Tag: ace of cups

Today’s Tarot: Discovering Diamonds

Today is a good example of why just memorizing card meanings isn’t enough.

Tarot cards are nothing sacred, nothing independent from ourselves. They are a tool – and a damned useful one – for accessing our own intuition and insight. The cards trigger the mental images, sounds, words or other mental-sensations or emotional feelings that typically carry the core message. Tarot readings are most powerful when you combine the classic card meanings with your own intuitive read of the energy of the moment. The first is a root, a foundation. The second is drawing from that root to meet the need of the moment.

Learning structured meanings for the cards is the beginning, a necessary gateway to using cards intuitively. Today we begin with one (of many) classic, well known meanings for this card: creativity. Generally the Ace of Cups is associated with inspiration and new ideas. Of the many meanings given for the card, creative inspiration is the one that most captures my attention today. The idea of creative inspiration (think Muse) is supported in the artwork. Think of the water pouring into the cup as new ideas being poured into your creative mind and expressive talents.

On the purely intuitive side, I get the mental image of a graphic of a human brain, like one of those pleasant, artsy 3d-ish graphics they have in memory support supplement commercials. I could “see” bright points, like diamonds scattered across the image connected by thin silver, shiny threads and “heard” the term “neural network.”

And no, I’m not hallucinating. This is all very much just the product of inner, mental imagination. Sometimes internal mental processes are best communicated in simple, spiritual, even primitive language. Saying ‘see’ is the best way to describe intuition (or energy, or spirit, pick your vocabulary) coming to mind in the form of images of things. Saying ‘hear’ is the best way to describe when intuition presents itself in the form of words or sounds.

Tarot is both literally and subtly symbolic. Sometimes the two daisy-chain together to give the card’s meaning, just like words chain together to form a coherent sentence idea. On the card, the literal image of water pouring into a chalice can symbolize an outpouring of inspiration. Combine that with the diamond-like ‘neural network’ and it reminds me of something I read once…not sure where….that creativity is not so much a function of making something totally new as much as it is a function of discovering new and novel connections between things that already exist. In some sense, that process of making new connections is the root of all creativity. Science is not the only human endeavor where we stand on the shoulders of Newton’s giants. We have to make things out of the resources at hand. Creativity can find new whole new resources or it can make new things out of what is already there. Both count.

So let’s find the diamonds and connect the dots for today.

Advice message: Today is a good day to follow your creative impulses. Don’t let a good idea spill away.

Caution message: If it isn’t a part of your livelihood or an absolute necessity, don’t force yourself into creativity. The best ideas are spontaneous. If it isn’t happening, wait for inspiration.

Validation message: Yes, that idea is as good as you think. Roll with it.

Working from intuition, these suggestions are inspired by, not traditionally associated with, the Ace of Cups:

Book suggestion: “Every Tool’s a Hammer” by Adam Savage

Aromatherapy: Lemongrass, bergamot or citronella

Crystals: Rainbow fluorite, iolite, amazonite (crown and throat chakras, inspiration and communication)

Affirmation: I see connections clearly and take inspiration from them.

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YouChoose Tarot Reading for the week of May 24-30

Top: Ace of Cups. The tide of creative energy has turned. If inspiration comes to make a choice or to create, well, anything, sieze the opportunity. Take a chance on making something new and wonderful. Energies support creativity, art and making of all kinds.

Center: Four of Wands. The energy here reminds me of Bill & Fleur’s wedding in the Deathly Hallows, book 6 of the Harry Potter series. If you let circumstances rob you of your inner happiness, if you let the dark forces (that very much exist here in the real world too) steal your humanity, then they have already won. What we celebrate is far more important than the details of how we celebrate it

Bottom: Ten of Swords. Times have knocked us flat, but stay down there a minute. Wounds disturbed too soon start to bleed again. Take a good long minute to gather your thoughts and understand what is happening before you jump up out of some over-inflated sense of bravado. Strategy more than brute force will help you stand again.

Q&A: Ace of Cups and the Lovers, combining two cards

How-to post from the Modern Oracle / Tarotbytes archives (2015 reprise of an older post)

Q: What does the combination of the Lovers Card and the Ace of Cups card mean in a tarot reading when part of the question is about romance?

A: It depends.

This where Tarot reading gets a little complicated…this is exactly why professionals charge for their services. It takes some time and effort to get your head around this kind of thing. Good for you for getting help to understand instead of just dismissing it all. Well done! You question is a perfect example of why there is more to reading Tarot cards than just memorizing card meanings.

Even if you are only dealing with a one card meditation, you have to consider the context. Full layouts raise even more questions. What layout are you using? What position was the card in within that layout? What meaning does the position have? What type of message was being given for the particular card? Advice? Caution? Validation? Acknowledgement? Something else?

Now raise all of that to the power of 2 cards. Or to the power of however many cards are in the layout. You have to consider all that stuff for each card, plus how each card relates to all the other cards, the question being asked, and the patterns within the layout as a whole. The more cards, the more exponentially complicated the reading becomes. Which in turn is why I don’t like enormous layouts. In my experience, after 7 cards or so, a reading gets real gnarly, real fast. It seems there is a crossover point, a critical mass where the reading becomes more confusing than clarifying. That’s also why I use single card daily meditation readings to teach beginber Tarot reading in my e-book PeaceTarot . That’s the best place to start when you are learning.

Now take all of that and multiply it again by magnitudes of ethical considerations. Romance readings are a special kind of difficult because of the other person involved. Unless you have their significant other’s direct permission read about them, then the reading has to focus only on the person getting the reading. If you are reading for yourself, then you must respect the other person’s privacy and dignity. The key is to look for advice about how YOU can do whatever is best for the relationship.
Putting the special relationship ethics aside, we still haven’t looked at understanding these two cards.

For example if the Ace of Cups represents the lessons from the past, you might get a different overall message than if the Lovers was in that position. For example, if we interpret the Ace as “inner light” (as Diane Morgan does) and that is a lesson from the past, then the overall meaning might be to use your inner wisdom to help guide the relationship. It could be a hint to ket the heart rule the head, and make emotions a prime consideration.

Now switch things around. Lovers symbolizes your deepest desires. If the lessons from the past is to look at desires and what you’ve learned from them…the message may be more like what are your desires are doing to your spiritual development? Are your desires feeding your inner light or hampering it?

The difference between the two messages is a bit subtle, but it could mean the difference between giving a good reading, and giving a really masterful one.
So the real answer to your question is that I can’t tell the meaning without knowing the context in which the two cards appeared.

If you were reading for yourself, jot down your questions, all of cards and their layout positions, then we can look at the layout together and figure it all out in a private Tarot how-to-read lesson instead of the typical private session if you like.

Hope this helps a little. Let me know if you want to set up that lesson.

Best