W ater is life. We are composed of 57 to 60 percent water and can barely live more than a few days without its nourishing presence. The forms of water are as varied and dynamic as human expression. Water can be slow and placid, stormy and wild, rushing and cleansing. The movement of water from ocean to mountaintop through the water cycle is an incredible process of cyclical movement across land, creating rivers, streams, and springs. Water is a natural carrier of both physical elements such as minerals and salt, as well as pollution and toxins. As discovered by Dr. Masaru Emoto, water also carries emotions, mind states, and moods. Dr. Emoto observed a variety of different water crystals and how the molecules rearrange themselves in response to different qualities that surround or affect them including emotions, songs, and prayers.
We have cycled through the earth element discovering a range of expressions in the material and physical realm. As the understanding of money, finances, job, career, wealth, and resources deepen, we see how these aspects are intimately linked to our emotional well-being and relationships. There is a dance between these two realms in both the natural world of earth and water as well as the tarot through disks and cups. These two elements have a strong and relatable dynamic, perhaps more than any other suit relationships in the cards. This is because our emotional selves are so intricately linked to our physical bodies and worldly manifestations and is something we can identify easily and clearly in our day-to-day lives.
When doing readings, you will want to consider the emotional aspects of disks cards when they appear as well as the physical expressions of cups when they appear. For example, when the Ace of Disks appears in a reading, it likely indicates a new job offer, contract, or monetary gift. Also consider the emotional qualities that accompany such a new offer; we are usually excited, joyous, delighted, and feel affirmed and encouraged by life and the universe when this happens. This emotion helps to fuel our next steps and energy put into the offer presented to us.
In the tarot, cups are water and represent our emotional states in our lives. This includes personal emotions and our emotional well-being, relationships with others, and emotional intelligence. When we were babies, many of us were allowed to express our physical pain and emotion through crying and were usually held and comforted. However, as we got older, our strong emotions of pain, discomfort, anger, sorrow, hatred, and rage were often seen as something unacceptable and we had to repress these stronger emotions.
Our emotions are ever changing, like water. They work best when in continual motion, otherwise stagnation sets in. When we are overcome with fear, anger, sorrow, or other difficult emotions, we have a choice: lean into it or repress it. It is important to revisit our emotional bodies and find safe spaces to express our emotions. Only then will we be able to reach levels of emotional maturity and experience the divine connection to emotional intelligence.
In this section, we use the varied expression of water to connect to our emotional body and work on this rich source of information. Water in tarot is connected to our intuition, dreams, creative subconscious, and how that information moves through our emotional body. Emotions are the signposts to our deeper connection to source. Several cards in the suit of cups appear heavy, stagnant, and difficult to work with; yet it is these harder emotions that are often are most precious resources to show us where we are stuck in growing on our life path. Just as rushing wild water has the power to destroy in the case of a flash flood or tsunami, it also contains the power to cleanse, refresh, and wash away the old to make room for the new.
Meditation: Water Source
This is a simple practice to help you touch into the water element that guides you along your life path journey. One of my Hawaiian teachers often begins a circle by having the participants connect to the mountain and waters that were closest to us when we were born. If we do not know this water source it is worth our while to look it up and in particular to find out which watershed we lived in and where our water came from. This helps connect us to place at our birth, which in some indigenous perspectives is deeply imprinted on our soul the moment we emerge from our mother’s womb. I had no personal connection to the water near my birth, as I was born in North Carolina and we moved when I was eight years old. I had to look up on the map and research to find the watershed that sourced the first eight years of my life.
Once you know your water source, take a moment to connect into this source. Fill a bowl or cup with water as a symbolic way to connect to water. Sit in a meditative posture and create a simple sacred space. Focus on the breath for a few moments and then tune into the body and contemplate it as primarily water. Try to sense yourself as a container for the fluid nature of water. Send your awareness back to the watershed of your birth as well as the other waters that were near you, such as rivers, streams, lakes, or an ocean. Spend a few moments cultivating awareness between yourself and your birth waters and feel gratitude for this connection.
After working with the watershed of your birthplace, then begin to work with the watershed you currently live in and with, if it is a different place. Following the same guidance, research the ways that you get your water, where it is sourced from, and how it is affected by the geography and land you live on. As you work through the cups section you may want to consider collecting waters for your own ceremonial and sacred work. This suit will culminate in a water ceremony in the Ten of Cups and incorporating waters from different rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans helps us to remember our connection to water and that water is sacred, water is life.
Ace of Cups: Seed of Love
The Ace of Cups marks the beginning of the suit of cups and its progressions through the myriad emotional expressions, relationships, and fluidity of life. The ace holds the potential for the entire suit, containing all the expressions of how water and emotions move through us. Although the Ace of Cups traditionally signifies the experience of love with another, it also holds a deeper meaning in the importance of self-love. We can only love another as much as we love ourselves. Similarly, we can only give as much love as we can receive. The appearance of the Ace of Cups indicates a willingness to open ourselves to a loving experience, one which deepens and also reflects our capacity for self-love.
