Finding Fulfillment with 7 of Cups

Last night I pulled two cards for the week ahead, using the Prisma Visions Tarot and the Wisdom from the House of Night oracle. Before discussing what popped up, I feel the need to reflect for a moment on last week's post, Channeling Fire. I'd pulled very "hot" cards, and was prepared for a wild week ahead. In reality, my week was probably even more hectic that I could have anticipated, and there were several times where I definitely felt like I was on the back of a runaway horse. To be honest, I still feel a bit like that! I had thought to use the High Priestess of Fire as a focal point to avoid burnout, and I'm not entirely sure if I managed to do that successfully, though I did think of her often. I did feel close to burnout somewhere around mid-week, and then, almost miraculously, I just started laughing. The kind of laughing which you come to realize is just a way of expressing out-of-control stress in a fairly healthy way! I just stopped caring so much about where my wild pony was going, and I carved out a fraction of space not rudely invaded by my overwhelming work responsibilities. It was a good thing.

Two days ago I decided to pull a card from the Tarot de St. Croix to gauge my own progress and I pulled the 2 of Pentacles. Yes, I thought, this is about right. Harmonic fluctuation. Well, "harmonic" might be pushing it. I mostly just felt like I was treading water, however I did manage not to drown, and I'm certainly pleased about that!

So today I drew the 7 of Cups along with Fulfillment:

Prisma Visions Tarot

It's an interesting combination because the 7 of Cups is certainly not a card that I'd say brings to mind satisfaction and pleasure, per se. This is a card often understood to represent fantasy, illusion, dreams, and the act of pondering one's many options.

Wisdom from the House of Night Oracle

Meanwhile Fulfillment is about enjoying the fruits of success and accomplishment, relaxing, reveling in material comfort. What is particularly noticeable to me is that in the 7 of Cups we can see many chalices enveloped by fog or wind. Only one is actually holding something - from the central chalice rises a rather large-looking serpent. Thinking in Lenormand-style, the snake often signifies complications (among other things). And it's fair to say that I will certainly have a lot on my plate, and will be wondering what to do first, all the while attempting not to let the haze carry me away. But these chalices are mirrored in the cup of wine on the Fulfillment card.

What does that mean to me?

It means that I will certainly be weaving my way through a complicated web of duties and emails and students and conflicting interests, and will very likely find it challenging at times to know what to check off my list first. But if I can look the snake in the eyes and focus, I'll have the opportunity to enjoy the satisfaction that comes from a difficult job well-done. (And truth be told, if I can make it to the end of the week, I'll be attending a special event for my padrino which will certainly be a wonderful way to kick back and relax!).

Considering the 7 of Vessels

I dearly love the Wildwood Tarot, and have been enjoying the process of taking the "unusual" cards (where meanings tend to - or seem to - divert from the traditional) and making connections to the more "standard" concepts associated with them.  Today the card is the 7 of Vessels, which correlates to the 7 of Cups.  The latter is often considered to represent living in fantasy, the need to buckle down and make a decision, seeing what you want rather than what's truly there, idleness, being overwhelmed by options, even in some cases being distracted or delayed by momentary flights of fancy that may prove harmful in some way.  So let's see what the 7 of Vessels has to offer.....

7 Vessels. Mourning – The skull sits in the crook of an ancient tree, with seven vessels of various shapes and sizes sitting before it.  We're off to a great, bewildering start! :-D

In a way this card brings to mind a person who has wasted away due to living in a fantasy rather than in reality.  There’s a feeling of a life spent wishing and desiring, rather than doing and making.  The cups in this card are dry, like our opportunities dry up when we don’t take advantage of them.  Nothing lasts forever.

Wildwood Tarot
Mark Ryan, John Matthews, Will Worthington
Sterling Ethos, 2011

It also can symbolize the sense of mourning involved in making a dream come true, or realizing that a dream isn’t possible.  Sometimes it’s easier to live in our fantasies where we can have whatever we like, or can be anyone we choose.  When we have to ground ourselves and think realistically, it can be a painful process.

This reminds me of a close friend of mine who was thoroughly enjoying planning her wedding, and the early months she’d have in her marriage.  She had to leave the country and fly to live with her fiancée in a brand-new place, which was very exciting.  But when D-Day came (the day she had to board the plane) she broke down and couldn’t go.  She wanted to get married, had invested a lot of time and energy and emotion into planning, but she was suddenly paralyzed by fear when she was suddenly face-to-face with “the rest of her life.”  She'd spent happy months imagining what her new life would be like, but in the end she was terrified to leave her old life behind and brave the new reality coming her way. (She did end up working through it, and finally did change the ticket and board the plane).

Similarly, when we have illusions about a relationship, or when we become side-tracked by fleeting desires, it can be painful to face the truth or the consequences of our actions.  Our “bubble is burst” and a change takes place.  We can no longer live in blissful ignorance, there’s no going back.

Finally this card brings to mind the sense of honoring those who have come before – it doesn’t get much realer than our ancestors who struggled and sweated and toiled away in order for us to have the opportunity to be born.

The spirals and lighting bolts painted on the skull could represent the great circle of life, of the Universe, and those "ah hah" moments where we break through haze and make the decisions that need to be made.

So at first, the images combined with the keyword "mourning" seem so utterly unrelated to the traditional understanding associated with this card that it may initially present a sort of block or deterrent.  But in the end, it simply provides deeper layers of the experience:

The death and rebirth of people, opportunities, relationships, lifestyles, dreams and desires, goals and plans, the never-ending Wheel.

So Many Options!

This morning I picked the 7 of Cups for my daily draw, from the Radiant Rider-Waite deck (U.S. Games 2003).  I had to laugh.  This fellow stands in shadow before a brilliant display of options and opportunities..... the hard part...which to choose!  So many glittering possibilities are available for the picking.  Does he finally make a decision?  Or does he decide it's more fun to think about them rather than making any into reality?

I laughed because I've been reading about so many different Tarot decks lately, and my wish list keeps

Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot

growing.  You could easily replace the man in the card with my own image, and fill each of the cups with a different style of deck!  I keep trying to decide which I might buy next, but it's just not that easy.  Some days I feel excited about a particular deck, and think I've made up my mind.  Two days later I feel more drawn to something entirely different, and consider changing my choice.  I'm excited to make that final selection and go for it....and then while it's en route to my house, I get lost in thought about the other decks on my list, and wonder if I should have picked something else!  It's really ridiculous and funny.  I love how different decks carry new takes on card meanings according to the thought behind its creation, or the style of art.  I love how illustrations can affect or influence interpretation and intuition.  So it's no wonder so many readers develop major deck collections over time!  I hope to keep it to something I can reasonably work with - I don't want any decks to gather dust.  But it's certainly a lot of fun exploring all the Tarot diversity!