Cups Flashcards
Aces can be read as chances that lie in our environment or in ourselves. The Ace of Cups is the chance of love in all its forms. It can mean romantic love, the loving of a child or of your parents, friendship and charity. The card indicates that we have the chance now to find one or the other of these forms of love; it means that we should live and express them.
The Two of Cups mean a certain aspect of love: romantic love. Here everything is about love at first sight, falling and being in love, butterflies in your stomach - about the first phase of a relationship. But the Two of Cups can also mean a loving but non-romantic encounter, the open going up to each other, or an act of charity or reconciliation.
The Three of Cups describe a situation similar to Thanksgiving; they describe the feeling of happiness and gratitude in the face of the beautiful, the good, the nourishing, love… which we have recieved from life or our fellow human beings. This is a time of festivity, of saying thanks, of pausing and being happy with the gifts of the moment.
The Four of Cups describe a situation of oversaturation, of overabundance. The card means that we have taken too much, that we have given in to gluttony or that too much or the wrong things are being offered to us. This leads to a feeling of tedium, of annoyance, of (self)disgust. On a different level of meaning the Four of Cups can also mean feeling affronted or being snooty.
This card stands for an attitude in which sorrow, loss and mourning cannot be handled constructively anymore but are met with passivity. We stay in the ruins of the destroyed house, looking only at our misfortune and not at the lighter outlooks that could be seen if only we turned away from the ruins a bit. The Five of Cups prompt us to let go of this attitude and try to “tidy up” the ruins and then turn to happier things.
The Six of Cups stand for a time of romantic puppy-love. They mean an attitude in which we stubbornly only look at that which is beautiful and try to convince ourselves that everything is positive and friendly. The card can also mean nostalgia; the wistful looking back to the past. This can go so far that because of dreaminess reality can hardly be seen anymore.
This card means illusion, self-delusion and sometimes even halluzination. It means that we see things which aren’t there. Maybe we believe we are beeing followed, maybe we believe we are being loved by someone who in truth would rather not have anything to do with us and feels stalked by us. Maybe we believe things are fine although they are not fine at all. In any case: these are not harmless vanities. The contact with reality has been lost.
This card means a time of jubilance, of joy, of festivity. It is a time of harmony and conviviality, of friendship and carefree ease. A beautiful card which only contains the tiniest warning not to fall into irresponsible crapulousness.
The Ten of Cups mean the experience of deep contentment, of having arrived. They can mean that we have completed an important stage of our development. We feel deep contentment, happiness and harmony - nothing is wanting.
The only tiny warning of this card is for me that, yes, for a while we can bathe in this feeling of having arrived and being contented. But it is very likely to pass again. New challenges wait for us. We have completed an important stage of our development; sooner or later it will be time to begin to tackle the next one.
I tend to reading the Pages as invitations to cultivate certain mental attitudes or to inwardly prepare for certain ways of acting.
The Page of Cups invites us to turn to our inner self, our soul, and to look for the well of love, sympathy, harmony and readiness for reconciliation there. He invites us to drink from this well and then turn back to the outside world and to approach every being with this love, sympathy, harmony and readiness for reconciliation.
Like the other knights the Knight of Cups stands for a certain spirit, and in his case this is the spirit of (romantic) dreaminess. It is the spirit in which we make choices according to our feelings, in which we fall in love. The Cup Knight can also mean that it is time to approach an enemy peacefully; being in the spirit of reconciliation makes a real reconciliation much more likely. But there is also a warning in this card: we should be careful not to fall into naivity, credulity, or bigheaded, inappropriate helpfulness.
You can see the Queen of Cups as a woman with the following qualities or, if the the question concerns a man, as the female part of his psyche. But I tend to reading the queens as the inward side of a person (philosophy of life, attitude towards life, values, habitus, typical moods…), no matter whether this person is female or male.
The Queen of Cups is a sensitive, artistic, emotional, intuitive woman. She is empathic and cuddly. A loving encounter with the world and her fellow human beings is of great importance to her; she bears conflicts and quarrel only with difficulties. She needs a lot of time for herself, time in which she can nourish her spiritual and artistic side.
The Queen of Cups can be problematic if naivity, blind belief in the Good, escapism and emotional dependence are added to the above characteristics.
You can see the King of Cups as a man with the following qualities or, if the the question concerns a woman, as the male part of her psyche. But I tend to reading the kings as the outward side of a person (job, typical ways of acting, the way the life is led…), no matter whether this person is male or female.
The King of Cups is a sensitive, intuitiv, warm-hearted, feeling man who typically works as an artist, doctor, therapist, healer, mediator or similar. He is always ready to help and to care for others, and he is looking for wisdom and spiritual fulfilment. If you meet a person like this you should make sure, though, that these characteristics are true and not just pretended to seduce or manipulate you.
