Ace of Cups-- Lotus and Grail

There are so many observations and interpretations of this amazing Image. But I wonder about this, about which I find little written : What is the connection/link between the Lotus and the Grail? What kind of Lotus below is this, what kind of Grail above? Is the Grail blooming out of the Lotus, the Bloom of the Lotus? Why do blue-red ripples emanate out of the Lotus-Grail, while scalloped, web-like greens-blues-reds emanate out of the Grail's mountainous rainbow?
Why does the Image divide into two Images, Grail-Lotus below, downward-outward streaming, Over-Grail above, upward, outward streaming?
Please provide some directions toward better understanding of this great Image.

The colors you describe are a little different than my deck. Or perhaps just our observation of them. To me it is clear that the colored waves of energy are all at the top of the card, and are being reflected on the dark-still water below the cup. The colors appear the same to me, just a little modifed as they are reflected. The stream of white/spirit is also reflected.

This reminds me of the uni-directional flow in the Ace. The Ace can flow inwards, or outwards, but it is the Two that does both at once (and hence is Love). When badly dignified the Ace can describe an unhappy relationship, or one sided even (such as an unrequited love) for me. The second half of the card is a reflection and not actually real. Much like the Queen of Cups personality, or the nature of the Moon reflecting the sunlight.

The lotus is interesting compared to the others in the minors as it is the only healthy white one (the 5 having destroyed white lotuses). The same color lotus is seen on the Princess, which reinforces the close connection between these two cards. Being Kether is Briah, and also an ace, it makes sense that this card has the most "pure" or unaffected flower. This is also the only card in which the lotus touches and encloses the cup; and also the only card where we see the flower, but not the plant. I've always thought of the lotus as synonymous with the tarot cups, and never reflected any further on that.

In the Book of Thoth Crowley describes a different version of the card, in which in the place of the lotus is the Moon. I think of the Moon frequently when thinking of this card, and to a degree associate the lotus with the Moon. The lotus is also seen on the Queen on Cups, which being predominantly attributed to Cancer has a close relationship to the Moon also. (The Empress of course has a lotus also, though not a white one)

Lotus and Grail

To me it is clear that the colored waves of energy are all at the top of the card, and are being reflected on the dark-still water below the cup....

This reminds me of the uni-directional flow in the Ace. The Ace can flow inwards, or outwards.... The second half of the card is a reflection and not actually real....

The lotus is interesting compared to the others in the minors as it is the only healthy white one (the 5 having destroyed white lotuses). The same color lotus is seen on the Princess, which reinforces the close connection between these two cards. Being Kether is Briah, and also an ace, it makes sense that this card has the most "pure" or unaffected flower. This is also the only card in which the lotus touches and encloses the cup; and also the only card where we see the flower, but not the plant. I've always thought of the lotus as synonymous with the tarot cups, and never reflected any further on that....


Thank you for your insightful thoughts, although I'm not so sure about the lower half or so of the Image being "not actually real," only a kind of lunar reflection. It may be higher power received from Above and poured out or distributed below, so that the cup is a magical conduit. I agree strongly that this Image uniquely has "the lotus touch and enclose the cup." But why? Or should this remain an iconic Mystery? The lotus itself seems stone-like to me or less like petals and more like stones (but not rolling stones). Let's keep looking and finding....

Take a look at the articles on this website

http://healing.about.com/od/lotus/

Blavatsky's says "the lotus is the emblem of the productive power of nature, through the agency of fire and water (spirit and matter)."

Now, if we order the suits Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles and assume there is some mediating image in the Ace as the first card of the new suit, the rather heated rays around the cup make perfect sense. We are being shown a fusion of fire and water, just as M. Blavatsky described. Moreover, I'd venture that the less precise reflected waves/rays at the bottom half of the card are meant to indicate that what we see as reality is a poor reflection of the greater reality on the inner planes.

Just my 2 cents

grail and lotus

The Thoth deck is the most interesting to me and the most deep! Although owning it for only a few months, I'd like to offer my perception of the grail and the lotus.

The lotus I think, represents love and awareness. If I may bring in astrology, it contains the three water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.

The zodiacal lotus basis its form through the intersection of three crosses.

Cross the Mother: Mutable (Form)
Cross the Son: Fixed (Consciousness)
Cross of the Father: Cardinal (Spirit)

THey say that the first sip from the Grail is free. Our first taste was usually from our mother's breast and/or the bliss of our first adolescent love affair, the initial taste of ecstasy is a divine gift - why would we question such beautiful rapture. The door to our heart flies open, our minds reel, the feet dance! We're never quite the same after that. It whets our appetites for what could be. Wow! it whets our appetite, it makes us hungry, alive, emotionally.

But they say the second taste -- now that's going to cost you! To drink again requires a distinct sacrifice of the familiar. We are beckoned into a world unknown. The more sips we take, the more sacrifices we must give to be slowly transformed.

