The Ace of Cups stands for intention on the creative level of human expression. Ace of Cups upright: creativity. Ace of Cups reversed: lack of creativity.
This article covers the Ace of Cups, which is the pinnacle of creativity. By the end of the article, you will be acquainted with its wonderful powers. This will allow you to make use of this amazing faculty of consciousness, which became famous through the Arthurian legends as the Holy Grail.
With the Ace of Cups we enter human personality, which comprises Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. In terms of levels, these are the creative-feely, intellectual, and bodily-practical levels.
As you can see, the Ace of Cups represents the highest faculty of human personality, which is creative intention.
Creative intention is the needle’s eye through which inspiration (Ten of Wands) enters personality. There, they become (creative) desires, which, in turn, initiate creative processes.
The word inspiration comes from the Latin word inspirare, which means to breathe into or blow into. In spiritual scriptures, the terms breath and spirit are interchangeable. That’s why inspiration is a spiritual matter.
Creative desires are promises. The higher self intends something for us and then inspires us through power of the Ten of Wands. The faculty of the Ace of Cups allows us to conceive inspirations and turn them into desires.
Creativity is not the formation of a new arrangement of things that already exist. Creativity brings something new into this world. Accordingly, a musician is not an artist, he’s a craftsman. A composer is an artist.
Usually, people are not aware of how inspiration arrives in their personality and turns into desires. It appears that desires appears out of nothing. That seeming nothing is the higher self.
Creativity is magic. Don’t examine it too closely. — Edward Albee
The Ace of Cups stands for the beginning of a creative process, like an invention, an artistic pursuit, a relationship, but also an experience, like a vacation.
This is where the secondary meanings of originality, artistry, novelty, and genius come from. But mind that the Ace of Cups is at the receiving end of inspiration. People are not geniuses, they have a genius. And the genius is the higher self. Here is a religious take on this concept:
Art is a collaboration between God and the artist… — Andre Gide
The creative level of human expression is also the level of feelings. As mentioned, feelings and emotions are different affairs. The body reacts to experiences by producing emotions, which can be pleasurable or unpleasurable. The soul cultivates feelings, like love, happiness, a sense of beauty, a sense of purpose, and gratitude.
A work of art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t art at all. — Paul Cézanne
The mother of all feelings is love. In this respect, the power of the Ace of Cups turns inspiration into love for creative expression. This is where the secondary meanings of ardent love and house of the true heart (Arthur Waite) come from.
Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing. — Marc Chagall
As mentioned, desiring and creativity are the same things. Formulating desires is a creative process. Essentially, there is no difference between the desire to paint a picture, the desire to experience something, or the desire to own something.
Everybody can desire, and hence, everybody is creative. We’re born with this faculty. But not everybody can desire consciously and skilled. Artists are skilled desirers. Also, artistic creativity is more sophisticated and more rewarding.
An inspiration is abstract and cosmic, a desire is concrete and personal. To understand what turns intentions into desires, we need to have a closer look at how the Higher Self and Creativity connect. On the Tree of Life, they connect through the 24th path, the imaginative intelligence, illustrated by the Death/Transformation card.
Imagination turns inspiration into a stream of mental images, which become desires. That’s why creators are considered visionary.
Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will. –George Bernard Shaw
Mind cups in Tarot cards symbolize imagination. The cup is a form or mold — the image of a desire — into which we pour consciousness. The Star/Revelation card illustrates this mental process.
If the Ace of Wands turns up auspicious during a Tarot reading, it may indicate a creative spark followed by the urge to create something.
If the Ace of Cups turns up inauspicious, it may indicate that the querent is oppressing inspirations. Inspirations can be life-changing, hence scary. Or the querent’s ego may block inspiration because it wants to protect its selfish agenda.
Ace of Cups Symbolism
The picture shows an open hand balancing a single chalice made of water. In Tarot, water symbolizes consciousness.
The hand is the hand of the higher self, which is hidden behind the cloud upon the sanctuary that conceals the spiritual level.
The Hebrew letter Yod means open hand. This letter belongs to the Hermit/Attainment card. The letter Yod has the form of a flame and is the root letter of the Hebrew alphabet – the flame alphabet. As such, Yod symbolizes spirit, the root of creation.
Yod is a flame. Blow upon it and you create all the other letters of the alphabet. – Lon Milo DuQuette
The Five Psychological Core Meanings of the Ace of Cups
We derive the psychological meanings of Tarot cards from their position on the Tree of Life.
According to the Enlightenment Tarot framework, the Ace of Cups represents Kether of Netzach, i.e., intention on the creative-feely level of human expression.
