The Wand’s fire energy started our journey into the Minor Arcana, and we continue onto a new adventure with the Suit of Cups. Here our Fool will encounter new lessons and experiences. Each revolving around the water’s energy.
As new beginnings were started with the Wands, we have graduated in life to the world of emotions. Creativity, love, and passion honor one end of the wide breadth that we as humans experience. The other end balances and yet challenges our hearts with sorrow, pain, and worry.
This new adventure does not take place in the world like the Wands did, it takes place within us. Can our hearts stand what life has to offer?
Ace of Cups:
Our adventure begins with a cup, and this cup has the potential to overflow. Symbolized with the number one, the Ace of Cups holds potential. Just as any number “1” brings new opportunities, it is the cup that shapes what type of energy is manifesting.
When we encounter the Ace of Cups, we know that an opportunity or environment is beginning to take shape. Bringing with it the potential to overflow with the wonder and beauty of human emotion.
Ace of Cups Meanings:
- A new love (person/thing) coming.
- Spiritual aspect of life- looking for life purpose or fulfillment.
- Physical, spiritual, and emotional healing.
- Nourishing spiritual and emotional body.
- Relationships:
- Return of love/passion.
- A new love connection.
Two of Cups:
With the journey of our hearts started, we will encounter trials and lessons, to not only test us but teach us. Our final destination might be to a heart that overflows, but that doesn’t mean that we start feeling then.
The test begins here with the 2 of Cups. When this card appears in a spread, it already speaks about love and harmony. The two people we witness in this image are drawn together.
Not to fight or build an enterprise, but to connect and aid each other on an internal level. What we are witnessing is the meeting of two kindred souls, a community or village built not to out-match the other, but rather to work together.
This connection can at times challenge one another, but always with the end goal of creating a healing environment meant to aid and share the joys found in life.
2 of Cups Meanings:
- Kindred souls.
- Healing conversations.
- Help being offered.
- A friendly message coming.
- Shared joy.
- Relationships:
- Kindred souls.
Three of Cups:
It is from this place of kinship that we start crafting this manifesting energy. Influencing the shape, condition, and quality that will appear in our lives. We then traveled past this creation, to the 3 of Cups where we are able to witness the beginning results of our plans.
As we saw with the 3 of Wands, how we choose to mold the energy born from the Ace, determines what we find when we arrive at the number three. In this case, we come to our inner circle.
Three women are seen raising their glasses, to cheer in celebration and kinship. They know only great happiness and joy because the strength of their love and open hearts, have created a family and environment that is healthy and loving. An inner circle that supports one another in life, allowing for their cups to overflow.
3 of Cups Meanings:
- Celebration.
- Good times.
- Many opportunities.
- Festivities.
- Light-hearted enjoyment.
- Joyous gatherings.
- Merriment.
- Your inner circle.
- Relationships:
- Social meetings. (parties/gatherings)
- Celebration.
- Going to parties.
Four of Cups:
But just as we said in the beginning, the breadth of human emotion spans more than just the wonderful feelings. Sometimes we encounter dissatisfaction, disappointment, and discontentment.
Sometimes this comes from missed opportunities, because fear held us back or we were living in the past. Other times we encounter change. While change always has the potential to be beneficial for all involved, it can dissolve inner circles.
As we can see here within the 4 of Cups, we are no-longer satisfied with those we have created an emotional connection with. Maybe we’ve drifted onto separate paths, or times changed and our village just isn’t what we’re looking for anymore.
When this happens, the other end of the emotional spectrum can stall us (#4) pausing our journey, and even leaving us stomping the floor in dissatisfaction. But when the time is right and we are ready to pull our gaze from what life has become, we can witness a new option ready and waiting for us. We merely need to look up.
4 of Cups Meanings:
- Disappointment.
- Discontentment.
- Holding onto the past.
- Waiting for the past to resolve itself.
- Looking for enlightenment.
- Missed opportunities.
- Relationships:
- Discontentment.
- Resentment.
Five of Cups:
In choosing to look up, we acknowledge the ending of things. It is no-longer dissatisfaction that holds us down, but rather the steps we need to take to properly honor our emotions.
