Tarot Tuesday: Five of Cups

Did I make this cup?

Behind potter’s door, kiln waits–

Lover of all forms.

Behind this door, clay, studio, kiln, and the many pairs of hands choosing what to sculpt and fire co-mingle in rhythm of activity and stillness.

I’m thinking of the dual blessing and challenge of the human heart. How deeply we grieve and how deeply we love. What kind of planet would we live on if we could always cut off emotions at the pass….choose what to feel?

We can, to some degree, choose how we respond to people, family, and circumstances. But it seems the basic emotions cycle regardless of life station through our hearts and auras like colors in the rainbow…raw indigo to pale fern green. It is my prayer that I remain open to the lessons of the heart and the full wheel of emotions.

I wrote the opening Haiku when reflecting on my Four of Cups week and reflecting on the ways family members hold the cup of love out to one another, and how the cup changes as we grow older from child to parent to elder. How have you nurtured the sanctuary of family emotion? Making art, painting, journaling–or like the uncertain potter in the opening Haiku, risking entering the pottery studio–are all ways to create a stable vessel for the emotional life of a family.

Tarot Tuesday’s Prompt: Five of Cups

Take a moment to look at the Five of Cups pictured here. We often see a cloaked figure examining a row of cups. Behind the figure we usually see some cups still standing. In the Rider Waite Smith image we see also a bridge over the river.

Describe the river of your sorrow…the first time you ever remember feeling powerfully sad. Stand on the riverbank and look down over the rushing water. Describe the color of the water, and what you see floating past in the water. 

Or hone in on the bridge or your feet. Describe the materials supporting your bridge and the texture of the bridge on your bare feet or beneath your foot gear.

Or put a boat there, tied up alongside the bridge.  After a heart’s night of sorrow, when the sun comes up, you untie the boat and cross the river. Describe the crossing, the landscape on the other side of the river, and what you find in the castle or dwelling on the far shore.

Feel free to respond in comments here or to join the conversation at Tarot Tuesday’s Facebook page to share your word or image response.

Photo at top of this post is by Robyn Beattie.

Tarot card above is from the Rider Waite Smith deck.