Lover-Description: A man with a musical instrument stands under a balcony, serenading his beloved. Meanings: This is a person very much in love, whether a boyfriend, lover, sweetheart, or husband. The ideal spouse or lover. Someone is besotted with another person, place, thing, or ideal. The inquirer could be falling in love, or someone is falling in love with them. This card could represent a salesman of some sort, making a sales-pitch. Reversed: Immature love, uncertainty in love, or I-thought-I-was-in-love-but-I-was-wrong. Possibly a harbinger of a lonely period, or a desire for love. This can also indicate the kind of immoral person who is pretending to love the inquirer for dubious motives; a rake, a cad. The exact interpretation will depend on surrounding cards.
Malady-Description: A sufferer lies in bed. A steaming bowl and a bottle of medicine sit on the bedside table. Meanings: Something, someone, or some situation is weak or unwell, and requires medicine, therapy, and time in order to regain good health. This could be anything from a sick person, to an unhealthy relationship, to spiritual troubles, to a work project that isn’t going well. Also loneliness, isolation or confinement. Reversed: A recovery takes place, or has taken place. The sufferer regains their health. There is new clarity, energy, and the resolution of problems which led to the malady. A period of suffering comes to an end; whether through recovery of health or some other sort of change will be indicated by the surrounding cards.
Melancholy-Description: A depressed woman is sitting in a chair. The tree behind her is shedding its autumn leaves. Meanings: Sadness, heartache, loneliness, enduring regret, or more seriously, depression. Someone so beset by unhappiness, they are having trouble working up the will to improve the situation, because it looks un-improvable. Life is one long grey, late-autumn day. Reversed: This card reversed is only positive when the surrounding cards give reason to suggest that the period of melancholy will end. Otherwise, it’s all the upright meanings, only more severe; serious depression, utter desolation and irreparable endings.
Merchant-Description: A robed merchant stands by cargo and stares out to sea. Meanings: A good omen in matters of business or trade. An experienced business person who knows their business thoroughly and operates in his environment skillfully. A good business person, a successful business, and financial prosperity. Reversed: A danger of business failure. An incompetent businessperson, or one of ill-intent. Do not invest in new things at this time. Negotiations do not go well; they do not secure for the inquirer what they desire, and may even work against them. The other party in the deal does not hold up their end of things.
Messenger-Description: A uniformed messenger delivers a message to a servant who has answered the door. Meanings: A positive omen. Information will arrive soon, by any variety of means—letter, text message, e-mail, website, on-line forum. This could also suggest a situation where the messenger is as important, or more important, than the message they convey. Reversed: A message is delayed, misrouted or otherwise goes wrong. The message the inquirer is waiting for may never come because of inaction on the part of the person they are waiting to hear from. The messenger could be lazy, irresponsible or incompetent. It’s possible the inquirer is waiting for bad news; reassure them it’s not coming when this card is reversed.
Misfortune-Description: A burning building, the fire-well advanced, is beginning to collapse while a fireman sprays water on the structure and a small figure is falling from a high window. Meanings: An accident, a loss, or an error with serious consequences. This can be anything from a sudden Act of God delivered to an innocent-unfortunate, to a comeuppance which has been a long time in coming and which the recipient richly deserves. Reversed: You’d think this card reversed would mean recovery from a misfortune, but unless there’s very positive cards in the future, you’re wrong! This card reversed is even worse than right-side-up; it’s very serious misfortune with irreparable damage left behind and possible losses on more than one front. The devastation is total. The only hope will come from surrounding cards.
Money-De
scription: A home safe, with the key still dangling in the lock, is standing wide-open. There’s a pile of money on the table, and the curtain is slightly open, so anybody within range of the window and a pair of binoculars can see what’s there. Meanings: Money for the inquirer, either inherited, won in a game of chance, or earned. A positive omen of financial abundance and blessings. Or it could simply mean finances are a matter of interest to the inquirer. Reversed: Loss of money by any means; poor management, poor decision-making, theft, or gambling. This card reversed is only positive if it appears by an ending card, meaning the period of financial loss is at an end and recovery may commence.
Old Woman-Description: An elderly lady is seating in an easy-chair in a living room. Meanings: This can be an actual person or an atmosphere. This can literally be an old woman or any old person in the inquirer’s environment who can be trusted to provide wise counsel and advice. This card upright suggests that this person is a genuinely kind, good, decent person. It can also represent the inquirer’s own inner voice or intuition, the ‘wise woman’ within. This positive card can also indicate family harmony and traditional values. Reversed: This nasty old woman is a troublemaker. She will provide bad advice, meddle, interfere, or otherwise disrupt the situation. Or this card reversed can refer to a situation which is outdated, stuck in the past, or deteriorating. Some change, new thinking, fresh blood, or a willingness to accept advice may be needed here.
Thank your for this post, this is amazing and very helpful! 🙂 Unfortunately there is very few material about Sibilla cards out there.
The Sibilla deck isn’t as famous as the Tarot deck, but it seems to be getting a little more attention in recent years. I know of at least one card reader/psychic on YouTube who uses them.
I do not know anyone on youtube that use them. Could you send me the link? In Brazil many people use Sibilla, but it seems people do not teach much about how to use them. I’ve seen a series of videos from a brazilian sibilla reader that helped me a lot, but I still like to look for other sources.
