10 of Cups

In my quest to understand the Marseilles I have drawn this card and I want to put my thoughts by you experts.

Nine cups all stacked neatly and in order and one larger cup prominently above the others. The tenth cup is full and the band around the stem is green whereas the others are all blue (I have the Hadar). To me the nine cups and the element say emotions are in order. The tenth cup is like a trophey, a celebration, a win.

Why is the tenth cup on its side? Why is it full? If your cup is full you are fulfilled, happy. The blue bands of the spiritual plane on the nine cups, have turned to green - life? on the ten.

Am I on the right lines anyone?

Moonbow*

Moonbow*: Sorry I didn't reply to this sooner - my Hadar deck was in my office and now I brought it home with me.

Whether you are right or wrong, is not for me to say. But your reasonings sound reasonable to me.

Here is my take, briefly, on this card. I hope some of what I say will be helpful to you.

You will notice that this is the only card in the suit that has no vegetation. Does this mean that it is sterile? That there is nothing left to draw from? But you said you saw the green ring on the big horizontal cup at the top of the card. This is a clue to where that energy is. All the riches and the energy and the potential of the previous Cups have been recuperated, used (but not abused, hopefully), transformed.... and it is being stored safely in the 10th Cup. It's the only Cup to have a lid (with a flower on it, another clue as to where the energy is hiding).

Yup. It's all there. It cannot evaporate or spill out because it's got a lid. But it's not sealed. You can remove the lid and take a little sip from time to time. But the lid should be put back again, because otherwise the contents may spill out. And spill out quickly because of the horizontality of the card.

(Talking of horizontal, turn your card horizontally with the cup on the left, and with a stretch of imagination - although not much - you will see a form which resembles a 10.)

The reason the Cup is horizontal is because it's a time of completion. In a linear time fashion. It has taken time to accomplish what you have achieved. One no longer needs to vacillate and struggle between our mental world and our physical world, between our thoughts and our emotions (which are more of a vertical type of thing.) No more reaching for the sky and then rushing back to earth in a frenetic race. We can rest. But only for a while....

The nine other cups are very important. They are lined up like a regiment. There is order here. 3x3. But they are also in the shape of a square (4).

Sometimes, the 10 of Cups can evoke great sadness as well, solitude and bitterness. It depends what has been put into the big Cup at the top. The 9 smaller cups can point to loneliness, you see (Hermit), and the 3x3 can evoke an Empress who has lost her way too many times.

But all depends on the other cards, and how one interprets the reading.

Does this help?

Diana

Thankyou for your post. The cards are gradually becoming clearer for me to read but at this stage I am still missing things. I could think of no explanation as to why the tenth cup was on its side so I am very grateful to you for sharing your thoughts on it. I had never looked at this card and thought of loneliness but now I can see that too, it goes back to linking it with the Hermit - must remember to do this!

If you were reading this card in a different marseilles deck where the colours were different, would you read it slightly different? Just a thought. I guess it could also be rooted back to Le Basteleur, and the Wheel of Fortune? (being number 10). This would bring in manifestation and making things happen or even the end of a cycle and start of a new one.

Moonbow*

Moonbow*: the Hermit is only hinted at. This card remains a 10. It is not a nine. 10 means the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. It is the sum of our experiences that can now be put to fruitful use. The 9 Cups are there, in my opinion, to remind us "what have you put in the 10th Cup". We need to know. It is not good to drink liquid that may be poisonous. It may even be better to let it spill and start anew. The 9 Cups may not be a "lonely nine". They may be a wise old Hermit who has reached a state of enlightenment.

The cards never mean A, or B, or C. Sometimes they mean C, or B and A.

About your question with another Marseille deck. No, I wouldn't read it any differently. Only Hadar provides more visual clues than my Grimaud deck, for instance, which doesn't have the green band. But even without the green band, my conclusion is the same.

As to why the Cup is horizontal. This is only my explanation. I do not recall having read that anywhere. The Tarot of Marseilles is very much a personal exploration. But very often, our paths criss-cross each other, much like the Batons criss-cross on the suit of Batons.

Oh, and when you say that at "this stage you are still missing things". You will probably miss things in this deck for the rest of your life. It is a life-long and beyond kind of journey, the one we go on with the Tarot of Marseille.

I would see the cup on its side as being similar to the wedding ritual of breaking the wine glasses.

-- Lee

Thanks Diana

I think I have been brainedwashed somewhere along the line (don't know where) in thinking card interpretations are 'black or white'. I really am trying to be more intuitive. You know, its funny, I always thought I was pretty intuitive but I think in my haste to soak up knowledge I am sometimes forgetting intuition! What I am going to do now is go straight to the reading exchange and your readings forums and 'borrow' some questions, spreads and cards then turn to Hadar for the answers. Practice, practice, practice. I love it!

Moonbow*

Lee said:

I would see the cup on its side as being similar to the wedding ritual of breaking the wine glasses.

-- Lee

Click to expand...

Hi Lee

I don't know what breaking glasses at a wedding means. Would that be celebration then or maybe tradition of some sort?

Moonbow*

Lee said:

I would see the cup on its side as being similar to the wedding ritual of breaking the wine glasses.

Click to expand...

Lee, I am not very knowledgeable in Jewish customs. Do you know the origin of this custom and what it actually is meant to symbolise?

I found this at this site:

http://www.bridestuff.com/traditions/jewish.asp

"The symbolism of the smashing of the glass by the Chatan at the conclusion of the ceremony has a variety of explanations. One is that the shattering ushers in the outbreak of merriment that should immediately follow the pronouncement. Guests usually respond with "Mazel Tov!" ("Congratulations!") Another explanation is that the breaking recalls the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Even at height of personal joy, sadness is remembered. The breaking also reminds us of the fragility of personal relationships. The glass is shattered with the implication that the marriage should always remain intact. Finally, the breaking of the glass is sometimes explained as symbolic of the breaking of the bride's hymen. In Jewish marriage, sexual union is expected and required. Today, some couples chose to break the glass together."

-- Lee

Thank you for bringing both the questions and the reflections...

With regards to the custom of the breaking of the glass, I seriously wonder if it did not have a far more simple and 'practical' (from a symbolic perspective) origin, which was later also reflected upon and commented on in the ways mentioned be Lee (ie, the reflection of the destruction of not only the Temple at Jerusalem - also note that the Ace of Cups may be seen as Holy Jerusalem - but the destruction of Judea and the formation of Roman Palestine).

How many would have considered, had they kept the glass (or glasses) that if it later broke, it would be an ill omen for the marriage? better that such memento be there and then broken, and the marriage sealed, stamping underfoot any who wish to bring a cup of ill health to the joyfulness of the union... also, no-one else may thereafter drink from the cup which only the wedded have shared - not their cup, in all its symbolic implications, will be shared with others... these, though maybe not written in symbolic reflection, seem to be inherent in the act if one has either observed or participated in its ceremony.

With regards to the tenth Cup, it also seems that this is the only Cup card which depicts in somewhat clearer tones a three-dimensional aspect to it. It is as if the nine cups are viewed, aligned, as from a balcony, with the tenth hovering closer and above them... May it be that the tenth Cup, as the Sun, bestows upon all its rays - or in this case its blessings? No matter how abundant the number of cups below, it has the power and richness to fill each and every cup - as in the Christian sacrament, where the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ is transubtantiated, at least according to the believer, upon each and every altar at which the mystery is consumated... the true Cup.

That tenth cup, then, may also be viewed as upon its side as providing for each of the others.

...just another point of view for reflection, nothing more.