78 Weeks: Seven Cups

jmd

To find out what these threads refer to, please seeThe link above provides suggested dates and links to all threads for this study.

Some amongst us may be working through the deck in a different order, and using different decks.

For more general comments or questions about the 78 weeks, please post in the thread linked above.

Enjoy!
 

cartarum

seven of cups

with this seven, its all in your head. this seven indicates the thought process. reversed, its still thought, but more of a plan rather than some random thought.
 

CreativeFire

7 of Cups

Using the Universal Waite for meditation and inspiration again for this weeks card - 7 of Cups :)

A man (with his back to the viewer) in front of a cloud in which there are 7 cups hovering, each containing symbolic reference to different things in our lives.

My first thoughts on this card were that he has lots of choices or dreams of different goals going on here. I personally believe it is very important to have dreams and goals in life (whatever they may be), something to head or work towards. However having too many at once can sometimes make you lose focus on what is really important in your life and you end up just having many dreams and don't get organised or motivated to achieve any of them. On the other hand if you are too focused on one, then others may fall by the way side and fail to be realised.

But what are really the important ones was a question I then started to ask myself when meditating on this card? wealth, security, success, spiritual, sexual, power, self . . . I guess that is where it depends on the person and what they may have already achieved and what is their fantasies. Say they already have security or success, then their dreams or goals may lie in the areas of spiritual or self or vice versa.

I then started thinking about how this card could apply in an abstract way to business / management (and a seminar I recently attended) and one of keys is finding out what truly motivates your employees for them to enjoy their jobs. With some people it is money, some it is power, others it is success or sense of worth etc - or a combination of a few - no one is the same as every one has their own personal dreams. And some people don't know what their dreams or motivations are or have not really sat down and thought about what options they have and what they really want to pursue.

So after giving this card a lot of thought I got the sense that this is perhaps really about seeing that there are lots of choices out there and using your imagination (which sometimes just having so many can get you confused), then consciously making choices about what is important at different stages of your life and then seeing this card as a sign to gain some focus and work on realising one (or a few) of them ;) Also alternatively not being so caught up in one that you forget to dream or see other possibilities.

In my version of the card I have a lady (instead of a man) sitting on a wall, daydreaming / thinking / contemplating. The roses in her basket are yellow to indicate the thought that is also needed to make choices to work towards emotional (cups) fulfillment. In that I see this card as part of the journey through the Cups minors on to the 8, 9 and 10.

CreativeFire
 

Attachments

  • cups7.jpg
    cups7.jpg
    16.1 KB · Views: 188

ihcoyc

Sevens, to me, are about what looks pretty, and what immediately arouses the appetites and the passions.

Put this influence to work in the realm of Cups, in the realm of heart and emotions, and you're smoking while you're pumping fuel. This is what the RWS image seems to me to represent, with its cups in the clouds filled with illusory and perhaps dangerous dreams.

A wise man once said that love, power, and freedom are the three things you should never wish for, because the world is so arranged as to deny them to you, so longing for them will only break your heart.

On its good side, this may represent all the things that make the heart beautiful and attractive. Its bad side is more the things that are suggested in the RWS imagery, with its suggestions of illusion, daydream, and dangerous desire.
 

Major Tom

I've fallen behind with my posting but my cards and the study do continue.

Six versions of the Tarot of Marseilles inform my study for the Seven of Cups.

My RWS upbringing has taught me to relate the Seven of Cups to daydreaming and the need to focus on what is really important. I'm finding it difficult to see these in the Tarot of Marseilles.

In the Marseilles card we see all the growth originating from a single cup - the central cup in the bottom row of three. There are no flowers. Leaves and vines grow up the sides of the card nearly surrounding the single central cup in the middle of the card. The 3 cups in a row on the top of the card are separated by leaves.

My numerology book tells me that 7 is the number of the analyst and also of inner wisdom. If I put these keywords with the keywords for cups, that is emotions and spirituality, I can find the meanings I learned with the RWS. With the 7 of Cups it would be time to analyse how we feel about things and how we can find the wisdom to deal with those emotions.

