LS Secret Tarot - 7 of Chalices

I feel that this is one of the most intriguing cards in the deck.

It depicts a half-naked young woman lain in bed. Above her are seven cups full of objects, ranging from that of a castle, to what appears to be a horned demon. Anyone have any thoughts on what these other objects are? There appears to be a broken egg of some sort in the cup to the far left.

The woman appears to have pushed the bedsheets from her form, and looks to be rather restless and disturbed in her sleep. Her hand is raised to her forehead in what appears to be a 'wiping' motion. I would imagine that she is having great difficulty sleeping... and is perhaps haunted by visions, dreams, and nightmares.

I am actually reminded of the RW depiction of the 9 of Swords, when I look at this card. As you all know, the RW 9 of Swords depicts a woman sat in bed, with 9 swords pointed at her. In this Secret Tarot card, I see some similarities... in that the woman is in bed, and she is surrounded by cups (instead of swords).

It is almost as though she is being haunted by her dreams... by her wants, and by her fears and nightmares. What do you think?

I vaguely remember the image. Great comparison to the nine of swords (hmm, do we have a thread going here ...... I compare the Lovers to the Seven of Chalices, you compare the Seven of Chalices to the Nine of Swords .....).


The RWS version of the 7 Cups shows someone looking up at the cups in the air. The fact that this 7 has the woman visiably upset while in bed shows that she is agonizing over this decision. The situation becomes more urgent. Whereas the RWS has a "dreamy" quality to it, this one is more "nightmarish". In that respect, it is similar to the 9 Swords. However, in this card, we know that the cause of the anxiety is the worry over a tough decision to be made. The standard RWS 9 swords, IMHO, is a non-descript worry ..... I always interpreted as a irrational fear.

Just my ramblings

Dan

contrascarpe96 said:

(hmm, do we have a thread going here ...... I compare the Lovers to the Seven of Chalices, you compare the Seven of Chalices to the Nine of Swords .....).

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Yep, there does appear to be a common thread! Hahaha.

I agree that the image looks more urgent in this, the Secret depiction.

In the RW the person is also conscious. In this card, the choices are so pressing that they penetrate into the unconscious and manifest in sleep... disturbing a most needed human requirement - rest. Thus, restlessness is hinted at.

Some of the objects in those cups are just darn odd though. Bizzare!

Centaur said:

Some of the objects in those cups are just darn odd though. Bizzare!

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I'll take a look at these tonight and see if I can make heads or tails from them.

hmmm... maybe it's the nudity, but I've always thought this card hinted that she was having an erotic dream.
I've wondered what some of the objects in the cups are, too. Castle, snake... what IS that red thing, looks like one of those funky twisted straws we use to use as kids, only this one has blood dripping from it, a cracked egg (female?), a gremilin, a pyramid (male?) and red horny devil. I know RWS interpretation of this is choices, maybe too many choices or not being realistic about your options, but this card seems to lean a different direction. At least, to my eyes. This card seems more like the nightmare card, the disturbed sleep, than the 9 of Swords of this deck which just kind of depicts a perhaps depressed woman lying on a couch, or maybe she's just tired and waiting for something to happen!

mj07 said:

hmmm... maybe it's the nudity, but I've always thought this card hinted that she was having an erotic dream.

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Interesting. I too have thought this in the past. It is as though she is caught in a high state of arousal.

Centaur said:

Interesting. I too have thought this in the past. It is as though she is caught in a high state of arousal.

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yep, exactly what I was thinking

just for hoots, since from my perspective this card is moving away from the RWS "abundance of choices" meaning, I looked the 7 of Cups up in my "Tarot Dictionary and Compendium". Basically, we have...

emotional over-extension, attempting to ease pain through over-indulgence, imagination at work (running away with itself), The Lord of Debauch (Crowley), insight, emotional variety and exploration (including dreams and/or psychic work), conjuring up visions, fantasies, dreams, an altered state of consciousness, imagination and dreaminess, a sense of humour (sometimes a sense of self-delusion). fairy favours, dreams, fear, insight/meditation.

Interesting, out of the 14 authors cited, only one (Juliet Sharman-Burke? who's that?) said this card is about choice... interesting... glad I took the time to write all that out! AHHAH!

I just got this deck this week! I am excited to see people talking about it! I LOVE the 7 of chalices! It might be my favorite card. I'm with a few of you guys that said she is having an erotic dream. I think the way she is slightly arching her back with her head to the side shows an erotic dream is taunting her. The richness of the fabrics is decadent. I think that the dark background does suggest the 9 of swords in RW but not in the same oppressive way. Perhaps it is a dark erotic dream - something that she wouldn't admit to in daylight .

ya, I love the way this deck kind of pushes your understanding to get past some of your assumed meanings for the cards! That's why I love using it!

I think the nudity suggests something more than the erotic. Not sure I would use the word 'choices' to describe her state, but she definitely has a lot of worries. To me, the nudity combined with the sleep state suggests these worries are deep inner secrets that either her conscious mind can't grasp (perhaps only accessible through the tarot or some form of magic) or she just isn't willing to admit to herself or others. It could well be sexual/erotic in nature, but that seems a bit too limited to me given the esoteric nature of some of the cups' contents. Is the red bendy straw thing possibly a hebrew letter? I'm a newb and not very familiar with the kabbalah.

I'm also wondering about the color tone of her skin. Some of the characters in this deck have particular skin tones that are clearly chosen for a purpose. Does her palor suggest illness? Perhaps mental? Perhaps spiritual? Perhaps she is barren? Why is her bed yellow? And why is she in bed alone? Maybe the yellow bed linens suggest the potential for happiness/joy expressed through sexuality which is currently a source of her frustration. Maybe that is causing her restless night's sleep and her "illness."