On the Mutable cross we (victim) don't understand our suffering, until we move to the fixed cross of understanding and through this process of knowledge and wisdom, move to the Cardinal cross of self awareness.

The three spheres would then be the integration of the three crosses, body, mind and spirit. The integration of the Lotus.

I'm new, and still finding my way around. If this has been written before, my apologies.

tink

Nice thoughts Tink, except in the Thoth the Queens are associated with the cardinal signs and the knights with the mutable. Well, mostly anyway, with 20 degrees of cardinal/mutable respectively. But maybe you were speaking from an astrological perspective only? Your system of cardinal = spirit, mutable = form is interesting. Is it your own?

Hi wizzle

Shyly, I do have to admit this was coming from an astrological point of view.

The original basis for the three crosses came from Alice Bailey in Esoteric Astrology. From this, I was reintroduced to the three crosses in Reiki. This of course intrigued me, and saw this same symbology (three crosses) in the bible at the time of the crucifixtion. Three crosses, reflecting three different stages of Hu-man. And of course the Crowley's Ace of Cups and the Lotus was a sort of revelation to me.

Mutable = form, and Cardinal = Spirit were thoughts and expressions from all my studies. I'm intrigued you find this interesting - a person so well versed in everything. Your work in astrology is astounding!

I'm very new to Thoth.

Could you explain the Queen/Cardinal and the Knight/Mutable so I may understand?

Thanks

tink

Ace of Cups -- Lotus and Grail

I like what you say about the Thoth Ace of Cups as a Picture of Body, Mind, and Spirit, tink27. But just how this works into the images/symbols of the whole Picture is not so clear to me. The outer aura may be the Spirit, with the Grail as Mind, charged and inspired by the Spirit, and the lotus below as Body, foundation or base of the Mind. Looking at the vertical center of the whole Picture, Body from below meets with Spirit from above in the Grail of the Whole MInd. Convergence that has no divided above and below. Unity.

Hi Frank Hall,

Thank you for your kind words on the Ace of Cups as body, mind and soul. I'm exploring, searching to express it better.

In regard to:

Frank Hall said:

Thank you for your insightful thoughts, although I'm not so sure about the lower half or so of the Image being "not actually real," only a kind of lunar reflection. It may be higher power received from Above and poured out or distributed below, so that the cup is a magical conduit. I agree strongly that this Image uniquely has "the lotus touch and enclose the cup." But why? Or should this remain an iconic Mystery? The lotus itself seems stone-like to me or less like petals and more like stones (but not rolling stones). Let's keep looking and finding....

Click to expand...

I'd like to try and offer another interpretation.


For now, I'd like to leave sexuality out of this context although it's amazing sense of power is expressed here symbolically.

We've all been enthralled by the mysteries of our past. When a revelation or eureka flows up our spine we swell inwardly and outwardly with love and ecstasy. We revel in its power.

Is it possible that the Ace of Cups represents joining forces with the underground waters (The Well) of the collective with the deep-seated urgings of our soul? Focussed love awakens Ancient wisdoms which are free to express their knowledge by flooding and mingling through/with our consciousness. The webs of light reflect our nervous system and our etheric bodies blossoming out in higher frequencies of light. The colors reflect the chakras and the Rays of Life. Our DNA is literally 'plugged in' to an ancient science, flowing up and fusing with Universal Knowledge.

tink

tink27 said:

Shyly, I do have to admit this was coming from an astrological point of view.

The original basis for the three crosses came from Alice Bailey in Esoteric Astrology. From this, I was reintroduced to the three crosses in Reiki. This of course intrigued me, and saw this same symbology (three crosses) in the bible at the time of the crucifixtion. Three crosses, reflecting three different stages of Hu-man. And of course the Crowley's Ace of Cups and the Lotus was a sort of revelation to me.

Mutable = form, and Cardinal = Spirit were thoughts and expressions from all my studies. I'm intrigued you find this interesting - a person so well versed in everything. Your work in astrology is astounding!

I'm very new to Thoth.

Could you explain the Queen/Cardinal and the Knight/Mutable so I may understand?

Thanks

tink

Click to expand...

I think I read Esoteric Astrology years ago when it didn't make a lot of sense to me. But I do remember the 3 crosses. It's a very useful concept.

All of the astrological associations in the Thoth (with a couple of exceptions) are based on Book T, which was developed by McGregor Mathers and others in the Golden Dawn. You can download it at

http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/English.html

It's a bit baffling at first but no worse than Bailey's stuff. And you'll see the whole set of associations in Book T. You can also download Crowley's Book of Thoth there as well. And I believe there was a good thread here on the Courts in the Thoth. While that is the original material, you might want to pick up DuQuette's book on the Thoth which is written in more understandable language. He has some great tables that really make it accessible.

Hope that helps. Enjoy. The Thoth is a great deck.