In the Waite-Smith deck, an outstretched hand offers an overflowing golden cup as a gift of delight and beauty. This hand symbolizes an offer or generous gift of love, compassion, and openness, and it is up to us to reach out and grasp the cup and drink from its contents. Sometimes we are stuck in our old patterns and we may have a challenging time opening up to a pure gift of love. Love does not always come in the form we expect it and can herald a time of cleansing old patterns or habits as the joy and bliss help us to move toward the next stage in soul development.
In the Crowley deck, the image of the Ace of Cups is radiant and glowing, showing the potential to outwardly affect a network of intricate lines. These represent our relations in our life and symbolize that love promotes healing on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, as well as through time and space. For the Ace to work its magic on all these levels, we have to be open to receiving this gift of eros, beauty, love, and bliss. Sometimes we are afraid and may feel uneasy or believe that the timing may be off.
The Ace of Cups indicates an offer of love, perhaps a declaration from someone you are already with, such as an engagement or taking a relationship to the next level. If not in a relationship, the card may signify someone arriving in your life, someone who has the potential to open you up to new feelings of love, beauty, and joy. The card may indicate a birth of a new baby, creative project, or a new garden; something that brings with a sense of joy and delight. This may be a situation as well, an opportunity to experience love in a deeper and more heartfelt way with the land, with a group of people, or with something material, such as a new home or job even.
The Ace of Cups may also symbolize a seed of beauty that is planted within but not necessarily expressed outwardly. When we receive blessings from spiritual teachers, praise from a colleague or friend, or a gift of beauty, this may rest in the soil of our soul before emerging later to bloom. The feeling of the Ace of Cups is pure heart and reminds us that the heart has its own language and timing often very different from the way our mind and thoughts work. The quality of the heart language is pure, clear, and based in the essence level experience of life.
Ceremony: Heart Waters
To draw the beauty and love of the Ace of Cups into your life, create a simple heart ceremony using water, flowers, and a clear glass bowl. Sit with your bowl and slowly pour water into it. Then visualize clear light moving through your heart center and into the water. Imagine breathing in this clear light and breathing out the clear light so that you become a vessel of clear light with no boundaries or end.
As you form this connection to pure, clear light, begin to think of all the people in your life. Start with the people you are closest to that you feel love for; then those you feel neutral toward; lastly those who you do not like, even enemies perhaps. As you do this, offer the flowers into the bowl of water symbolizing an offering of beauty. When finished, you can take the bowl of water and flowers and pour it into a jar to offer at a river, lake, pond, stream, or ocean. Feel your connections to the people in your life like fluid streams that move across the earth.
Two of Cups: Cherishing the Beloved
Following the ace and its beautiful seed of light and love, watery emotions split into two vessels, two cups. Here the reflective quality of the two becomes apparent. From the fullness of one we move into the dance of two and can see the love reflected outwardly with another. This develops and deepens our capacity to love and is the core to spiritual growth, discovering love with others as we move through the earthly plane.
In the Waite-Smith deck, two figures face one another; blessings pour forth between their open hearts. Above the two figures, we see the symbol of the caduceus which represents the combination of different synergies or essences of the two persons. This can be in romantic partnership, friendship, or even business indicating positive support leading to a desired common goal. They are creating a sacred union. In this moment, they feel the profound grace of love that comes from the divine but only meets with others at certain, compelling moments in our lives. The Two of Cups reminds us to take sweet pleasure in this moment, as it is to be cherished. The card encourages creating a ceremony, stating vows, or making a declaration of love to someone.
In the Crowley deck we see a lotus pouring our divine, clear waters through two intertwined fishes and into two overflowing cups. The lotus is an ancient symbol of enlightenment, a flower of beauty and grace that grows through the muck and mud before blooming. The journey of the lotus flower growing through the heaviness of the mucky soil symbolizes the path that humans take through suffering, pain, and obstacles to reach the beauty and bliss of enlightenment. This is not an easy, quick high but instead the lasting clarity of true love and peace. When we make a deep connection with another human being through love, we glimpse this radiant divine grace; it is up to us to see that that connection is a spiritual signpost on the journey toward enlightenment and not a temporary fling with another person.
In the Two of Cups, the love reflects itself in the eyes of a beloved. This card indicates a deepening love with a lover or friend or that a friendship may be turning into a romantic relationship. Often this signifies the wish to take vows with another and may be in the form of a love ceremony, marriage, or intimate partnering. This card indicates the meeting of two hearts and the formation of a lasting bond. The reflection of another pouring love toward us, through their gaze, their heartfelt honoring is a profound and sacred gift. This card is intimately connected to the Lovers card of the major arcana, signifying a deepening commitment between two people.
