Life Lessons: 9 of Cups
As I write this Life Lesson for May, I am reluctantly drawing one last card from my Thoth Tarot deck. Having spent a week using it almost exclusively to do my readings, both on the TABI forum and in real life, I have come to the conclusion that the Thoth Tarot is a vindictive deck. Not quite malevolent, but certainly not benevolent as most decks I work with. On the advice of my mentor, I put this deck back in its box on the shelf, but like an old lover I never really let go of, it keeps calling out to me for more. So go on, just one more time…
I use tarot as a tool to help improve my life, and to help others improve their lives, by asking it what we need to know, for it is said that once we know we can change our minds. Using the mantra of “Awareness, Acceptance, Action”, I use tarot as a tool to help us get to the root of our problems, for it is only once we have become aware of what is causing our problem that we can either accept it as a problem, or chose to reject it and carry on as we are. The concept of rejecting our defects might sound odd, but let’s think about it.
Say, for example, I am hopelessly pining for a man who is unavailable to me. I might have spent weeks plotting ways to see him, deliberately catching the same bus I know he’ll be on, changing my break time so I can bump into him in the cafeteria or even taking up a new gym membership so I can ogle him as he flexes his muscles. But still, he barely notices me, and I blame it on his obsession with his new girlfriend, who I just know is wrong for him.
Hark at me. I have had this card in front of me and already the talk has turned to lust. That is what the Thoth Tarot does to me, it can take a beautiful card, with a seemingly joyous message, and awaken my basest of instincts. As Akron and Banzhaf (1995) put it: “All colours flow together and everything becomes unclear and hazy, symbolizing the unfathomable depths of desire and longing”.
The cards might reveal that it is my own loneliness and neediness that is the problem; rather than his lack of interest in me, or the talons of his new girlfriend (hark at me again, normally I am so sweet and positive). But I might not want to let go of my neediness. I might actually be addicted to it, and even enjoy the fantasies I am indulging in before letting go. So this card has awakened an awareness in me the possibility that it is my own unrealistic desires that are an issue here. And now I am beginning to accept that, I am able to open myself to the possibility that action can be taken. But what action is that? Well, for starters, I need to stop depending on others to bring me happiness. It is so unlikely that they will actually conform to my will and do as I want them to do, that IF I depends on the actions of others, I will never find fulfilment.
And fulfilment is exactly what this card seem to sing of. When I look at the card, I see 9 Cups, filled to overflowing with golden nectar, and as they overflow they fill the other cups; suggesting to me that happiness comes from within. When I achieve inner harmony and serenity, then my cup will also overflow with love, in turn filling those around me with the joy of life… and I am reminded that as I give so I shall receive, but also, I need to have it in order to give it away. I need to stop obsessing about those around me and looking to others to fill my cup, rather I need to start sharing from my own cup, and become part of the karmic cycle, knowing that my contribution to the energy flow will come back to me ninefold.
And I need to put this deck back in the cupboard where it belongs, out of sight, but not out of mind.
Reference: Akron & Banzhaf (1995) The Crowley Tarot, US Games Systems.
About Post Author
