The Two of Swords Tarot Card

Have you been avoiding a decision? Do you have some great rationalizations as to why you should wait? Are you impatient for change but holding yourself back out of either fear or apathy? Are you withholding affection from a spouse, friend or child out of selfishness or spite? Are you trying to make someone earn your trust but in your heart you know you will never grant it? Expect the Two of Swords to appear in your Tarot reading if these descriptions hit too close to home. This is the card of turning your back on love and sticking with a stalemate.

A crescent moon is rising over a rocky shore. A stone bench rests on a flat gray foundation. On it sits a person wearing a full-length robe. He or she is blindfolded with a cloth of the same color as the robe. This person holds two gigantic metal swords, one in each hand. Their arms are crossed and the swords angle upward and off the sides of the card's illustration. Many decks illustrate the person's shoes as matching the color of the Moon.

The central facet of this card is the blindfold. Without it, the crossed arms are a simple defensive position. With it, the ability to attack or defend is impossible. This impasse is the core of the Two of Swords. The matching colors of the blindfold and robe indicate that there is a choice in the wearing of the blindfold. The swords point off the card, indicating that no goal or definition of a goal is in sight. The rocky waters indicate that no ship can dock; more than any other card in the deck, this one illustrates best the concept that nothing can happen. Swords represent thoughts, ideas and intellect. Meanwhile, the Moon gives a clue as to the basis of the situation: the Moon is the Tarot's indicator of intuition. At its core, this card represents a refusal to let your intuition inform your intellect. You know what is going on, but you either do not want to believe it or are in denial over what to do about it.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

Every Tarot reading has sections covering your past, your present and your future. The cards landing in each of these positions paint a picture of this particular time in your life. What was, what is and what shall be … all are revealed in your Tarot reading.

When the Two of Swords is in the past position it recalls a stagnant time. Perhaps your stubbornness last month has led to an unexpected setback. Maybe your childhood was colored by a withholding of love as punishment and an insistence on higher achievement in order to earn a reward. As a result, your current situation has a cool avoidance at its core.

When the Two of Swords is in the present position, there are too many things you are willfully ignoring for you to make a decision. Your current outlook is one of either stubborn apathy or obtuse denial. You may be getting a Tarot reading to find an answer and will probably be upset to see the stalemate of your own creation dominating your day.

If the Two of Swords is in the future position of your reading, consider this a blessing from the Tarot. This puts control of your future squarely in your own hands. This indicates a developing ability to rise up against manipulative people, users and others who want to tell you what to do. You will be firm in keeping your own affairs under your absolute control even if it means adopting a standoffish demeanor. All of the stubbornness and fear from this card disappear when you know the Two of Swords is on its way – allowing you the power to keep your cool and maintain control.

Card Combinations

When your Tarot reading begins, a few cards are drawn and placed before you to be read. These cards do not stand alone. They each have individual meanings that combine and contrast with the other cards in the reading. This way, no two readings are alike.

The Two of Swords is the lower echo of The High Priestess (card #2) and The Hanged Man (card #12). Both of these cards put a premium on passivity. The High Priestess knows all but only tells when asked. The Hanged Man holds himself back despite the wisdom he may have actually accrued that should propel him ahead. The Two of Swords retains both of these tense traits. If either of these cards accompanies the Two of Swords in your reading, you are likely controlling a situation through passive-aggressive behavior that will alienate you from friends and family in the long run.

When The Magician is in your reading along with the Two of Swords, you are refusing to make decisions as a way to manipulate others. When The Emperor is present, the refusal to make decisions is part of a master plan to maintain your power. If the Three of Pentacles is present, your plan to gain control is well thought out and should work better than you imagined.

Some cards challenge the fence-sitting that is inherent in the Two of Swords.The Tower is an indicator that a major upheaval in your life is in the works. If you are comfortable playing both sides now, circumstances will force you to take a stance sooner than would be convenient for you. The Two of Swords is challenged by The Chariot card; an irresistible goal may come within reach while you are concentrating your efforts on another area of your life. This dilemma will challenge your intransigence with an intense force. The Devil card appearing with the Two of Swords means that a deep character flaw of yours will be pulling you towards resignation. You are your own worst enemy when an addiction or a bad habit propels you to take your ball and go home rather than play a supportive role in the game of life.

The best card to see in your reading with the Two of Swords is Temperance. This card represents a mastery over your life and a conscious effort to avoid negatively impacting things around you. This sitting-out process insures that your words and ideas (your swords) are not attacking anyone.