I attach my own version of the card:
 

Attachments

  • seven of cups.jpg
    seven of cups.jpg
    29.2 KB · Views: 190

gregory

Seven of Cups - Revelations Tarot

First impressions
A card of REACHING OUT ! Arms outstretched all over the place !

From the book
Upright

All that glitters is not gold, and nothing is as it seems. Illusions play with his heart.
Options surround you in abundance, but all is not as it seems. Many of these choices may seem alluring, but ultimately they may not be what you had imagined. Caution is urged in the face of making a decision, and patience may prevail as you observe closely what there is to offer.
In situations, you may feel that you are being forced to make a decision. Often it could be between people in a relationship or paths within your career. Whatever the case, this card advises taking the time to make a well-informed decision or else face a terrible mistake.

Reversed
She takes hold of her dreams and breaks free to make more of it.
The reverse of this card urges you to take hold of the fantasies and illusions before you and find the drive within yourself to reach them. It recommends using your inner power to make these illusions come to life by drawing from your own resources and not waiting for external forces to deliver. You owe it to yourself to try.
In relationships, the time has come to stop wishing for something better and to actually go out and seek it. Find the ideal partner within yourself first before you look to others. Channel your emotional drive to get more of what you deserve. Do not stand aside and hope for something better; strive for it yourself.

Images and Symbolism
The merman faces cups, which represent his fantasies. Shadows and ghosts rising out of the cups beckon him and draw him in all directions. They are merely illusions of mermaids leading him astray.
On the reverse, the mermaid takes hold of a "fantasy" and makes it real by striving to achieve it.
Color: color of the oceans, orange, blues; associated with Pisces.

Traditional meanings
Upright:

An important choice must be made. The right decision is not obvious, but intuition can indicate it. Caution is advised.
Reversed:
Reliance on false hopes. Opportunities lost through errors.

My impressions:
Upright
A merman – very blue ! – is stretching his arms out towards a goblet with golden smoke rising from it . Around him three more goblets, each with a different coloured smoke rising.

Reversed
A mermaid, with rather gorgeous flowing hair, holds a necklace over her head. Three cups around her – containing jewels and coins.; An almost fiery background to her.

In the centre of the card are two fishes – one at each side, and each pointing in a different vertical direction !

My take
The merman seems to be choosing between the cups – he is going for the one with perhaps the most attractive smoke. The mermaid seems to be ignoring the riches on offer for lesser treasures in her hands. But both seem to be making choices – though she, I suppose, is avoiding choosing – or not even seeing what’s on offer. I think this card in indeed all about choices – looking at them, evaluating them, deciding what is best and reaching out for it. The upright image is doing this; the reversed is distracted by immediate pleasures and what she already has in her hands.

All the cards from this deck can be viewed here.
 

gregory

Card name: Seven of Cups

First impressions

Six smaller cups and one big one, dripping green slime into the sea (which seems to have streaks of blood in it.) Each cup is capped with a dead flower. Sigils of Venus and Scorpio. A rainy sky behind and general feeling of rot.

From the Book of Thoth
THE FOUR SEVENS

These cards are attributed to Netzach. The position is doubly unbalanced; off the middle pillar, and very low down on the Tree. It is taking a very great risk to descend so far into illusion, and, above all, to do it by frantic struggle. Netzach pertains to Venus; Netzach pertains to Earth; and the greatest catastrophe that can befall Venus is to lose her Heavenly origin. The four Sevens are not capable of bringing any comfort; each one represents the degeneration of the element. Its utmost weakness is exposed in every case.

The Seven of Wands is called Valour. Energy feels itself at its last gasp; it struggles desperately, and may be overcome. This card brings out the defect inherent in the idea of Mars. Patriotism, so to speak, is not enough.

The Seven of Cups is called Debauch. This is one of the worst ideas that one can have; its mode is poison, its goal madness. It represents the delusion of Delirium Tremens and drug addiction; it represents the sinking into the mire of false pleasure. There is something almost suicidal in this card. It is particularly bad because there is nothing whatever to balance it-no strong planet to hold it up. Venus goes after Venus, and Earth is churned into the scorpion morass.

