Current Big Picture: State Of The World End Oct 2023
A Grand Tableau With The Piatnik Traditional Fortune Telling Cards
This week, as we’re coming up to November, to Samhain/Halloween and moving into winter and the end of the year, I wanted to do some “bigger picture” readings, just on general energies and events around at the moment and what the various oracle decks suggest are on the way.
So for today’s reading, I am using the Piatnik Traditional Zigeuner Fortune Telling Cards. This, as you may know, is from the same family of oracle cards as the Vera Sibilla/Gypsy Oracle Cards and the Kipper. Like Kipper, it has 36 cards, but you will doubtless recognise many of the images from both systems.
You can see a comparison between this deck and the Vera Sibilla, along with the meanings of the cards, here:
Today, we’re going to be reading the Traditional Fortune Telling cards in a Grand Tableau, or “The Big Picture” format. And I’ll broadly be using the same methods as detailed for the Kipper cards GT. Take a look at the start of the instructions for the Kipper GT here:
There’ll be a number of key differences, however. Not least, that I will not be using a significator here, so not the Lover or Sweetheart, and not the card stipulated by Piatnik for this spread which should, according to them, “always” be the Merriment card. I don’t agree, and it would be inappropriate for the aim and tone of this particular spread in any case. So this will be a general “events” read, in the main.
Here is the layout I have drawn for this.
The Reading
The cards at the very centre of the reading are the Enemy and the Widower, suggesting that a grieving male enemy, focusing on what and whom he has lost, are at the centre of events. The four corners suggest a visit or visitation that was promised, planned or agreed (Visit, Marriage) and what looks like a surprising amount of celebration and happiness over it (Unexpected Joy, Merriment).
Obviously, in the current context, this takes on a rather darker tone that usually suggested by these particular cards. And we can see that the visit has a religious element (Ecclesiast) and “gifts” only Widows, more grief; that the “promise” is a military one with a message of resolve and loyalty (Fidelity, Officer, Message, Marriage), that any “unexpected joy” is rooted in dysfunction (Malady), Anger and falsehoods (Falseness), and that the Merriment for a “House” involves financial ruin, devaluing and disaster (Money, Misfortune). Looking at the knighting cards for the four corners, we can see that the Visit brings both Death and Money, the celebrations, are of a Gift stolen (Thief), the surprise happiness, some money or value in Fidelity and loyalty. And the promise or vow involves young passionate men (Lover) and their rage (Anger).
As for the Enemy and the Widower, we can see that the Enemy is knighted by Constancy (the all-seeing eye) and Thief, so someone determined to keep taking, but also someone who thinks they are always being stolen from. He causes sorrow for women (Sorrow, Sweetheart) and engages the Thoughts of passionate young men (Lover). The Widower is knighted by hopes of death (Death, Hope), news of jealousy and envy (Letter, Jealousy) and a more general message of anger (Anger, Message). So, yep, that sounds about how things are right now.
Without looking at every single card in great detail (which we also could), we can use the cards to give us a general overview of likely events and themes as below. Here I’ve used the method suggested by Hildegard Leiding on the Kipper cards, which is to read opposing cards and pairs together to create events. I detailed that method here:
In our current reading, these suggest the promise of a visitation or one that was planned has a religious message, involving constant yearning and desire, perhaps even a claim of a divine desire. The news has been of a young woman or women and the loss of love or heart, or care, heartlessness, callousness. Jealousy and envy bringing sorrow, and thoughts of hope and ambitions involving an unhealthy destruction with a surprising amount of celebration of it. Widows mourn their soldiers, gifting loyalty to the tribe and the death of young men. Judgement comes about the direction of travel from senior individuals and lawmakers, there is our enemy widower, our grieving man, and the chances, fates and fortunes of the very young and children. Money and value is lost or stolen and anger and rage is given more value with regard to a “false home” or country.
