Sighs-Description: A woman dressed in black is holding a card in her hand and leaning against a support of some kind, as she stares out to sea. A ship is steaming away in the distance. Meanings: Sentimental thoughts about someone or something. The anticipation of an arrival, or the sadness of a departure. Thoughts and anxieties about not knowing the answer, nor how a situation is going to resolve itself. Someone may have, or be, a secret admirer, and doesn’t know how the other party feels. There can also be regret that a certain situation didn’t turn out better. Reversed: The time of sighing is coming to an end. Either the inquirer achieves the end they hope for, or it did not turn out the way they had hoped, and now is the time to mourn the disappointment and move on. One way or another, things are no longer up in the air, or in waiting-mode.
Soldier-Description: A soldier in an alert, guarded stance with a rifle. Meanings: This can be a military person, the military in general, military matters, justice, the enforcement of laws, or law enforcement personnel. It can represent protectiveness and defensiveness, but also suspicion, jealousy and mistrust. An alert, wary person who does not trust others easily. Reversed: Lack of either protection or help or trustworthy friends; one is on one’s own. An untrustworthy person who can be jealous, possessive, controlling, restrictive, and abusive. Someone who prevents the inquirer from moving forward; they’re blocking them. Or, letting one’s guard down.
Sorrow-Description: A woman leans on a parapet overlooking the sea. Under her left elbow, a letter can be seen. It is plain from her demeanor she is grieving, and that the letter contained very bad news. Meanings: A serious obstacle or sudden misfortune, which brings the inquirer or someone around them grief. Surrounding cards may give hints as to the source of the sorrow. Reversed: Pain, disappointment or sorrow is lessening, or will soon come to an end. This card reversed can also suggest the sufferer is ‘catastrophizing’, being of an overly-negative mindset about whatever is afficting them, seeing things as worse than they really are.
Surprise-Description: An angler pulls up his fishing net from a canal and finds, not a nice fat fish, but a nice fat bag of cash in his net. Meanings: A happy surprise, possibly the good result of the inquirer’s own efforts, but the reward for those efforts may be more handsome than expected. This could be an unexpected reward, a small win, a job offer out of the blue, or someone passes an exam with far-better flying colors than they expected, but whatever it is, it brings unexpected relief to any situation. Reversed: An unrealized hope; a positive outcome postponed; or an unpleasant surprise. If the inquirer was hoping for a sudden, surprise-bit of good luck to get themselves out of trouble, this card reversed means such deliverance isn’t coming.
Sweetheart-Description: A woman stands leaning on a low garden wall, over which has been thrown a red cloak, while reading what appears to be a love letter. Meanings: This is a specific-person’s card, someone’s inamorata, either the inquirer themselves or the object of their affection. Acquiring a lover, attending an engagement party or attending a wedding can also be indicated. Reversed: Unrequited love, heartbreak or a break-up. A relationship ends. Whether the couple gets back together or not will depend on the other cards in the reading. At it’s most-extreme, this could indicate a former lover becomes an adversary.
Thief-Description: A home intruder climbs in the window of the same room we saw in the Money card (thoughtful of the home-owners to have a window-seat, and to leave the window unlocked). Meanings: A loss or theft by any means, whether an actual home intrusion, computer theft, identity theft, or even just someone who robs us of self-esteem. It’s possible the victim, in some way, left themselves vulnerable to the theft. This may be a warning to take extra precautions, because dishonest people are in their environment, people who won’t hesitate to take advantage of them. Reversed: Well, the loss has happened, whether it was theft, dishonest actions, or fraud. All that remains is for the victim to start recovering from the loss, and to learn a lesson from all this. Only with very positive cards in the future does it mean the victim will be compensated for the loss, or regain what was stolen.
Thought-Description: A Greco-Roman philosopher sits in his study, deep in thought and clutching a scroll in his hand. On the desk in front of him are memento mori—a human skull and an hour-glass. Meanings: Either someone in this situation is doing a lot of heavy-duty thinking, or they think for a living, or it could be the inquirer needs to do a lot of heavy-duty thinking about something before taking action. Still, the skull and the hourglass mean time is passing; at some point, the inquirer will have to take action. Reversed: A warning to stop, think, and look at what you’re doing. This card reversed suggests someone may be acting hastily, recklessly, impulsively, and above-all, thoughtlessly.
Waiting-Description: A woman stands on a balcony or terrace, overlooking a city. She is leaning on one elbow, and staring dreamily off into the distance, as if lost in thought. Meanings: This card could simply represent a period of waiting, or the feelings of anticipation or expectation which arise while waiting for a particular thing to happen. Though it is challenging, the inquirer must wait; this is not a time or situation in which they can push things into being. This card upright suggests the outcome after the period of waiting will be positive. Reversed: A wait which results in disappointment. The inquirer may be urged here, that if they are waiting for a particular thing to happen, they should stop waiting and carry on with life, because what they are waiting for will either not happen, or won’t happen in a way they want.
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.