BrightEye
I originally posted this under 'Using the cards' but I thought this is perhaps the more appropriate forum since it's all about the Thoth deck.
The 3 of Cups has come up in quite a lot of readings for me for quite some time and I've always been puzzled by its meaning because it means so many different things in different decks.
Recently I have been thinking along the following lines: The Thoth deck shows 3 cups made out of pomegranates. Crowley calls it the card of Persephone because Persephone eats a pomegranate seed when she is in the underworld to where Hades has abducted her, and that act of eating the food of the dead ties her to Hades. The Tarot of Reflections actually shows a pregnant Persephone sitting under a pomegranate tree (so I think at least).
The grief-stricken Demeter follows her daughter into the underworld and demands that she joins her in the upper world for a certain time of the year. Demeter's wish is granted. When P. is in the underworld, we have winter.
Now the 3 of Cups is linked to the Empress (who is also often shown as pregnant) through the number 3. The Empress being associated with the cycle of the seasons and the nurturing mother aspect is Demeter, goddess of nature and agriculture. I think Crowley even makes an explicit link btw Empress and Demeter.
The RWS-style tarots often show 3 women. In a previous thread I was wondering whether it's significant that there are only women in the card, and thinking along those lines I think it might be. It's about nurturing a friendship/ relationship between women. Reading it like this the card is beginning to make sense to me (obviously only in my very private universe). I'm interested to hear what others think about this reading.
The 3 of Cups has come up in quite a lot of readings for me for quite some time and I've always been puzzled by its meaning because it means so many different things in different decks.
Recently I have been thinking along the following lines: The Thoth deck shows 3 cups made out of pomegranates. Crowley calls it the card of Persephone because Persephone eats a pomegranate seed when she is in the underworld to where Hades has abducted her, and that act of eating the food of the dead ties her to Hades. The Tarot of Reflections actually shows a pregnant Persephone sitting under a pomegranate tree (so I think at least).
The grief-stricken Demeter follows her daughter into the underworld and demands that she joins her in the upper world for a certain time of the year. Demeter's wish is granted. When P. is in the underworld, we have winter.
Now the 3 of Cups is linked to the Empress (who is also often shown as pregnant) through the number 3. The Empress being associated with the cycle of the seasons and the nurturing mother aspect is Demeter, goddess of nature and agriculture. I think Crowley even makes an explicit link btw Empress and Demeter.
The RWS-style tarots often show 3 women. In a previous thread I was wondering whether it's significant that there are only women in the card, and thinking along those lines I think it might be. It's about nurturing a friendship/ relationship between women. Reading it like this the card is beginning to make sense to me (obviously only in my very private universe). I'm interested to hear what others think about this reading.