Vertigo Tarot-- secret doorway in the Ace of Cups

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Myrrha	20 May 2004
Has anyone else noticed this? It is on the bowl of the cup, a dark doorway. You have to walk across a floor covered in-- is that blood? to get to it. Sit in a dimly lit or dark room with a candle burning behind you, relax, clear your mind and look at the Vertigo Ace of Cups. Find the dark doorway in the cup and go through it. What do you see? The cup suite in this deck seems to be about swimming into emotional depths and discovering how you really feel. You can see a large image of the Vertigo Ace of Cups by clicking on the thumbnail here: http://www.elsewhere.org/tarot/vertigo/ --Myrrha

Thirteen	20 May 2004
This is Dave McKean art--stunning stuff and very deep. Vertigo is an imprint of DC comics, putting out books like Sandman which had Dave McKean covers. This is why Neil Gaiman wrote the intro for the cards, and why Rachael Pollack helped create/define them (she use to write for Vertigo). No surprise that they should be so complex and beautiful. Though I'm not sure I could use this deck for large spreads as the cards seem hard to distinguish. However in and of themselves each card is wonderful to contemplate. The perfect deck for a card-a-day. What stikes me first off is are the rings in the upper left corner--which I believe is the image of some kind of nautical instrument? The brilliance of this is that (assuming I'm right and it is a nautial instrument) you have not only the idea of the Ace of cups searching for a direction to sail the ship, but, as it's pictured, the rings look like the circular ripples you get when you toss a stone in a pond. Thus the ace indicates that the still waters are no longer still. Emotions and/or a psychic incident has disturbed them. The person now searches for direction--where did this come from? And where should they go? Meanwhile, the rings widen, spreading the feeling. There is ancient hebrew lettering along the inner rim--signifying the cup's ancient power within. And, as you point out, the hint of a doorway opening. And yes, it does look like you have to wade through blood to get to that door--but then, blood is very like sea water. I think I also see a floating eye or two in that blood? This would seem to be a Ace that promises that the emotional/psychic energy of that Ace is going to lead to deeper and even more emotiona/psychic energy. It suggests darkness and deep water in its coloring, but there is the hint of firelight behind the door. Emotion leading to passion? Psychic energy leading to spirituality? Very intreguing. What does Rachael Pollack have to say about this card?

Myrrha	20 May 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Thirteen This would seem to be a Ace that promises that the emotional/psychic energy of that Ace is going to lead to deeper and even more emotiona/psychic energy. It suggests darkness and deep water in its coloring, but there is the hint of firelight behind the door. Emotion leading to passion? Psychic energy leading to spirituality? Very intreguing. What does Rachael Pollack have to say about this card? Yes! You expressed what I was seeing in this card much better than I could. I wonder if the warmlight behind the door has to do with creativity as well as passion and spirituality. Diving deep and letting the waters get disturbed is one way to provoke creativity. It is also interesting to think of just the black space as a space that you could walk into. Rachel Pollack talks about how cups represent love, intuition, imagination, unconscious, then she talks about the holy grail and goddess worship. She sees the concentric circles you describe (this motif shows up in several other cards btw) as "the medieval cosmos, where the planets (including the sun and moon) moved in perfect circles , with earth and humanity at the center, and god touching all creation." (Your take on it, Thirteen, seems more to the point.) Then she mentions that the cup is partly transparent and that this relates to how feelings are fluid and moving. Somehow the idea of the cups suite as deep emotions and psychic turbulance that has to be faced fits with the swords suite and its theme of swords and eyes and something that has to be seen that you might not want to see. --Myrrha

WooMonkey	21 May 2004
Myrrha- Thanks for pointing this out. I hadn't seen it in this way! Thanks also for the link! I love the Vertigo deck--it's the one that started it all for me. :)

The Vertigo Tarot-- secret doorway in the Ace of Cups thread was originally posted on 20 May 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.