A visit that brings widows and the promise of military action. A religious “gift” of a message about loyalty and tribalism. The only constant is death, which the young men appear to desire and yearn for. There is news of senior figures, of judgements handed down over the movement and journeys of women. A passionate enemy mourns his losses. Envy wins and children are in sorrow. Thoughts of gains through hopes and plans of stealing them. A deeply unhealthy rage and a well-financed destruction, celebrating falsehoods and a country’s supposed “joy” and advantage.
Other Events Suggested In The Spread (So Likely Mix of Past & Future)
Here, I look at the diagonals and verticals from the top row down, as well as knighting the top row’s cards, and looking too at those that mirror them.
The visit brings mourning to the country of supposed merriment. The visit gifts theft, loss and sorrow. It brings death but also funding. There is a resulting commitment to anger from young men.
Religious and spiritual mourning over losses; religious deaths, children and the young lost. It involves theft and loss from a country, a sense of it being “burgled”, religious judgements and leaders, but also a message of movement, or moving ahead, and false value or rewards.
A perception of gifts given to the “house” or country. Constant deaths, theft planned. Also overseen by, perhaps a judgemental god figure, as well as those in power, and men mourning the loss of women. Constant mourning and children and the young being of value to the enemy. Permanent emnity. A yearning from those mourning, a desire for angry karma, a vengeful destiny.
News of deaths to wealth and supposed merriment; news of judgement and senior figures and children’s sorrow, or sorrow over children; news of an enemy’s moves, progress, and deep inner desires and yearnings that may never be fulfilled or sated. News of a gift of mourning over losses. News of fate. News of very young women or children and women, reward for the enemy, loyal women.
“Caring” or passionate judges’ or those in power’s thefts and destructions. A passionate enemy mourns losses. Passion brings “luck” and fatedness to a young man’s message. Passionate death, love dies with the movement of children, the love of reward and money. Theft and loss, the hand of fate and judgement, the fate of those in power, young men’s losses.
A jealous enemy’s hopes and plans for a new generation. Envy pours fortune on the movement of women or the progress of the idealised “sweetheart”. Jealous judgements, and a young man’s sense of loss of grieving. Jealous rage. Jealousy over value brings loyal commitments and promises. The sorrow of the wealthy, deaths brought by the enemy causing sorrow, shifting the sorrow.
Thoughts of fortune or fate with regard to the grieving of those looking at what has been lost. Thoughts of value or rewards for young men’s desires and yearnings. Thoughts of anger in military action, thoughts of revenge. How to think of the enemy, how to move forward loyalty to the cause, how to be false and engender false beliefs and propaganda. Hopes, desires and plans for the country, awarded by the powers that be as a gift, a widower’s plans.
Unhealthy value or rewards as progress and movement is lost. Dysfunctional rage brings loyalty to the message, but there’s distortion and falseness, perhaps propaganda. Unhealthy fate or destiny, sickness in the militarism of young men. Death and grief brings only more destruction. Destruction of childhood, of innocence.
Celebrations and joy in the anger of young men and women and against women. Celebration of falseness, false militarism that is committed to. Celebration and glee in rewards for loyalty. Given merriment and pleasure from stealing and taking.
So really not the most positive outlook, I’m afraid, although it seems to me that some of this has happened already. It does just go to demonstrate, though, that many of these decks of cards are pretty direct and “tell it as it is” and really tend not to sugarcoat things at all, even if they are more usually used for the personal rather than the global situations.
Here’s the overall summary of the whole thing again:
Summary
The cards centre on a grieving male enemy, focusing on what and whom he has lost, being at the centre of events. A “visit” that was promised, planned or agreed has brought a surprising amount of rather dark, dysfunctional celebration and happiness over it. The visit had a religious element and “gifts” only grief and mourning and a military promise with a message of resolve and loyalty, that any “unexpected joy” is rooted in dysfunction and falsehoods, and any happiness perceived for a particular country will invoke financial ruin, devaluing and disaster. The visit brought death and money, the celebrations are of a gift stolen, the surprise happiness, with money or value in loyalty to the cause, and the cause committed to involves young passionate men and their rage.
