Nine Of Cups

the wave I am
four limbs tossed by its whims
i am the spray
i am swimming
i am overflowing.

i am myself
i am the sea at daybreak
i am the peak
of the next wave


First Cup out of the deck, and I think I'm in love with it. Maybe it is sea, and I'm only mistaking it for human; maybe it's sunset, and I'm just that much in love with daybreak. But if the Nine of Pentacles is the harvest, the Nine of Cups is the spring tide.

I think I'm finally getting smitten with this card. It's a great bundle of stuff, but most Nines of Cups are offputting; the smug RWS chap and his many many clones. But nine is a beautiful number - it's the furthest you can come alone, and it's the number of Yesod, which is the trapdoor in the ceiling of the material world. Nine is our exit, and everything else's entrance. And water? Water is what we're made of, what we have in common, what we have in common with trees and skies and oceans - water is how we communicate, how we experience.

A Nine of Cups is a full glass; complete in itself; lone, but not alone.

Ever read Casino Royale? Most of the good bits got put in the film. The Nine of Hearts was one bit that didn't, because in the book the hero and the villain played baccarat. James Bond called the card 'a whisper of love, a whisper of hate'. The wave is that finely balanced. Others call it 'the wish card': joy derived from having what you wanted. Satisfaction.

Reversed, you might be being superficial; and you might be letting your satisfaction drain away, consuming rather than revelling.


Images of the Nine of Cups:

This gorgeous specimen from the Intuitive. It's a far cry from the overly smug Rider-Waite-Smith Nine.

And here's a pip card from the Marseilles.