4 Coupes - how may it be read?

jmd

The four often symbolises, for myself, stability, and here there may at times be a sense that the stability is amongst people - a stable community, or close friendships.

It is as if, also, the enclosing floral patterns of the previous card has given way to an opening that allows for the fulness of the plant to be displayed.

In a nutshell, stable social relations. But of course, the reading at hand may make other demands from the details perceived in the moment.

Attached is the Payen.
 

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smleite

jmd said:
(…) here there may at times be a sense that the stability is amongst people - a stable community, or close friendships.

Yes, but there is something that comes to my mind several times, when I wonder about number four. A family corresponds basically to number three, isn’t it? We always get the symbolic image of “father, mother, child”, even if this child can be “multiple” in itself. Still, four seems to correspond to the image of a complete household – the four pillars or walls that support a roof. That is why another very used image of a family is “mother, father, son, daughter”, even if I still think that son and daughter simply correspond to the unfolding of the concept of the child.

Still, I do realize that the birth of a child to a family is a very disruptive event, and that maybe the coming of another child means that the crisis is finally over, and that the original couple’s life has now definitely changed into a new idea of family. This way, we can translate to our daily lives the kind of energy associated to every number: the isolation of One (every man is an island…), the magnetic relation of Two, the disturbing creational movement in Three, the comforting steadiness of Four…

Silvia
 

tmgrl2

Lovely posts, jmd and Silvia...

I see the Quatre de Coupes as a security on an emotional level (4 for stabization of the square) and emotions for cups.

Also, flowering amidst the four cups is another "three" hinting at the seven to come....four for the solar plexus, in the gut kind of feelings, and a three for the higher "love" of the spirit, with the seven being a magical number of

Readiness for a new level of growth.


terri
 

Moonbow

We generally think of emotional issues with cups, and perhaps relationships also. I can see though, that any issue that needs controlled and careful thought could well be seen in this card. We see that the cups are neatly placed in a square and the foliage is itself quite straight and orderly too, but what of the liquid in the cups? It's still and undisturbed and settled. There is a stillness and silence about the card too.

It could also be seen as a restriction of expression and freedom. Of conforming instead of following your heart.
 

tmgrl2

Moonbow* said:
We generally think of emotional issues with cups, and perhaps relationships also. I can see though, that any issue that needs controlled and careful thought could well be seen in this card. We see that the cups are neatly placed in a square and the foliage is itself quite straight and orderly too, but what of the liquid in the cups? It's still and undisturbed and settled. There is a stillness and silence about the card too.

It could also be seen as a restriction of expression and freedom. Of conforming instead of following your heart.

I like this, Moonbow. It reminds me of how I see another 4, L'Empereur (IV) as being solid and earthly and established but also somewhat "fixed" and perhaps immutable, settled and not too willing to move past the comfort of his realm.

terri
 

Little Baron

Interesting stuff so far.

When I see this card, I also think of stability. I also think of the home (probably the link with the cube) and a feeling of stability.

It is interesting already, what was said about the '3' being the family. Maybe the '4' could be seen as extended family - aunts and uncles, cousins, inlaws. Emotional support, possibly from close friends and family. The leaves on the bottom of the plant seem to be reaching out from the confines of the 'box' shape of the 'coupes'. Is it suggesting we should not be too proud and ask for help or support. Is it saying that however things or people may look on the exterior, that underneath, they may need our help or support. The 'Quatre de Coupe' seems very stiff and 'locked' from the outside; almost unbreakable. This could just be how it seems on the surface.

Yabs