Quantum 2 of Cups

swimming in tarot

The Quantum 2 of Cups depicts two young people, cheek to cheek, with greenish overtones, looking directly out at us from the top of the card. In front of each is a glinting chalice. At the bottom of the card, clouds in golden and rosy tones (more like orange, really). The LWB speaks of binary star systems, being two-star systems bound together by gravity. It notes that the stars may orbit around each other, but that that relationship may change: the larger star reaches the end of its life and fades, the other one takes material from it for fuel, and grows brighter and hotter.

Oh, dear. That sounds like a non-Hallmark version of relationships. Gravitation does pull people together, so to speak, but the purposes are not always romantic; and if romantic, the romance can morph into another form of relationship, or disintegrate. (I hate it when people say, "oh, the two of cups, how romaaaaaaantic!) People can be drawn together for the sake of power plays, for unresolved psychological issues that they need to replay until they understand, for mutual back-scratching, and for greed, to name a few reasons. And they will keep orbiting around each other until somebody gets smart, and/or their needs change, or somebody dies. This is like the larger star reaching the end of its life and leaving a bequest to the remaining star; or that star's needs change and it leaves the relationship, and pays alimony for the other star's benefit. The remaining star may grow brighter and hotter from material benefit, or brighter and hotter from anger and bitterness. Don't I sound cynical. But I think that this card's imagery serves as fair warning for that reading: the models' faces are greenish-tinged, perhaps with envy, covetousness, jealousy; much hope is put on the pledge-cups (glinting edges), but these are resting on water (emotion) and clouds (delusion). The clouds are golden on the top surface, but fiery orange and stormy beneath, as are many relationships below the surface, either in time or from the outset.

I don't think there's anything wrong with putting these cautionary interpretations foremost. Do people really need to be warned of a healthy, happy romance coming their way, so they can take the necessary precautions to prevent it from blossoming? :rolleyes:
 

nisaba

I like your take on this card. I also like hte glare of superheated gases around the stems of the Cups. There is mysterious darkness below that heat, just as the real reasons why two people may be drawn together are not always apparent in the tingle of an accidental brushing-contact.

The Two Cups is not always about love, it's about beginnings that involve interplay between people. the beginning of a working partnership. Agreeing to share the fuel costs and driving responsibilities with someone on a cross-continent trip. Meeting strangers with a view to sharing accommodation to keep costs down. Being a creature of habit and always going to the same place at the same time, and in the passing people always noticing the same face who obviously always sees you.

No, it's not always about sex. But it *is* always about relationships of one sort or another: domestic, financial, working, sexual, friendship. And it's always about that early stage where you don't yet know the limits of the other person or of yourself in this new context, and everything is charged with positive possibilities.

People mistake that thrill of initial attraction, especially when it is sexual, for love. It isn't. It's attraction, pure and simple. It indicates to your rational mind that your heart, instincts and subconscious mind are all willing to make a go of this new thing, and are willing to explore. It doesn't mean you are tied in forever by the bonds of love and duty! Love is what happens when that flush passes - and we find we still like and respect the other person. In hte Two Cups moment, before that happens, we have no idea whether it is love or cheap thrills.

I honestly don't think that a star that is sucking off another star's fuel is liking or respecting their partner - I think they're going for the cheap thrill of endorphins caused by shoplifting, or drag-racing on midnight highways, or kissing strangers. But who knows - that stranger might turn out to be all right, despite the cheap thrill.

BTW, Swimming, it is customary to send a private to SULIS with the URL and title of this thread, so that she can add it to the Quantum Tarot study thread, which is where people look to see if new cards have been tackled. You wanna do that please?
 

swimming in tarot

I e-mailed Sulis the moment after I posted this, like the sticky thread asks. Sulis was probably asleep, though, as it was midnight in the UK at the time. There was an e-mail waiting for me this morning that she'd got mine.
 

nisaba

<smile> good, good. Nice discussion, BTW.
 

Leo62

LOL definitely the non-Hallmark version of relationships here!

Although the 2 of Cups depicts the heady, romantic beginnings of a relationship, as nisaba says, all those issues that might derail you down the road are present in potential. Thing is, those same issues may also be the making of the relationship, in that tackling and confronting this stuff is what truly glues people together - in a positive non-power trip kinda way.

After all, binary systems have to be mutually sustaining in order to keep going - or they end up with one star just swallowing the other... euggh! not a nice thought. But it's often our most intimate relationships that bring out these darker, needier, power-craving sides to our natures. Once the power gets out of balance in a relationship it can end up in some pretty murky territory...the chained couple in the RWS Devil comes to mind.
 

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