Bohemian Gothic--Six Cups

Thirteen

I'm pretty amazed that this one got lost in the shuffle (haha. Little tarot card joke there).

We see two of the most realistic and adorable children in the deck, the boy with a wreath and the girl with a potted flower visiting what has to be a grave and/or memorial garden. The marker shows a madonna and child, so we can pretty much assume that they're there to honor their mother. I made mention of the realistic element of the children because the BG is filled with some very creepy (if pretty) children, and in most cases I wouldn't take their innocence for granted. As in some of the cards, however, this one seems to feature the "villagers," the real people of the town not the supernatural inhabitants (though the one child does have red hair, and that might make us pause. How did mommy die?).

This is not to say that the children are free of the supernatural, just, I suspect, more in it's thrall than the cause of it. There are those infamous blue roses growing in the planter (those blue roses are the vampire bride's bouquet in 4/Cups and adornment for the little girl in 10/Cups. Blue roses do not grow in nature). But the feeling I get isn't that the children cultivated them so much that whatever the children plant there grows strange.

6/Cups usually stand for memory, nostalgia, good feelings associated with something familiar. There is often in this card a prediction of meeting an old friend or family member and sharing that feeling/memory. This card certainly suggests all of that while doing wonderful homage to the RW image of two children with flowers. There is the memory of the mother--made sacred and holy (nostalgia tends to do that), kept alive with regular offerings of wreaths and the planter of living flowers. A memory/feeling sustained.

The children share this memory by coming here together, dressed in their outing/gardening clothes--that is, specially garbed for this regular visit, as if they are visiting their mother, not her grave (which, in this deck, might be literally true!). Other thoughts?
 

WolfyJames

I have no idea if this is related but in the Middle Ages people were persuaded that look said a lot about people's true nature. Those with blond hair of course got all the qualities, those with dark hair got tons of bad rep but those who got it worse were those with red hair, representing the flames of hell, they were suspected of tons of bad things going from witchcraft to being werewolf.

There is a strange coincidence because in traditional playing cards meanings the Queen of Cups, the blond woman, is a good person while the Queen of Spades with black hair is a terrible person.

For those who had the bad luck to be disabled or really sick it was telling people they had a dark heart and fully deserved what they got.

In other words, the little red headed girl on the card is more than suspicous. She may look sweet now but who knows how she will turn out, maybe the card is about turning back the clock and remembering how she used to be before...
 

ncefafn

Until I got the companion book, I didn't know it was a grave they were visiting; I thought it was a shrine to the Blessed Virgin. I thought the children were bringing flowers to ask for the BVM's protection from the vampires who lived in the castle on the hill. The children trust in this simple ritual. When we grow older, we have more critical minds. Like Jonathan Harker, we reject these old rituals as superstitious rubbish. In fact, we should have more childlike trust, because logic cannot save us from every peril.
 

Flaxen

I don't find this card creepy at all. I recently used the Bohemian Gothic for Janet Boyer's Back in Time (BIT) method. The idea is that you take an event in your past and choose cards to represent different parts of the event. It's fantastic way to get new insight and meanings for different cards.

This card has now taken on an additional and very personal meaning to me. When I look at this card I see two orphans, siblings who are united in the loss of their mother. It has come to stand for siblings united in bad times and bittersweet memories of the past - they are visiting a grave to remember their mother but with the happy memories there is also a sadness that she is no longer there. It is nostalgia for a past that cannot be recaptured and the realisation that their life has changed forever.
 

Alisa13

Flaxen - I agree with you totally. I definitely felt they were orphans visiting their mother's grave. I heard this conversation when I looked at the card
The little girl, "Let's go visit the grave of Mama"
The little boy "Yes, lets and we shall bring flowers to honour her memory"
The little girl, "We used to be so happy, I will bring yellow flowers to make her happy"
The little boy, "And I will bring a huge wreath to show Mama how much we miss her but we must be careful for things aren't the same any more. . . "
When I look at the card I think the children are being very brave in the face of adversity.
Alisa
 

Winterchild

Flowers

I dont think the blue flowers are roses, in the planter, I wondered if they could be Morning Glory or convovulus.... which flower and die in a day... a few of them seem to be closed. Is it early morning or late evening?

In Victorian times Morning Glory were said to represent mortality, the death and resurrection in 3 days, this would seem to go with the Madonna image. They were often found carved onto gravestones, showing the shortness if this mortal life. this would seem to go with the Madonna image. Morning Glory also stood for love and affection.

But they could be roses!!! Hard to make out even with a magnifying glass!

The feather in the boys cap reminds me of the Fool, and innocence, but the little girl certainly looks less than innocent.

I wonder who is standing out of the frame, they seem to be looking at someone, certainly the boy does., they almost look defiant. Maybe they are visiting their Mothers grave against someone's orders....a Father and Wicked Stepmother maybe.....