Salt water or fresh in the cups?

An obscure and fanciful idea from me today D ), but I have been wondering about the various cards in the RWS cups suit and the nature of the water present in the cards (i.e. fresh or salt).

This idea occured to me following the discussion on the Ace in this thread.

The relationship between water and mother is a frequent one in many languages and traditions, but also I have seen some discussion on a relationship between "mother" and "chlorine" (muriaticum) specifically also.

It would seem to me that most if not all of the minors depict fresh water (or cups assumed to contain drinking liquid, the most likely exception the 8, which fits in well with the meaning of the card). By contrast the King, Queen and probably the Page depict the ocean, and the Knight show what to me could be a river near or far from the ocean...

Any thoughts guys?...

Fresh

Cups signify Water indicating Intuition.
A cup however, is a drinking vessel...

Fish normally aren't found in drinking vessels. Page of Cups would have salt water for the fish.
Eight of cups would have stagnant Dead Sea water.
Five of cups- radiator fluid and antifreeze.
There doesn't have to be anything in the 10 of cups. They're so shiny.
King of cups- coffee.
Wine for the rest of the cups.
And Ace of cups- pond water.

There are fresh water fish, of course ... but maybe the Page's fish is the salt water variety and is poking his head out to ask the Page why he was so silly as to put him into fresh water, and in a cup no less. Okay, now that my warped sense of humour is out of the way ... I would certainly agree that the Ace would be pond or lake water. Lotus's don't grow in salt water, nor in fast running water, fresh or salty.

I'm not so sure about the idea of the stagnant Dead sea image with the 8 of cups. Feels more appropriate to the 8 of swords. Have to think about this one.

mythos

the nature of the water present in the cards ?

Let me be original,
why not liquid ligth?
As in the supposed Etheric Mother Kwan Yin's Temple of Violet Liquid Ligth for Transmutation, so famous in Eastern zones?

The Ace as Key

If we go with the idea that Ace of any suit contains the rest of the suit (see Duquette Thoth Tarot), then I think we are lead to the conclusion that the cups contain fresh water. I say this because the Ace of cups shows the water from the cup falling into a pond or lake with lilies. Waterlilies are freshwater plants.

http://www.answers.com/topic/water-lily

Also, the dove in the ace is putting in what could be a communion wafer, suggesting the ritual of eating and drinking in fellowship, which wouldn't be possible with salt water.

My 2 cents

Both!

I think cups can contain both kinds of water without any conflict! life on the earth as we know it was born in the seas, life exist on both salt or fresh water, I bet the liquid in which we float during pregnancy is not fresh water at all...

ooOOooo... This brings up some decent discussion!

I always thought of the water as flowing downstream. The Ace is the purest, starting out in some mountain lake, possibly a glacial melt. As the suit progresses, water is added to the 'stream', along with all the chemicals, salts, and other things that come along with it. By the time it gets to the court cards it's a raging river, then the ocean's coast, then - as the King - the deep and powerful ocean current itself.

Is the water not the water but the alchemical water? One of the 4 main principals of the creation (or 5 - tattwas?)

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefswater.htm said:

The alchemical/magical symbol for water is an inverted triangle, symbolizing downward flow. The downward pointing triangle is an ancient symbol of femininity, being a representation of female genitalia. One of the four alchemical elements, water has the properties cold and moist, and symbolizes intuition, the unconscious mind, and the enclosing forces of the womb.

When paired with the fire traingle, or upward moving force, the Seal of Solomon is created.

Click to expand...

ArcanoMáximo said:

Let me be original,
why not liquid ligth?
As in the supposed Etheric Mother Kwan Yin's Temple of Violet Liquid Ligth for Transmutation, so famous in Eastern zones?

Click to expand...

I said this cause there're many lotus flowers in the Ace of Cups card. Inmediately it says to me:
OM MANI PADME HUM
"the Jewel on the Lous flower"

The union of the qualities of the wisdom (the lotus) and the compassion (the jewel). As well as the lotus can live in marshy water without, because of it, to be dirtied, the wisdom can exist in an impure world without coming to be contaminated.
In the same way that a jewel can alleviate us of the poverty, the compassionate mind frees us of the poverty of the unhappiness that there's in the world and change it for the wealth of the welfare.
And that's the sort of healing attributed to the Mother Kwan Yin.
"In many images She is depicted carrying the pearls of illumination. Often Quan Yin is shown pouring a stream of healing water, the "Water of Life," from a small vase"

http://www.crystalinks.com/kwanyin.html

She says: "when the vibration of the water is shifted, they become healing springs" and that "any water can heal. It is a matter of the quality of the water and the quality of the vibration in which it is received."

Flavio said:

life exist on both salt or fresh water, I bet the liquid in which we float during pregnancy is not fresh water at all...?

Click to expand...

That's what i mean too, a very illustrative image!