The Queen of Cups Tarot Card

Are you feeling at peace? Did you seek this Tarot reading because you want to know if this good feeling is going to stay with you? Are you having lucid intuition and want to check out your hunches with a foundational psychic science like the Tarot deck? Have you conquered anger with love recently? Did your patience win in the end over the rash decisions of a close friend or lover? Can you tell what others are feeling and help move them toward being all they can be? Has logic taken a back seat to matters of the heart and been found unnecessary in dealing with the world? All of these circumstances contribute to the Queen of Cups emerging in your Tarot reading.

At the edge of the shoreline sits the throne of the Queen of Cups. The stone chair is adorned with cherubs and a large conch shell rises above its back. The Queen is sitting on her throne holding a large cup. This cup appears quite different than the cups from the Tarot deck's suit of cups. Its gold base leads to a stem that has ornamental handles attached to it. Atop the cup is a lid that looks like the roof of a church, complete with a miniature spire and cross. With a gold crown and silver robe, she is alone, sitting and staring at this cup, which she holds before her with both hands on the base. The cloudless bright blue sky and placid water of the sea surround her. Many Tarot decks reveal her throne to be on an island while others show it on an islet. Her feet do not touch the water; they rest comfortably on colorful rocks washed up in front of her.

This is a card of intuitive connections, tender love, spirituality and devotion. Unlike any cup illustrated in the Tarot's suit of cups, the Queen's cup has that decorative lid on it as a metaphor for holding in a deep love. The Tarot's suit of cups represents emotion and queens represent female energy. The shoreline is a symbol of the edge of human consciousness and the sea is the endless and deep reservoir of untapped feeling. The stones, upon which her feet rest, assure us that the feelings brought up when this card appears are not superficial. Although they are often evasive and impenetrable under analysis, these feelings are deep and they are real. To deny an actual emotion or assume that it is going to go away is to ignore the foundation upon which that feeling rests.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

When your Tarot reading begins, the cards are dealt out before you in sections. Each section has a distinct meaning: your past, your present or your future.

When the Queen of Cups is in the past position of your reading, you can look back on your childhood and upbringing as having been one of being surrounded by affection and goodwill. You cannot blame any present failures on the past. If this card applies to the more recent past, you were in a relationship where your affection was overflowing. Your present situation may be entwined with having let out too much of yourself on behalf of a partner who did not reciprocate your feelings in the way in which you wished.

With this card in your present position you are likely falling in love, even if you are in denial about this. The lid on the queen's cup might be sealed tight, but that does not mean you do not have an overwhelming emotional attachment to someone. One of the troubles with having hunches in our rational world are that we often cannot precisely articulate the way we feel. The Queen of Cups in the present position insists you take a break and get in touch with your feelings before you move in any specific direction. Do not rush a decision without knowing how you feel, and make sure those feelings are not influenced by rigid worldly logic that conflicts with your hunches.

When this card is in the future position, you are headed toward a date with contentment. Aim high in the present, as knowing that you will be encountering the Queen of Cups can give you confidence to take risks in love and life, career and college. Family and friends are going to be a great part of your future, so make sure you know where you stand with them and them with you.

Card Combinations

Every Tarot reading is an occasion for cards from throughout the deck to come together and create one seamless narrative about you. When a card is exposed, its energy is transmuted onto other cards in the deck. It all adds up to making your reading unique for your situation.

If the Queen of Cups is joined by The High Priestess, you get the best of both worlds, as the Queen's affectionate side balances the indifference of The High Priestess, whose worldliness makes the Queen of Cups a little wiser to the ways of those who would manipulate unconditional love for personal gain.

The Chariot is a great card to combine with the Queen of Cups, as it signals a definite delivery of love and affection. You victory over loneliness will be a matter of the heart for sure.

The Queen can signify mourning, though, as her natural state of loving is frozen by the presence of certain cards. The Three of Swords is a card of heartbreaking loss. Combined with the Queen of Swords and the Tarot reading is about missing an ex-lover who has moved on with no special memories of the time he had with you. The Five of Cups is similar, except that it indicates your refusal to take any responsibility for your own role in the breakup, reveling instead in the rejection you took. In reality, the Queen of Cups must understand that the love lost at that time was not special enough to work on unconditionally.

