The Ship

Ship · No. 3 · Playing card ♠10 · Travel, distance, overseas

The card

A sailing ship on the water, sails open, the shoreline receding. The image is about leaving and about distance.

Traditional meaning

Traditionally the Ship is travel, faraway places and trade, and also news or wealth coming from abroad.

How to read it

The core of the Ship is distance — geographical or emotional. It marks departure as much as not-yet-arrived. On a relationship question the Ship often says there is something between the two of you. It also covers foreign countries, import and export, studying abroad, and moving far away.

In context

Love

Long distance, time apart, or a partner whose mind is elsewhere. It can also be a relationship that began while travelling.

Work

Business trips, postings abroad, cross-border work, dealing with distant clients.

Timing

Slow. Weeks to months, and often subject to change.

Common combinations

Lenormand meanings were first written down in the instruction sheet issued around 1846 by Philippe Lenormand, heir of Marie-Anne Lenormand, and that sheet has long been in the public domain. The "Traditional meaning" section here describes the classical reading handed down from that line, in our own words — it is not a verbatim quotation of the sheet. Card images are public-domain scans of Das Spiel der Hoffnung (1799).