The Seven of Swords is called Futility. This is a yet weaker card than the Seven of Wands. It has a passive sign instead of an active one, a passive planet instead of an active one. It is like a rheumatic boxer trying to “come back” after being out of the ring for years. Its ruler is the Moon. The little energy that it possesses is no more than dream-work; it is quite incapable of the sustained labour which alone, bar miracles, can bring any endeavour to fruition. The comparison with the Seven of Wands is most instructive.

The Seven of Disks is called Failure. This suit gives the extreme of passivity; there is no positive virtue in it below the Abyss. This card is ruled by Saturn. Compare it with the three other Sevens; there is no effort here; not even dream; the stake has been thrown down, and it is lost. That is all. Labour itself is abandoned; every thing is sunk in sloth.

DEBAUCH SEVEN OF CUPS

This card refers to the Seven, Netzach, in the suit of Water. Here recurs the invariable weakness arising from lack of balance; also, the card is governed by Venus in Scorpio. Her dignity is not good in this Sign; one is reminded that Venus is the planet of Copper, “external splendour and internal corruption”. The Lotuses have become poisonous, looking like tiger-lilies; and, instead of water, green slime issues from them and overflows, making the Sea a malarious morass. Venus redoubles the influence of the number Seven.

The cups are iridescent, carrying out the same idea.

They are arranged as two descending triangles interlaced above the lowest cup, which is very much larger than the rest.
This card is almost the “evil and averse” image of the Six; it is a wholesome reminder of the fatal ease with which a Sacrament may be profaned and prostituted.

Lose direct touch with Kether, the Highest; diverge never so little from the delicate balance of the Middle Pillar; at once the holiest mysteries of Nature become the obscene and shameful secrets of a guilty conscience.

Images and Symbolism
Frieda Harris says in her essays:
Seven of Cups = Debauch. Netzach in the suit of water. Venus in Scorpio.
The Lotuses have become poisonous; green slime issues from them. They are arranged in two descending triangles, with a lower cup much larger than the rest. This shows external splendour and internal corruption.

Also:
Seven of Cups = Debauch. Venus in Scorpio. Netzach.
Here the effort to increase pleasure has ended in corruption. The lotuses have become poisonous and the cups are chipped.
Snuffin says the cups are arranged in two descending triangles – I can’t say I actually see them that way. But if they are – it “suggests the Tree of Life below the Abyss, cut off from the influence of Binah” – which leaves the great sea poisoned and dying. The slime is emerald coloured – the colour of Netzach in Briah. We have also the sigils of Venus and Scorpio – the colour of Scorpio’s sigil (brown) means that Venus’ emotional nature is not expressed; it is rotting and hidden – as with the dark side of Scorpio. Snuffin says the ripples in the sea that I see as blood are “violet” – the colour of Yesod (Luna) – and that Luna is in her fall in Scorpio. I might even see the Luna side of this as suggesting putrefying menstrual blood actually.
Banzhaf says the lotus flowers have metamorphosed into tiger lilies – they do look a lot more lily-like than lotus-like actually. The card as a whole suggests weakness, with corruption flowing from within to without. He draws an analogy with Circe and the Sirens of mythology – women who trick us into their nets.

