This is the fifth and final part of the weekly series. This week’s theme is the Ace of Cups. You can check out Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.
Table of Contents:
The Combination
On a Day to Day level, the Ace of Cups represents a new love, or a new opportunity to develop a new level of emotional maturity (thus leading to your intuition). This is the jumping off point for growth, and the ground is fertile and abundant with the nourishment need to nurture that growth (as seen with the lilies).
However, on a spiritual level, this is a very deep card, much like the waters depicted in it. The is a strong depiction of Heaven meeting Earth with the Dove bringing down the Host into the Cup, which represents the Holy Grail. The streams of water representing Man and the senses, but also can represent the blood of Christ. Thus, the Host is being delivered to the Blood, making manifest a form of divinity. The Yods are a representation of divine knowledge and understanding.
This is a card of Divine love, of Divine understanding, and messages from the Diviune, delivered through our intuition. This is a call to do work on the self and to develop your intuition enough to hear the messages. Healing happens with love, and love happens with healing (both represented by the color green).
Divinatory Meaning
This is an emotional beginning. Your cup is brimming and you are finding how and where to direct your creativity and emotional energy. The water of the cups represents the imagination and intuition, teaming with life.
Keywords: New love, intuition, spirituality, new art projects, productivity.
The Decks Used
Faerie Tarot by Nathalie Hertz, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc, 2008. Hertz is a French artist, and the creator of several other beautiful tarot decks. The Faerie Tarot was ‘inspired by the flora and fauna of the French countryside,’ and ‘invites you to see the world in a delightful new way…blending fantasy, whimsy, and nature.’
Impressionist Tarot by Arturo Picca (artist) and Corrine Kenner (author), published by Lo Scarabeo in 2015. This deck takes works of classic impressionist paintings and recreates them to fit the meanings of the tarot. It pulls from works of Edonard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gough, and Paul Gauguin. A truly beautiful deck, especially for those who have interest in the art world.
Prisma Visions Tarot by James R. Eads, 3rd ed., published in 2016. The deck itself is beautiful, though perhaps not for the beginning tarot reader. The suits all fit together to create a master picture displaying the energy and progression of the suits. The figures and images flow from one card to the next, showing movement within the stationary cards.
Rider-Waite by A. E. Waite. The deck used in these photos is currently out of print. I won’t say much about this deck, as it is fairly standard and probably one of the most produced decks. It serves as a standard for many tarot readers and artists, depicting classic images relating in part to the original playing cards that tarot developed from.
The Spiral Tarot by Kay Steventon. With turn-of-the-20th-century style art, this deck takes from the classic Rider-Waite deck and brings it up to the late 1800-early 1900’s, a time of industry and contemplation for the western world as it moved forward into a more technological era. I am a little biased toward this deck as it’s been my main deck for 15 years. The cards are thick with additional symbolism that can be tricky to pick out of the traditional Rider-Waite, and adds layers of Greek myth throughout the Major Arcana.
Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley (designer and author) and Lady Frieda Harris (artist), published by U. S. Games Systems, Inc., in 1978. This deck takes from most esoteric imagery, and requires the reader of the deck to have deep, initiate knowledge of the symbolism used. There is nothing within the cards that is without meaning. However, on a more surface level, the deck draws from Egyptian symbolism and from the style of the Marseille Tarot (mostly seen within the Minor Arcana). For those looking for deeper understandings of the universe, I recommend this deck. I would caution that this deck is highly advanced, and might be avoided for the budding reader.
Vampire Tarot – by Nathalie Hertz, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. in 2000. As mentioned above in reference to the Faerie Tarot, Hertze is a French artist who gained her notability through the publication of her tarot decks. The Vampire Tarot was a bestselling deck upon its release, and plays on more gothic symbolism, providing more jarring interpretations to allow for the accepting of negative forces within the world to compliment the positive forces. The deck brings together myths and legends in the form of vampires, which ‘gives tarot readers a macabre passport’ into the world of divination.