Thanks so very much for sharing your knowledge!! I’m just beginning Sibilla and simply love your willingness to help others learn. 🤗
You’re quite welcome! It’s odd–I’ve never wanted to be a teacher, but when it comes to the subject of divination, I have this odd tendency to slip into teacher-mode. I’ve been a ‘collector’ of various divination methods over the years, and I enjoy sharing them with others.
One psychic card reader on YouTube, who only goes by the name of Marie (her YouTube channel is called Marie’s Table), sometimes uses Sibilla Cards, although she calls them by the ‘brand-name’ of her particular Sibilla deck, the ‘Gypsy Oracle Cards’. Her YouTube channel is at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwF07inC7P3z5tsSPNNHtw. I hope this helps!
She really seems to use it a lot. The problem is that she only reads about Trump lol.
Sadly, he’s a huge target for readings these days! I look forward to the day when he’s just a distant memory, and not a big focus of concern. I like it when Marie uses the Gypsy Oracle Card Sibilla deck, because those, I have a pretty-good grasp of.
Indeed. I found out some people are making many readings about Bolsonaro in Brazil as well. They are more accurante than the ones of Mary. I feel Mary often shuffles it wrongly and doesn’t formulate good questions…”What’s going on with Trump?” It is such a vague question in my opinion…
Hello, look for Tom Benjamin and Kelly The Truth in Story in YOU TUBE, both read and have some teaching there with Sibillas.
Thanks for the tip!
Discovered Lenormands and Sibillas just a few months back after many years of being a Tarot chick and, they’re just neat. I’ve personally enountered three different systems, the Vera Sibilla, the Sibilla Indovina, which is the one I seem to be clicking with, but that might just be a function of more attractive artwork on the cards and… the Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Playing cards/Maybe Lenormand, which has the most variation from the other two. My guess is that Mlle Lenormand was most likely using plain vanilla playing cards for her readings. They’re an old tried and true, after all.
Not to be contrary, but some Sibilla cards are “numbered” both “Salons” and “La Vera” use regular playing card suits and numbering. The Gypsy Oracle or Sibilla “Ze…” something isn’t numbered, and that is the one you are using here.
For people learning, I think this is a very important distinction that doesn’t seem to come across in your article. If I missed where that information was put in I do apologize.
I know you did mention there are other versions of the deck. But you state with some conviction that Sibilla cards aren’t numbered and that just isn’t true.
Ah, I was unaware of that. Thank you for setting me straight. And you’re right; it’s an important distinction which I should have been aware of before posting. Clearly I will need to re-visit and revise that article sometime soon.
I now use the Sibilla almost exclusively as it delivers the exact kind of details my clients are looking for. Just as an aside traditionally the significators are the two Lovers (Jack and Queen of Hearts). I recoiled in horror at the thought of using the Soldier as a significator! Totally understand your reasoning though as there is very little out there so it’s a kind of feel your way along experience and of course whatever works for you is the best way to do it! There is a good (debated) book in English called Italian Cartomancy by Alessandra Venturi, which, if it is arguable about whether her method is truly traditional, at least gives a native Italian reader’s take on the Sibilla. It has lots of info not found elsewhere. The problems with it are a) It’s difficult to find and b) she gives no reading methods, just an in-depth look at each card, upright and reversed. Apparently the methods will be explained in the next book, which hasn’t appeared. There’s also some controversy about her traditional meaning of the Peacock or Pridefulness card (2 Clubs). Some traditionalists view this as a highly negative card, but Venturi reads it as one of the most positive cards in the deck. After observing my readings I have found the latter to be the case, but some of her other meanings didn’t ring true to me. However, lacking anything better this is probably the best source on card meanings. I just wish the author would release an ebook version and also publish the next two promised books in the series which deal with the methods and combinations.
I really love this deck, although I use the more traditional version mentioned in the comments above as it has the card values which add to my interpretations. Before I discovered the Venturi book I used to sit and pull 5 cards from the deck before pressing play on a true crime show and seeing if I could figure out the murderer. I learned a lot that way and it’s great fun. Like the tarot the traditional meanings are great to know, but your own observations alongside is the best way to go.
Also I use the line of 5 or 7 mostly, although the 9 card box works well. I hadn’t thought about trying a bigger block, but I’m certainly going to give it a go. I have found that Lenormand techniques such as mirroring work great with the Sibilla too, though I know some people will read this and recoil at THAT 😀
Thank you for the information! That’s what I like about the Sibilla deck, and the Kipper deck as well–they get into the nitty-gritty details of people’s lives. They don’t call for people to do any deep, meditative thought, they just show people what is going on in their world, right here and right now, and that is what most people want, I think. If at all, the Soldier card would be a significator *only* for a very specific sort of client, one who has made a career of the military. I can understand your recoiling at the idea of using it as a significator for anybody.
Sorry! Love to share info and I forgot to say that Venturi also introduced me to the concept of strong and weak suits. Hearts and Spades are strong and Clubs and Diamonds are weak, barring a few exceptions (for example the Peacock being highly fortunate despite being in Clubs). The strong suits overpower the weaker and are given much more prominence in a reading. It helps me pull out nuance for a reading I would never have gotten otherwise. Of course you need the other, more traditional deck, with the card numbers to be able to use this unless you have an excellent memory. And one final tip. There are two versions of the traditional deck, both have the card inserts, but one has the little pictures like we’re used to while the other, made for the Italian market, simply has a letter and the number. This can be confusing for new readers as C is not Clubs it’s Hearts (Cuore), F is Clubs etc so it’s another thing you need to memorise. Much easier for a beginner to get the other deck.