pan
http://www.tarot-decks.com/cups.html
[edit by jmd: the following appears to be a quote from the given link]
What is the significance of the suit of cups in the tarot?
In most texts, Cups are associated with water (a natural enough connection) and, hence, with water signs
- Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio - and the astrological meaning of the element of water, which is related to
emotions and the subconscious. Cups are also related to the feminine yin principle, another natural
enough connection.
But symbols, like words, have many levels of meaning. If we give credence to the idea that the tarot was
historically developed by religious Gnostics and/or Sufis, as alluded to briefly in our History of Tarot Cards, then it is
interesting to note that the Persian word for a cup is Jam, and that this same term is related to Thurayya, the term
employed by Arabs when referring to the constellation Pleiades. What does the Pleiades have to do with cups?
In medieval Persian poetry, the constellation of Pleiades was related to the Cup of Jamshid, and the covered cup of
Islamic chivalry. Medieval Christians drew parallels between this latter cup and the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail, of
course, isn't always depicted as a cup, but it often is, and as a cup it is sometimes related to the cup that caught the
sacred blood of Jesus as he was hanging on the cross.
Cups, in any event, are meant to hold something. One of the meanings associated with cups in ancient times was
"memory," as the memory is, in a sense, the receptacle of our life experiences. Of course, many memories are
associated with our emotions - we've come full circle.
In doing a tarot reading, it helps to be aware of these various meanings for cups - emotions, memories, the container of
something sacred.
---------------
a very nice photo of a gnostic artifact on this site.
[edit by jmd: the following appears to be a quote from the given link]
What is the significance of the suit of cups in the tarot?
In most texts, Cups are associated with water (a natural enough connection) and, hence, with water signs
- Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio - and the astrological meaning of the element of water, which is related to
emotions and the subconscious. Cups are also related to the feminine yin principle, another natural
enough connection.
But symbols, like words, have many levels of meaning. If we give credence to the idea that the tarot was
historically developed by religious Gnostics and/or Sufis, as alluded to briefly in our History of Tarot Cards, then it is
interesting to note that the Persian word for a cup is Jam, and that this same term is related to Thurayya, the term
employed by Arabs when referring to the constellation Pleiades. What does the Pleiades have to do with cups?
In medieval Persian poetry, the constellation of Pleiades was related to the Cup of Jamshid, and the covered cup of
Islamic chivalry. Medieval Christians drew parallels between this latter cup and the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail, of
course, isn't always depicted as a cup, but it often is, and as a cup it is sometimes related to the cup that caught the
sacred blood of Jesus as he was hanging on the cross.
Cups, in any event, are meant to hold something. One of the meanings associated with cups in ancient times was
"memory," as the memory is, in a sense, the receptacle of our life experiences. Of course, many memories are
associated with our emotions - we've come full circle.
In doing a tarot reading, it helps to be aware of these various meanings for cups - emotions, memories, the container of
something sacred.
---------------
a very nice photo of a gnostic artifact on this site.