Too often we can jump from connection to connection without honoring what comes in-between each cycle. When the 5 of Cups presents itself in a reading, it brings with it the grieving emotions we feel.
Grief is an emotion with equal weight to joy. While one is definitely more pleasant than the other, they both are a part of what creates a full human heart.
How we process what we feel is what defines who we are. Each emotion is real, but the words or actions chosen to honor that emotion is what defines the quality of our own self-love and character.
5 of Cups Meanings:
- Grieving.
- Loss.
- Grieving past and then choosing to let go.
- Unable or not at the point to see the future. (Two cups behind the Fool.)
- Need to accept the loss and consider how you’ll do that.
- Relationships:
- Grieving a loss/end.
Six of Cups:
In choosing to honor our emotions, we were able to release our emotional connections in the past and start to prepare ourselves for new connections to come. The next step we take in this adventure is when we can look back and smile.
What better way to depict truth on an emotional level than to show an image of two children? For if we witness and learn from those in our care, we can see how each emotion felt by children has equal weight and worth.
They also teach us to travel the emotion’s journey without pulling or twisting the emotion. Children don’t hold onto past emotions they release them as they go and embrace them as they come.
Within the 6 of Cups we encounter the energy of family and community (#6). Which teaches us that in our heart’s journey, it can embrace old connections again in a new and happy light.
These memories of past connections once produced pain and loss (5 of Cups) but now through time, learning, and healing they hold a level of reflection and nostalgia. This is the healing or healed portion of an emotional connection that has died.
Leaving our heart in a different state/condition than it once was, but ready again to reach out into the world for a new connection.
6 of Cups Meanings:
- Happy memories.
- Nostalgia.
- Reflection.
- Past patterns & habits.
- Painful memories fading.
- Past life, soul retrieval.
- Past life regression.
- Enjoying the moment and remembering the past that led you here.
- A health component in your Soul Contract.
- Relationships:
- Playfulness.
- New beginnings.
- Can look back and it’s not so painful.
- Return of someone from your past.
Seven of Cups:
With this new stage in our adventure, we need to ponder where we stand and what we are searching for. In the short time we have been on this journey we have known potential, connection, disappointment, loss, and then wrapped up what we felt, in order to prepare for new connections.
In doing so, we have put our heart through the arc of human emotions. We have encountered both ends of the spectrum, and now must see how we fared and which path we will choose next.
As we can see within this image, our Fool stands before seven cups, each filled with a different choice or potential plan for manifesting this energy. A head, a serpent, a castle, a wreath, a pile of jewelry, a dragon of temptation, and a cloaked angel sit within the cups.
When we encounter emotions we can become scattered, pulled in various directions, instigated by different emotions. Will you choose a life of wealth? Of vanity? Or notoriety? Of beauty? Or will you follow the divine light (faith) to your Castle of Dreams?
7 of Cups Meanings:
- Dream/fantasy.
- Castle in the Sky.
- Pausing (#7) to decide where to put your intention.
- Scattered.
- Choices.
- Relationships:
- Choosing what to do next.
Eight of Cups:
Sometimes in answering the question of which road to choose, we can try them all, in order to know which is best. The pull of the different emotions we know in our heart, can lead us deep within different worlds, where the values and truths stray from who we are at our heart.
For this reason, there are times when we must part ways with the life or perception we have known. As our understanding of the human experience shifts, what we desire and where we feel most content can alter.
As a result, we must remain in-tune with our heart. So that we can sense the subtle shifts within us, that notify our change of heart. To walk away from a path no matter how complete, is not always unhealthy or wrong.
In looking at the 8 of Cups, we can see our Fool walking away from a set of eight cups. But what we don’t know is how full they are. Maybe they are empty, devoid of anything sustaining. Or maybe they overflow with life’s energy. Either way, it has come to the Fool’s conclusion that a change must be made, and it is time to seek the unknown and journey down an alternative path.
My final note is that in walking away, it doesn’t mean that the side-step down this path was for not. Sometimes the lessons we need to learn in life lead us down paths that we will never finish. In staying and finishing them, we actually deny ourselves and our well-being. Sometimes, walking away is exactly how the story was meant to be.