Meditation: Eye Gazing
Eyes are windows into the soul and reflect beauty and love back to us when we take time to look into one another’s eyes. The simplicity of this mediation is marked by the profound sense of love we feel for others even if they are not our partners or beloveds.
Choose a partner to practice this with—it could be a lover, beloved, partner, or friend. Set aside some time and, if you wish, create an altar with flowers, incense, and two cups filled with clean spring water. Then, create sacred space using the five directions from your work with the Magician or simply visualize a clear ring of light around you as learned in the High Priestess card.
When you are ready, sit with your legs crossed on the floor or as close as you can in two chairs. Then, simply gaze into one another’s eyes for five minutes. Notice feelings and your breath as you look into the other’s eyes. If you feel uncomfortable or awkward, that’s okay! By being intensely present with another you are being present with yourself and we often hide from this. This is an opportunity to be fully present with self and marry your inner and outer expressions. If you wish to deepen the practice, you can also place your left hand, the receptive hand, on each other’s hearts. This allows you to not only connect through the eyes but also the pulse and embodiment of your being and breath.
Notice the love you feel that naturally arises for the other person—the sense of gentleness, kindness, and compassion. During one of my women’s circles, we practiced this with one another, switching partners. I found it to be an incredible experience, feeling the natural expression of love for each of the women in the circle. Each set of eyes was so unique and beautiful in a different way and also incredibly capable of passing love and light.
When you are finished with the eye gazing give each other a hug and thank the other person for being present with you. Each drink the fresh spring water from the two cups or offer it to one another as a way to seal in the loving experience. Take a moment to feel gratitude before closing the circle.
Three of Cups: Abundant Flow
The Two of Cups expands into the Three of Cups as the flow of love increases. As we move from two into three there is growth and beauty that is shared not only among two beloveds with but a growing group of friends, family, and other relations. This is card of continual giving and receiving, that to open and receive we must also give away freely without expectation. For the waters to flow the way must be clear and the movement constant like a waterfall flowing freely from mountaintop to ocean.
The Waite-Smith deck shows three women merrily dancing together in the sunlight, delighting in one another’s company. They hold three cups aloft and celebrate the joy, love, friendship, and connection they find when they are together. This is a card of sisterhood in which the women are able to relate through creativity and sharing in a heartfelt manner. The fruitful harvest at their feet symbolizes the outpouring of abundance that appears when relating this way as a close circle of friends.
In the Crowley deck we see three lotus cups filled with pomegranate seeds and golden lotuses that beam rays of golden light onto the seeds. The pomegranate seeds symbolize fertility, fecundity, and growth as well as a much deeper meaning with ancient roots. When Demeter, the Greek goddess of the earth, lost her daughter Persephone to Hades, god of the underworld, she lay the earth barren in her grief. This time became winter, a time of loss, sorrow, and death. Upon her daughter’s return, Demeter’s joy results in the beautiful blossoming of spring as the earth comes to life once again. However, while Persephone was in the underworld, she ate six pomegranate seeds, the fruit of the dead, which bound her to that place forever. The pomegranate seeds are symbolic of the cycle of seasons on earth and in life. Winter follows summer which follows winter, just as grief follows joy which follows grief. This can be celebrated in each passing as different colors or shades of the human experience
When this card appears in a reading, it usually signifies a creative time in life, abundance, flow of resources, and positive connections with others. You may be entering a burst in creative expression through writing, painting, singing, or another form of passionate expression. This card may also indicate a time of celebration following the completion of a project or after a crisis when the need to come together and honor one another is necessary.
The Three of Cups may indicate an unexpected blessing in seeing old new friends or forming a sudden kinship with new friends. There is a flow of love and joy and spontaneity in this card that may give rise to celebration, dance, grace, and beauty. This card is about sharing with others; sharing our joy and laughter, as well as our sorrows, but in a way that is with beauty and honoring. We lift one another up, look into one another’s eyes, and feel the joy moving through us.
This card also indicates play and sensuality and may indicate a time of sexual exploration. This exploration may be openness to expressing intimate fantasies or sharing crushes we feel on others with our primary partner as a way to be tender and vulnerable. It may also be embodied through an experience of having more than one lover as a short-lived experience or longer, as in polyamorous relationships. The key is the willingness to remain open in the heart and allow the love to express itself through all people with respect, clear communication, and boundaries.
Ceremony: Have a Party
One lovely way to honor the message of the Three of Cups is to create a festive ceremony—in other words, have a party! Celebrate yourself and your friends by creating a time to gather, connect, and share. Include beautiful cups or vessels and fill them with wine, kombucha, sparkling juice, or other fun elixirs. Share drinks, laughter, and fun with your friends. Do a party exercise where everyone writes down what they are grateful for on a big paper. Showing and sharing gratitude has been shown to open the heart, create connection, and gives a reason to gather with others in community. This is an essential part of experiencing happiness and joy in our lives.