Meaning (cribbed from Wasserman)
Delusion. Illusory success,. Drug addiction. Intoxication. Guilt. Lying. Deceit. Promises unfulfilled. Lust. Fornication. Dissipation in love and friendship. Vanity.
DuQuette
Lying, promises unfulfilled; illusion, deception, error; slight success at outset, not retained.
Possible victory, but neutralized by the supineness of the person: illusionary success, deception in the moment of apparent victory. Lying, error, promise unfulfilled. Drunkenness, wrath, vanity. Lust, fornication, violence against women, selfish dissipation, deception ion love and friendship. Often success gained but not followed u0. Modified as usual by dignity.
Traditional meanings – From Thirteen’s book of meanings:
SEVENS
The fives were about instability and loss, losing momentum, losing love, losing an argument, and losing money. The Sixes restored harmony with their give and take. Now comes the Sevens. Seven is a magic number, a number of creativity and individuality. You might want to stay in the comfort and company of the Sixes, but challenges are a part of life, and we often have to face them on our own.
As with the Chariot, the Sevens require that you take control in a tough situation, manage your responsibilities, and find a way to succeed. One constant is the paradox of the chariot, a card that should be about movement, but is pictured at rest. Likewise, the driver of a chariot never moves. He holds fast to the reins and stands still there in the car. It goes from one point to the other at his command, but he, carried along within, remains steadfast.
In the Sevens, that is the most common way to succeed. Remain steadfast within. Thus these cards offer you a chance to show not only what you've learned and retained from your trials, but how well you deal with the unexpected.
Seven of Cups
A man sees seven cups floating on a cloud, each with something enticing rising out of it. This is the "daydream" card. Cups are the suit of emotions, but also fantasies and illusions. It is card where our own dreams and emotions make the situation difficult. Think of a girl who gets asked out by three different boys. Her strong emotions toward each keep her from saying yes or no; instead, she indulges in fantasies of how the dates might go, which not only puts off the decision, but makes it harder.
This is the Seven of Cups where you, the chooser, are given the challenge of getting past mixed emotions and self-deception. It predicts that the querent is or will be faced with choices that emotionally pull them in several directions. Daydreams of what could be will further muddy the waters. Seven, as mentioned, is a number of creativity, and cups are the suit of creative dreamers. Which makes the challenge of this Seven to rein in that abundance of creativity. To stop it from running wild.
Emotions, too, have to be reined in. The querent needs to concentrate on what they really feel, really want and can realistically imagine getting from each of these choices. The choice must be made not hastily, but soberly and maturely. And definitively.
Once again, the message is to stand fast. Don't let your emotions carry you off into fantasies and daydreams. Stay in reality, focus on making a decision. This card can also indicate a person who is living in dreams, preferring fantasy to reality, or someone lost in "their cups." Meaning using alcohol or drugs to escape reality.
(I include Thirteen’s meanings here, but the way, as while someone else was adding them to her Thoth posts, I found them enlightening in context, even though the descriptions are way different !)
My impressions (appearance of the card):
It really is quite revolting. It’s so vile it is almost appealing - which fits with addiction and alcohol and debauchery. In a scary way, it is also quite beautiful – the temptations of Bad Stuff… The rotting flowers are actually quite attractive in their way; and the flooding slime is – beautifully depicted. The pink in the water really does look like blood – it suggests poison and killing.
Then again – from putrefaction comes growth…
The colour looks like absinthe – maybe that ties in to its allegedly addictive properties –it has been shown to be no more addictive than any other alcohol, but at the time the deck was created, the drink was supposed to be wildly dangerous and prone to give hallucinations… And Crowley was very fond of it…

My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it)
I’d see it as a warning against going to the bad. If you carry on as you are doing, you stand to lose everything. Whatever you try, from where you are now – will turn to ashes; you cannot succeed from here. You are at this moment one of those people others should avoid as everything and everyone you touch goes rotten. You lead people astray.
 

jackdaw*

Seven of Cups (Rider Waite Tarot)

First Impressions
I have always liked this card and its unreal, fantasy aspect. A man faces away from the viewer, silhouetted against a blue sky dominated by a large puffy white-gray cloud. Seven large golden goblets are resting on the clouds like they say angels do in Heaven; a row of three above a row of four, each brimming with fantastical objects or images. The man has one hand extended out to his side, as though to steady himself (is he dazzled by this apparition?), or perhaps drawing back slightly as though he daren’t touch them.

Going clockwise from the top left: a shadowy or spectral disembodied head, presumably a woman but possibly not, with short curly hair, closed eyes and a small smile; a white-robed figure surrounded by a red glow, rising from the cup with arms slightly outstretched to the sides, draped from head to wrists and waist by a white veil or drape; a golden yellow snake; a shadowy blue dragon rising menacingly from the cup; a laurel wreath such as is used to crown victors (interestingly, the reflective surface of this cup shows a skull); sparkling jewels, chains and baubles heaped high; and a tall and slender tower shadowed to blue.

To me it always looks like the man was walking along, minding his own business, when BAM! This cloud appears, with seven cups, right smack in front of his nose, and startles the hell out of him. Or as though it’s the vision of God who appears to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A vision appears before him as suddenly as if the TV was turned on. Or, look at the Robin Wood version of this card, which makes it apparent that she views this card as one of daydreams: the seven cups rest not on clouds but on the voluminous blonde curls of her hair. It’s all in her head.

