KING OF SPADES--_Upright._ Employed as a representative card, this one designates a man of very dark complexion, with black eyes and hair, pa.s.sionate and proud, ambitious, and successful in most of his aspirations, but a person whom the reverse of fortune would utterly crush into obscurity.

Divested of this personal and destructive character, this card, when coming upright in an oracle, designates a professional man of eminence, a lawyer, judge, advocate, counselor, senator, pract.i.tioner, attorney, confidential agent, jurist, orator, statesman, pleader, diplomat, doctor of laws or in medicine, or a learned physician.

When the consultant be an unmarried lady, this card a.s.sures her that her admirer is a man of excessive probity and of honorable intentions, that is, if the _king of diamonds_ likewise comes out upright. To a married woman it denotes that her property or honor will be in the keeping of a lawyer or agent of rect.i.tude, who will rescue her from the machinations of enemies or spoliators. To a widow it shows that her second marriage will be to a man of eminence, who will render her after life most happy.

KING OF SPADES--_Reversed._ This card signifies a widower, a man in anger or difficulty, also one given to inebriety. But taken in a general acceptation, this card represents a _wicked man_, and, through induction, _wickedness_. In that case, its secondary significance can be gleaned from the synonyms, used to give expression to it, as follows:

Bad intentioned; innate wickedness; perversity; perfidy; crime; cruelty; inhumanity, and atrocity.

This card is likewise regarded as an unfortunate one, as it forewarns you of the utter wreck of your expectations, wrought by some one of the following causes:

Reverses; prejudice; theft; violence; corruption; elopement; libertinage; debauchery; slander; malice; exposure of secrets; disorder in morals, or calumny.

QUEEN OF SPADES--_Upright._ As the representative of an individual this card designates a dark lady, with dark eyes and black hair, naturally of an open and generous disposition, but who will change her nature through flattery and her position in society. Should she be possessed of beauty, her innocence will be in perpetual danger, and only saved through the exercise of a strong will, or through motives of self-respect.

This card likewise, when emerging upright, designates a _widow_, without respect to color or social position, and is also taken to signify the condition of widowhood, to be interpreted, as the oracle demands, by these synonyms:

Privation; abstinence; absence; scarcity; sterility; poverty; indigence; famine; deprivation.

Frequently this card is employed to denote a _well-founded distrust_, when its secondary significations will be:

Just suspicion; legitimate fear; merited doubts; conjectures; surmises based on fact; conscientious scruples; timidity; bashfulness; reluctance; retirement.

QUEEN OF SPADES--_Reversed._ As a representative of an individual, this card, coming out in the oracle reversed in position, denotes a widow, desirous of contracting another marriage. It moreover designates a dark woman of amorous propensities, who does not hesitate to disregard the conventionalities of society.

But as a general thing, this card is a.s.sumed to signify a _crafty evil-minded woman_, and can be interpreted as:

Malignity; malice; finesse; artifice; cunning; craft; dissimulation; frolic; pranks; wildness; hypocrisy; bigotry; prudishness; wantonness; shamelessness.

When coming reversed in a consultation upon marriage, this card denotes that difficulties and impediments, generally originating with a female, will be interposed to prevent the desired nuptials.

JACK OF SPADES--_Upright._ As the representative of an individual, this card, coming out upright, designates a dark complexioned unmarried man, an obliging fellow, who does not hesitate to accommodate his friends at serious disadvantage to himself, if occasion require.

The primary signification of the card is, however, _messenger_, an envoy, or person, charged with bearing of intelligence, most generally employed as a go-between in intrigues, or in a capacity of trust.

Sometimes this card is used to designate a _critic_, or a critical position; a moment of impending danger; an awkward predicament; a decisive instant; an unfortunate situation; a delicate circ.u.mstance; a threatened calamity; a crisis; or a perplexing misstep.

JACK OF SPADES--_Reversed._ This card is one of evil omen to lovers, as it forewarns a betrayal of their secrets, or the exposure of their plans by a corrupt messenger, or through the intervention of some intermeddler.

Its primary signification, when the card is reversed, is that of a _Paul Pry_, or spy, whence we have the secondary ones of inquirer, spectator, watcher, overseer, as well as the result of such a man's investigations. Hence applied more generally, the card signifies scrutiny; examination; reports; remarks; notations, and commentaries.

Another secondary signification of this card is _traitor_, from which we readily obtain the following synonyms:

Deception; duplicity; stratagem; disguise; prevarication; disloyalty; breach of trust; conspiracy; tale bearing; imposture; black heartedness; perfidy; falsehood; dissimulation and breach of confidence.

The card is, moreover, used to forewarn lovers that there is danger of their being pursued in event of elopement.

ACE OF SPADES--_Upright._ This card, coming out in natural position, and intervening between the representative cards of a male and female, relates wholly to love affairs. When accompanied by the _ten of spades_ it shows that an intrigue will be accompanied with a deal of sorrow and affliction, and will ultimately end in abandonment under most disastrous circ.u.mstances.

One of the primary significations of this card is a _paper_ or doc.u.ment, chiefly appertaining to law matters, such as warrants for arrest, writs, subpoenas and legal pleadings.

Another is that of a _ship_, or other means of conveyance by water, particularly when accompanied by the _eight of clubs_, reversed, which betokens the consultant to be on the eve of a sea voyage, or other journey over water of some description.

ACE OF SPADES--_Reversed._ When in the oracle of a married consultant, this card appears reversed, and near to her representative, its primary signification is _pregnancy_, which in her case can be expressed by the following synonyms:

Conception; maternity; accouchement; childbirth.

From this we derive a secondary signification, applicable to other things, for which we employ correspondent synonyms:

Enlargement; engenderment; fecundity; fertilization; production; composition; increase; augmentation; multiplication; deliverance; parturition; growth; addition.

When reversed and accompanied by the _knave of clubs_, likewise reversed, this card is a premonitor of _death_.

The general secondary signification of this card, when reversed and in the body of the oracle, is a _fall_, whence we have:

Decadence; decline; discouragement; dissipation; ravage; ruin; demolition; destruction; bankruptcy; error; fault; overwhelming sorrows; perdition; an abyss; precipice; gulf; waterfall; disgrace; shame.

TEN OF SPADES--_Upright._ The general signification of this card is _jealousy_, particularly when accompanied by the _knave of clubs_, which denotes that the consultant, either male or female, is jealous of his or her sweetheart to such a degree that their friendly relations are in danger of being broken off, which will a.s.suredly be the case, if the _nine of spades_ should likewise appear in the oracle.

The other primary signification of this card is _tears_, whence we derive a series of secondary significations, as:

Sighs; groans; weeping; complaints; lamentations; griefs; sadness; heart-sickness; affliction; mental agony.

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; sanct.i.ty; 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; chastis.e.m.e.nt; 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.