Every Tarot card represents a faculty or power of consciousness. We can use faculties of consciousness constructively and destructively, which produces either a fortunate or an adverse state of mind. Hence, every Tarot card has five core meanings.
Here are the five core meanings of the Ace of Cups:
- Power of consciousness: Desiring (creative intention)
- Constructive use: Creativity
- Destructive use: Lack of creativity, destructive creativity
- Favorable internal experience: Inspiration, a creative spark
- Adverse internal experience: Entanglement
The Holy Grail
If you ever wondered what the Holy Grail is, you’re looking at it.
According to the Arthurian legends, the Holy Grail promises illumination, eternal life, endless abundance , divine favor or protection, the fulfillment of desires, purification, and divine healing.
Why does the Holy Grail promise illumination? Because it is the gateway to the spiritual level of human expression.
Why does the Holy Grail bring eternal life? Because illumination causes the realization of our soul and the higher self, which are immortal.
What about endless abundance, divine favor, and protection? These meanings refers to inspiration and the guidance of the higher self.
Why does the Holy Grail assure divine healing and purification? Because the influx of spiritual forces into personality heals and purifies the body-mind vehicle.
Why does the Holy Grail fulfill desires? Well, it doesn’t. But it signifies the mentioned fact that creative desires are promises.
Reflective Questions
If the Ace of Cups appears in your spread, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Can you recall instances of life-changing inspiration in your life?
- Can you recall the last time when you felt inspired? What creative pursuit followed? Did you realize it, or is it still unfulfilled?
- In which way do you cultivate feelings?
- In which instances did you overwrite negative emotional responses to adversity by visualizing a positive outcome?
- Which of your desires are creative and which ones did you copy from experiences?
- What do you love to do most?
Ace of Cups Summary
The Ace of Cups invites us to become receptive to inspiration and initiate creative pursuits that extend the light of the higher self into the external world.
Where Do Tarot Card Meanings actually Come From?
The meanings of Tarot cards come from various sources. The most common are:
- The position of the Tarot cards on the Tree of Life
- Astrological correspondences (signs, planets, & houses)
- The symbolism of Tarot cards
- Intuition
- Meanings that pertain to fortune-telling
Most of the Tarot card meanings you can google are astrological correspondences and go back to the Golden Dawn and Arthur Edward Waite. Astrological meanings dominate at present because Astrology is a divination tool and favors fortune-telling. But these meanings are unsuitable for (psychological) Tarot readings.
If you are interested in an overview of the astrological correspondences, you can download a high-resolution chart by subscribing to the Enlightenment Tarot.
Tarot card meanings are a bit of a mess since the meanings that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life are mixed up with astrological correspondences, symbolic interpretations, and fortune-telling connotations. That’s tedious to memorize. Further, tarotists’ opinions, knowledge, and linguistic backgrounds shaped some of these interpretations. Last but not least, many meanings are fuzzy, contradictory, and overlap. If you want to understand why they overlap, read the article How to Deal With the Overlapping Meanings of Tarot cards.
The meanings of the Enlightenment Tarot are based on an objective, holistic framework: the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. The resulting meanings are transparent and logical, and hence, easier to memorize.
What do Various Tarotists Say about the Meaning of the Ace of Cups?
Let’s explore what different tarotists wrote about the Ace of Cups.
Usually, tarotists consider the astrological significance of Tarot cards. The Ace of Cups embraces the zodiacs Cancer, Leo, and Virgo.
This merges the protective-motherly characteristics of Cancer with the fatherly-rulership forces of Leo, and the knowledgeable-executive capabilities of Virgo.
What Paul Foster Case Said About the Meanings of the Ace of Cups
For the Ace of Cups, Paul Foster Case offered the keyword desire-force.
Desire-intent would have been more accurate, but intention is always forceful and the terms are almost interchangeable.
Paul listed two sets of secondary meanings. The first set is fertility, productiveness, development, multiplication, and geniality. These all refer to the creative power of the Ace of Cups, the crown of creation.
Creative fertility would actually be a great title for this card, too.
The second set includes happiness, pleasure, gratification, cheerfulness, and gaiety. These meanings refer to the generation of feelings. Having said that, pleasure and gratification are emotions.
His inauspicious meanings are over-intensity of the desire nature (inner demon), and trouble in love (weakness), and too much emphasis on pleasure. Pleasure is a bit off since pleasure is an emotion.
Paul also gave the meaning of fruition of desire. This is off as well. On this level, we are dealing with the conception of desires. The fruition of desires happens in the sphere of the Ten of Cups.