Primarily, though, the Queen of Cups is an upbeat card that offers much peace and good feelings to a Tarot reading. When it combines with the Ten of Cups, you are looking at living happily ever after. Matched in a reading with the Ace of Wands and the hobby you love will suddenly be a moneymaking career that you enjoy getting up for and fully embrace. Most cards in the deck create harmony with this special lady, symbolizing the good potential in your everyday life ahead.

The Page of Cups Tarot Card

Is there a chance for love to blossom soon? Are you being a little more tender and emotional lately, sobbing at silly sentimental things? Have you been operating on a hunch and finding your way in a relationship that is more exciting than you imagined, but more complex than you are used to? Has someone close to you given you a look or hug that says more about how special you are than a thousand poems or a hundred greeting cards ever could? Are you considering a reconnection to a bygone friendship or considering rekindling a relationship with an ex? The Page of Cups will appear in your Tarot reading to confirm the presence of this kind of energy. This is the card of getting to know the familiarity of love all over again.

With a casually churning ocean in the background, a young man stands on the solid foreground of this card. He wears ornate vestments and a stylish hat. He holds a golden cup from the Tarot suit of Cups in his right hand. He stares at the cup while his left hand rests above his belt, his body language signaling some expectation. Out of the cup a tiny fish has appeared, and it seems as if it is looking straight into the Page's eyes.

The flowered embroidery on his attire signals that he is from a royal court. But without a crown, he is not a king. Pages are the Tarot's equivalent of princes – they are not in leadership positions, and may not be direct heirs to the throne, but they have a charmed existence of privilege that is balanced with obligation to the court they serve. The suit of Cups is the Tarot suit that represents emotions. The Page of Cups card is, at its core, a manifestation of youthful emotions.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

Every Tarot reading features cards placed in specific areas of the surface in front of you and your Tarot reader. Each card lands in an area designated as representing your past, your present or your future. Where a card lands changes the very meaning of it ever so subtly, but ever so permanently in regard to describing your situation.

When the Page of Cups card is in the past position, it is strongest. This represents your childhood, the foundation of who you are as well as describing the recent past. This is a card of healthy emotional outlets. You were raised well and know how to be passionate without getting into too much trouble. This card gives you core values of love and respect that serve you well in a world that is growing less and less polite. Your recent past may have included falling in love so deeply that it felt like the first time and was certainly close to being the most intense time ever in your life.

This card in the present position is an indicator that you may be powerless over the attraction you have to a soulmate at this very moment. You may be in love with a classmate, co-worker or friend and not even realize the depth of your attraction to this person. You might even reflexively deny it. Page cards are not experienced and the little fish of love in the cup of your emotions may finally be staring you straight in the face and making you realize that you have fallen in love. The longer you deny the presence of this possibility, the more frustrated you will become, especially in expressing your emotions. Immaturity and inexperience combine to stunt your growth. Look around and embrace the love that is there.

In the future position, the Page of Cups is a card that predicts an igniting of desire in the near future. A page is young, many years from the responsibilities of the court. Love is an immediate interest and a youthful intoxicant. Time seems different when you are young – impatience for change makes an hour seem like a day. So the Page in this position indicates that you might get impatient for love, but something is about to sprout … you might even be around your future lover now and not even know it.

Card Combinations

When your Tarot reading begins, there are many cards placed before you. They are individual cards, but their meanings are altered based on the cards around them. The unique interaction of a group of cards is what makes your Tarot reading an individual one, just for you and your situation.

When the Page of Cups is joined by the Knight of Cups in your reading, there might be two suitors pursuing you. Heavy flirting and gifts are in your future, at least until you decide on one of them. The King of Cups indicates that a professor or boss is a possible partnership candidate. The Queen of Cups joining up with the Page indicates you will be much more serious with your next love relationship than you might have been in the past.

Any of the following five cards from the Tarot's Major Arcana are powerful predictions of love with a charismatic man when they appear in a reading with the Page of Cups; but they are, ultimately, indicators of a short-term relationship. When paired with The Devil, the Page of Cups delivers a lover whose addictive tendencies make your life difficult. The Fool will give you a lover who soothes your spirit when it joins a reading that features the Page of Cups. This Page card pairs intensely with The Hermit, which is a card that describes a love relationship between you and a somber, serious man who is looking for a monogamous relationship, while The Chariot card alongside the Page of Cups reveals a coming partnership with an athletic specimen who is desired by many women. The Emperor reveals a love relationship will be occurring with a man who is much older than you. When any of those five pair up with the Page of Cups and one of the remaining Queen cards also appears in the reading, this is a powerful soulmate indicator. Prepare immediately after your reading for destiny-altering love, as you will be locked in the arms of a crazy life with this intense, artistic man for some time. The Queen of Pentacles indicates that he will have money, the Queen of Swords reveals him to be a writer and the Queen of Wands indicates that he is an artist and quite creative.

