More
than one Tarotist has commented on the unusual interpretation of the
Five of Vessels (or Cups as they would be in a traditional tarot)
which diverges from the general interpretation of this card in
classic tarot.
In fact, the reason for this springs from a desire to
follow the journey of the Wanderer (The Fool) through the entire
deck, and to acknowledge the experiences that he/she (our Wildwood Fool is
non-gender specific) encounters along the way. If we explore the
‘story’ underlying the suit of Vessels we see how this works.
This
suit explores the profound mystery of the human emotions:
From the
Ace the Wanderer learns how to access memory, the very beginning of
the ancestral dream. Then, in the Two of Vessels he/she meets an
aspect of him/herself that offers a glimpse of completeness, of the
other self that has been missing from the start of his/her journey. In the Three of Vessels he/she reaches another point of emotional
understanding - the joys of family, the inner circle of friends and
relations who carry the central energy of the home. But this causes
the Wanderer to over extend him/herself and begins, in the Four, to suffer from
dissatisfaction, boredom, and ennui.
Thus we reach the Five.
Here
the Wanderer experiences a brief glimpse of inspiration, an access to
the divine which releases a spontaneous rush of joy, ecstasy. But
here the Wanderer learns that even these heightened feelings are
short lived, and is plunged back into a darker state. Thus the more
usual meaning of the 5 of Cups, longing or despair, undermines the
sense of wonder and delight, making it bitter sweet.
We felt and feel
that this makes more sense of the Wanderer’s ongoing story,
especially as it is followed by the Six of Vessels, which denotes the
welcome return of the inner unity expressed in the Two. With this comes
the remembrance of wholeness set against the fleeting passage of
ecstatic wonder in the Five. The weight of loss, the memory of that
divine impulse, is such that in the Seven the Wanderer mourns his/her
lost delight. From this moment, as the Wanderer accepts the path of
fate things begin to turn. A rebirth begins in the Eight of Vessels,
followed by a bursting fourth of joy that he/she wishes to share with
all. From this flows happiness, the waters overflowing the spring,
and the joy of the Wanderer, which had been present all along, issues
to the world.
In this way we see that while the 5 of Vessels appears
to contradict the more traditional meaning, it is essentially the
same. The ecstasy of the moment is fleeting and serves as a reminder
to the Wanderer of the way things had been and perhaps might be
again. It is a crucial turning point in his/her journey.
© John
Matthews & Mark Ryan
February
2013
I drew the 5 of Cups in my most recent "dukkering" for myself and boy does it apply! Your blog/newsletter I'd signed up for has not been reaching me and only just this morning (CST daylight time, i.e. just now) did I realize there will be a ROS convention next year - I went immediately to sign up, only to find I am too late :(
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Hello! I am nominating you for the Liebster blog award, check it out!
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I have always had a positive experience when I draw this card. The euphoric burst of positivity, however short lived, is like a welcome cool breeze on a too-hot night. The description seems a bit apologetic. The Waite deck, although a good first deck to learn about tarot as I did, is fairly negative , sometimes to excess. I salute you for turning this around. A loss of material wealth is nothing compared with a loss of a connection with the divine. The woman has looked within, surrounded by light below and the stars above-ecstasy indeed.
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