What Arthur Edward Waite Said About the Meanings of the Ace of Cups
Arthur Edward Waite calls this card the house of the true heart – that’s love – and the holy table. In Tarot, a table symbolizes attention (the table of the magician). Mind the sphere of the Ace of Cups emanates the path illustrated by the Magician/Attention card.
Some of Arthur’s auspicious meanings are joy, content, felicity, abundance, nourishment, and fertility. The first three meanings refer to feelings, the last three indicate the creative prowess of the Ace of Cups.
The meaning advice that should be followed signifies that the Ace of Cups is the receptacle of inspiration, which gives rise to the notion of creative fertility.
The inauspicious meanings are house of the false heart, and inflexible will. The latter denotes a person with strong creative intent that isn’t receptive to the higher self’s inspiration. Arthur also gave the meanings unalterable law, which is off. On the Tree of Life, the 5’s represent the sphere of law.
Arthur also gave these inauspicious meanings: mutation, instability, revolution, and unexpected change of position. These refer to the disruptive qualities of (unwanted) inspiration.
On the fortune telling side, Arthur offers the meanings good marriage. This is a good fit, since a marriage is a creative pursuit.
What Etteilla Said About the MeaningS of the Ace of Cups
Etteilla, a French occultist and the first known professional tarotist, offers the meanings of reception and change.
Reception refers to the reception of inspiration.
Change indicates that inspirations can be life-changing (auspicious) and disruptive (inauspicious).
What Papus Said About the MeaningS of the Ace of Cups
Papus, another French occultist and the founder of the Martinist Order, offers the meaning commencement of a love affair.
This fits since the Ace of Cups signifies the root of all feelings, and aces stand for beginnings. However, this is too specific. A creative pursuit in the name of love can take many forms, not just a love relationship.
Also, a love affair is a romantic matter that involves a lot of emotions. It takes time to turn romances into love relationships.
What Gregor Mather Said About the MeaningS of the Ace of Cups
Gregor Mather, the founder of the Golden Dawn, claims that an auspicious Ace of Cups signifies feasting, a banquet, merriment,
change, novelty, metamorphosis, inconstancy.
The first three meanings pertain to fortune telling. Having said that, an inspiration can be a feast for the mind (as below, so above).
The meanings change, novelty, metamorphosis, and inconsistency pertain to the mentioned disruptive qualities of inspirations.
What Mme. Le Marchand Said About the Meaning of the Ace of Cups
Mme. Le Marchand, a 19th century, celebrated Parisian fortune teller, said that the Ace of Cups signifies ardent love and eternal fidelity.
These are fitting meanings since the Ace of Cups represents the root of love, and love is the only force that guarantees eternal fidelity between two souls.
The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot
Every Tarot card represents a faculty of consciousness. We can use a faculty of consciousness constructively and destructively. This produces favorable and adverse experiences.
We can express faculties of consciousness on four levels:
- The spiritual level (wands/fire/intention)
- The creative-feely level (cups/water/imagination)
- The intellectual level (swords/air/intelligence)
- The bodily level (pentacles/earth/bodily action)
The four tools on the magician’s table symbolize these four levels:
- The wand (spiritual)
- The cup (creative-feely)
- The sword (intellectual)
- The pentagram (bodily)
These tools correspond to the four so-called elements: fire, water, air, and earth.
For this reason, the Enlightenment Tarot wands are made of fire, the cups consist of water, and the pents are composed of earth. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to illustrate something made of air, since air is invisible. For that reason, all swords are made of crystal to show at least transparency.
The Enlightenment Tarot derives its meaning from the Tree of Life and the four levels of human expression. This is an objective, holistic framework that reveals the psychological imports of Tarot cards and their faculties of consciousness. Read more about this framework in the article The Psychological Framework of the Enlightenment Tarot.
The Enlightenment Tarot project attempts to rediscover the original meanings of the Tarot cards that pertain to their position on the Tree of Life. These meanings are simple, clear, and easy to memorize.
*This framework is compatible with Paul Foster Case’s qabalistic system.
Do you want to Learn more About The Enlightenment Tarot?
If you want to delve deep into the psychological meanings of Tarot cards, read the book Tarot of Life.
If you are curious about how the Enlightenment Tarot came about, read this article.
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If you are looking for a psychological Tarot deck, you came to the right place. The Enlightenment Tarot derives the cards’ meanings from a holistic and transparent framework that is easy to learn and memorize. All major and minor arcana carry psychological titles, and the court cards display psychological profiles. Have a look at the Enlightenment Tarot deck here.
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