Someone is determined to keep taking, but may believe he is always being stolen from. He causes sorrow for women and engages the minds of passionate young men. Losses bring hope of death (, news of jealousy and envy and a more general message of anger.
The promise of a visitation or one that was planned has a religious message, involving constant yearning and desire, perhaps even a claim of a divine desire. The news has been of a young woman or women and the loss of love or heart, or care, heartlessness, callousness. Jealousy and envy bringing sorrow, and thoughts of hope and ambitions involving an unhealthy destruction with a surprising amount of celebration of it. Widows mourn their soldiers, gifting loyalty to the tribe and the death of young men. Judgement comes about the direction of travel from senior individuals and lawmakers, there is our enemy widower, our grieving man, and the chances, fates and fortunes of the very young and children. Money and value is lost or stolen and anger and rage is given more value with regard to a “false home” or country.
A visit that brings widows and the promise of military action. A religious “gift” of a message about loyalty and tribalism. The only constant is death, which the young men appear to desire and yearn for. There is news of senior figures, of judgements handed down over the movement and journeys of women. A passionate enemy mourns his losses. Envy wins and children are in sorrow. Thoughts of gains through hopes and plans of stealing them. A deeply unhealthy rage and a well-financed destruction, celebrating falsehoods and a country’s supposed “joy” and advantage.
The visit brings mourning to the country of supposed merriment. The visit gifts theft, loss and sorrow. It brings death but also funding. There is a resulting commitment to anger from young men.
Religious and spiritual mourning over losses; religious deaths, children and the young lost. It involves theft and loss from a country, a sense of it being “burgled”, religious judgements and leaders, but also a message of movement, or moving ahead, and false value or rewards.
A perception of gifts given to the “house” or country. Constant deaths, theft planned. Also overseen by, perhaps a judgemental god figure, as well as those in power, and men mourning the loss of women. Constant mourning and children and the young being of value to the enemy. Permanent emnity. A yearning from those mourning, a desire for angry karma, a vengeful destiny.
News of deaths to wealth and supposed merriment; news of judgement and senior figures and children’s sorrow, or sorrow over children; news of an enemy’s moves, progress, and deep inner desires and yearnings that may never be fulfilled or sated. News of a gift of mourning over losses. News of fate. News of very young women or children and women, reward for the enemy, loyal women.
“Caring” or passionate judges’ or those in power’s thefts and destructions. A passionate enemy mourns losses. Passion brings “luck” and fatedness to a young man’s message. Passionate death, love dies with the movement of children, the love of reward and money. Theft and loss, the hand of fate and judgement, the fate of those in power, young men’s losses.
A jealous enemy’s hopes and plans for a new generation. Envy pours fortune on the movement of women or the progress of the idealised “sweetheart”. Jealous judgements, and a young man’s sense of loss of grieving. Jealous rage. Jealousy over value brings loyal commitments and promises. The sorrow of the wealthy, deaths brought by the enemy causing sorrow, shifting the sorrow.
Thoughts of fortune or fate with regard to the grieving of those looking at what has been lost. Thoughts of value or rewards for young men’s desires and yearnings. Thoughts of anger in military action, thoughts of revenge. How to think of the enemy, how to move forward loyalty to the cause, how to be false and engender false beliefs and propaganda. Hopes, desires and plans for the country, awarded by the powers that be as a gift, a widower’s plans.
Unhealthy value or rewards as progress and movement is lost. Dysfunctional rage brings loyalty to the message, but there’s distortion and falseness, perhaps propaganda. Unhealthy fate or destiny, sickness in the militarism of young men. Death and grief brings only more destruction. Destruction of childhood, of innocence.
Celebrations and joy in the anger of young men and women and against women. Celebration of falseness, false militarism that is committed to. Celebration and glee in rewards for loyalty. A degree of merriment and pleasure from stealing and taking.