How to journey from the Nine of Cups towards the Ten of Cups

Yesterday I pulled the Nine of Cups and Death from my Original Rider Waite Tarot and although I am sure I must have pulled the Nine of Cups more often this year, this time at the end of 2017, I remembered it was my card for this year paired up with the rune Perthro.

I was wondering what the Death card had to say about the Nine of Cups because it felt like these two cards were standing at the beginning of an unfinished story but when I tried to pull an outcome card it didn’t make any sense at all.

So next I wondered how Perthro could be tied to the death card. Perthro is the rune of mystery and it sometimes symbolizes the cauldron of transformation. So maybe this rune wasn’t meant to be the tenth cup as I thought in January but perhaps it was meant as a symbol for the cauldron in which we could transform our nine cups filled with our comfortable wishes and happy feelings into something more substantial and sustaining.

And then I asked myself again what the tenth cup could be and I looked at the Death card which suddenly reminded me of the Knight of Cups, who goes on a quest to find his soul’s purpose; his heart’s desire: He is searching the Holy Grail.

Mmm, I suppose this could be the Ace of Cups. So this knight leaves everything he holds dear behind to go on a quest for Love with a capital L. It is the kind of Love which is unconditional, compassionate and which multiplies the more you give it away.  And so we arrive at the Ten of Cups. Empty handed but with a heart filled with Love and we come home to ourselves and our loved ones and everything we hold dear. Yes, all the things which we were able to leave behind at the beginning of our journey are represented in this card only now we are able to enjoy it with such a deep contentment and Love in our hearts.  So sitting with our nine cups is great but if we want to experience them fully we have to let them go and leave our comfort zone to find out what Love is all about.

New moon in March

For this New Moon I've drawn two cards as usual. The first one for the energy I am going to release and the second one for the energy which is beneficial for me to embrace. From the Raven’s Prophecy Tarot I pulled:

Release – The High Priestess

In this depiction of the High priestess we see a hand holding  a mirror, which doesn’t reflect her face but a clouded sky. She holds her secrets within. She is all about the silent inner journey into the hidden parts of ourselves. But not for me this lunation. It is time to look at life itself; Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming and the sun is shining. Holding my mirror, I might forget there is so much to enjoy  in the outer world.

Embrace – The Knight of Cups

Mmm not the Knight I had expected, but I suspect we’ll get along just fine. The Knight of Cups is represented by feather adorned with ribbons. They will dance in every breeze they'll catch. Being present with my feelings is quite a challenge of me.  Making heartfelt decisions as well. Having been stalked by Swords for  a long time, the Knight of Cups feels as a soothing balm for my mind. He will inspire me to seek out beauty in the world around me and create colorful pages in my journals. He will inspire me to find the inner peace to enjoy music and novels. Yes, he and I are going on a quest for love, beauty and making dreams come true!

Knight of Cups - Searching, searching forever searching

For today I’ve drawn the Knight of Cups from the Original Rider Waite Tarot. The ultimate seeker for emotional and spiritual fulfillment; for Love.

It feels like he has his destiny, his holy grail in sight. He is no longer “lost in the woods”. The landscape is open and inviting. The only thing what prevents him from going on is a small river. His horse lifts his leg willing to cross it but the knight hesitates. I wonder why. The stream is obviously shallow. The knight looks at his cup. Maybe he is fearful of finding his grail because then the quest is over and he doesn’t know what to do next.

So what is waiting for him on the other side of the river. What is he longing for? And I drew The Empress. If he only knew he would be held in her arms. He would be nurtured and cared for because She has been waiting for him all this time. Yes if he only knew he would spur his horse and jump over the stream because She is where he needs to be and from Her many paths will come within sight

Searching for the Pearl

Day3  The source of my greatest fear
The knight of Cups from the Deviant Moon Tarot:

He keeps on plodding along; always trying to please everybody but himself. Never satisfied always searching for the pearl in the shell, hoping one day it will be good enough. If he is going to continue to pour from his cup because he feels obligated it will run dry very soon. When will he know he can find the pearl in his own heart and that he is good enough just the way he is right now... and that his cup will keep running over when it is filled by a self loving heart?

Nauthiz and the Knight of Cups - No need to walk on water

For today I have pulled the rune Nauthiz two times:  First on my Rune app and then, because it didn’t feel “real” enough, another  one from my rune pouch. Maybe apps are quite capable to tune into our energy field???

Anyway Nauthiz is the rune of troubles and poverty and of the need and strength to turn the tide. And that is when the Knight of Cups from the Shadowscapes Tarot starts riding the waves. His mount is a white unicorn, symbol of his purest intentions. The undines and sylphs are beckoning him towards the shining gold cup; his holy grail.

This is an admirable quality of this Knight but perhaps also his downfall. He might feel  the urge to keep on riding, searching, until he can hold this perfect Cup in his hands. The elementals are seemingly helping him but maybe they are also leading him away from his true purpose: to live in and enjoy the present moment.

This strive for perfection is an eternal ongoing quest and this might be blocking him from experiencing his daily small but also very significant accomplishments.

Today I will enjoy the present moment and receive the abundance of this day.

P.S. This afternoon I've been practicing with my new pens without the need of making a perfect drawing. I've just copied a picture from a fairy tale book and I had a lot of fun  doing so. And that is what matters the most

Give your head permission to follow your heart

Today I've found my way back again to my tarot cards and I've drawn The Ten of Swords from the Original Rider Waite tarot. This card is all about the defeat of the tyranny of our mind. This man has been stabbed in the back with ten swords which are representing his thoughts. Thoughts, he wasn't able to let go off: old rigid beliefs can cause unwillingness and fear to change.  Sometimes you cannot solve a problem with your mental abilities. When you come to this realization and you are willing to be more flexible you will see the sun rise in the East shining its light over you: And then there is Silence. But after that you may wonder, what do I have to change; how do I  approach life differently? 