But in this case? It’s up to our own interpretation whether this is in his head or not. Whether it’s a vision, a daydream or something real.

Usually I view this card to be one of choice. There are seven cups here, each with its own prize, but I always get the impression that (a) there’s more to them than meets the eye, and (b) you only get to pick one, and no givesies-backsies. Do you go for the jewels, or the victory of the laurel wreath? Or do you hold out for what’s behind Door Number Three? And there are so many questions that arise here. Like that mysterious shrouded figure. What is that all about? And what does the skull mean? And if you chose the dragon, just what would you do with it anyway?

Creator’s Notes
In The Pictorial Key to the Tarot Waite doesn’t go into any great in-depth analysis; he doesn’t appear to do so very much in the Minor Arcana anyway:
Waite said:
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit.
So Waite seems to view them as apparitions, as objects of fantasy, is how I take that. And the things in the cups, he views as perhaps fancy or metaphorical. Fairy tale towers, treasure, dragons and what have you … otherworldly offerings; notice no pile of mundane old money, or bungalows in the suburbs!

Others’ Interpretations
Waite says:
Waite said:
Divinatory Meanings: Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested. Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project.
See? The stuff of fantasy. Nothing tangible. All in the realm of fantasy, the spirit, the mind.

Wikipedia says of this card:
wikipedia.org said:
A young person sees seven cups among the clouds and visions therein. On one cup is the perfect lover or mate all people idealize. Another cup shows riches, another the cloaked soul of the querent about to be revealed, another castles. Other cups show a red dragon of inflamed passion and emotion, as well as a snake arising from another cup. The card is a caution against over idealizing your situation and getting your head lost among the clouds. Your dreams need a firm foundation in order to take root. Do not build castles in the air and fantasize without taking responsibility for your actions.
This interpretation focuses more on the advice, on the warnings inherent in this card.

Symbolism and Attributes
Astrologically the Seven of Cups is linked to Scorpio, specifically the dates from November 13-22. Scorpio is a Water sign, and seems specifically to apply to the mid-suit Cups cards of Five, Six and Seven. A fixed sign, Scorpio carries some of its stabilizing effect over to the Cups. After the Five of Cups, the mid-cards seems more stable than those of some of the other suits.

The title of this card, according to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is the Lord of Illusionary Success. This is, I think, quite aptly depicted by this card. the riches and treasures promised by the seven cups: are they real, or are they just an illusion?

Real or illusory, let’s look at the contents of the cups. I’ve seen them likened as a whole to the seven deadly sins, the seven chakras and the seven planets in traditional Western astrology. In terms of the latter, RChMI described them aptly, even including references to the Tarot’s Major Arcana:

How about the 7 figures relating to the 7 planets?

Womans Head = Empress = Venus
Serpent = Magician's ouroboros snake = Mercury
Veiled Figure = High Priestess = Moon
Castle = Tower = Mars
Jewels - Wheel of Fortune = Jupiter
Wreath/Skull = The World = Saturn
Winged Dragon = The Sun = Sun

Susan Levitt pointed out something else quite interesting about the arrangement, the order of the cups. In Introduction to Tarot she pointed out that the upper three cups are more intangible, more spiritual or symbolic: mysteries, enigmas, virtues. Whereas the lower four are of the material world, lofty physical aspirations for which one might long: wealth, security, adventure, victory, what have you.

Again, moving from the top left in a clockwise direction, we come first to the woman’s disembodied head. This might refer to the self, or an idealized self or other. The unattainable soul mate, perhaps? The almost transparent aspect of this head is what leads me to believe it is something unreal or intangible rather than a literal person who is exactly as imagined. A spectre, a ghost, a figure who only exists in the onlooker’s mind or heart. The idea of the idealized mate, the dream girl, is reinforced by the above notion of the head relating to the planet Venus and the Empress. Ruled by the heart, the emotions, it might not be the most realistic of the images or likely to see the figure exactly as is, warts and all. With this in mind I would say that this cup promises the onlooker his heart’s desire, his one true love, his missing half.

