From out of
a cloud appears a hand holding a Cup balanced on its palm. From this gold
chalice emanates four plumes of water, which steadily pour down into a lake
populated by floral lily pads. A white dove holds a communion wafer in its beak
just above the rim of the Cup. The white hand glows and the wispy cloud from
which it comes is silver-gray in tone. The Cup is engraved with a "W"
in some Tarot Decks, an insignia for Arthur Edward Waite, the father of the
modern tarot deck.
The
Christian ritual of communion is a re-enactment of Christ making the ultimate
sacrifice for his followers. When the Ace of Cups appears in a Tarot reading,
there is the feeling that a love is so deep that one partner would be willing
to die for the other. This is not a harbinger of any such passing, just a
metaphor for the depth of the love that is being expressed here. Aces are the
culmination of a suit's meaning and Cups represent emotions. The dove, of
course, is a symbol of peace; the peace that such love brings a person and the
peace that one is able to thus send out into the universe.
Meaning in Past, Present and
Future Positions
When a Tarot
Reading begins, the cards are dealt into areas regarding your past, present and
future. Where each card lands is the area of your life story that it will help
describe. When the Ace of Cups is in the past position, you have a lover of
great importance in your past. Were you dumped and the tale became sad after
such a wonderful peak? On a better note, the Ace of Cups here often serves as a
foundation to the reading and informs the Tarot reader that you have a
sophisticated mastery of your emotions.
When the
Tarot spread reveals the Ace of Cups in the present position, you are probably
getting the reading because of a new love interest in your life. Perhaps you
have a strong intuition that "the one" is near. A certain lack of
anxiety will bring you a sense of happiness when this card arrives in the
present position.
The Ace of
Cups in the future position indicates that you are pursuing love as a goal in
this lifetime. This is not necessarily a great position for this Ace as it
questions your motivations. Is love something that you pursue in order to
justify a lousy current situation? Are you too picky about who you date out of
some misguided desire to "have it all" or have a mate who shows that
you won some abstract contest to rein in a millionaire stud who worships you?
The Ace of Cups in this position confronts you that an idealized notion of love
off in the distance is a poor substitute for the real thing.
The Hovering Ace
Many Tarot
readers prefer to pull any of the Aces off the table and hold them above the
reading, an act referred to as exalting the Ace. Aces are considered so
powerful that they cannot mix freely with other Tarot cards and therefore serve
as a subtitle for your entire reading. If your Tarot reader follows the
tradition of allowing the Ace to hover above the reading, the lessons about
love and emotional maturity will be all the deeper and more meaningful for a
full understanding of your situation.
Card Combinations
Each Tarot
card in a reading informs the interpretations of the other cards. If your Tarot
reader leaves the Ace of Cups in the Tarot spread before you, the cards around
it gain an influence over the meaning of this special Tarot symbol.
When paired with another Ace, the mastery of emotions will be
complete and lead to success in a definite avenue of your life. When The Emperor or The Magician are in your
reading accompanying this card, look for a position of authority to give you
great satisfaction. Power and influence require a stable base from which to
judge and the Judgment card near the Ace of Cups indicates you are making
great life decisions. Temperance is a card where the main character seems to be
using the Ace of Cups to stay on the stable and sane path. So accept the
Tarot's message of stability when this card appears.
If Death is drawn in a reading that features the Ace of
Cups, look for your loneliness to be the thing that is dying. An emotional
stability that comes with being accepted by a partner is on its way.
When there
are lots of other cards from the suit of Cups in a reading with their Ace, the
emotional foundation for growth and leadership is truly present. If the reading
with this card also has many cards from the suit of Wands, a business idea you
have could be just what is needed in your chosen field. A fortune could be
bubbling over.
When the Ace
of Cups combines with many cards from the suit of Pentacles, you must ask
yourself if your love of material possessions is getting in the way of a love
of yourself and those around you. With the suit of Swords combining with this
card, you have an opportunity to use verbal communication to get a deeper
understanding of your feelings. Have you met a soulmate who actually
understands your deepest desires and hopes?
When the Ace
of Cups is in the same reading as The World, look for some of those deepest
hopes and desires to be more than just understood; this card combination is
like bulldozing a trail straight to your life's goals. It is one of the magic
moments in all of Tarot reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment