Cups as Healing by Cassandra Snow:

I talked about this suit being a narrative of our journey. I worded it this way because the way I learn a new tarot deck and teach tarot is based on principles of storytelling. I also read based on the Celtic principles of our life being comprised of one big cycle, but several smaller cycles therein. (Obviously the Celts did not create this concept but I know the most about their relationship with life happening in cycles because of my own spiritual path.) This means that even though I teach students to learn how to tell their story with the tarot first, that doesn’t mean that is the only time those messages are applicable to you. You are ALWAYS in the middle of a story. You are probably always at the beginning of a different story and the end of yet another story and somewhere else entirely (a fun side quest maybe?) in another several stories. Our lives are comprised of thousands of different moving parts, and learning tarot is about learning how to address the parts most pressing right now.

This series is one about collective healing though, so it’s important to note where we are in each other’s life cycles whenever we’re able to do so. How are we helping or hindering someone else’s growth? When are we behaving like a stingy Four of Pentacles when really what our loved ones need from us in an open Two of Cups energy? How can we give back to our community and the world from where we are right now? The Cups most often address wherever we are in our personal emotional journey but as you read through the next few paragraphs, I don’t want you to forget the impact that your heart and your journey might have on someone else’s.

Healing is not linear, and neither is the suit of Cups when we’re undertaking a storytelling journey with it. I would love to say “Start at the Ace and work your way through to the Ten and tell a clean, lovely story with a perfect beginning, middle, and end” but that just isn’t isn’t possible. Instead, the way I want to address the Cups as a mode of healing is encourage you to lay out your Ace through Ten in order and just sit with them for several minutes. Notice the unique emotions in each one. You’ll likely see:

Hope in the Ace
A sense of balance in the Two
Joy in the Three
Disconnection in the Four
Heartache in the Five
Nostalgia in the Six
Overwhelm or Confusion in the Seven
Bittersweetness in the Eight
Relief and Happiness in the Nine
And Genuine Contentedness in the Ten