A full spread.
YOU DREW TEN CARDS:
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Environment
King of Pentacles
Coins: Obtaining. Providing for yourself. Establishing a comfort zone. Taking risks with resources. Think of the thoughts and feelings you experience when you buy a lottery ticket.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
The figure calls for no special description; the face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but somewhat lethargic in tendency. The bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on his throne. The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. Divinatory Meanings: Valour, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind; success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
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Obstacles
Ace of Cups
Ace: There’s a first time for everything. Beginnings. A seed that will grow.
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
The waters are beneath and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked host, descends to place the wafer in the cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana. Divinatory Meanings: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, felicity hereof. Reversed: House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.
A new outpouring of emotions: first love, new appreciation for life, a spiritual awakening. A journey that begins with special blessings. Good fortune shines on you. An acceptance of life and all the joys it brings. A sign of fertility. Reversed: Emphasis on material over spiritual. Closed off from nurturing love or from your true feelings. Denying the wonders of life. Not ready for emotional involvement. Neither giving nor receiving love.
A hand reaches out from a cloud holding a cup from which five streams of living water fall into the lake below — a symbol of the subconscious mind. A dove of peace holds a wafer marked with a cross as the dew of Spirit descends onto the water lilies, which are symbols, like the lotus, of eternal life. A reminder here, that when you keep your mind filled with the Spirit it will fill your material cup to overflowing. Divinatory Meaning: Abundance in all things. Love, joy, fertility. Nourishment from spiritual sources. Reversed: Hesitancy to nurture love, instability. The good beginning is cut short. Materiality.
Filled with love to overflowing, great abundance.
Symbol of Love in Potential
Symbol of love in potential, a cathedral that is still closed yet full, it can symbolize all the feelings, all the possibilities of the heart from amorous enthusiasm to mysticism; a great disposition to loving and being loved; a capacity for love that is as yet unemployed but immense. With the Ace of Cups, love appears like a chalice, a question on the horizon that will color the quest of the reading’s subject. It is also the base of communication, religion, in the sense of connecting to the Other and of transcending yourself to reach the Divine. Its negative aspects would be suffering, jealousy, bitterness, lack of affection, a never-sated neediness, and smothering affectivity.
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Above
Nine of Wands
Staves: Creating. Creative energy. Think of building a house with wooden planks.
Nine: You deserve it. You receive rewards due to your own efforts.
The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade. Divinatory Meanings: The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, he will meet the onslaught boldly. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts — delay, suspension, adjournment. Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.
One last test will require you to draw on all your abilities; a final defense, for which you are prepared. The fight is on familiar turf and you will win out in the end, arriving at your destination with your achievement intact.
Reversed: You are being made to deal with something that you aren’t yet ready to face. Your path is blocked. Adversity lies ahead.
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Below
Four of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Four: Making it happen. Your efforts result in concrete manifestation. Initial success.
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment. Divinatory Meanings: Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered him, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure. Reversed: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.
Material pursuits no longer satisfy. Time to reassess, reevaluate, turn inward for answers. Looking for new, more fulfilling, satisfying challenges, pursuits. Answers to your questions are within reach. Reversed: Ready for new challenges, relationships. A sense of excitement is in the air. Feeling revitalized, refreshed, and invigorated. Ready to resume past relationships, renew friendships.
Seated under a tree, a young man contemplates three cups on the grass before him. Out of a cloud in the sky comes a hand offering him another cup. He is nevertheless discontented. Divinatory Meaning: Discontent with environment, but hesitancy to embark on a new venture. Contemplation, dissatisfaction with material success, re-evaluation of one’s earthly pleasures. Reversed: New instructions, new relationships, novelty.
Expressive of emotions, but beware of over-indulgence.
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Behind
Page of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Knave: Learning. Curiosity. Becoming interested.
A fair, pleasing, somewhat effeminate page, of studious and intent aspect, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him. Divinatory Meanings: Fair young man, one impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be connected; a studious youth; news, message; application, reflection, meditation; also these things directed to business. Reversed: Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.
A new idea will break through the surface. It may be delivered by a friend. It’s a good time to apply your creativity, to try new methods, initiate new projects. Could also signal development of psychic ability. Reversed: Acting on impulse could lead to trouble. Need to mature, become more thoughtful. Must learn to accept responsibility for self and actions. Ignoring ideas that may be beneficial.
