We learn early on that our bodies, like our planet, are mostly water. The earliest civilizations formed in river valleys, where the seasonal cycles of flood and retreat left fertile soil deposits. Before air travel was even a remote possibility, water formed connections between cities, between countries, between people. Like Fire, our survival as both a species and a society depended on access to water.
Water has come to represent our connections with one another: our relationships, our loves, our emotions and intuition. Like the sea, there are unknown depths and currents within us that deserve our respect. Like rivers and streams, we flow in directions and leave traces of ourselves wherever we go. Like a puddle on a trail, we stagnate if left still for too long. I honestly don't know yet who first decided that this vital force connecting in one way or another all people and all places also represented our connection to our emotions, our relationships with each other on a less global scale than "The Mediterranean is connected to the Pacific". That's a deep dive for another day--no pun intended.
.... Pun a little intended.
As with the Wands post, this spread comes from Sasha Graham's 365 Tarot Spreads. Laid out in the shape of an upright chalice, the Wisdom of Cups spread is an invitation to consider your own depths, and the currents that carry us to different people, different places, and different experiences.
When I did this spread for myself using the Wild Unknown deck, I got some...loud Opinions. Stick around long enough, and you'll see that this is pretty typical. Cups are my weakest suit, to be perfectly honest. The sea of human emotions is an intimidating thing to navigate; I prefer to stay on the shore and let those emotions come to me in small, manageable waves. Which means I am often ill-prepared when those metaphorical undertows wreck my sandcastle and drag me out to deeper waters. I flounder, I flail, and I wash up later feeling drained and tenderhearted. And before you feel too sorry for me, please know that I do this to myself. But professional therapy has, at the very least, given me a pair of inflatable water wings to work with.
The giant SCOOP of Major Arcana across the top make it seem like the cards are shouting, "I said YOU'RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE!!!!" from the bleachers, and suddenly everyone within a two mild radius feels as though they've just been mugged by an angel holding a whiffle ball bat.
I have been focused on myself lately; less in a self-centered or selfish way than on finding a way to make peace with these emotions, these feelings, these anxieties I have avoided navigating in the past. I am learning to trust my emotions and honor them, even then they're hard to face. If I am to face the infinite possibilities, I must also give voice to these fears and anxieties that have thus far held me back.
Sources:
Sasha Graham, 365 Tarot Spreads: Revealing the Magic in Each Day. 2014.
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