Tarot Tuesday: The Cups of Regret

I am no dragon

Or so I thought. Why then

Hoard these cups of regret?

The sea today is Ananda blue, the very colors Ananda used in this painting (“Sea Maiden”) I chose to pair with today’s Haiku for the Two of Cups. The late sister of my poetry movie collaborator Robyn Beattie, Ananda brought us to our knees in grief but also brought us together to collaborate for the first time. Here’s Ananda’s Line (Connotation Press) poem and photography pairings, our first project where you’ll find more of Robyn’s beautiful images and an interview about our process of working together. One of the poems in the series, Ananda’s Line, is based on Ananda’s sculpture of a mermaid. Robyn doubled the original mermaid she took years ago for a version of our Two of Cups play. I couldn’t choose, so I’m running three of her Two of Cups images today.

Sisters, then, or love between sisters, might be an expression of the Two of Cups. Or the relationship between collaborators—I’m thinking of the easy joy I share when working with Robyn. Alternately, the card could signify the desire to connect or reconnect with a sister, a collaborator, or a friend.

Marriage cups on sill

Kiln-fired phoenix blue and red

Filling with spring rain

Or, as in the Rider Waite Smith deck, the Two of Cups celebrates union, a pledge or a renewed vow between a happy couple facing one another and raising cups in mutual toast. Or wishing to be in a state of celebration, which was the case for my husband and I last week, anticipating the final sale of a home we loved in the woods.

I didn’t even realize how overflowing my heart was with the Cups of Regret. We took a long walk and spoke of all the ways we loved the woods, the quiet, the smoke curling up out of the chimney. Before we could begin to raise our cups to toast the life we are building here by the sea, we had to acknowledge the heft of those cups and deliberately empty them….in order to fill them again with love.

Today’s Tarot Tuesday prompt: Three of Cups

Light pours from the pomegranate chalices in the Thoth deck’s Three of Cups in an image of abundance. Write your own version of the Persephone story; (you can read a light, short version here at Enchanted Pixie).

Or read Sylvia Plath’s poem Two Sisters of Persephone. Write your own celebratory version of Persephone and her two (imagined) sisters. What are they celebrating?  

Write about the first time you encountered the fruit you love the most and the fruit you love the least using your five senses.

Or use the image of the sacred “Horse Well” created when Pegasus touched his hoof to the Earth (referenced by Vicki Noble in “Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, Art, and Tarot”). Is there a body of water you consider, as a writer, your personal “Horse Well” of inspiration?

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 of the Three of Cups (taken by yours truly): Thoth Deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris, Inner Child Deck by Isha and Mark Lerner (artwork Christopher Guilfoil), and Daughters of the Moon by Ffiona Morgan (14 illustrators and 5 painters credited with formation of the deck’s artwork).

Photo credits: Robyn Beattie. Painting “Sea Maiden” at top of the post is by Ananda Beattie, photo by Robyn.