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Ahead
Six of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
Six: Keeping it going. You’ve established a pattern or rhythm which allows things to run smoothly. Things are going well and you’re in a position to be generous with others or even to give up some of your goals for others’ benefit.
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. Divinatory Meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as — for example — on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in a newly-entered precinct. Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
Memories of good times fill you with happiness. The past is not lost, it can always be remembered. Also, past events can figure favorably in the present. Old friends may serve you well at this stage. Reversed: Can’t allow the past to cloud your emotions. Time to open yourself to the present. Need to find new friends, share new experiences. Leave the past in the past.
In a village green a boy offers a girl a cup of flowers. The manor house in the background suggests home and happy childhood memories. The other five flower-filled cups suggest beauty and abundance. Divinatory Meaning: A card of the past and memories. Looking back on childhood things that have vanished. It may be the beginning of new relationships, new knowledge, new environment, or a meeting. Reversed: Living in the past, clinging to outworn symbols and associations. Possibility of an inheritance, or a gift from the past.
The Cups relate to emotional matters of love, sex, marriage, fertility and creativity.
Lighthearted memories, the past reawakened.
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You
King of Cups
Cups: Interacting. Emotions and relationships of all kinds. Dealing with people. Think of two people toasting each other with wine glasses.
King: Controlling. Using force and authority to impose one’s will.
He holds a short sceptre in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards. Divinatory Meanings: Fair man, man of business, law or divinity; responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art; creative intelligence. Reversed: Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal.
A king is shown with a sceptre in his left hand and a large cup in his right. His throne rests upon the sea; a ship is seen at one side and a dolphin rises at the other. (Note that water, the symbol for the subconscious, appears in many of the Court cards.) Divinatory Meaning: This represents a man with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He is a man of business, law, or divinity. He may be a bachelor. Friendly, of creative intelligence in the arts and sciences. He is disposed in favor of the subject of the reading. Kindness, liberality, generosity. Reversed: Man of violent, artistic temperament; could be dishonest, double-dealing. Can indicate considerable loss, scandal, injustice.
An intelligent, prosperous, sophisticated man.
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Others
The Tower
The abrupt end of an untenable situation. Freeing ourselves from the chains of appetite and desire for glory.
Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. Reversed: According to one account, the same in a lesser degree; also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.
The Tower card is about breaking free, knocking down the walls that imprison us. It is not a subtle change, but a major transformation in our lives. It’s appropriate that it follows The Devil card. If The Devil card represents the darkness in our lives, The Tower card means we are ready to welcome some light in our lives — even if it descends upon us with the fury of a lightning bolt. The Tower card is the process of transformation itself, not the steps leading up to it. This card says change is happening. A new door has opened in your life and you are going through it.
The Tower card is also about inspiration. The way answers to tough questions that have eluded us suddenly break through our consciousness, usually when we least expect it. Sometimes after we’ve given up on finding those answers. On yet another level, The Tower card represents sudden spiritual enlightenment — knowledge that comes to us from deep within, without warning, and opens our eyes to the wonders and mysteries of the world.
Reversed: The change is over and you’d better get used to doing things a new way. You are out in the open now, so don’t try to hide. The old ways are gone forever. Better brace yourself for a bumpy ride.
Struck by lightning issuing from the sun, the crown of materialistic thought falls from the tower. The falling drops of light seen here, as well as in Key #18 and in the Aces of three suits of the Minor Arcana (Wands, Cups and Swords), are Hebrew “Yods”. They signify the descent of the life force from above into the conditions of material existence. The lightning flash represents the same power as that which is drawn from above by the Magician and which lights the Hermit’s lantern. It is Spiritual Truth, which breaks down ignorance and false reasoning.
The Tower is only one of several titles that have been given to this card. Among them are “The Lightning-Struck Tower” and “The House of God”. The card suggests the breaking down of existing forms in order to make room for new ones. In terms of consciousness, the lightning flash also symbolizes the brilliant, momentary glimpse of truth. The crown on the top of the tower symbolizes the materialistic concept of life — shown as it is thrust from power.
Divinatory Meaning: Overthrow of existing modes of life. Conflict, unforeseen catastrophe. Old notions upset; disruption that may bring enlightenment in its wake. Selfish ambition about to fall, bankruptcy. Reversed: Oppression, imprisonment. The same as above in lesser degree.
