Pearls of Wisdom - Ten of Cups

Rede Seeker

Sky-clad women dance in full daylight. Crystal-blue water flowing from multiple cups and into the verdant earth. The dancers are in a field of flowers. There is a sleeping Earth Spirit forming the horizon.

The dancers are holding a gold cup in one hand, a rose in the other. They wear circlets of flowers and a pearl necklace and a smile. The cups are overflowing although I can't see what is filling them. Perhaps this refers to the Mystery of the Holy Grail. The cups fill themselves, or maybe the Life-Joy of each dancer provides the substance necessary for the cups to fill.

There is a large central gold cup around which the dancers dance. A red rose floats in the center of it. The large gold cup sits on a red table. Crystal-blue water flows freely from the cup, forms a pool around the cup's base, then forms rivulets to the edges of the table and off onto the ground.

The ground itself shows no rivers, pools or puddles of this liquid. The earth is absorbing it all and responding with rich greenery and red and white roses, The dancers are brave to dance on a bed of roses - there's sure to be thorns somewhere. And unlike the Ten of Pentacles, there doesn't seem to be a path or ring worn into the earth that these dancers are following. It looks to be a carpet of greenery.

The vibe here is Joy and Celebration and Working in a Common Direction. We are in the Company of Women. Are these Muses dancing and toasting the joy of life into the world - working the crystal-blue waters into the earth with their feet, like wine makers in the Old Country?

There are two gold cups in each upper corner; three gold cups stacked in a pyramid shape in each lower corner. The upper cups pour crystal-blue liquid into the cups below. It cascades from cup to cup and into the earth below. A red rosebud is in the lower left corner; a white rosebud is in the lower right.

The Rune Wunjo is marked on the left column; Sowilo is marked on the right. Wunjo is Joy, more specifically:

'Joy is had by the one who knows few troubles
'pains or sorrows and to he who himself has
'power and blessedness and also the plenty of towns.'

Old English Rune Poem

Wunjo is the Rune of harmony and fellowship and the ability to rally around a common standard/flag.

Sowilo is the Success Rune. It is a Sun-Rune signifying guidance from an outside source that kindles/resonates with an inner source. Again from the Old English Rune Poems:

'Sun is by sea-men always hoped for
'when they fare far away over the fishes bath,
'until the brine-stallion they again bring to land.'

Note: fishes bath = ocean; brine-stallion = ship

Wunjo = eighth Rune of the Elder Futhark
Sowilo = sixteenth Rune of the Elder Futhark
Wunjo + Sowilo = 8 + 16 = 24 = Othila = "Rune of ancestral homeland, freedom, and well-being. The sanctuary where one can truly grow." (ref. The Runes Workbook by Leon D. Wild)

Note that there are 24 Runes in the Elder Futhark. The joining of Wunjo and Sowilo takes us to the end of the Rune-Cycle, to Othila, which I call the 'Rune of Journey's End'. All that the (Northern Tradition Pagan's) heart desired is held in the Rune Othila - return to the Innengard of their own Kith and Kin. To be welcomed Home. Note also that in the Elder Futhark:

Wunjo = first Aettir, eighth Rune - the Aettir of 'Life on Midgard/Earth'
Sowilo = second Aettir, eighth Rune - the Aettir of 'Choices'
Othila = third Aettir, eighth Rune - the Aettir of 'Things Outside Ourselves/Uiversal Truths'

Thus, we form a vertical axis through all three Aettir through the Mystery of Eight-ness - the end of each row in the Aettir.
 

Marli

RS,

You lost me a little this time in your description/explanation of the Runes. However, certain things struck me slightly differently.

Firstly, they are not dancing on the roses, but rather in an area enclosed by them, in a secret/sacred garden?

When you look carefully all of the figures around the cup hold up individual roses in their hands, and bear them in the wreath around their head. I do get celebration here, but celebration of a triumphant labour of love, the proof being in the blooms surrounding them. Almost like how some tribes perform "Rain Dances" - the same theory, but in this case - their form of thankgiving for the nature around them and the abundance of beauty and harmony it has brought forth.