Start Today with Guidance and a Glimpse of Possibilities

The Queen of Cups sits on her throne, gazing at the emblem of her suite: in her hands, this Cup has been crafted into an intricate, ornate wonder, symbolizing the transformative power of love, empathy, and creativity. The Queen’s dress flows into the water before her, becoming one with it: here we see the peace and sense of flow that comes with perfect alignment.

The Five of Swords depicts a victorious figure in the foreground, gathering the Swords of the opponents he has defeated who have turned away, in the background, disconsolate. A grey, choppy sea swirls beneath a turbulent, ragged sky, suggesting both emotional and mental disquiet.

The Four of Cups depicts, in the Rider Waite version of the card, a man sitting with arms crossed, looking fed up and disinterested in life. A hand holding a Cup appears from a cloud - an echo of the suit’s Ace, while three other Cups are lined up in front of the man. Here we see what can happen if Water’s receptivity is not tempered by another element: passivity has turned to apathy.

In the Six of Cups, we see the image of a figure giving a gift of a Cup, overflowing with life, to a child. The two people pictured are in the garden of a cottage, and the scene resonates with a sense of domestic comfort and security.

The card of Temperance concerns balance, and harmony achieved through successfully merging all the many elements of our lives. This is seen literally in the image of the angel pouring water from one cup into another, mixing the streams in a never-ending flow. The card hints at it figuratively, too, in the way in which the figure stands with one foot on land - a symbol of the outer world - and one foot in the water, which is representative of the inner one. The path in the card’s background suggests that, with the hard-won self-awareness and openness to change brought about by The Hanged Man and Death, we are now ready to return to our lives, clarified, and with a new sense of purpose.

The Three of Wands is a card of consolidation; unlike in the Two, here the figure looks out on his boats and is unfettered, and at ease. We have the clear sense of someone at peace with their life, and confident of their place within it.