue. I may even have posted a spread about it before (I can’t remember).

One of my dreams is of writing a book about divination, not explaining any particular kind of divination, but exploring divination as a topic, its foundations and its place in the world. And this kind of spreads has me convinced that life is a drama, and divination is a tool capable of unveiling the script.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Sibilla Reading – Real Estate

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I said some time ago that my husband and I are looking for a home (I have a tarot reading ready for that). I also wholeheartedly believe that once you are interested in something, everyone else who has the same interest tends to show up in your life, and real estate questions have been common lately. Here’s the spread for a woman who asked if she would manage to buy a house she was interested in (it started out as a five card spread, but I asked her to draw two more cards, for reasons that will become obvious shortly, and then a third I forgot to take a picture of)

Real estate question with the Vera Sibilla Italiana

The first cards that caught my attention in the original five cards are the Five of Hearts and the Eight of Diamonds. Traditionally this means an engagement ring, but in this context it shows the proposal of a down payment (which is basically your engagement ring with the house you want to buy). According to the Peacock card between the two, this is a very high down payment, so I asked the querent, and she said they are (understandably) trying to pay off as much as possible in advance, almost half the total price.

The Thought card gives us some insight into the querent’s psyche: since it is followed by the Ace of Spades, she is worried, preoccupied or pessimistic. But the spread clearly isn’t complete, so I asked her to draw two more cards, and these were the Eight of Hearts, Hope, and the Six of Clubs, the Surprise. Clearly things will end up well, because these two cards together indicate the receipt of the hoped for money or the receipt of awaited money – for instance, money you’ve loaned or invested.

So I asked the querent if she’s waiting for money to invest into the home and she confirmed that she has some money tied down in an investment and she’s waiting for her bank to agree to free that money ahead of time. I was 99% sure this was possible, but to be on the safe side I asked her to draw a further card: this was the Seven of Clubs, the Realization (gran consolazione). Everything will be fine.

MQS

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Playing Cards, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Sibilla and Playing Cards, Linguistic Differences (Reading Example)

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This is not the first time that I compare divination to language. Divination systems *are* a form of language. Each has its own vocabulary, its syntax and its grammar. However, there is more to languages than just these three things (and possibly more, if you are a linguist)

Languages don’t exist in a vacuum. They are spoken concretely by concrete individuals. Each individual has his or her character, quirks, idiosyncrasies, which hugely influence the way they speak.

The Vera Sibilla is notorious for its chatty nature. She is like that old aunt with no sense of personal space who spends the afternoon drinking coffee with her neighbors and spilling tea on others without much in the way of connecting themes. Playing cards, on the other hands, tend to be more sober and to the point. In a way, I find they are easier to interpret, exactly because they are more predictable. Tarot, I find, is also more to the point, although it is more complex in other respects.

Here is an example of the same question asked by the same querent, but answered with the Sibilla first and with playing cards second.

The querent is a young man in his mid-20s we got to know at a friend’s house. He asked if he would find a job.

Vera Sibilla reading on job

Important note: this reading started as a three card reading. I had to keep adding cards because, as is often the case, the Sibilla kept giving me quirky details instead of the answer. The first three cards did not contain the answer (if I had tried to answer based on the first three cards, it would have been a no, and I would have been wrong.)

As in a recent reading I posted, the spread stards with the reversed Balcony. This time it’s followed by the reversed Falsehood card and by the reversed Peacock. The first three cards hint at the fact that is awaiting an improvement of his career (reversed Falsehood) that is not coming (reversed Balcony). The reversed Peacock shows both the struggle (it is a card of great obstacles) and the fact that he may be taking things very personally whenever something goes wrong.

Then we have the reversed significator and the reversed Love card. This means two things: firstly, that he is gay (which he confirmed on the spot) and secondly, the reversed Love card flaking the significator together with the reversed Peacock confirms my first intuition that he does take things too personally, maybe as though he were expecting employers to huddle together around him and woo him.

Since it is followed by the Merchant, which is the significator for the querent’s job, it shows again that he has emotional troubles connected with his career. Fortunately, it is followed by the reversed Ten of Clubs, which shows a favorable chance. But this card only shows a chance, not that it will be taken, so I asked the querent to pull two additional cards, and this shows that he will receive a good offer (Present of Jewels) of a part-time job (Happiness).

