CUPS
E.MO.TION, the unconscious, subconscious, intuition, water overflowing. In dreams, the inner world is represented as rooms in houses or in non-cartesian labyrinths.
Not even talking about coding in this set, the suit of cups is a map of life - expanding from self, to community, independence and finally fulfilment. Learning by wandering through.
CUPS_ACE: As in all suits, the Ace is a new start, this time an emotional awakening. The cup is offered, filled with streams of intuition. Reversed, this gift may be wasted - a creative block or emptiness. Fill the cup.
CUPS_02: This is one of the most wonderfully auspicious cards for relationships and partnerships. Traditionally, the card features the caduceus symbolising balance, negotiation, and protection. Here, the coil of one fitting with the other. Reversed, the two of cups indicates that the lines of connection may be damaged.
CUPS_03: Moving from self (Ace), to partnership (02), now to the 03 of cups and the expanded circle of friendship, family, community. This card indicates a period of happiness with kin, in harmony, connection and synchronicity. Community can also be claustrophobic, insular, isolating, and growing apart can be necessary. Eight grapes have fallen around the three central cups during the celebration, a premonition of the 08 of this suit, later, when you learn to walk away.
CUPS_04: A card of contemplation, solitude, apathy, lethargy. Lost in insular thought, time passes, over and over. The first step in the path towards fulfilment is seeing with clarity what is being presented by the universe (a different cup!) outside of a comfort zone.
CUPS_05: Fallen cups and a powerful torrent of a river separating you from home. Grief breaks the card’s fourth wall, the cups are out of frame and in our space, close and personal. There is an echo of the shock of 03 of Swords (loss) with the same opening slash of red. This card is about being caught up in a past mis-step or event, unable to move on. Reversed: acceptance, resilience, perspective ... peace.
CUPS_06: The third of a trio of emotional forces holding you back. Here are memories of past cups and rose-like objects that never happened, held in caskets.
CUPS_07: Breaking free (from the past, from grief, from apathy) towards a life purpose begins with imagination. This is a gentle yet courageous act, presented in this card as a bagel-shaped cloud.
CUPS_08: The endless labyrinth of leaving, the endless pursuit of transformation. This is a card about journeys and change.
CUPS_09: Satisfaction, things are paying off. The volatility of the journey through the suit of cups (that is, the journey through a chapter of life) has stabilised. Experiences of the past are now trophies of contentment. This is known as the ‘wish card’ - the things you desire are assured.
If there’s a reverse, it’s that those things you desired may not after all be the things that fulfil you.
CUPS_10: Fulfilment. The 10 of cups is special and rare, the best card you can get. A different format (big) is needed for the full rooms of life. (Reversed - broken dreams, but don’t focus on that).
PAGE OF CUPS: The traditional card shows a youth on the beach, delightfully surprised at the fish that jumps out of their cup. This is the card for openness, tripping, mind-expanding experiences, extreme creativity, the vulnerability of going with this flow.
KNIGHT OF CUPS: This knight is in touch with their emoitions, to their great advantage and sometimes detriment. No less brave than the other knights, this one has a unique and urgent messenger role, bringing the gifts of the cups (a lifetime of emotions) out into the world.
QUEEN OF CUPS: In this card the many rooms of the self are stacked up high on a compassionate vessel, floating on an infinite ocean of deep subconscious. The Queen of Cups connects the material to the emotional. She highlights the gifts you offer to others and to yourself intuitively when logic isn’t working.
KING OF CUPS: Emotions, the unconscious, intellect are balanced by the wise King of Cups. Creativty (represented by the fish) thrives in the calm and consistent waters. Reversed, the balance is challenged if emotions and impulses overwhelm or withdraw.