PAMUYA
I would say finding meaning/purpose for your life, taking action.
I feel like they had to make a decision or else... Basically, my idea is that each suit represents a story and for me, the Cups is a love story. I always feel like the initial love felt between too people is sort of taken for granted and maybe flirts around a bit in the 3C, while the person in 4C contemplates his choice to make and then perhaps, if he made it in a hurry, what you see is the following 5C - disappointment and regret, followed by reminiscence of the good old days in 6C...and so on, till he finally reaches 10C. His goal of emotional happiness and contentment is fulfilled. He feels loved and is accepted. Sort of like a Fool's Journey, only applied in a romantic context.
Could you also look at this card reversed as too little, too late ?
Would like some feedback on this card
I received Four of Cups reversed in a reading. It got me thinking that, since upright this card is very much about a person not being there for you emotionally or someone who takes things for granted, could the reverse mean that this person is moving on from that stasis.
In short, could the reversed Four of Cups mean (among many other things):
1. that the person is moving on from being indifferent
2. the person is ready to receive the cup on offer
3. the person can now appreciate the cup that is on offer; or
4. that the person now realises that what they took for granted is no longer there to ignore or take for granted? It's just gone and its too late. The cups are empty
Love to read anybody's thoughts
Well Babs you must find this sub-forum extremely frustrating with the pages and pages of threads posing questions about what a card could mean!First I want to say that, in my viewpoint, it is not possbile to tell someone that a card cannot ever mean something. There are very many ways to read, each card has almost an infintie amount of things that it could potentially mean in a reading. AND intuition plays a huge part in reading. A card can mean one thing to you usually, but in the space of the particular reading you can just feel and know it means something totally different,
Given the role intuition plays, my answer to someone who asks if a card CAN mean something, no matter what they see it as meaning , is always yes. Yes if that is what you sense in a reading then that is what ti means in that reading.
All that out of the way. LOL, I have a big of a unique way of reading reversals (that I invented one day to meet my needs) so I hope this doesn't confuse things.
But for me. the 4 of Cups reversed= feeling that you need to take things slowly and carefully, to not rock the boat or take too many risks and try to keep things on a even keel and in balance....It would say that the person FEELS that they need to do this and proceed with cautioon, whether or not it si true. It may be all in their imagination, or not, but they feel that they need to do this.
Cups are our feekings and a reversed 4, for me, refers back to the Temperance card.
Babs
If any card can have any meaning, then it starts to look pointless to me. I think I need something more solid than that.
TarotBear recently posted some statistics that were mind-boggling - a few years ago I had asked if there were any statisticians amongst us, with no result; till now! I'm still searching for that thread (I'll find it!) ... When you delve deeper into the cards, go beyond the 'trad' meanings, you'll realize that the keywords are simply meant to send you down a specific path, which can branch off into a million different directions. The important thing is to 'get' that card's energy, which enables you to interpret it in that one reading unique & never to happen again. It's not even necessary to memorize keywords; back in the day, there WERE no books, no literature, just a teacher by the fireside, so in a way perhaps it was better ? because it forced readers to rely more on intuition. That's how tarot began & there are many great readers who follow that method.
Trying to compartmentalize each card is simply impossible because of the myriad scenarios that life tosses us. It's not that any card can have any possible meaning & that's the confusing part, because what would be the point? Why even have cards? It's more like reading between the lines; the degree & severity that particular card plays in that particular reading, sorta like splitting hairs between majors & minors, & you take into consideration the question, spread, deck, images, etc. If you tried to actually write down every possible meaning the 4 of Cups could mean, for instance, you'd be writing forever. But it still has its own ENERGY & that's up to the reader to sort it all out.
Well Babs you must find this sub-forum extremely frustrating with the pages and pages of threads posing questions about what a card could mean!
I get the point you are making although I don't think I said anywhere in this thread that I think a card couldn't have a certain meaning, moreso that I struggle with some meanings. There are some meanings that I see applied here and elsewhere that I just cannot link back to the card but hey, that's just me. Í'm on a learning curve.
As a newbie, however, I struggle with this notion that a card can have any possible meaning. Now I'm not saying I rule it out and am against it, just that I struggle with it. Otherwise why have 78 cards? Why have the artists who pour their work into these cards and use research and history to inspire the images? I just think you end up on a slippery slope that well, almost feels like it undermines the identify of each card (perhaps thats worded a little too strongly). If any card can have any meaning, then it starts to look pointless to me. I think I need something more solid than that.
I guess I am enjoying the discipline of the cards and trying to understand the possible meanings that arise from each one. I like to treat each card as unique.
When a question is posed and it is specific cards that are offered as your guide to finding an answer, I respect that. But I certainly understand that intuition plays a major part. I just don't see the harm in exploring meanings.
TarotBear recently posted some statistics that were mind-boggling - a few years ago I had asked if there were any statisticians amongst us, with no result; till now! I'm still searching for that thread (I'll find it!) ... When you delve deeper into the cards, go beyond the 'trad' meanings, you'll realize that the keywords are simply meant to send you down a specific path, which can branch off into a million different directions. The important thing is to 'get' that card's energy, which enables you to interpret it in that one reading unique & never to happen again. It's not even necessary to memorize keywords; back in the day, there WERE no books, no literature, just a teacher by the fireside, so in a way perhaps it was better ? because it forced readers to rely more on intuition. That's how tarot began & there are many great readers who follow that method.
Trying to compartmentalize each card is simply impossible because of the myriad scenarios that life tosses us. It's not that any card can have any possible meaning & that's the confusing part, because what would be the point? Why even have cards? It's more like reading between the lines; the degree & severity that particular card plays in that particular reading, sorta like splitting hairs between majors & minors, & you take into consideration the question, spread, deck, images, etc. If you tried to actually write down every possible meaning the 4 of Cups could mean, for instance, you'd be writing forever. But it still has its own ENERGY & that's up to the reader to sort it all out.