Ace of Cups tarot card interpretation by Toni Allen
msesheta
(Toni Allen - Surrey
UK based Tarot Reader, Astrologer and Creative Artist.)
An excellent website and if you use the link below you
can learn more about Toni and her work:
http://www.toniallen.co.uk/abouttoniallen.html
Ace of
Cups tarot card interpretation
http://www.toniallen.co.uk/ace-of-cups.html
The tarot suit of cups is ruled by water.
Water symbolises the emotions due to the bonding quality
of water. Take the water, or liquid, out of any
substance and it falls to disintegration. It is
therefore these bonds which hold the universe together.
We recognise these bonds, as symbolised through water,
as a kind of love which keeps people together. It is
only the bonds which people form that create attachment
to people, places and things.
In tarot the suit of cups symbolises all of the
emotional bonds which the individual creates throughout
this lifetime as well as the residue, and often
inaccessible memories, of emotional attachments from
previous incarnations.
Throughout history water has been used as a symbolic
form of binding in many religious ceremonies, especially
during the Piscean age and Christianity. If you look at
a traditional Marseille tarot deck Ace of Cups you will
notice how similar it is to a baptism font. The
ceremony of pouring water over the babies head, or
submersion of the body into water, symbolises the
individual’s bond into the church and its doctrine.
There are many myths and legends which use the cup to
symbolise love and pure emotion. Probably the most
famous of these is the story of King Arthur and the
search for the Holy Grail. Although many knights go on
the quest to find the grail it is only Galahad who is
eventually found to be worthy of it due to his purity of
heart.
In tarot the Aces are the pure form of the energy
symbolised. Hence the ace of cups symbolises the bonding
quality of love and our ability to make and sustain
positive emotional contact with people, animals, places
and things. This is, however, the type of love which
anticipates something in return. It is the “I will love
you if you love me, or feed me, or whatever.”
Unconditional love, in which nothing is expected, or
anticipated, by return comes under the realm of the Sun
card.
The ace of cups therefore represents the heart chakra
and when the card is upright we are able to experience
positive emotional connection and when the ace of cups
is reversed the heart chakra is damaged or blocked.
In practice the ace of cups will show that the
individual is receptive and open to loving emotions and
has a caring nature. It does not necessarily mean that
the questioner is “in love”, or even has a personal
relationship in their life. Sometimes it can refer to
the desire, or readiness, to explore a new personal
relationship.
In a tarot reading the ace of cups reversed indicates
that the emotions have been damaged, that the heart is
blocked and that the individual has difficulties
connecting to other people. Often a client will express
it to me as an inability to feel anything or a
numbness. It is, what we might commonly call, a broken
heart.
There are several reasons why the ace of cups might be
seen reversed. Shock, as depicted by The Tower, knocks
out the heart chakra, and if the cards are close
together then this needs to be considered. Depending on
how long ago the shock was will emphasise the degree of
severity. If the shock was last week then a healing is
still naturally taking place, however, if the shock was
years ago then the entire body will have become
debilitated and the questioner may require various forms
of help in order to bring about a healing. Many people
feel numb, or “not right” and have no idea why, so the
ace of cups reversed is an extremely good indicator to
start exploring the possibility of long term residue
from shock. When I saw this for one client we eventually
discovered that it was the shock she had experienced in
the womb when her father had died. She had experienced
the trauma through her mother and therefore never
considered his death the reason why she had felt “empty”
all of her life.
Some people choose to consciously “switch off” their
heart chakra after broken relationships. They go around
saying “I will never love again” and that is the signal
which permeates through their entire consciousness.
They end up having no desire to love, or “open up”, even
though others might passionately love them. The water
in their cup has become stale and stagnant, and until
they can release the stuck emotion they will remain
trapped and in the negative side of bonds which is
bondage.
The ace of cups reversed also comes up frequently when
people remain in loveless relationships, or when they
are heart broken through a partners infidelity. To heal
the broken heart one needs to go through a positive
process of release as depicted by the Star card, or walk
away from a situation, as symbolised by the Moon.
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