Crystal Tarot - Chalices

Aoife

I love this deck...... but it’s breaking my heart!

Okay, that’s a bit of an over-statement, but I really had hoped that this was ‘The One’. Everything about the deck ..... the Klimt and Liberty influences..... the colours..... the size.... the wonderful majors.... was everything I’d hoped for.

I should also confess that I’d hoped this deck would be a kinda Marseilles-light........ that it would help me to better understand the historical decks. So I was looking forward to studying the pips.

I started with the suit of Chalices.......

The first thing I noticed was that:
Ace through to five - the chalices themselves are of different shapes and designs [and are more ornate than those that follow]
six and eight are the same shape, design and background
seven, nine and ten have the same background, design and include the same two shapes.

So I honed in on the six and eight.....
The background is a William Morris tulip design in muted colours [the most sombre of the backgrounds], with blue half-rings superimposed.
The configuration of the cups is the same - other than two additional sideways-on central cups.
Those two additional cups on the eight cover [and block the exit of] two butterflies fully represented on the six. In discussion with Firemaiden she suggests that the eight shows a completed design - the central open area is blocked, there are no exits now.
The LWB says that the six represents “memories - living not only for oneself”; the eight “maturity - to understand the difference between the past and the future”.

But I can’t draw all this together...... I’ve hit ‘the wall’ ....... and I’m hoping you kind folks can help me find some understanding.
 

Jewel-ry

Hello Aoife,

I also have the Crystal Tarot and isn't it beautiful? When I first got it I tried to get some input on exactly the same type of questions. The difference between the 6 of chalices (memories - living not only for oneself) and the 8 of chalices (maturity - to understand the difference between the past and the future) is those two cups. They neither point downwards towards the past nor upwards towards the future. Do they bridge the gap between the past and the future? It strikes me that the colours of the 6 (past) and the 8(future) are both faded. Is that a reflection of their reality? If so why is the 7 called imagination and why does it have bright colours and flambouyant flowers? In a typical RW type deck there is a picture of a person turning their back on 8 cups, these cups are usually ordered and he is going towards the future sometimes towards higher ground and spirituality. Can this tie in somehow?

I too come up against many brick walls but perhaps if a few of us work together we can make some sense of it.

J.
 

Aoife

Hi jewel-ry, and thank you for your response. I do remember you raising questions on a previous thread. It would be great to work through the conundrums posed by this beautiful deck.

As for my questions here, I'm now feeling quite stupid. Serves me right! Should've done my research properly. However.......

Reading through past threads, the suggestion seems to be that there's been a swop between traditional swords-air and cups-water correspondences. But.....

Reading through the LWB [and poking my fingers in my ears to avoid the scorn of Diana and Umbrae] Chalices are said to be the "Realm of Spirit...... they communicate with the spiritual and emotional". So now..... arghhh!

See.... I'm inclined to associate 'the spiritual' with wands and 'the emotional' with cups. But bear with me..... let me run with this......
A blend of - optimism, sensing victory [6 wands] with innocence and memory [6 cups]. But no.... I'm flipping back to RWS thinking.

Changing tack.....what I'm now seeing with the six and eight of Chalices is that they're the only two Chalice cards which are perfectly symmetrical. Hmmmm...... symmetry - unity through synthesis of opposites. But! "symmetry may sometimes betray artificiality and lack of creative spirit.... denoting a rationalisation which constrains....maybe stifles spontaneous strengths of pure intuition and imagination" Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier & Gheerbrant.

Anyone care to come and untangle the knots in my synapses?
 

Diana

Aoife: I can't really help you here, because I'm not sure what your questions are! :D

I can only give my own personal view here. First of all, to me Cups are Water and Swords are Air. Even in this deck.... in spite of the watery element one finds in the Swords.

Secondly, the word Chalices, I wonder if Elisabeta Trevisan wanted them to be called Chalices (she is not English speaking, is she? It sounds like a Southern European name to me.) So let's call them Cups. (Could be a Lo Scarabeo gimmick to call them Chalices, but maybe I'm wrong....)

Then I think let's forget about Rider Waite definitions. Put them out of one's head. Link the Minors to the Majors.... Why? Because they have numbers on them, and numbers mean something. You can't have a six in the Majors (Lovers) which means something, and then all of a sudden, it means something else in the minors. You can't play around with numbers like that - you only get confusion and chaos.

Then I went to look at the cards. They have a lovely progression. The Two has a circle around it... which is not quite closed. The Cup on the right has the possibility to escape if it wants to. It doesn't have to stay in that closeness if it doesn't want to. In fact, it needs some breathing space because it's going to give birth to ......

an Egg in the third card where one finds the butterfly of the Ace which is the indication of something new in gestation which is ....

the fourth cup in card number four. Here the egg has grown to tremendous dimensions and the colours are lighter. Like there's less of a struggle.

In card number five, the egg has given birth to birds and more butterflies - and it has the five pointed star. It is a five that shouts at us that we have reached a certain completion. But that we must look upwards and take flight...... and not stay too rooted in the ground. We need to look upwards and beyond....

Beyond to the six - where the first sign of the choice of the Lovers card (six) is hinted at with the four wheels. Wheels make our heads turn - which way to go? Upwards? Downwards? Sideways? Forwards? Backwards? Eek!

The Sevens are the Victory (Chariot). The wreath looks like a laurel leaf and the four circles have become laurel leaves as well, with the most beautiful flowers growing on them.

The eight is an odd card here - I agree it looks too much like the six, except for the fact that it is fuller - there is no more room for any cups here - as if everything is more in balance.

The nine again looks so much like the seven, I can't figure it out if I look at the cards in a sequence.

And the ten is completion - no way you can fit in another cup here. But the completion is an illusion, because one of the cups at the bottom (below the central one) is tilted. There is a danger here of losing everything one has gained if one doesn't upright it.

I have probably been of no help at all.....
 

Aoife

((((((Diana))))))

Thank you.... thank you..... THANK YOU !!!!!
 

Diana

Well, lots of hugs for you too. You mean this made some sense? Do you want more?
 

Aoife

Diana said:
Do you want more?

~Aoife looks up in awe at Diana, from her position at Diana's feet~

Pleads......please....please....PLEASE !!!
 

Jewel-ry

Diana,

Amazing! You made it all make sense! Truly amazing!

I'm with Aoife on this one YES PLEASE MORE!

J.
 

Sulis

I'm tempted to ask my husband for this deck for Yule. I don't buy many decks these days, finding I'm very happy with what I've got. If anything my small collection is getting smaller.

I like decks with 'moody minors' but I don't like the keywords which go with most Thoth-like decks.

I would like to get a deck with moody or pip style minors but I just don't feel as though I can cope with the artwork of a Marseilles style deck yet.

Do you think that this deck is a good substitute for a Marseilles style deck? It certainly sounds as though those of you who have it like it a lot.

Love and light

Sulis xx
 

Diana

Nothing can substitute a Marseilles deck. I'm not saying that to be funny.

But if the Marseilles minors scare you - lol - then this is a great deck to approach so-called non-illustrated minors. I have done some really lovely readings with this deck.

It is truly a beautiful deck and it makes a lot of sense. And deserves to be known better.