The Page of Cups is a great card to appear in any reading. At its worst, it is the recognition that you have a lot to learn in your emotional development. At its best, love is all around.

The Ten of Cups Tarot Card

Has family life been a source of joy lately? Is the peacefulness of life allowing you to become what you want to be? Did someone recently make you happier than you expected? Look for the Ten of Cups to validate your good feelings when it appears in your Tarot reading. Few cards in the deck deliver as much joy as this collection of golden chalices.

A man and woman are looking away from us, off into the distance. They hold each other at the waist, but each raise an arm in welcoming the future. Ahead of them is a scenic landscape with a charming house amidst the green shrubs and trees under a perfect blue sky. To the side are two children, clasping hands, dancing. Above this scene is a rainbow arching across the sky. Superimposed on it are ten golden cups.

No card in the Tarot deck quite looks like an illustration for the phrase, "and they lived happily ever after," as does the Ten of Cups. Note that the people pictured in this card are not dressed in stylish or fancy clothing. Cups are the Tarot's suit of emotions. The appearance and status of these people have no relationship to their emotional state of mind. This card reiterates the truism that happiness comes from within. If there is a downcast part to this card it might be that rainbows are more illusion than real and that happiness is a fleeting experience in every human life.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

The Tarot reading is divided into sections representing your past, your present and your future. The cards that land in one position tell a story about that specific time period of your life and look at things as foundational when they are in the past, active when they are in the present and possible when they are in the future.

The Ten of Cups in the past position is actually the card's strongest presence in a Tarot reading. This card representing happiness functions best with that representation as a memory. Recalling happy times is actually clearer than experiencing happiness in the moment or finding fulfillment in wishing to be happy in the future. This card in this position represents a powerful foundation of faith in the world and a belief that things will work out. You are strong because of positive values instilled early in life.

In the present position, this card represents a recent breakthrough. You may be in love at the moment of the reading or falling in love with someone. This card carries emotional impact, so there is some wonderful sentiment permeating your life and your world at present. The Tarot reading confirms that you should be enjoying yourself thoroughly.

The future position indicates that your emotional contentment is coming. The Ten of Cups is a card that is the natural climax of the entire Tarot suit of Cups and so it functions well in the future position as a reminder that your goals in life are worth pursuing no matter what the current struggle may be delivering.

Card Combinations

Every Tarot reading involves a few cards and the mixture of their meanings adds up to one reading. The cards are not sectioned off away from each other. They each have influence in the reading that changes the meaning of the cards nearby.

When any other cards from the suit of cups appears in a reading with the Ten of Cups, the emotional sentiment is amplified. When paired with the Ten card, the Seven of Cups gives your happiness a "dreams come true" feeling, while the Six of Cups delivers a childlike wonder at your new world.

Like all other cards from the Tarot's Minor Arcana, the Ten of Cups is a lower echo of three cards in the Major Arcana: The Wheel of Fortune (card #10),Judgment (card # 20), and The Fool (card #0). The Ten of Cups reflects the Wheel of Fortune's delivery of one's ultimate reward, it echoes the absoluteness of the Judgment card and it has the unmistakable joie de vivre of The Fool card. Any of these cards appearing in a reading with the Ten of Cups underscores the importance of what your Tarot reader is about to tell you. All of these elements are present in the Ten of Cups whether or not one of these other cards makes an appearance in your reading.

When paired with any of the other Minor Arcana cards numbered 10, the Ten of Cups serves as a card of emotional hope no matter how tough the situation. TheTen of Swords speaks to finality and ending a chapter of one's life on a sour note. When paired with the Ten of Cups, the happiness possible in the next chapter is apparent. The Ten of Pentacles is a card of extreme satisfaction on the material plane but not on the emotional one, thus these two appearing in one reading together indicates a complete satisfaction of emotional and material contentment. The Ten of Wands is a card of being overburdened. When it appears with the Ten of Cups in your reading it may indicate that you have spread yourself too thin or are responsible for the happiness of so many other people that you are not truly enjoying the moment.