Four of Cups: Reflective Dreams
Progressing from the festive Three of Cups, the energy slows into a dreamy state, one that is both reflective as well as listless in the Four of Cups. Fours are often stable, however with cups, this stability is momentary and is threatened by the movement that is water and emotion. The Four of Cups indicates a luxury and temporary delight but also the possibility of delusion or illusion. Sometimes our emotions distract or even deceive us. They may be projections of what we wish, and not necessarily what is happening in our lives.
The Waite-Smith deck shows a figure sitting under a tree with his arms crossed in front of him symbolizing protection from the emotions of the cups and a disengagement with the world. He is looking downward, perhaps toward the three cups in a row before him. Meanwhile, a hand floats in a cloud, offering a cup which he is either ignoring or cannot see. The energy of the card is passive, dull, and lackluster. There is not much movement and the water seems to have stopped flowing. This card indicates uncertainty and doubts. We may be unable to make decisions about what direction to take in our life path and our relationships with others.
In the Crowley deck, the card at first appears to be more illustrious and positive than the Waite-Smith deck. The picture shows four gold cups receiving radiant flows from a lotus. However, this lotus is turned downward, indicating a move away from the path toward enlightenment and a focus on relationships that can be obsessive or unhelpful. The curling vines between the cups are dark and heavy, reminding us of the energetic cords connecting us with other people.
The Four of Cups indicates a time of indecision and lack of forward movement. There may be an experience of beauty, luxury, and outward monetary gain, but it is likely to be illusory and temporary. The deeper fulfillment of the spiritual path is hard to access here, clouded by unclear emotional states. Continued mental and emotional processing does not help the issue but instead drags us even further into the rut we have found ourselves in. We often need a shift of perspective to break out of the heaviness of this card or, on a deeper level, a clearing of emotional ties from people who are no longer positive presences in our lives.
Ceremony: Clearing Emotional Cords
Emotional cords are energetic or psychic cords that are formed between people who have relationships with each other. The stronger and more intimate the bond, the stronger and more numerous the cords. When we have toxic and intense connections still left over from previous relationships, it is helpful to clear and heal the cords. Some practices encourage cutting these cords; however my teachers have shown me how this can cause even further harm, so I offer the practice of clearing and healing instead.
First, create a meditative space. Then focus on your breath for a few moments, settling your mind and going into a peaceful place free of worries or concerns about the past or future. Then, visualize yourself surrounded in a golden or clear brilliant light, one that protects and energizes. If you cannot visualize it, simply intend protection and love and call upon guardians, helpers, and ancestors.
Now, visualize the person you are clearing cords with coming toward you, also surrounded in the golden, clear light. Once the person is in front of you, have a dialogue with the person from the compassionate part of yourself. First listen to what the other person needs to express. Then respond all within your own mind. Give yourself time to complete this dialogue, as both parties may need to express their feelings and listen more than once. In this moment, we often begin to resolve a lot of the issue, truly communicating with someone from our soul essence. When you are in safe space illuminated in this way, often the true nature of the connection is revealed and can be deeply healing for both parties.
After the conversation is finished, then notice where the cords are between you and the other person. Notice where they are in the body and how this may have been affecting you and the other. Then imagine clearing the cord between you and the other person. After this is done, visualize golden light between you and the other, healing the cord. You are still connected but not in a way that is harmful. Finally, visualize the other person floating off and away into the space, healing and recharging.
Five of Cups: Disappointing Loss
After the illusion and possible delusions of the Four of Cups, there is a letdown or letting go in the Five of Cups. Throughout the cups we experience periods of ecstatic highs and disappointing lows, a true reflection of the ups and downs of our emotional bodies. Life is rich in both of these experiences and the challenge remains to navigate these ups and downs without becoming subsumed by negativity.
When we feel low, it is important to honor this time and perhaps reflect, to be kind to ourselves and remember that we are only at where we are at. Grief is the winter of the heart. Without being able to honor letting go, our sorrow turns to unspent emotion resulting in resentment, anger, even rage. It is important that we allow the letting go to move through us.
The Waite-Smith deck shows a figure hunched in a black cloak looking out over the river passing by. The sky is gray and leaden, and two cups have been knocked over while two remain in an upright position. This image shows that although there is a loss such as a breakup or disappointment in something that isn’t going to work out, there is still steady emotional grounding in this process and there is a kind of purpose to this shift in energy.
In the Crowley imagery we see five cups at the point of a downward facing pentacle. This symbolizes power turned inward and upside down. The flowers droop and dark vines curl around each other showing a tightness in growth and immobility. Two dark leaves arch over the cups threatening loss and disappointment. These images are not easy to swallow, and yet behind the translucent cups (indicating a stark reality or awakening), the background is orange and red, symbolizing creativity. It is often amid disappointment that we experience the latent creative force come to life and an outpouring of emotion.
