It is a general consensus that the 9 of cups is a really good card to see in a reading. In cartomancy it is the card of receiving/finding/getting your heart’s desire.
Traveling through the suit of cups, one sees an obvious increase in the amount of cups and a decrease in their size. Expansion and amplification. The cups start as big and contained, but as the journey progresses they get smaller and increase in amount. Here one has 9 cups, each cup neatly organized and surrounded by flowering leaves. If I follow the rule of seeing, the center cup is in a cocoon, in a womb-like embrace. This reminds me of the birthing of changes, both unexpected and expected, that alters the previous course. Drastic, transformative changes. With this card we are precisely in this realm of changes.
And what else about the cups? Well, curiously in this particular Marseille Tarot, two of the cups at the bottom seem to be somewhat empty. Perhaps an allusion to exhaustion from the progressive trajectory from 1 to 9? Change is imminent and weariness looms near. As with any journey, project, goal, or plan, getting the desire of one’s heart is no easy task. Here, the 9 cups stand as a metaphor for the journey and the awaited results, an emblem of hope, and a promise of change.
As this foray into the suit of cups nears its end, I explore the heart and how to activate and engage the heart in the things that surround me, that require my attention, and also those things which I wish to accomplish. Furthermore, as this is the suit of family and those near and loved, I find myself looking into precisely that, familial bonds, how they are shaped and reinforced. All these watery ruminations have me wading in a river of emotions and approaches, as I consider desires and connections with the heart. I pose no questions for the cards here, instead I contemplate my heart, looking inward into the center cup, measuring its contents and taking account of its weight. I hope you, dear reader, are compelled to look inward as well, to peer into the depths of the heart and become an “expert in home-cosmography” (Walden, Henry David Thoreau).
Also, and with brevity before closing, I recently wrote a small booklet on the suit of swords and I share it freely from the heart. You can find it here.
Blessings.
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