When the Ten of Cups appears in a reading with the Three of Pentacles you are building the foundations of a deep relationship that will last a lifetime. Many Tarot readers report seeing the Ten of Cups appear in a reading paired with The Chariot when they give readings for athletes, and that this indicates a major victory is imminent. When The Hermit card is paired with the Ten of Cups in your reading, there is a muted celebration as your emotional triumph is difficult to share with those around you. If you are a writer or an artist this could indicate the moment when you realize that you have "created your masterpiece" … but of course, it is not the moment where you have sold it.

The Nine of Cups Tarot Card

When you picture a Tarot reading in your mind, even if you have never seen a deck of cards before in your life, you are hoping for a card to come out that confirms you will be getting everything you are wishing for. Every Tarot reading starts with the desire for your psychic to pull up the Nine of Cups.

A well-fed man sits on a bench with his arms crossed. He wears a fancy red hat with a matching red feather in it. Behind him is a circular table covered top to floor with a blue cloth. This makes the man's white robe stand out all the more. On this table are 9 cups. The man sits with his table of cups in an unadorned golden hued room with a golden floor.

The man has such a smug look on his face. He is big too, satisfied and well fed, perhaps even a little bit cocky after a fulfilling experience for which he had obviously longed. He is getting exactly what he wants. The Cups are his and empty; he has enjoyed their contents and has arranged them as trophies. When you get exactly what you wish for, you too will have that satisfied look and that line of trophies. Will you be enjoying your satisfaction alone like our friend with the fancy hat? Will you be on a throne or just a functional wooden bench?

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

The Nine of Cups carries a great power to grant your wishes, and so you may want this card to stick in the future position. You might want to have "credit" with the forces of the Tarot in case you need a wish granted at some point in the future. When this card appears in the past position, you can look back to when you got what you wanted with the perspective that comes with having moved on and evolved. With age comes wisdom and as time passes we may see that the things we really wanted were not what we should have gotten. Women who "get" a man by having a child with him see this card in readings later in life. They got what they wished for and now see the Nine of Cups as a truly hollow victory. The temptations of this card in the Present position are often overwhelming. Is there a man you crave? Is there a co-worker you wish would get fired? Is there a job prospect out there that would be the best imaginable career move possible? Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. That man might be a jerk. Your co-worker might be replaced by an even more terrible person. That job might be great but the company could close at a time that is terrible for your finances. Even though the suit of Cups represents emotions, the Nine of Cups is a card that should make you put thought before desire.

Card Combinations

The Nine of Cups mixes poorly with other cards of the Cups suit. This card needs precision and thought and Cups are too emotional. The chance to have something you really want blinds you to the practical realities. This is wishing to make love with your cute professor and finding out you were one of a few girls in your class that he bedded. Too many Cups cards in a reading with the Nine of Cups present and you are likely to follow a false passion toward oblivion. The Nine of Cups surrounded by many cards from the suit of Swords is a blessing. Swords are cerebral and active. Swords bring about practical and deliberate action. A reading such as this would find you wishing for your college to deliver a friend who also doubles as a study partner.

When the Nine of Cups appears in a reading and there are many cards from the Pentacles suit, look for a financial wish to come true. If Swords and Pentacles appear in equal numbers, your financial decisions and investments will be especially good! If you are in business for yourself or are in the fine arts, you should enjoy seeing your Tarot Reader pull up the Nine of Cups amongst a reading with a lot of cards from the suit of Wands. This is the suit that rules creativity and if you have been longing for that creative breakthrough or the big chance for your paintings to be seen in a gallery or your band to play in a nicer venue, be sure to think about your creative career when the Nine of Cups appears and grants you one wish.

All Tarot cards in any suit bearing the number 9 are lower echoes of the Major Arcana's cards numbered 9 and 19. The Hermit is card #9. This is the card of loneliness. It is echoed by the man on the bench in the Nine of Cups being alone. Sometimes getting what you want means alienating a lot of people along the way. The Sun is Tarot card #19. This is the card of glorious fulfillment. The Cups arranged on the table symbolize having attained what was desired, a lower echo of the powerful Sun card and the achievement it symbolizes.

When the Nine of Cups appears in a reading with Death, you are likely to get a good transfer in your workplace or move to better domestic situation. Combined with The Devil card, the Nine of Cups gives you more partying than you have ever had, but a bigger hangover than you can handle awaits.