Traditionally, this card indicates that someone or something has been taken from us and we feel the loss. Perhaps something has been stolen, or we have lost the competition or didn’t get the job we had wanted. Feelings of disappointment or even shame or guilt may accompany this feeling of loss. We might even feel bitter about our loss or depressed if it carries on for a long time.
Ceremony: Letting Go
This ceremony is a beautiful way to honor loss, to grieve, to let go. Additionally, as this card can forecast imminent loss, if we face it before it happens and make offerings in preparation, it can both soften the blow and even affect the outcome of a situation, moving it in a more positive direction.
This ceremony can be done alone or with others. You may wish to do the first part at home and then go to the waters, or you can do the entire ceremony at a water’s edge. Choose any place that is somewhat private such as a quiet beach, a river’s edge, waterfall, or stream. Gather flowers, a bowl, a jar to put the water in, candles, crystals, and salt. Create a beautiful altar with the items you have gathered and call in sacred space and connect with your guides and ancestors as provided in the major arcana ceremonies.
Pour the water and cleansing salt into the bowl and let it rest in your lap. Call to mind something that is particularly troubling you, such as what showed up in your reading or any traumatic or challenging incidents that have happened. You may also wish to track back in your mind the hardships you have faced in your life along the way. Try to bring up the sadness, pain, and sorrow you felt in these situations and, if possible, bring yourself to tears. Feel into not only your own pain but the pain and suffering around the world and all the intensity of poverty, humanitarian issues, genocide, rape, conflict, loss of species, and land and climate change … the list goes on. As you do this, release your tears, knowing they are helping you cleanse, soothe, and heal your pain. Tears are an offering to our ancestors.
When you feel the sorrow subsiding and you move into a calmer state, offer the flowers to the bowl with the expression of gratitude. When our grief subsides, we usually feel lighter, calmer, and sometimes even brighter and refreshed. We can tune into this heart opening by feeling thankful for all the experiences in our life. So often what we are sorrowful about we are also grateful for, as these challenges are our greatest teachers. As we offer the flowers, we see the beauty of the world filling up the bowl.
As this completes, either pour the bowl of water, salt, tears, and flowers into the waters you are next to, or put it in the glass jar to take to a river, ocean, or stream when the timing is right. Be sure to do this in the next few weeks after your ceremony as a way to honor the letting go and gratitude of your heart. When you are finished, close the sacred space and release the directions.
Six of Cups: Forgiveness
Following the loss and sorrow of the Five of Cups, we move into a very tender place in our heart. Grief and loss invoke a sense of vulnerability that can feel painful but is actually the process of our heart softening and opening up in the Six of Cups. Here we experience the power of forgiveness and the soft touch of compassion may well up within—to feel more is ultimately the ability to love more.
In Waite-Smith we see children playing among flowers, a reminder of innocence. We have all experienced the joy that children bring and the openness they can show toward their relations as well as complete strangers. They haven’t yet built up hardened and bitter walls around their hearts. As we grow older, we often shut down after traumatic experiences, heartache, and painful things in life that happen to us and those around us. This card is a reminder of what is still pure within us and helps us to see the essence level of who we are and those around us.
The Crowley deck shows a delightful array of six golden cups appearing to dance and move on waves. The word is “pleasure”—a reminder to practice self-care and delight in the pleasures and beauty of the world. The gray background and vines remind us that pleasure is often temporary and fleeting and to not invest all of ourselves into the outcome of a situation but rather be present in the passing delight.
Martin Prechtel, visionary author and healer, speaks of the inextricable relationship between grief and praise. It is powerful to give praise in great gratitude for something in our life because we recognize that it is passing and impermanent. Conversely, when we are in sorrow for what is passing, we recognize the sweetness and beauty, and we feel deep gratitude to experience this. This is the essence of the Six of Cups, to recognize the blooming flowers and the simultaneous beauty of the moment and passing through.
When this card appears in a reading, it indicates the need to soften the heart, to have “honey in the heart,” as Prechtel writes. We may need to let go of certain cruelty or judgment about ourselves or others. A time of forgiveness and healing is happening, and perhaps our perspective is shifting so that we may feel more compassion to those who are hurtful. Often people in our lives who express anger, hatred, or act negatively toward us are full of their own suffering and clouded mindset.
This card also encourages us to practice self-care and be kind to ourselves. Take baths, rest, spend time in nature, reflect on the beauty in your life. Give thanks for your relations, soften your approach to others, and cultivate a soft heart. This may also indicate a time to spend with children and/or older people who are closer to the beginning and end of life.
Meditation: Tonglen
This is a simple meditation that comes from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The intention of the practice is to transform heaviness, suffering, and pain into light and clarity. You do not need to be a Buddhist to practice this. The meditation is shared by Pema Chödrön a Buddhist teacher, nun, and author. In the Buddhist view, “buddha” simply means “awake,” and practices are meant to remind us of that already existing brilliant, compassionate, and awakened state.