8 of Cups Meanings:
- Walking away from what you have.
- Journey across water.
- Time to seek the unknown.
- Wanderlust.
- Relationships:
- The eclipse.
- An event to move life forward.
- Walking away.
Nine of Cups:
As our adventure draws to an end, we can see the effect our trials and lessons have had on our hearts and on our lives. We have had the option at each turn to either reject a component of our heart or embrace what we have encountered.
Sometimes what we have felt has been easy and pleasurable to bear, and other times it has left us tired and sad. But because we approached life, the world, and this adventure with an open heart we can reap the benefits. In this case, we can be just like the 9 of Cups.
Seen sitting on a bench, the Fool has nine cups lined-up behind him. From the wealthiness of his clothing, the ease in which he sits, and simplicity of the image, we know that wealth has graced our Fool. Here our Fool is content, because all the lessons and trials that proceeded this moment have shaped and led him here.
Preparing him and teaching him how to manifest his energy into his greatest dreams. Which is why this card is the ultimate “yes” card.
9 of Cups Meanings:
- Wish card.
- Ultimate “yes” card.
- Doorway to an opportunity.
- Overindulgence.
- Smug.
- Vegetarian.
- Contentment.
- Universe is working for/with you.
- Relationships:
- The most sexual card of the deck.
- Love of life.
- Watch out that the relationships doesn’t consume you.
Ten of Cups:
At the end of our adventure, we not only have learned how to manifest a heartfelt experience, but we are now enjoying the fruits of our labor. Represented by a happy family, this image speaks only of the joy that comes from lasting happiness.
It might not be a wife/husband, but it is a scenario that brings peace of mind and a sense of homecoming to your heart. What is that for you? Do you know how to reach it?
Within this final card of the cups, we can see that happiness born from our heart is possible. As you work with the tarot, you will find that even before all the pieces are in place, happiness can be a part of your life.
Just as we started using our hearts right from the very beginning (2 of Cups) we can start reaping the benefits of an open heart now. Happiness comes from within, born from our own selves and the inner circle we create and connect with.
10 of Cups Meanings:
- Lasting happiness.
- Emotionally happy family.
- Peace of mind.
- Homecoming card.
- Relationships:
- Happiness & homecoming.
*While these are the common meanings of each pip card, they are not limited to what you find here. Each card will come to mean something unique to you, based on how you experience it. These definitions and meanings merely act as a guide for your intuition to navigate the plethora of options to narrow down the meaning meant for your reading.
The unseen forces of emotions and intuition ruled during this adventure, and as a result have added another layer to life. The possibilities and profound experiences we can have, not only come from the world we live in but the connections we create with that world.
An open heart opens us up to a great potential for pain. But to shut off our heart behind walls and vault doors we shut ourselves off from happiness. This emotion is tied with the breadth of human emotion. To choose to feel one, we choose to feel them all.
This doesn’t mean our life then becomes a place of torture and pain, when we pair our open heart with self-love and self-care we can create an environment where we are safe from neglect. Safe from circling pain, we are not bringing sorrow into our life, merely healing from the pain we encounter.
Challenge:
This week pull out the Suit of Cup’s pip cards. How do you feel looking at them? When you discover them in a reading how do they talk to you? What kind of story do they share?
Tools:
- Check out these videos:
- Check out these posts:
- Stone: Blue Agate.
This strong stone helps to protect the wearer from negative energies and maintain a level of internal balance. The blue agate is wonderful to utilize when working with the Suit of Cups because it pairs with the energy of water.
While the healing energy takes awhile to become evident, it builds in force like a tidal wave. Aiding in self-acceptance and embracing all that lives within you. Each emotion has the same right and truth as another, and we can sometimes forget that. The blue agate will aid you as you not only work with the Suit of Cups but with your own emotions and heart.
- Affirmations:
- “I open my heart to the world, adding another layer to my human experience.”
- “I embrace each emotion my heart experiences. All are honest, true, and real.”
- “I include my intuition and spiritual beliefs into each day of my life.”