Tarot Card of the Full Moon Week, May 28-June 3, 2018: Four of Cups

Apologies that I was running a bit late this week…

Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift, too.
Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), theologian, poet, memoirist

About three weeks from now, we in the Northern Hemisphere will cross the threshold of Spring into Summer. All of Nature is now abuzz with growth and activity. Yet, after hibernating for five years, the Four of Cups makes an appearance and suggests a pause.

The Tarot Cups have to do with our emotions, and deal with love, dreams, healing, and intuition. And the fours are grounding influences, ranging from strength and stability to stagnation.

The figure in the card is turned towards the three cups lined up before him. But does he really see them? What do they hold? Are they past times, or current circumstances? Perhaps they are various desires or loves, among which he feels he must choose.

Notice the resemblance of the floating fourth cup to the Ace of Cups, which has often been compared to the Holy Grail, and which is the gift of Grace from God, representing Her unconditional love, which is freely given to us.

Perhaps the young man (for indeed, Arthur Waite does say he is male) in the Four of Cups is simply lost in thought, or maybe even meditating in a partial lotus position. I wish I could give him the benefit of the doubt, and sometimes I hope that he may simply be praying.

However, this is clearly not what Waite seems to have intended.

His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment…Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world has caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein…

So when it comes up in readings, more often than not, I see it aligning with most interpretations which conclude that this is not a peaceful or restorative kind of contemplation.

Notice his defensively crossed arms over his heart, and is he frowning slightly? Rather than cultivating serenity, it would instead appear that the young man  is sitting cross-legged, feeling flat, discouraged, or disenchanted. Or perhaps he is grieving.

His clothing incorporates the colors of Earth (green), Fire (red), and Water (blue). Missing is the (yellow) Air, which is perceptive, understanding, and inspired.

So his attitude may even be preventing him from seeing the gift being offered. We can only hope that his listless unhappiness will eventually become uncomfortable enough that he will turn away from staring at the cups before him, which do not satisfy him.

One of my favorite books of wisdom is Sarah ban Breathnach’s compilation of daily meditative essays, Simple Abundance. In one thoughtful passage, she notes:

Grace is available for each of us every day – our spiritual daily bread – but we’ve got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.

If, like this young man, you are filled with longings, hungers, or even regrets, as you consider choices before you (or that you have made in the past), remember to ask for the hand of Grace to participate.

The Full Moon of Sagittarius

After my delicious visit with my priestess sister, Sally Nurney, I am pulled towards the sensibilities of sidereal astrology. But I am not quite ready to jettison the orientations I have learned from tropical astrology — the most widely used Western model.

So if you would like to know more about this Aries-Taurus Moon (which is what this week’s full Moon is, in sidereal astrology), you should definitely visit her Lunar Lowdown. (Fun Note: Local NC folks may recognize the location where she shot her video!).

But if you consider this to be a Gemini-Sagittarius Full Moon, I think the Four of Cups has a lot of insight for the energies now swirling around us.

Astrologer Jessica Shepherd writes:

Gemini Sun season stimulates minds, restlessness, confusion, distraction and the potential to be all over the map doing a million things with no particular centering. By Sagittarius Full Moon we need to sit on the mountain top, get perspective, to find our coordinates on the map again.

Neptune straddles this Full Moon, suggesting that our best guidance comes from Neptune, ruler of intuition.

It’s easy to be confused about our life when our attention is pulled outside of our self, in a million different directions. This Full Moon is an invitation to center, go within, to know thy self. What message have you been ignoring? Are you waiting for a big sign, instead of the little nudges or revelations you are getting?

She also notes, “Lack of enthusiasm/joy is a sure sign that we’ve lost touch with our inner compass.”

Could there be a more apt description for our disenchanted young man?

Hearts Calling

As you contemplate the opportunities now influencing you, perhaps you, too, hesitate to select one, at the expense of the others. Or perhaps what you see before you is not satisfactory.

Or is this a time for reflection, looking back on love, dreams, and devotions of your past? If those memories are not warm, but are melancholy, why? Is it possible that something else hovers nearby, calling to you?

When did you last check and clarify your connection to your inner compass?

Could it be that you, like the Four of Cups, need to pause a while this week? We all need restoration and some down time, as long as it doesn’t lead to depression or self-pity. Instead, perhaps you need to find a lovely tree, sit down, and take some time to open your awareness.

There is a strong possibility that Mystery is offering you an alternative you cannot see as long as you keep focusing on what isn’t to your liking. This could be unexpected news, a heart connection, or simply an opportunity.

At those times when we have trouble finding the path forward, remember that, like the fourth cup being offered, your path is also seeking you.

The sign you have been asking for is not always a blast of trumpets and fireworks. Perhaps it comes to you like a Faery gift; quiet as a cloud, gentle as a hand holding a cup.

Open your heart, reach out, and welcome this unexpected gift that comes from the source of Love.