Mar 09 | 2023 — Ace of Cups
One of the largest themes in Tarot is the concept of cycles, constantly starting and ending, intersecting each other, and running parallel simultaneously. Today, we are presented with a potential beginning: The Ace of Cups.
Aces in Tarot always represent potential opportunity, the premise of an idea on the cusp of creation. The suit of the card matters. In this instance, the suit of Cups represents the arena of deep emotion, empathy, compassion, and intuition. You’ll sometimes hear things in a stereotypical reading like “Ohhhh, I see a new relationship in your future…” Mmhmm. Maybe.
The thing about the Ace is that it’s representing the concept of an opportunity, not a guarantee. If someone tells me I’m going to meet someone worth my time and I sit on my ass on the couch all day and don’t leave the house… that opportunity isn’t going to come to pass unless it’s the pizza man, cable repair guy, or the annoying sales people trying to sell me pest control or solar panels — none of whom seem remotely “worthwhile” in my book. So the opportunity is there only if you are open and make yourself available to it.
I personally don’t love how the Ace of Cups is drawn in most traditional representations. First, there’s a lot of specifically Christian symbolism in the card (the dove, the eucharist…), but aside from that, it’s presented as this cup that’s erupting water like a fountain. I appreciate the concept, but that seems messy… but then again, emotions are often messy. In my interpretation, the Ace of Cups would be presented as a new EMPTY cup, capable of being filled by whatever I choose to fill it with, be it new love, new feelings about an existing relationship, new connections… or maybe I’ll just use it for another glass of wine while I chill and watch some Netflix. The Cup is presented, but ultimately it’s ours to use.
Message of the Day: In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, all of the Ace cards show the presentation of the icon of the suit being gifted from a “divine” hand in a cloud, perhaps a little too Monty Python for me. This is accompanied by a shower of what appear to be leaves or little flames, but are actually representations of the Hebrew letter Yod. According to Jewish sages, Yod represents “the world to come and completeness.” It is a representation of the number 10, and also a representation of “The Creator.” All Aces have these letters sprinkled around the card — except for the Ace of Pentacles, which represents the physical realm of man and is not divinely appointed. The presence of Yod on these cards, again, further suggests the divine gifting of this opportunity.
While I definitely concur that there are some events (opportunities) in our lives that are fixed points — things that are meant to happen — I feel like there are many opportunities in our life that are less “divine” and more a reflection of our own creation. I’m not poo-pooing the concept of divine appointment by any means, but we are beings of free agency — and that freedom to make our own choices IS something that is divinely created. But if you want to think of each new Cup, Sword, or Wand as a new “blessing” from above, then so be it.
So with my example of the Ace of Cups as an empty container, we have the option to fill it up, OR, we can skip “GO” and go directly to the Four of Cups where we ignore (or at least don’t acknowledge) the opportunity presented before us. If we take the offer, it’s up to us to fill the Cup, share the Cup, wash the Cup, tend to the Cup. Otherwise, you may end up losing the Cup either by misplacement, dropping it and shattering it, or it just gets nasty with dust, sticky residue, and moldy grossness and ends up being thrown away.
All of those concepts could perfectly represent a relationship, a connection, or complicated feelings.
But what about when our cup holds yukky things? Like feelings of doubt, bitterness, anger, frustration, even malice. So often the suit of Cups is presented as happiness, and rainbows and shit. The built-in “downers” in the suit are things like grief and loss, but the Cups never really come to terms with just being pissed off — I mean, that IS an emotion as well. Even the suggested meanings in reverse are things like being “overly emotional” or “disengaged” — but never the base survival emotions.
So what do we do when that DOES happen: when we have a cup that’s filled with bitter juice and we can’t seem to empty it? What does Tarot suggest? A quick 3-card pull shows: IV of Wands, IV of Swords, and IX of Cups. Quickly, I would suggest this means to dial it home and identify what the root of the emotion is, a sort of “come to Jesus” moment if you will. Next, take the time to rest and meditate on what you realize you must come to terms with and how you want to proceed. The two IVs in the pull could also suggest the need for stability and the use of logic instead of responding out emotion. Last, be firm in your decisions, but be willing to present your feelings (present your case) to the associated person or situation that is causing your cup to be nasty. Maybe that, in and of itself, is a NEW Ace of Cups, an opportunity to correct the feelings of being wronged to get you back to where you need to be going.
Decks shown above:
