Part 21

TEN OF SPADES--Reversed. This card, emerging reversed, has, for a general signification, a loss, either moral or physical, as the surrounding cards designate. Thus, with the nine of hearts intervening between the consultant and this card, it announces that he or she will lose a situation or employment. When it comes preceded by the ten of clubs, it betokens the loss of money or valuables. Should the consultant be an unmarried female, and this card comes out reversed near to a knave, likewise reversed, it foretells the ruin of her reputation through calumny. But if in place of one of the knaves the seven of clubs should appear, the loss of her character will be brought about through some indiscretion.

Another primary signification of this is the evening, as a designation of points of time; still this general term of night has given rise to the application of important secondary significations, of which the sense can be taken from the synonyms:

Shades; obscurely; nocturnal; mysterious; secret; masked; concealed; undiscovered; clandestine; occult; veiled; allegorical; hidden meaning; in secrecy; obscure hints; double meaning; on the sly; to conceal from sight; nocturnal meetings.

NINE OF SPADES--Upright. This is justly regarded to be the most unfortunate card in the pack, as it portends maladies, malignant diseases, family dissensions, defeat in enterprises, constant disappointment, and even death. The primary significations of this card, when in its natural position, are a priest, mourning and disappointment.

The secondary significations, derived from these sources, are:

From the priest: Pastor; church; church services; ritual; sanctity; piety; devotion; religious ceremonies; celibacy.

From mourning: Regret; desolation; affliction; sadness; sorrow; calamity; grief; heart-pain; funeral; burial; tomb; grave; church-yard; loss of relatives; wailing.

From disappointment: Obstacles; hindrance; delay; disadvantage; contrarieties; misfortunes; suffering.

NINE OF SPADES--Reversed. When this card appears in the oracle reversed its evil influence is augmented two-fold, although its primary significations are modestly expressed as failure, abandonment and delay. The secondary significations are of the most disastrous character.

The synonyms employed for these terms, in this instance, are:

Misery; indigence; famine; necessity; need; poverty; adversity; misfortune; deep affliction; disagreements; correction; chastisement; punishment; reverses; disgrace; imprisonment; detention; arrest; captivity.

But when this card, reversed, comes before the consultant and the eight of spades, in the same oracle, it signifies mortality, with the following synonyms:

Death; decease; last sigh; end; finish; extinction; annihilation; destruction; utter ruin; abjection; humiliation; prostration; depression; alteration; poisoning; corruption; putrefaction; paralysis; lethargy.

Still in all these sinister aspects the influence of this card can be materially modified, but never counteracted, through intervention of bright cards.

EIGHT OF SPADES--Upright. This card is ordinarily of bad import, as its primary signification is sickness, although it is more generally interpreted as bad news. This is its acceptation when preceded by the knave of spades or the knave of diamonds, or when accompanied by the ace of diamonds, and sometimes by the eight of hearts, reversed.

When this card signifies sickness, its synonyms are:

Illness of the body, soul or mind; bad condition of health or of business; derangement; infirmity; epidemic; gangrene; agony; displeasure; damage; mishap; accidental injury; disaster; indisposition; head-ache; heart-ache; inquietude; melancholy; medicine; remedy; charlatan; empiric; physician; quack; languor.

Sometimes, however, this card is employed to designate prudence, whence we have as secondary significations:

Wisdom; reserve; circumspection; reticence; discernment; foresight; presentiment; prediction; divination; prophecy; horoscope; second sight; clairvoyance.

EIGHT OF SPADES--Reversed. Unlike other cards, the reversal of this one brings with it a modification of its primary significations. Hence, when coming out reversed, it most generally signifies ambition, a passion for which we have synonyms as follows:

Desire; wish for; search after; cupidity; jealousy; aspiration; onward; higher; illusion; pride.

Another primary signification bestowed upon this card when emerging reversed, is that of a nun or pious woman, whence we derive the secondary signification usually applied to this card and expressed in the synonyms:

Inaction; peace; tranquillity; repose; apathy; inertia; stagnation; rest from labor; pastime, recreation; nonchalance; free from care; idleness; supineness; lethargy; torpidity.

SEVEN OF SPADES--Upright. As a general exponent of current events, this card is taken to forewarn the consultant of the loss of a valuable friend, whose death will be a source of a great deal of misery. On this account many interpret this card to signify a coffin, which may be the case when coming out in close proximity to the ace of spades or the nine of spades.

Its most accepted primary signification, however, among practical cartomancists, is that of hope, whence are derived the secondary ones, expressed in the terms:

Trust; confidence; expectation; desire; inclination; longing after; wish; taste for; whim; humor; fancy.

SEVEN OF SPADES--Reversed. This card takes a wider and an apparently contradictory scope in its primary significations, when emerging in this manner, being good advice, friendship, and indecision.

From good advice we derive, as secondary attributes: