mabcosmic
This is what I was thinking, too. It symbolizes emotional detachment and critical thinking (for me). That's not a bad card at all.
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4 of Cups as a good thing?
This is what I was thinking, too. It symbolizes emotional detachment and critical thinking (for me). That's not a bad card at all.
nisaba
I was recently doing some soul-searching about my job (I'm a teacher) and drew some cards that have eluded translation and understanding for me. The first card I pulled was for "what are my strengths as a teacher?". For this, I got the 4 of Cups.
Emotional stability is a fantastic strength for a teacher.
The next card I pulled was "what can I build on within my strength?". For this, I got the 6 of Cups, which...feels right? I think of this as a card of childhood, lots of soft sunlight and feel-good moments, gentle nurturing, always having a nostalgic eye on the past and a deep awareness of innocence and sweetness, which...is appropriate, given my line of work. I'm very much in touch with my inner child in what I do.
And being emotionally stable (the Four Cups) will allow you to tap into your own memory of being a child, good or bad, (Six Cups) in order to better nourish the children in your care (Six Cups again)
I'm having a hard time finding alternative interpretations of this card. Any thoughts?
Well, cups are about your emotional life, and fours are about stability-within-that-element. The RW card shows someone sitting under a tree "owning" three Cups, and refusing to be tempted by an outside, bigger, flashy cup, making it the quintessential card of faithfulness, and also dedication to a chosen path.
The vast majority of humans seem to enjoy drama. They seem to like relationships that they need to workshop with others. When you are emotionally stable, your relationship might well be fine for years on end, but you just don't talk about it to people around you, because there's nothing to say. So the majority of people actually regard it as a card of boredom, because they'd rather have intense highs and intense lows (down to and including domestic violence) to having a steady-state emotional life that just doesn't provide fuel for gossip. But once you really have hit the lows in life (as, in fact, I have), them emotional stability is absolutely precious, not boring, even if it means you don't have much to say about your emotional life to others in general conversation.
And emotional stability in relationships (in a personality), spills out into the way teachers handle kids: calm, centred teachers who are predictably impartial and fair to all their kids might not be charismatic, but charisma doesn't imply good teaching, whereas fair attention to your young charges does.
the only thing I can think of that would kiiiiiinda make sense for the 4 of Cups being a strength is the idea of interpreting it as being a card of reflection. So maybe it's saying that my tendency to be very introspective and analytical is my greatest strength? That my self-awareness and effort to keep my frustration/anger/etc in check when my students are pushing my buttons are more powerful than I think?
I think all water-cards are in some way cards of reflection. And that very tendency to keep your emotions in check is a part of your overall emotional stability (Four Cups) that I was talking about - it doesn't mean being emotionless, just being sane and reliable in how you express emotions in the workplace.
headincloud
4C - 6C
From one angle I'd read this as discontent around your job 4C, assuming you're teaching youngsters 6C. Also dissatisfaction with the manner parents and society has taught and trained you. Are you happy with what you are teaching and are you happy with the manner in which you've been forced to teach?
IMHO that discontent is a good thing causing you to withdraw in reassessment of your path and workmates and you've likely distanced yourself. Do you see faults in the system, are you a revolutionary, are you more spiritually developed than your workmates, will you be one of the teachers at the forefront of the movement which is releasing our children from the chains of the past? If you are I take my hat off to you and wish you all the love and luck in the world.
From one angle I'd read this as discontent around your job 4C, assuming you're teaching youngsters 6C. Also dissatisfaction with the manner parents and society has taught and trained you. Are you happy with what you are teaching and are you happy with the manner in which you've been forced to teach?
IMHO that discontent is a good thing causing you to withdraw in reassessment of your path and workmates and you've likely distanced yourself. Do you see faults in the system, are you a revolutionary, are you more spiritually developed than your workmates, will you be one of the teachers at the forefront of the movement which is releasing our children from the chains of the past? If you are I take my hat off to you and wish you all the love and luck in the world.
Barleywine
Barleywine[/b]: do you think, in that context, that the 4 of Cups refers to the strong foundation I've got with certain areas of science (certain branches of biology and chemistry, not so hot with like...any kind of identification classes) and the 6 of Cups refers to needing to branch out and continually work on teaching new information?
I generally start with the Thoth's more abstract and philosophical approach and work it up into a narrative idea, rather than starting with the narrative cues given in scenic pip cards like the RWS 4 of Cups. In this case, though, there is some convergence that implies a certain malaise or distress over the status quo. Crowley didn't much like the 4 of Cups, calling it a "dead stop, a blind alley;" some of this is mirrored in the RWS Four, where the figure looks bored and irresolute. Crowley also said that the 4 of Cups "introduces the seeds of decay into the fruit of pleasure" and "An idea of a totally different Order is necessary to carry on the series." (Crowley wasn't interested in telling "pretty stories.") This is where the idea of the Fives as a kind of "purgative" has its roots.
In this case, I think the 6 of Cups shows not so much embarking on a "totally different Order" as simply rounding out and fulfilling the stalled promise of the 4 of Cups. Crowley seemed to love the 6 of Cups, calling it "pre-eminently a fertile card; one of the best in the deck." It echoes the balanced state of the Four but on a "higher arc" in the sense that it has been "fertilized" by the energetic revisionism of the Five. You will have to decide for yourself what the "creative disruption" of the intervening Five energy imparts to this scenario. Incorporating "new information" that expands upon and enhances the old without losing sight of its foundational significance might be how I would see it.
