Notes on: The Seven of Cups (i)
(Illusory Alternatives)
Artist’s Notes:
Every moment is a new opportunity to choose yet sometimes the menu is a rather limited one. There are all kinds of pressure from all different directions to choose what they want you to choose and are they all ever good at the sales pitch. “Do you want riches? We can give them to you. How about the house in the suburb with the wife, the car and friends who you BBQ with? You can have that with or without the stock options. You can be successful or maybe all you want is fear.” So many choices and so many voices leading you to choose their way. There is only one voice that matters and that is your own true nature. It knows the way that is right for you. All you have to do is know which of the voices is yours. Once we start doing that and manage to tune out the hucksters and the salesman who insist we live life on their terms and not ours, we may find that we can move beyond the illusion of happiness and choose joy.
About the Archetype:
Cups deal with our emotional nature including love, both that as in a relationship between two (and rarely more) people and that of friends and companions.
Sevens represent our desires and wants and the paths and challenges we take to achieve them.
So often we feel a deep need to feel successful that we become willing to settle for the trappings of success. As long as we have a large income, a beautiful spouse, and a large home, does it matter that we still feel unfulfilled and unhappy? As long as we have the respect and love of our community does it matter that our marriage is falling apart and that our kids hate us? As long as we pursue spiritual and ontological understanding does it matter that we are homeless and cannot feed ourselves? In all three of the above cases, we pursue the illusion or appearance of success, depending on our description of it rather than working towards complete self-actualization and fulfilment.
In reality, all of these cups are ours to drink from and to bring together into the reality of success rather than the illusion
Astrological Correspondent:
Venus in Scorpio – Venus in Scorpio has magnetic and intense energy. It shows imagination and sensuality but reveals very little. It is a promise undelivered, an attractive tease that will show you every dark desire you have and indulge you in it fully and completely but ultimately will not in itself fulfilled. It is delight and delirium.
In a Reading:
When the Seven of Cups shows up in a reading, it can mean that several choices have appeared but that most are illusory promising a lot but offering little. There is one choice that may look less promising but it is a lot more real and will ultimately be more fulfilling. The card may also point out that what the querent is currently doing in their lives may be fun but may not be as worthwhile as they are pretending it is and that they may be concentrating on pleasure and instant gratification rather than joy. The Seven of Cups may also be referring to a false sense of confidence, a belief that we have won where our success may truly be an illusion because of something that we have overlooked.
When the Seven of Cups turns up reversed or badly aspected in a reading, it may mean that the querent has come to a time in their life where they realize that they have been settling for the quick fix rather than concentrating on what is really important and fulfilling to them. It may also refer to hidden problems or dangers revealing themselves after a time of complacency. It may also refer to a time when all the choices and opportunities that we fooled ourselves into thinking that we had are quickly vanishing and what remains is that which is essential to our being
–GAR
Fate’s Whisper:
The ideas that tainted many immortals were primarily driven by their desire to ascend higher. Whether this is through war or defying death it didn’t change much. Many options presented to them seemed so viable. The path felt so real, even if it was a decade or more of pride nothing stopped them. Time would simply wait for them to crumble after all every skyscraper must eventually crumble.
–NF