On to the playing card spread

Playing cards reading example on job

This one also started out as a three card reading. And it remained one. Change, Union, Part-time job. There will be a change which will lead to a part-time position.

You may say that since we had already answered the question with the Sibilla, playing cards didn’t need to add much. Maybe, but the Sibilla’s chattiness is indeed more pronounced than that of playing cards.

MQS

Card Combinations, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla Reading Example – Don’t Fixate on Combinations

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The Vera Sibilla tradition is steeped in combinations that are handed down in specific order. These combinations are important, but to understand them, you need to keep in mind that, in the olden days, at least in Italy, you would simply sit in front of the fortune teller and he or she would tell you your general future, sometimes covering your whole life. In this context, the traditional combinations are highly effective. Divination is not about numbers, but if I had to put a number to it, I would say that, in a questionless reading, classic combos are around 70 – 80% accurate.

Combinations are also an extremely valid learning tool, as you let your brain wrap itself around the deck and its language, just as it’s useful when you are very little and your parents teach you specific turns of phrases that tend to have always the same meaning. Over the years, however, you learn to create variations on the theme and you develop a more plastic language that is also more adaptable to all circumstances.

Let’s take this recent reading example. A friend of ours told his parents that he won’t be able to visit for Christmas (they live in Scheswig-Holstein, in Northern Germany, while we live in Rheinland-Pfalz, in the South-West). His mother sounded cheerful on the telephone, but he asked how she had taken the news. These cards came up:

Vera Sibilla Oracle Card Reading Example

If you were to interpret these cards according to traditional combinations, you would say something to the effect of: you need to stay away from your mother (Person card reversed next to the Three of Hearts reversed) because she is a scheming bitch (Seven of Hearts reversed)

But let us take a deeper look at the cards. The Balcony card, when upright, represents the arrival of someone or something. When reversed, often it shows waiting in vain. This implies that the mother was expecting her son to visit.

Next to the mother we have the Scholar reversed. In addition to plotting and scheming, this card also shows plans that don’t come to fruition, so we can say she was planning the Christmas together. But there is more. It is also the card of illusion and a sense of futility and sterility. To choose the appropriate meaning, let us look at the central card, the Queen of Hearts reversed.

The mother could have safely come up as the Queen of Diamonds, the Wife or Married Woman. It is crucial to understand, though, that the Queen of Diamonds is essentially attached to her roles in life, rather than to feelings. This doesn’t mean she is evil or a bad mother, only that she fulfills her role primarily because it’s her role.

The Queen of Hearts, the Girlfriend, on the other hand, is essentially a loving person, one who follows her heart and who has love to give. Coming up reversed, she finds herself frustrated in this aspect.

Knowing this, let us go back to the Scholar. In this case, it must represent futility as well all the other stuff. She feels sterile and futile as a mother.

We also need to consider that we have three out of three Heart cards, all three reversed. This shows that clearly she longs for a connection she doesn’t have. Probably not the most stable person, emotionally speaking, but not the dangerous, scheming woman that you would see in the cards according to usual combinations.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla Reading – Beware of Some Magical Societies

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Here’s a quick one. A friend of mine asked me if it was a good thing for her to join a certain rather well-known magical order. The order shall remain unnamed, as in case of a defamation lawsuit it wouldn’t be a good sight if I just waved a picture of a card spread under the judge’s nose as evidence.

Should I enter the magical order? A cartomancy spread with the Vera Sibilla oracle

The most obvious thing that caught my eye is the reversed Three of Spades (the Widower). This card represents secret sects, and it never describes them in a positive light. To be clear, a secret group is not in itself a bad thing. Nor is a magical order a bad thing in itself – I have been part of a couple and still am in one. But if the group you are enquiring about is represented by the Widower reversed it is NOT good.

That they perform less than positive acts is shown by the reversed Peacock. The Seven of Clubs indicates that they prey on people’s self-esteem and/or by promising honors. I could have added some cards to see if it also showed that they wanted some of her money – but it doesn’t really matter. The spread is clear: the querent has already had contacts with them and has been offered to join, or something else, like a ritual (I haven’t asked) but the querent would do well to stay away. This is not to say that they are charlatans, as the spread does not concentrate on this, but that they are people that are best kept at a distance.

MQS