And then I pulled the Knight of Cups, who’s dreams are his treasures. 

He is coming along for the second time this month to share his wisdom, which is plain and simple: follow your heart.

Don’t lose sight of your heart’s desire; keep your cup in front of you and follow it. As simple as it may sound we all know this is quite a challenge and it is asking a lot of our creativity and imagination

We do have to be careful not to lose ourselves in the emotional and dreamy state of mind of the Knight of Cups. Again some need for balance is advisable. Maybe he has a sheathed sword on his left hand side??? We’ll never know. But I do hope he is brave enough to cross the river so we can move forward.

“Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.” Buddha

The Knight of Cups can’t make up his mind

For today I've drawn the Knight of cups from the Original Rider Waite Tarot. This  Knight is the romantic, the dreamer, the artist, He is the one who wants to pursue a holy quest. He is holding his cup with his ideal in front of him. His horse is ready to go and yet there is a hesitation to move forward. What could it be ? To answer this question I pulled a second card: the Seven of Cups. O, my poor knight; so much confusion is going on in his head: Life is a banquet of possibilities; why should I choose just one path? Perhaps I can have it all. Perhaps I am meant to have it all. Sometimes I feel that if I don’t choose one path and apply myself to it, I will never really accomplish anything with my life, and yet what path could possible keep me forever entertained when there are so many exciting things to try?” (leila Vey)

So he doesn't have one goal, quest or passion. He has too many options to choose from and now he isn't sure if he has picked the right one and it paralyses him with fear. So what can he do?

I can relate to this fear quite easily. Eager to improve my life, to expand my knowledge, to practice my creative skills and so forth, I can get stuck, procrastinate and do nothing of the things I would love to do. The answer is so easy and at  the same time so very difficult: get up, pick one cup and go for it! Then pick  the next on and so one. If you are like this knight you are blessed to have so many passions in life. What if your seven cups were all empty but one….

Knight of Vessels - Eel

After we've chosen our path and have received the blessing of the Archer we are on our way again until we arrive at a brook in these luscious woods. Here we encounter the Knight of Vessels; the Eel. Quietly he moves through the currents of the stream and he is teaching us to move along with our emotional ups and downs without being unexpectedly washed ashore. It is a real challenge to be fully aware of our feelings and emotions and not to be overwhelmed or intimidated by them. It could be life changing if we could use them as a guiding light on our way instead of hiding them deep, deep down inside ourselves. So deep, we are tempted to deny or even forget about them. Thankful for the wise lesson of The knight of Vessels, we are following our path through the Wildwood leaving the eel to continue his personal quest on his own.

I wonder how great it would be if I could deal with my feelings and emotions like this Eel does. I used to be a great hide and seek player, for myself as for others. Putting on a mask and pretending everything is okay has been my coping mechanism for many years. Lately I've been learning to be more honest about who I am and what I feel and I've discovered that sharing does bring a sense of relief and acknowledgement, which decreases the strength of my emotional currents. 

Dancer Prince – The Gift of Passion

For today I've drawn the Dancer Prince , aka Knight of Cups, from the Tarot of the Sidhe. As you can see the court cards also have a little phrase at the bottom of the card but with them it is circumscribed as a gift . So this Prince will bring us the gift of Passion.

In the background we see a very large full moon with a cup depicted on the inside. For me this represents the intense emotional nature of this Prince. He has even got a tattooed cup on his chest near his heart.  

“The brooding hero of the dance

A poet’s spirit of romance

He’d steal the heart that you would keep

And lead you darkly to the deep”

This little poem is speaking  o.a. about excessive Prince energy. When passion and feelings are combined with the fiery nature of this court card they could boil over and be magnified all to quickly .

The Germans have a saying derived from a song written by Goethe: "Himmelhoch jauchzend, zum Tode betrübt" (heavenly joy, deadly sorrow). Sometimes I wish I could feel this intense and also be aware of every feeling in between. As most of you know I am mainly a swordy person. Cups come in play when  others need me and I will fulfill the role of the King of cups but this Prince has been neglected by me far too long. So I will gladly accept his gift and try to seek out and revive my passion. 

“Don’t worry about what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman

We can have it all, if we dare to dream

Yesterday, after an exchange of thoughts with Sycamore about her last post: “Where the Heart is” , I started thinking about how hard it is for many of us to discover what we really want deep down inside. My wishes are most of the time the “good girl” wishes  and I wonder if that is all there is. Could it be I am afraid of my own buried desires? Or perhaps  of my undiscovered “greatness” J. Sometimes we put our light under the basket instead of on a stand mostly out of a false sense of modesty. That’s how a lot of us were brought up.

And what have the cards to say about this? Well they couldn't be more clear today. I drew these three cards without set positions just to read them as a story-line:

Legacy of the Divine Tarot

The Four of Cups tells us how hard it is to find that one cup that gives us the most pleasure; our true passion. Some cups are just fine but mostly they contain convenient and dull wishes, which keep us satisfied in our day to day lives

The Knight of Cups challenges us to follow our intuition and to pick up that one cup that truly belongs to us, to channel all our creativity and passion into it and go for..

The World. This is how we all can feel if we treasure our dreams and follow through on them.

Gilded Reverie Lenormand

How we bring this wonderful idea into practice? That is when the Lenormand comes in play

Scythe+ mountain+ Child

For me it is becoming very obvious: We have to cut away inner blockages and let our inner child play. I am certain that trough playing and experimenting we are all able to find what really makes our soul truly sing.