Quantum Tarot - the Page Cups

nisaba

I left this deck alone for a while - at least regarding the study group - because a) I was reasonably busy elsewhere, and b) I really felt like I was hogging it, and other people interested in the deck could and should have a go at being first. That being said, sometimes some of the replies I've had after posting my take have been fascinating, so here goes, bot the deck and myself refreshed.

Today I'm looking at the Page Cups, subtitled Ophiuchus, and the very first thing I notice looking at this card, are the dark, relaxed eyes and the sensuous lips of a face swimming out of the background. After a moment he seems to be laughing at me, and then goes back to deadpan - and I remember when I picked up the King a couple of weeks ago, I got the two of them badly confused! <laughter>

Okay. The second visual cue I notice really strongly is that the right eye of the Page just rests nicely in the curve of one of the snakes in the half-seen Caduceus, symbol nowadays of medicine, and originally of trade and merchants (some would say that doctors today behave more like merchandisers for pharmaceutical companies, but let's not get into that here!). This is a card of intrinsic healing, which is probably where my confusion came from, as over a long association with Tarot the King tends to be close to the Wounded Healer archetype in my mind.

Near and below his left eye a bright star or stellar explosion shines, the spark of enthusiasm and creativity I've always associated with this card, and below it a star-map of the constellation Ophiuchus. The mythical Ophiuchus, "snake-bearer", has another resonance with healing through snakes: long seen as a symbol of rejuvenation because of their habit of doffing dull, aged skin to reveal lurid, shiny new skin beneath and their habit of sleeping coiled up in a spiral, snakes and their venom are now the subject of study and analysis as their protein-poisons may well be the basis of future medicines to help the fight against a number of serious conditions.

The bottom half of this card shows a calm water reflecting some of the stars from the sky-map, and to the left a Cup in which the base of the caduceus rests. It seems calm, but the card is slightly steamy, warning of heat in the water, the restlessness of molecules that is heat itself powering potential future storms.

Pages Cups, to me, are emotional people who don't yet have the depth of feeling or control over their feelings that the King and Queen do in their different ways, but in whom impulsiveness and sudden emotional outbursts are to be expected. Perhaps they are apprentice healers, too, accompanied by their archetypal snakes, with a lot to learn at the feet of the Master. To me, this card has always been about learning about your own emotional depths, and learning how to regulate impulsive behaviour.
 

swimming in tarot

Well, Nisaba, I can't find much to add, here! Other than, if capable of outbursts, maybe the Page does have depth of feeling, just not control. (Still waters run deep, etc.) Then again, when the tide hits the shallows, the water gets rough and unpredictable...I think.

"Spring has sprung, the grass has riz. I wonder where my shovel is?" I do not have *as* much time for indoor pursuits, such as communing with the computer, as in the past couple of months; but I will gladly follow somebody else's lead in deck study!
 

nisaba

<grin> I'll take that under advisement - I'm not sure how I feel about spring springing in an increasingly cold Autumn, but them's the breaks. My spade, too, is being well-exercised by digging composting trenches, and I have a horrible suspicion I might have done something awful today, and <gasp> bought a deck. Gah!

I wonder what kind of a gardener the Page would make? Probably one of those over-zealous ones that kill with kindness: if a little fertiliser is good, they'll give their entire garden root-burn, if a little water is desirable, they'll reduce the entire garden to a foetid, mosquito-infested swamp. Although it is more the Knight who is into excess - the page is generally all over the shop.
 

swimming in tarot

My great-uncle was the Knight of Cups in the garden. I'm not sure how long it was before my Grandma's lawn came back. She must have invited him to quit gardening!
 

Leo62

Here's the pic :) Good to see the discussions still going on.

I always think of this as the "magical child" card, and in the Quantum we've associated him specifically with healing. For me, the PoC is about open-hearted innocence that, yes, may be clumsy, but is also wonderfully pure and full of possibilities.

In the deck, he is symbolised both by the constellation Ophiuchus and the god Asclepius, the Greek deity of medicine. Both have the serpent as their symbol.
 

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