Occasional Card of the Day: 4 of Cups, Reversed.
This blog seems to love me writing about reversed cards. As I’ve pointed out before, reversals don’t necessarily flip a card’s meaning to its direct opposite, though this is possible. Depending on the surrounding cards and the energy around the seeker’s intent, reversals can acutely emphasize the dignified (upright) meaning of the card, provide the solution to a problem, or indicate inner mystical processes within the Seeker’s consciousness.
Tying this card in with current astrological events, I feel the Four of Cups connects us to examine closely what we find dissatisfaction with in our lives and take ownership of the ways in which we’ve created our situation. We’ve asked for everything we have on hand, consciously or in unawareness. Taking ownership of how we’ve contributed to our own unhappiness empowers us to change our actions, and the Four of Cups is all about having a sit-down heart-to-heart with our Self to figure out what it is that we want, what we thought we wanted, and begin to untangle the knots to decipher clear steps to fulfillment.
The Four of Cups Reversed challenges us to sit with our feelings of discontent, examining those feelings fully and without judgment. We want to place labels of good and bad on the cards, the same as with our personal experience. I prefer to term cards ‘favorable’ and ‘unfavorable,’ clarifying the difference between the objective good or bad and our perception of desire and denial.
People in the western world tend to hold a lot of guilt and dread when it comes to accepting ownership of our dissatisfaction. We associate ownership with this guilt and therefore dread it. We want to make our problems someone else’s fault, or take them all on as our fault, connecting them to something inherently wrong with us. I’ve observed deep undertones in the American culture of subconscious guilt for having so much, and yet not being happy with it. I hold to a hope that soon we’ll realize collectively that this unhappiness is a cry for attention that gives us permission to simplify our lives and find happiness within ourselves. In the Colman-Smith deck we see a man sitting under the tree, and the usual description is that he’s bemoaning that the three cups that lie before him do not match up with his illustrious ideal of the grail appearing behind him. But shift the perspective, turning it upside down, we can see him looking hard at those three cups and perhaps asking himself, “How did I acquire these things that I do not wish for? Where is the beautiful cup that I am seeking?” Perhaps he is also evaluating the good qualities of the cups and figuring out how to pass them on in an honorable way.
How are you taking actions today to bring your fantasies and wildest dreams into reality?
References: http://kathryn.mnsi.net/water/water.html#turning_in
Venus opposition Saturn. We keep others at arm’s length, unsure of whether we are loved or not. This is a somewhat inhibiting influence when it appears that people value utility over true love. An element of seriousness permeates our love relationships. We may feel criticized and inhibited, unloved and unsatisfied, but our worst enemies may be ourselves and our own fears of getting close to others. Not a good influence for financial endeavors. Burdens are magnified.”