Since the Nine of Cups grants your wishes, perhaps the best companion for it in a reading is the Temperance card. This is the card of foregoing pleasure for a greater sense of purpose. To have the opportunity for the universe to give you a quick route to the things you most want and to also receive the most disciplined and reverential card in the entire Tarot deck is a blessing of wisdom beyond almost any other possible Tarot reading.

The Eight of Cups Tarot Card

When you are finally fed up with it and you turn to a Tarot reading to show you the way, the Eight of Cups says that it is just time to leave. When a relationship is getting abusive, when a friend is increasingly disrespectful, when a parent cannot accept you are now an adult who must make independent decisions, the Eight of Cups indicates that it is time to go. When your self-obsession is alienating a partner and you cannot understand why this person is packing up and moving on, the Eight of Cups might have appeared in his or her Tarot reading, and it may have landed in yours.

A red-robed traveler is departing under a gloomy sky with a crescent moon and a sad faced disc upon it. The landscape is rocky and appears to be an inlet to some vast sea or ocean off beyond the mountainous rocks ahead. In the foreground are eight Cups. There is a row of five and on top of this row are three more. Two of them are separated by a gap from the third.

The Cups in this card seem to be on a ledge in a windowsill, indicating that there is a leaving of an interior space into an exterior space. The gap in the top row of Cups signifies lost love, as Cups are the Tarot suit of emotion. The person walking is not showing his or her face, indicating that there is no looking back and perhaps a contempt for the situation that caused this person to leave. The walking stick indicates that it will be a long journey ahead. The sad faced disc is thought to be the dark part of the crescent moon. It is illuminated only to illustrate the weariness that this card illustrates. A crescent moon is a signal of a new beginning. When the dark face of the moon seems bright by comparison to your own emotional sadness, it is time to change direction and move on in life. The landscape suggests that it may not be easy for you to move on, but the fact that you would attempt to navigate such rough terrain only asserts what a terrible place you have been occupying to send you out that way.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

When your Tarot reading arrives, the cards are shuffled and some are placed face up in different sections. These sections represent your past, your present and your future. When the Eight of Cups is in the past position in your Tarot reading, you might have a sad tale to tell from your childhood that shaped you. The energy of this card in this position points to escaping and by abandoning things rather than coping with them. If this is a pattern in your life right now, look back to what happened in your childhood that may have caused you to adopt avoidance as a coping mechanism.

The Eight of Cups is at its most powerful in the present position. This card reveals the fundamental hopelessness of a current relationship, job or other stressful situation. If you have been considering moving on, this card and its message will come as no surprise when it appears in the present position of your Tarot reading. The strength of this card is in the person actually having left the situation – this is a motivation for you to make a radical change with your current situation. If life is fine and dandy and you cannot imagine things changing, the Eight of Cups is a card that insists you look around at those closest to you and confronts you with the notion that these people might not be at all happy with the way things are going. The Eight of Cups may wake you up from a state of obliviousness. In that regard, this can be a card of empathy.

When placed in the future position, the Eight of Cups is a signal that you may be on the path to becoming worn out, drained and otherwise left without any energy. Sometimes a Tarot reading will have many happy moments in the past and present situation and when this card shows up in the future, it is assumed to be an omen of bad news ahead. To the contrary, the power of receiving the Tarot reading is to let you know in advance that some of the things that seem great now might have a side to them that has yet to reveal itself to you. Suppose that you knew in advance that a current relationship might develop codependent patterns that saw his casual requests become regularly scheduled demands on you. With this warning, you might be able to spot your part in this pattern while it is in its infancy and take steps to stop it while preserving the relationship. In that regard, the Eight of Cups in the future position might be better news than cards of joy and pleasantries that give you no pause to be disciplined.

Card Combinations

No Tarot card in a reading is an island. The cards all influence each other. There is a harmony, especially with cards that are next to each other.

When there are many other Tarot cards from the suit of Cups around, love and other emotions are being manipulated. This can get old fast. If the suit of Swords is prominent in a reading that features the Eight of Cups, a verbally dominant authority figure is taking the joy out of your life. Avoidance makes so much sense.

When the suit of Pentacles is prominent in a reading with the Eight of Cups, the loss or absence of money is bringing a relationship to a close. You may have a partner who is in debt or your own spending habits are causing problems in your life that are starting to affect your interpersonal relationships. The suit of Wands signifies inspiration and creativity. When the Eight of Cups is in a reading with many cards from this suit, you may have to isolate yourself from people in order to create a masterpiece, or leave home to be accepted as an artist. Many people who start their own business have to leave a comfortable job and take a big risk in starting out on their own.

