The Artist's Concept
When I see this card, I think of Love and Spiritual powers in their purest, strongest form.
In the traditional Rider Waite deck I think of the Holy Spirit descending upon reaching communion.
It is a peaceful card.
I tried to make my card more Pagan-friendly than Waite's very Christian image, and I tried to
make mine more about personal spiral power and love than about the Godly aspects.
My card is simple and complex at the same time. It is set on the beach, as Cups are the element
water. At the bottom a man meditates, his third eye glows purple to represent his psychic power and
his heart glows pink to represent his love. In his lap is a white water lily for peace and purity. His aura glows white around his head and around the cup he holds aloft using the power of his mind. Whereas many Ace of Cups in other decks have God holding the cup, my deck is more about the personal power within, which is a God given gift. The cups is also blue to represent
water, and on it is a W.
"The W could be an upside down M, and/or vice versa. Or, the W could stand for "Water".
Interestingly, the Hebrew letter "Mem" means "Water"... more M / W interplay. Mem is also associated
with the 23rd path on the Tree of Life, the path of the Hanged Man. Again, more "upside down"
symbolism. The Ace of Cups is often depicted as the Holy Grail - the cup from which Jesus drank wine
at the Last Supper, and which caught his blood when he was sacrificed on the cross. Another
"cross"-reference to the Hanged Man." [This is quoted from a post by Strange2].
The cup is filled with water, which is coming forth as a fountain to meet a dove and a butterfly
carrying a small circle of bread with a cross on it. I did as a statement of the love that should
be shared between the Christians and the Pagans, as many of their ceremonies have the same root.
The dove represents Christianity and Peace, the butterfly Paganism and Change (change is a
characteristic of water, it ever flows into the shape of its vessel). The white dove also symbolizes
purity whereas the rainbow colors of the butterfly symbolize diversity. Although seemingly opposites
until you realize that if you blend every color of light together you create the color white. They
show the same thing from 2 different views. For Christians the butterfly can be a symbol of rebirth,
and of Jesus, for like the butterfly he went into a cocoon (tomb) and emerged transformed, whereas
for Pagans the dove is a symbol of peace and is sacred to Zeus, symbolized love to Aphrodite, and
re-birth to Athena.
The bread is the Eucharist for Christians, but for Pagans it is the bread served to Mithra
initiates. They were served tiny loaves of bread marked with a cross and a cup of wine to remember
the final meal Mithra had with his friends before his ascent into heaven (sound familiar?)
Card Meaning
The opening up to love and the psychic and spiritual realm. Receiving of unconscious messages.
Trusting your intuition.
Reversed:
Closing yourself off from love and spiritual things. A psychic blockage. Not following
your heart.
Card Media
This was done in digital collage, combining them in a Paint program.
Go back to the project index, read the traditional card meaning, or get a free automated reading.
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