Notes on: The Three of Cups
(Trine)
Artist’s Notes:
Each of them had come here separately and each had their own purpose in mind. Yet they decided to share what they had and found themselves forming a bond of friendship. There was now a shared joy and shared missions between these beings that were not felt in solitude.
Threes deal with accomplishment, fulfilment, and transmission of energy. In this case, the love that has been expressed overflows into a feeling of abundance. Two together can accomplish a lot. They can balance each other out and yet too often can find themselves stalemated. Bringing a third companion in can avoid that problem and accomplish so much more. When we are in the company of those we enjoy who share our purpose, there is little that we cannot do.
As in most friendships, there are shared commonalities and issues, yet also the basis for many a conversation. The astrological correspondence for this card (Mercury in Cancer) highlights empathy and compassion and while it remembers past wounds, can see past them enabling understanding.
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. Threes deal with accomplishment, fulfilment, and transmission of energy.
In this case, the love that has been expressed overflows into a feeling of abundance. So often we think of our lives in terms of scarcity, what is missing and what we may never have. In reality, in this world there is abundance, having that which is needed. Being in the company of those we love, and having a good time, we realize this abundance
Astrological Correspondence:
Mercury in Cancer – Mercury and Cancer both elicit very personal sides of our emotions. We seem in tune with not only what is on the emotional surface of those around us but the undercurrents as well. Mercury in Cancer carries the emotional memory of everything that happens in a relationship but since it is in tune with it, there is not so much the bitterness of the past, but empathy as well. It is one thing to be in the first blooms of a friendship and be blind to the faults of those around us. How much deeper is the feeling of love and abundance with those we have known at their best and their worst and still share that love and good feeling? That is true abundance.
In a Reading:
In a reading, the Three of Cups may mean a time of enjoying companionship with friends and a time when we feel ourselves in tune with others. This card means quite often that we are allowing ourselves to feel loved and at peace and able to appreciate what comes our way.
Reversed or badly aspected the Three of Cups can mean that this feeling of camaraderie has disappeared or been blocked. There may be some disappointment or feeling of betrayal by a friend or that trust has been broken
–GAR
Chance’s Tail:
With the Dragon’s wisdom (the fish of time in Dragon form), the owl’s ability to journey between worlds and the pilgrim’s ability to pass among the masses, they could now help each other accomplish each other’s quest and thus lighten the load that each bore.