What rewards and adventures await you as you move past that somber crescent moon?

The Seven of Cups Tarot Card

Do you have high hopes? Are you working to get where you want to be by sitting around on the couch? Do people tell you that your dreams are just illusions? Are you greedy but not willing to work for what you most desire? Do you have a plan to get rich quick? Are you tempted to have an affair? Did you cheat on a diet or exercise plan and stick to the script that obesity is just in your genes? The 7 of Cups is a card that appears in Tarot readings when what you desire has no relationship to your ability to actually get it, or when temptation offers temporary pleasures that could bring permanent damage.

A silhouetted figure stands at the foreground of the card looking deep into it. Under a blue sky a swirling cloud has rolled in and on it rests seven cups. Each cup is full with a different illusion. There is a castle, jewelry, a victor's laurel wreath crown, a woman, a glowing body rising as if from the dead, a snake and a dragon. Many different variations on the contents of these cups exist in the myriad Tarot decks available to your card reader, although these are the most common and recurring ones to appear.

In the Tarot, the suit of cups represents emotions. The contents of the cups here represent temptation. Are you after the material gains represented by the castle, the beauty represented by the jewelry or the power of life and death itself, as represented by the raised body? Do you lust deeply as represented by the woman or do you seek the glory only a laurel wreath can indicate? The power of The Magician is indicated by the presence of a small dragon, known as a magician's familiar – these creatures will do your bidding, but at what cost? Finally, the snake straight out of the Garden of Eden is not pandering the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge now – do you seek that wicked power he represents? This card is unique in the Tarot deck for the shadowed figure standing in front of the cups – he or she is almost rendered in flat 2-D to underscore that you, the person receiving the Tarot reading is being presented with temptations that are ultimately hollow. The only question remaining, though, is whether or not you find them irresistible.

Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions

When a Tarot reading commences, the cards are all placed in specific areas based on when they are pulled from the deck. These positions represent your past, your present and your future. A card's meaning changes based on its location in a reading.

When the Seven of Cups is in the past position, your pursuits of pleasure have led to where you are today. This could be a nice place of having been satisfied, but it is usually an indicator that you are not where you should be in life and that you have nobody to blame but yourself. When you emphasize a life of pleasure-seeking, at the core, you are pursuing a life of selfishness. Where this has lead you only you can see, but a past based on narcissistic pursuits does not often lead to a solid present or future without much support from other areas of your life.

In the present position, this card indicates that you are being sidetracked by desire instead of staying the course in a healthy relationship or steady project. Many people drop out of school when they are tempted by the easy path of partying and a steady meager paycheck. Lots of women are drawn to prove that they can seduce a man whether or not he is married and without consideration to the damage they are doing to themselves and others. What looks fun and tempting is almost never as enjoyable and yet the cost is often higher in personal suffering than we ever imagined.

In the future position, this card is actually not menacing at all. The temptations that are so present in it are far off dreams. They may even be motivators of something good coming your way somewhere on down the road. The strength of this card in this position is that you are tempted to continue on a current path out of self-interest. While the card will tempt someone to drop out of school when it is in the present position, here it will cause greed that one can only satisfy if one is to stay in school in order to get a higher paying job. The Seven of Cups tempts you from so far off that the illusions it provides you actually may build your character.

Card Combinations

Your Tarot reading includes many cards, and they all have an influence on each other. The shift in meaning can be subtle, and it can be intense, depending on the combination.

The Seven of Cups is the lower echo of two cards in the Major Arcana: The Chariot (card #7) and The Star (card #17). The Chariot represents the victory of manifesting something that has long been desired. The Star represents the inspiration to pursue a particular course in life. If either of these cards appears in a reading with the Seven of Cups, the desire and inspiration are intensified while the negativity associated with pleasure-seeking is lessened.

The Magician is a card associated with illusions and if it appears in a reading with the Seven of Cups, you might be the person who is tempting others by manipulating their desires. With the Three of Swords present, your pursuit of illusion is in response to a broken heart, no matter how firm your denials. When paired with the Nine of Pentacles, your attempt to keep up with the Joneses has a self-destructive side as you go into further debt to keep up appearances. When the Seven of Cups is in the same reading as The Sun, someone else is paying the bills and you are taking full advantage of having a second childhood with few foreseeable consequences.