For this meditation, set up your altar with the Star and Six of Cups cards, a small glass bowl of water, and a candle. These items symbolically connect you to light and cleansing. The beauty of the Star figure pouring her vases of water into the earth reminds us of our own constant inner divinity and grace. Light the candle and reflect for a moment on the simple beauty of fire reflecting in clear water. Acknowledge the three aspects that form the core of Buddhism: the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha. Again, you don’t have to be Buddhist to practice this. When you acknowledge the inner Buddha, you are acknowledging your own inner awakened state; with the dharma you touch on the teachings of enlightened beings who have gone before you; and with the sangha you recognize that there is a community of people around the world who devote their lives to benefit the beings and alleviate suffering.
Sit in a meditative posture and focus on your breath for several moments. After some time has passed, feel into a particularly troubling emotion or problem for yourself. Extend your awareness out to recognize that if you are feeling shame, anger, sadness, or pain, it is likely that thousands if not millions of others are as well. Reach out through your heart center and envision this pain as a cloud of dirty smoke.
Pull this smoke into your heart center, trusting that you have the power and strength to transmute this into love and light and clarity. Envision your heart as a transforming and powerful center that takes in the dirty smoke of pain and suffering and transforms it into the brilliant light of love and compassion. Practice doing this for several minutes. If you wish, you can continue with different emotions and painful situations, transforming them into compassionate light.
When you are finished, dedicate this practice to benefit all beings throughout the world, for self and others. Feel the lightness and open spacious quality in your heart and acknowledge your connection to all the beings in the world and beyond.
Seven of Cups: Illusions
Following the cleansing and compassion of the Six of Cups, we encounter another tide of fantastical wishes, illusions, and dreams in the Seven of Cups. It is often after we practice a heart opening ceremony that we find old patterns rear their ugly head yet again! It seems the journey of human evolution is wrought with endless layers, and nothing more clearly illuminates this then the progression of the tarot cards. Sevens symbolize a time of reflection and reorienting oneself along the path. With cups, we reflect and take stock of our relationships, intimate connections, and inner emotional landscape.
In the Waite-Smith imagery, seven cups filled with jewels and enchantments hover alluringly above the figure. Each cup holds its own illusory possibility, each symbolizing a distraction and unfulfilled fantasy and wish. This is a card of laziness and the inability to progress because we have too many options or perhaps too much time on our hands. We are indecisive, lost in our dreams, and unable to manifest what we desire. This card is similar to the fantasy of the Four of Cups but may be even more illusory and delusional.
The Crowley imagery shows seven cups rising up out of a mucky swamp. They are overflowing with heavy, thick liquid that oozes in a toxic manner, symbolizing a need to detoxify and cleanse the systems—emotional as well as physical and mental. This card indicates the need to fast or practice self-discipline in cleaning up your life. There are too many distractions. Perhaps you are watching too many shows, smoking or drinking a lot of alcohol, eating foods that aren’t nutritious, or engaging in toxic behavior with friends, family, or coworkers.
This card may also indicate taking on another’s energy such that it affects you. Perhaps your intimate relationship is codependent and needs to be reexamined, or a friend, family member, or coworker is pulling on you and asking you to be or do things that don’t feel right or balanced for you. This card indicates sa need to check in with your boundaries around emotional relationships and reexamine the choices you are making in life.
Visualization: Aura Cleanse
This meditation is used to cleanse the aura through visualization as a way to clear any negative or excess energy from the field surrounding the body. You can also use other methods to cleanse and clear, such as smudge smoke from herb bundles, taking a salt water bath, or spraying the aura around you with essential oils or rose water. This particular practice is useful to do at the end of the day or after you have been in an uncomfortable situation or with people who feel negative or toxic.
Sit comfortably in a meditative position. Visualize your grounding cord from the Emperor exercise, extending it down to the center of the earth. Imagine that your aura is a bright color, forming a full sphere, like an eggshell around your body. The aura boundary should extend about two feet above, below, behind, and in front of your body. If needed, push out any of the edges that are too close to your body, or pull in edges that are too far away. Allow your energy field to show you any parts that need to be smoothed out. Let your mind and/or your hands do the work.
After your field has been straightened, recheck the color. Then make your grounding cord the same color. Enlarge the grounding cord so it is a foot in diameter. This way, whatever comes up in the cleanse can easily be thrown or pushed into the grounding cord and taken back to the center of the earth where it will neutralize.
Bring the aura boundary in so it is only an inch away from your body. Visualize the aura boundary pulling in toward you so it is squeezing out anything dark or muddled. See your aura like a tube of toothpaste, pushing out the unwanted or excessive energies, allowing them to flow down and out through the grounding cord. After a few moments, pop the aura in its original place and visualize your energy field filling up with a bright, vivid healing color such as violet, electric blue, or clear yellow. Notice the difference in your energy field, how you feel lighter and brighter.
