7 of Cups RWS

Morgan Le Fei

I have always seen this card to mean: choices to be made, possible over -indulgence, and differentiation between fantasy and reality.

I still see those things pertaining, however today whilst viewing the card I finally realized that the cup with the cloaked and glowing halo'd figure is the top central cup that seems to have been moved forward towards the man. Also, it is being visibly taunted by the serpent.

All this made me wonder if perhaps the man in the card is actually finally realizing what he truly values. It's confusing and there are many temptations to avoid in order to follow the path of the spiritual self, but what is most important in life is finally clear.

Any thoughts on this?
 

willowfox

In the RWS card all the cups appear to be equidistant from the man, nothing has been promoted over the other, so the man still has seven cups to chose from, all the same but all different, if he makes the wrong choice then it will bite him. So, I don't think that he can see the difference between the spiritual or the material, he hungers after them all.
 

Moonbow

Morgan Le Fei said:
All this made me wonder if perhaps the man in the card is actually finally realizing what he truly values. It's confusing and there are many temptations to avoid in order to follow the path of the spiritual self, but what is most important in life is finally clear.

I think this is an excellent and inspiring way to read this card, and shows that some meditation and deep consideration has gone into the study of it. The cups do at times look to be at different distances from the man and the glowing figure looks spiritual too, as you said. I wonder if these cups could be seen as inner thoughts or personalities, and don't always see them as choices. But your description above shows that there can be timing involved in the meaning of this card in that he 'now' realises something, instead of being at the stage of still making that choice.

[oh and... I'm moving this to the Waite-Smith forum] :)
 

Vetch

I believe the veiled one is the man's soul.
 

earth starr

spent sometime studying this card this evening,

Q[I have always seen this card to mean: choices to be made, possible over -indulgence, and differentiation between fantasy and reality.]Q

This is how I have interpreted the 7 of cups.
Your 'new' view on the card i find insightful. The snake does represent temptation so makes alot of sense.
 

Vetch

The snake also represents wisdom and the other/underworld. I think the wisdom aspect of the snake is older than the 'temptation' one.
 

earth starr

oh ok thank you i didn't know that.
I've always linked the temptaion of the snake in with the serpant tempting Eve in the garden of Eden with the forbidden fruit, if only as a trigger to remember the interpretation. xxx
 

JonMAblaze

I like everybody's take. But I want to add that I often see this guy as overwhelmed by choices. I tend to see the objects in the cups as representing different categories of experience, work, home, hopes, fears, and the priorities aren't clear at all. It's the emotional experience of that.
 

Vetch

earth starr:
I wish I was more informed... But it's a fact that the old testament is a collection of revisioned olders myths. So the 'evil' snake was an attribute of a great goddess once, who had been taken down by the then new 'biblical' religion.
You find many myths in the bible which daemonize older goddesses, one prominent example being Lilith.
On the other hand - the snake has been a symbol of temptation now for so long; there is nothing wrong with reading it as 'temptation', I guess.
It's just that I prefer the other, older meaning, and wanted to mention it. :)

JonMAblaze:
"I often see this guy as overwhelmed by choices. I tend to see the objects in the cups as representing different categories of experience, work, home, hopes, fears, and the priorities aren't clear at all. It's the emotional experience of that."
I interpret the card almost the same way; additional I think that the cups can also show desires; and when the 7 of cups appears in a reading I tell my clients to choose the veiled figure. Very simply put. :)
 

Water Lady

This is so much like life itself where the right choice is not always clear. It seems I have been going through that this year. My problem was I wanted something so badly that I did not pay attention to what life was forcing me to accept - which turns out to be the right choice for now.
By adjusting it, I can want that as well.

7 of cups will always be seen differently by me now. The choices, when there are many, is really hard. some tempting, some beautiful, they all tempt you in a different way.
Perhaps listen to the inner voice to be clear on which one is the right one for you now.