FOUR OF CUPS can be a tricky card to interpret. Called "Luxury" in the Thoth Deck, the meanings can range from "contentment" and "emotional security" to "selfishness" and "too much of a good thing."
FOUR OF CUPS can also symbolize a refusal or inability to see opportunities that are available. It can mean overlooking the obvious -- for example, disregarding one's own Inner Light expressed as talents, gifts and natural abilities. When combined with the futility of the "no-win situation" symbolized by FIVE OF WANDS, it can lead to a trap that seems impossible to break out of, as illustrated below:
The Querent (female, age 52) consulted with me because she felt frustrated in her attempts to re-establish herself as a writer. She had earned her income through writing in the past, but lately she is "having no luck" generating income from writing assignments and has been "forced" to take clerical and administrative jobs to pay the bills.
Her question is, "Why can't I get my writing business going again? Can the Tarot tell me what my problem is and how I can start getting what I want?"
I pulled the following cards:
 |
|
 |
| Card 1 - Heart of the Matter 4 of Cups / Luxury |
Card 2 - Influences 5 of Wands / Strife |
Card 3 - The Challenge XIII - DEATH |
 |
 |
 |
| Card 4 - The Blessing or Gift 3 of Disks / Works |
Card 5 - The Deduction Queen of Disks |
Card 6 - The Probable Outcome XVII - THE STAR |
 |
||
| Card 7 - Clarification Prince of Swords |
THE HEART OF THE MATTER - Cards 1 and 2: The Querent's problem practically jumped off the table at me. Here we have a scenario where not only is she likely refusing to give herself credit for her innate gifts and talents as evidenced by FOUR OF CUPS, but in addition, she is continually defeating her purposes by engaging in an ongoing mental battle ("I've still got what it takes" vs. "I'm over the hill" and "my talent is all dried up") and is exhausting herself in a classic no-win FIVE OF WANDS fashion.
THE CHALLENGE - Card 3: The solution is seen in the Challenge Card, XIII-DEATH. Our Querent must forever "close the door" (XIII-DEATH) on her old, unproductive habit patterns of refusing to see or trust her talents and gifts (FOUR OF CUPS) and her habitual, unconscious, unproductive mental bickering where as soon as she thinks something like "I know I can do this, I did it once and I can do it again," another aspect of herself will pipe up with something like, "Who are you kidding? You're too old. You've lost your creativity" (FIVE OF WANDS). Now that these two destructive habit patterns have been made visible to her, the Querent can focus her efforts on "dying" (XIII-DEATH) to their influence and doing what it takes to get her closer to her goals.
THE BLESSING OR HELP - Card 4: THREE OF DISKS encourages us to put body, mind and soul into the same direction to accomplish a purpose. Our Querent has been spinning her wheels. "Forced" to work an unsatisfactory job, her body does the work but her mind rebels and her soul longs to write books. When she puts her efforts into writing, her soul and heart are happy but her mind interferes, criticizing her efforts and telling her things like, "This won't pay the bills" and "You don't have what it takes." With all this inner criticism, she found herself not really doing anything productive with her writing, which only added to her fears of not being able to support herself doing work that was meaningful to her. THREE OF DISKS counsels the Querent to involve her mind in supporting her soul's and heart's desire. Then she can accomplish her objective. The key concept here is that the Querent must focus exclusively on the goals she intends to manifest. She cannot continue to disregard her innate gifts and talents (FOUR OF CUPS) and she cannot allow her Inner Critic to continue to interfere (FIVE OF WANDS).
THE DEDUCTION AND THE PROBABLE OUTCOME - Cards 5 and 6: With QUEEN OF DISKS (ability to provide) and XVII - THE STAR (creativity, self-esteem and success) in Positions 5 and 6, our Querent has every reason to expect she can support herself by performing creative, soul-satisfying work.
THE CLARIFICATION - Card 7: PRINCE OF SWORDS symbolizes both writing and communications ability and talent, as well as the ability to impact others through written communications. As the Clarification Card, it is simply further confirmation that the Querent can support herself and be successful with a writing career.
Mary's Comments: It was not surprising to discover that the Querent had both natal Sun and Mercury (thinking ability) in Libra. Air signs, especially Libra, often get caught up in the FIVE OF WANDS mental process of quibbling and bickering inwardly with themselves, with none of the inner personalities ever "winning" the argument! When she breaks this inner no-win cycle, she will find her outer circumstances changing for the better.
Blessings,
Mary Hawkins
to return to Tarot Teacher Main Page
to return to Soulscape Main Page
to order a Tarot Reading from Mary