Finally, recheck the grounding cord and bring it back to six inches in diameter. Choose any color for the day. Then come back into the awareness of the body. Touch the earth to reground and slowly open your eyes. Write down any experiences you had. What color did you see for your aura boundary? How did you feel after you pulled the boundary in then popped it back out? Continue this exercise at the end of the day to feel cleansed and renewed.
Eight of Cups: Leaving Behind
After the illusory dreams of the Seven of Cups, we awaken to the reality that we have been overindulging or living in a fantasy world. With the Eight of Cups, we are inspired to shed what is not working and go within again, to clarify our emotional landscape and touch into our inner divinity. Often, negative emotions are viewed as wrong and judged by the outside world. Yet when we make friends with our inner darker emotions, we discover that by working with and transforming them we can release immense creative power.
In the Waite-Smith deck, we see a figure walking along a stream under the moonlight. The person’s back is turned toward us, indicating a time of turning away and slowing down. The moon symbolizes the unconscious, the dark hidden parts of our soul. This card encourages us to slow down to access our interior depths and discover what is not working, to find a new way, one that may be very different from what we “think” we should do. This can be exciting for some, daunting for others. The figure is leaving behind the cups that are still full in order to move on to something new. Although the way is dark and unknown, there is a sense of trust in the movement from one shore to the next.
In the Crowley imagery, the water has become stagnant, lazy, heavy, and thick. It is full of the toxic residue from the Seven of Cups and sinks into an earthly state calling desperately for clarity and release. Lotuses hang heavy and downward and the clouds behind the cups are thick and need to be let go of their heavy rains. Old patterns are dredged to the surface, and although the way forward is completely unknown, what is known is that the old ways won’t work anymore.
When this card appears in a reading, it encourages you to quiet and center yourself or go within. Similar to the Hermit, it often indicates a time of self-
reflection, a needed retreat or time away from a busy life full of distractions. This card can also indicate the realization that certain relationships are no longer working the way they were. Perhaps you realize there is a level of codependency or a toxic way of communicating that is not serving you. Finding ways to make changes in the relationship become essential for your health and well-being.
Ceremony: Offering a Relational Gift
When relationships, jobs, homes, and chapters in life come to a close, we often feel a sense of sadness and letting go as we transition from one phase to the next. It can be helpful to offer an object or item, a letter, or some hair from that time as we make time for moving from one phase to the next. When one of my most powerful love relationships ended, I created a ceremonial offering, drifting a piece of wood, ring, and crystals that had been part of our connection out on to the river. Letting go of those items were a symbolic way to both honor the connection and let go.
For this ceremony, choose something that was a significant or symbolic object of what you are letting go. This may be something specific you shared or worked on with someone, or it can be a symbol of your connection. Choose something that is not trash—no plastic or other synthetic materials—it should be biodegradable or found as a surprise gift for someone in the future. Once you have your object, find a piece of wood that will float. During the waning moon at sunset or sunrise, go out to the river or ocean to create your ceremony. Make offerings to the water and call in the directions, helpers, guardians, and set the space. Take time to sit with the memories of the person, work space, or time you spent. Feel the connection and sing or speak in a good way back to the past to honor what has happened. Float the piece of wood with the object(s) out onto the river, continuing to offer flowers as the sun shifts in transition into the day or the night. Continue to sing or offer words of honor and letting go as your wood floats out into the world. Remember the fluidity of life, the interconnectedness of all relations, and welcome the openness of new discovery as the sun moves over the horizon. Close the space when you feel complete, thanking the helpers and guardians.
Nine of Cups: Fulfillment
At long last we reach a stable and beautiful place in our journey through the cups! The Nine of Cups is an emotional deepening and connection with our relations in a way that benefits us and brings us more in touch with our inner joy and beauty. We are able to share with others and discover lasting connections with people who are able to accept us fully for who we are and we can share our gifts with one another.
The Waite-Smith imagery shows a wealthy adorned man who is full and jolly. Above him arch nine vibrant cups indicating success, pleasure, happiness, and contentment. This is a time to celebrate our dreams as well as add our own inner wealth of gratitude and creative vision to the unfolding of our lives. The background is yellow symbolizing abundance and creative manifestation, accompanied by a high table with a lush blue tablecloth indicating grandeur and nobility. This is a very full and nourishing card but may also indicate a sense of false pride or ego.
In the Crowley deck, nine cups are arranged in three rows, three cups per row. The cups are violet colored indicating a connection to our higher self, refined wisdom, and intuition. Radiant light pours from nine lotus flowers, one over each cup. Arched vines against a blue background symbolize clear communication, understanding, and higher learning. This card reminds us that we are interconnected with all of our relations; although we seem alone on the journey, we are connected to so many.