This is another unfortunate card — a clear picture for ruin and destruction. Your hopes and ambitions will be torn apart. Out of distraction comes renewal, rebirth and a new understanding of the mysteries of life. The lessons may have been hard to learn, but are always worth it in the end. Reversed: Havoc and adversity that you bring onto yourself.
Opening, the Emergence of What Was Imprisoned
The message of this card is one of great spiritual comfort. Rather than a punishment, the destruction of the tower is a solution to a problem: the deluge now finally ended, the entire planet, abundantly irrigated, has become fertile. This is a blessing more than a punishment. Humanity starts off again to conquer the world and start tilling the fields. Sixth degree like The Lover, The Tower evokes the theme of union — here if we wish to accept the homophony of the original French — the union of the soul and its God.
The Tower signifies the emergence of something that was imprisoned. This can be a residential move, a separation, a moment of great expression, the desire to leave for the country or for another country, or a secret revealed. Or even a lightning strike that causes a “catastrophe”. It refers to a dance of joyous separation; the figures are actually acrobats flying about in a theater. This can be giving birth to something that has long been gestating and takes dual shape here — the twinship of the animus and the anima, collaborating on a long-thought-out work.
The principle message of The Tower could be: stop looking for God in the sky; let’s find him on Earth.
“I am the temple: the entire world is an altar I make sacred. My life, like yours, proves at every heartbeat that the world is divine, that the flesh is a living celebration and life a never-ending construction. With me you will know the joy that is the key to the sacred. I am life itself, the transformation and the reconstruction, the flame and the energy of everything alive, of all matter and all spirit. If you wish to enter me, you must rejoice, cast into the fire the infantile whims of sorrow and fear, and ask yourself every time you awake: What shall I celebrate now? I am the cataclysmic joy of living, the permanently unforeseen and marvelous catastrophe.”
I receive the vibrating universal axis; I am no longer a tower but a channel. I am the central pillar of a cosmic dance. I am quite simply the human body in full reception of its original energy.
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To Come
The Lovers
Love and attraction as forces which overpower rationality and social mores. Romantic triangles and complications. Sensual motives underlying seemingly virtous actions. Choice. Choosing goodness over sensual satisfaction. A marriage or committed relationship. Creating a formal mechanism by which two energies can be combined.
Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. Reversed: Failure, foolish designs.
On its simplest level, The Lovers represents the act of union between the male and female spirits. Man and woman together are a potent creative force.
On another level, the card speaks to the next stage of a development — the point at which we move forward to begin building for the future with another.
A third meaning relates the male and female sides to a personality that exists within each of us — men and women alike. The male side represents the intellect, which is linked to the outer world, through conscious thought and reason, whereas the female is our connection to our unconscious self.
The card also acknowledges the emergence of sexuality within each of us — a change in our physical bodies and emotional and intellectual framework that both separates man from woman and at the same time creates the dynamic tension that draws us together. Similar tensions exist within ourselves as we try to live in both the external and unconscious worlds simultaneously.
Divinatory meaning: Choice between diverse allurements; the struggle between sacred and profane love. Attraction, beauty, harmony of the inner and outer life. The power of choice means responsibility. Reversed: Parental interference, danger of marriage breaking up, quarrels over children. The possibility of wrong choice.
This is the card of your emotional life with its ups and downs; it suggests conflicts of the flesh as opposed to those of the spirit. It also points to a good relationship or marriage and flows over into the making of positive decisions in your life. Reversed: A wrong choice will be made. Sexual infidelity may rear its ugly head, and you may be in for sexual difficulties as well.
Union, Emotional Life
“I am the sun of the Arcanum, the white sun: almost invisible but casting my light upon all the figures. I am this star: the joy of existing and the joy that the Other exists. I live in ecstasy. Everything fills me with happiness: nature, the entire universe, the existence of the Other in all its forms — the Other who is none other than me.”
“I am the awareness that shines like a bright living star in the center of your heart. I renew myself at every moment; at each instant I am being born. At your every heartbeat I am uniting you with the entire universe. It is from me that come the infinite connections joining you to all creation. Ah, the pleasure of living! Ah, the pleasure of becoming one! Ah, the pleasure of doing what I love! Messenger of the permanent impermanence, I am reborn every second. I am like a newborn archer launching arrows at everything his senses can capture.”
“I am not kindness; I am not ambition for well-being or triumph. I am unconditional love. I will teach you how to live in wonder, recognition, and joy.”
