Part 16

Destitution; violence; ruin; victim of robbery; a fall; ruined honor; bankruptcy; privation; violated chastity; defrauded; swindled; victimized; separation; sold out by the sheriff; cast upon the town; hopeless.

EIGHT OF DIAMONDS--Upright. In its natural position this card is accepted to represent either the country or riches, as its signification is relatively determined from its surroundings.

In its signification as the country, thereby meaning not only a rural district but the characteristics of a country existence, the interpretation of this card boasts a large number of synonyms:

Agriculture; cultivation; field labor; farming; garden; prairie; woods; shades; pleasure; enjoyment; diversion; pastime; amusement; rejuvenation; rural sports; rustic dances; peace; calmness; natural tranquillity; rural life; forests; vales; mountains; flocks and herds; shepherd; shepherdess; moral quietude.

As the synonyms of riches, as they are signified by this card in contradistinction to others, we have:

Augmentation of wealth; increase of estate; advancement; prosperity; general success; happiness; goodness; felicity; beauty; embellishment.

EIGHT OF DIAMONDS--Reversed. In this condition the primary signification of the card is sorrow and movement. The synonyms for sorrow are:

Sadness; affliction; displeasure; grief; desolation; mortification; bad humor; melancholy; the blues; hypochondria; vexation; trouble.

But with the word movement, we have more trouble to apply its actual signification, as shown in the cards, and therefore the interpreter is left in a great degree to her own judgment, to decipher the connection which should bind the oracle to a specific and intelligent reading.

The most applicable synonyms would therefore be:

To walk; step forward; move about; to contemplate; to propose; to make advances; to undertake; to offer proposals; to promenade; to tender offers; to inaugurate a scheme; to further any claims.

SEVEN OF DIAMONDS--Upright. This is what is most commonly styled the conversation card, as its initial and primary signification is discourse for the present, while it likewise designates the approaching receipt of good news; as the oracle demands, to be secure, proper interpretation.

When used as the conversation card, its synonyms are:

Talk; words; matter; tattle; desultory remarks; seasonable language; pleasant gossip; table talk; anecdote.

Secondary to this signification, and in intimate connection, it has oftentimes been employed to denote designs for the moment, whether mental or expressed by word of mouth, embracing intent and resolution.

When signifying news, the synonyms will be:

Announcement; intelligence; newspaper; advice; advertisement; admonition; warning; teaching; tale telling; history; fables; anecdotal remarks.

SEVEN OF DIAMONDS--Reversed. This card is capable, when emerging reversed, of receiving several interpretations, the general and primary one of which is birth, or the origin of a human being, or of matter which has, as its synonyms:

Nativity; origin; creation; source; commencement; principle; primitive; extraction; first coming in of fruits and flowers; prime; early; race; family; house; lineage; posterity; the reason for; cause; premises for argument.

This card frequently designates a great deal, or a large quantity, qualifying the value of those cards next to it. For example, should it come before the ten of spades reversed, or the ten of clubs, it will read a great deal of jealousy, or of money.

Commingled with cards, relating to a public or military official, this one is taken to signify declaration, whose synonyms would consequently be:

Publication; orders; authenticity; approbation; placard; designation; discovery; disclosure; revelation; confession.

KING OF HEARTS--Upright. The primary significations of this card are a blonde man, an advocate and a man of note, but its secondary significations are those attached to the state and legislation.

As the representative of an individual, this card shows a good, kind-hearted man, of an amorous disposition, rash in his enterprises, and generally hasty and passionate in all his actions.

Coming out as a blonde man, it has these synonyms:

Honest man; honesty; probity; equity; arts and sciences.

Considered as a man of note or statesman, the synonyms are:

Legislation; legislator; laws; decrees; code; statutes; precepts; commandments; combination; institution; constitution; temperament; complexion; natural and moral law; religious law; civil law; politics; politician; natural right; right of nations; public rights.