The draped figure in the centre of the top row is shrouded in mystery, much like the Moon and the High Priestess as RChMI suggested. Being hidden it could just be the unknown, mystery. But the red glow about the figure suggests something more than that. Eden Gray theorized in her Mastering the Tarot that it might be the shadowed figure’s spiritual self, “his own divinity waiting to be uncovered.” So this would represent to the onlooker the aspiration to higher things. To greater understanding. The reason we go on quests in the first place. White is for spirituality, true enough. But why red? Red is the colour of passion, of desires. So it could indicate the highly desirable nature of this spirituality. Note how the serpent in the next cup extends far out of his cup, stretching toward the figure as if trying to touch it, to taste it.

This brings us to the snake. Yes, as the Bible and even the Lovers card in this same deck tell us, the serpent represents temptation. But it has long been an emblem of wisdom as well. Wisdom, prudence, knowledge. Remember the Prudence card in the Minchiate decks’ Virtues? She holds a hand mirror in one hand and a snake by the neck or tail in the other. Snakes are sly and unlikeable, typically, but they are also wise. Linked to the serpentine lemniscate over the Magician’s head, and the quick planet Mercury, it is connected to craftiness and hence wisdom. Perhaps this cup means that the onlooker, like Solomon, is asking for the wisdom to rule wisely.

Now the dragon. There are several theories about the contents of this cup. There are various colourations of the Rider Waite deck (Universal, Albano, etc.), and some of them show the dragon as being red rather than the shadowed blue of my deck. If red, it would liken to temptation. Other theories are that the dragon represents fear, or adventure. Like Miniver Cheevy, the dragon may represent to the staid modern-day figure a fairy tale, knightly adventure, chivalry, damsels to rescue and dragons to slay. You’ve got to admit, that’d be pretty tempting. If we continue with the theory of the links to planets, the dragon is connected to the Sun both astrologically and Tarotically. Dazzling and exciting like the adventure, the daydream of slaying dragons.

Perhaps the most has been made of the next cup, the laurel wreath. Now that on the surface is pretty obvious: it represents offered victory, triumph, glory and accolades. But the really tricky part lies in the cup itself, in the death’s-head skull evident in the shiny reflective surface. It’s not really evident, you either stumble across it or know it’s there and look for it. But once you do notice it, it changes the meaning of that cup significantly. Then it carries a warning. Perhaps the cost of victory, perhaps the bitterness, the hollowness of victory when bought at the price of human life. And perhaps it does represent a warning label of sorts, like on a bottle of poison. Because think of it: power corrupts, so maybe it cautions the onlooker that one’s mind can become poisoned by victory, drunk on victory, power going to his head. And it is connected to Saturn and the World (see the wreath as a visual clue): victory, success, the end of an era.

In the next cup, the jewels are pretty self-explanatory. They offer wealth, fortune, pretty things, material possessions. It is linked to the Wheel of Fortune and Jupiter.

The castle, tall and slender yet stable, is connected to security, safety, shelter and power in the world. It is linked to masculine and aggressive Mars and the Tower.

So overall, the vision of cups floating on a cloud (because isn’t that how all visions appear?) is offering a full buffet of choices to the onlooker: perfect love, spirituality and access to the divine, wisdom, excitement and adventure and really wild things (to quote Douglas Adams), victory, riches and safety. With such an array, no wonder he’s not reaching for any one cup just yet. Rather he’s drawing back, trying to choose, trying to take it all in.

My Interpretation
I see this card as the ultimate choice card, where everything looks so good at first that your mind is just blown and you can’t decide. But as they say, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. What if you chose the laurel wreath? Yes, you’d be a winner, and they can carve that on your tombstone: Here Lies Jackdaw, She Was A Winner. Whee. You can choose the dragon. But what are you going to do with a dragon? Remember Hagrid’s dragon, and all the trouble that came from it? And the mysterious shrouded figure? Beware of buying a pig in a poke. This card makes me think of “The Monkey’s Paw”. The couple wished for money, and they got it. As settlement over the death of their only son. There are pitfalls and drawbacks everywhere. Perhaps that’s the background behind the title of the card, Lord of Illusory Success.

So if I drew this card in a reading, I would take it as a caution to step back and really look carefully at the options. First of all, are they real? And if they are, make sure to examine all facets of each of the options. Make sure to examine the negatives and not just concentrate on the positives.