This card indicates a time of coming together with others in groups with family and friends. In particular, the Nine of Cups points toward the importance of community and sharing our gifts with many others. Perhaps it is time to bring a vision, project, or creative endeavor to the next level and include others. This card indicates a positive time to invest both financially and emotionally in a project and to consider the offers that others have to assist you in building your dreams. This card is a reminder that we do have the potential to cocreate our lives the way that we wish through harmonious connections with others. The appearance of this card in a reading may also symbolize wealth appearing, an inheritance, a pleasurable vacation, or a well-deserved weekend of joy and fun!
Ceremony: Full Moon
This simple ceremony is a way honor our relations. Think of all the people in your life whom you consider close, who have the greatest effect on your life, who you love, and who bring you challenges. Especially honor and recognize the ones who challenge you for they are often the greatest teachers! You may also include people who you may not believe directly affect your life but pop into your mind anyway.
Once, after a friend of a friend passed away in our community in Hawai’i, we did a journey so I could attempt to access her spirit and receive messages. As I reached out to connect with her, I was struck by two things: I saw hundreds of flowers (I later learned that she grew many flowers in her garden) and she impressed upon me the importance of each and every person in an individual’s life. She conveyed to me that no encounter is random; every connection down to the tiniest glimpse of a person in an elevator has meaning, and we are all interrelated whether we are aware of it or not. I was left with the understanding of how important it is to treasure all our relations and attempt kindness and care as much as we can.
For this ceremony, gather nine cups and label each cup with a person’s name on it. Fill each one with water and place near the window on the full moon light. Add a drop of honey to sweeten each of the cups and soften your heart especially to relations that are difficult to deal with. Recognize the gifts that each relation brings to your life and feel love and forgiveness (if appropriate) for each person. In the morning, offer the water at sunrise and ask for peace and harmony to show themselves in all your relations.
Ten of Cups: Joyful Connection
As the joyful connection continues from the Nine of Cups, we experience even more radiance, beauty, and love with the Ten of Cups. Here the emotions reach a level of bliss and purity and we feel a powerful divine connection to all of life. This is also a ten which signifies the end of a journey and a kind of completion or resolution before the next phase begins.
The Waite-Smith imagery shows a family standing together under an arching rainbow with ten glowing, golden cups. The parents or adults embrace one another, hands to the sky in a seemingly joyful and exuberant expression while two children dance in delight next to them. This card symbolizes the joy of a fulfilled life, again similar to the Sun in its outward expression of fulfillment. It indicates the harvest, the joy of celebrating a job well done, good work celebrated. The rainbow is a universal symbol for love, beauty, magic, and illusion. Its appearance is beautiful while also temporary, reminding us of the reality that the end of a cycle is nearing.
In the Crowley deck, ten golden cups are arranged in a pattern called the Tree of Life, one of the most ancient symbols in human history. The Tree of Life is a map that chronicles the journey of the Fool through the phases of the major arcana. I encourage seekers to study more of this connection (see the resource section at the end of the book) as it offers rich study that will help deepen your understanding of the tarot, should you wish to incorporate the Tree of Life into your tarot practice. This card holds a spiritual component that signifies not just bliss and harmony, but true awakening and even self-realization. The background is a rosy orange glow indicating harmonious creations and growth.
This card indicates a time of beauty, peace, and domestic harmony. Related to the Sun card as well as the Ten of Disks, this may herald a new beginning such as a birth, acquisition of land, a marriage, flourishing business, and success in projects and creative developments. It may also indicate the deepening connections of these aspects of life such as a growing love in partnership, a developing business, or the extension of a trip.
Ceremony: Sacred Waters
During the writing of this book, several crises related to water became more apparent in our daily reality. We are coming to a crossroads as humans on earth and water is fast becoming a scarce commodity. In order to recognize this important fact, I recommend sourcing the closest natural springs to you not just for spiritual connection but also as a practical resource for clean water.
To create this ceremony, gather your water, as well as a large bowl, candles, flowers, incense, and any other offerings. It is important to do this with a few people; the more the merrier to amplify the experience. Bring the waters and your offerings to a place where you feel the water needs your prayers and attentions. Perhaps you wish to pray that the rainfall would be steady for the winter to ensure a solid snowpack and enough water for everyone to drink the following year.
Set up an altar with the waters and the offerings. Create sacred space, call to the directions, guides, and ancestors. Have each person step forward and pour some of the water they brought into the large bowl mingling them all together. Have people offer their prayers, songs, and chants to the water. Be creative! People will want to share different songs from traditions they know or say certain prayers connected to the waters they brought. Perhaps you could also offer tears as in the Five of Cups ceremony.
After everyone has taken their turn, bring the circle together with a closing song for everyone to sing together. Offer the bowl of mixed waters to the river, waterfall, stream, or ocean where you are connecting to your place on the earth and with all the waters on the planet. Release the directions, thank the ancestors and the guides. Feel the gratitude for one another and the precious beauty of this earth.