contentment, security and victory are yours, at last…

Nine of Cups
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
The Nine of Cups shows us a very satisfied-looking man. Dapper in his red hat, he sits in front of nine cups with his arms crossed. His facial expression tells us that he is pleased, but his body language also makes it clear that he feels that the amount of liquid or food he just consumed was completely well-founded.
We often think of wine when it comes to cups on tarot cards, but wine represents something greater than an alcoholic beverage. Think of the liquid in the cups that this man consumed as representative of matter that can fuel him. It doesn’t only give him “contentment”, it also enables his “physical bien-être”. If it helps his physical well-being, it is likely that it is not literally wine.
So, what has he consumed? What has brought him this satisfaction?
Going Back to the Basics: Food, Water, Shelter
If the man on the Nine of Cups is satisfied and healthy, then it sounds like he has checked all of the boxes of his needs as a human. Consider today if you are doing the same.
For the fortunate of us, daily life is not a struggle to survive. It may have been thousands of years since all we had to worry about was making sure our basic needs were met and that we had food in our bellies, a water source, and a roof over our heads.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to worry about now. On the contrary—it is human nature to take that worry and transpose it to the next possible thing to worry about.
If we know that we will be able to afford rent this month, are we then taking that stress and applying it to the question of how much we will be able to spend buying presents over the holiday season?
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

The Nine of Cups shows us a very satisfied-looking man. Dapper in his red hat, he sits in front of nine cups with his arms crossed. His facial expression tells us that he is pleased, but his body language also makes it clear that he feels that the amount of liquid or food he just consumed was completely well-founded.
We often think of wine when it comes to cups on tarot cards, but wine represents something greater than an alcoholic beverage. Think of the liquid in the cups that this man consumed as representative of matter that can fuel him. It doesn’t only give him “contentment”, it also enables his “physical bien-être”. If it helps his physical well-being, it is likely that it is not literally wine.
So, what has he consumed? What has brought him this satisfaction?
Going Back to the Basics: Food, Water, Shelter
If the man on the Nine of Cups is satisfied and healthy, then it sounds like he has checked all of the boxes of his needs as a human. Consider today if you are doing the same.
For the fortunate of us, daily life is not a struggle to survive. It may have been thousands of years since all we had to worry about was making sure our basic needs were met and that we had food in our bellies, a water source, and a roof over our heads.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to worry about now. On the contrary—it is human nature to take that worry and transpose it to the next possible thing to worry about.
If we know that we will be able to afford rent this month, are we then taking that stress and applying it to the question of how much we will be able to spend buying presents over the holiday season?
If we know we can afford the groceries that are in our shopping cart currently, does this mean we are stressing about if this food is what we are supposed to be eating, or if this food will help us gain or lose weight?
We don’t have to worry about an apex predator making us their lunch, so we are probably anxious about that job interview coming up. The interviewer might as well be a lion seeing us as food for all our nerves about it.
In modern life, these secondary worries can take such precedence that we forget that there are primary ones to concern ourselves with.
Making Sure Your Cups Are Full
Today, carve out some time to sit down and reflect on your current physical well-being. Ask yourself if you are drinking enough water, eating balanced meals of food that nourishes you, getting the sleep that your body needs each night. You shouldn’t need to do much research to reflect on these things. Instead of asking the internet about what the right answers are, try asking your body.
As you go about your week, make mental notes about how you are feeling. Did you enjoy your food today? Did you have three square meals today and an abundance of energy? Did you miss out on your perfect number of sleeping hours, which made the afternoon slump an extra challenge?
Think of the cups behind the man on the Nine of Cups as vessels with which you can fuel your day. You can do your best to fill them properly, making sure your basic needs are met, or you can neglect them, which will make it hard for you to nourish yourself when you need to the most. Remember his satisfied look. Aim for achieving that feeling this week.

Contemplate the ecstacy of a rainbow and wonder…

The Ten Of Cups

According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, the Ten of Cups is described as the following:
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstacy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.
Divinatory Meanings: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.
Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.
The ten vessels on the Ten of Cups card are displayed in a joyous rainbow that arcs above the heads of a man and a woman. To see the cups in this manner suggests a momentous event is occurring: it suggests that these cups represent something miraculous and perfect.
There are two children beside the couple, ignorant of the cups but happily dancing away. The scene overall is pastoral and familial. It makes us think of “human love” and the relationships we build in our lives, while the perfection of the rainbow asks us how we are achieving “perfection” in love and relationships.
Of course, “perfection” seems like a lofty goal to aim for in our relationships.
Instead of thinking about perfection, let’s remember that a rainbow is formed from both sunshine and water. The state that we are looking to achieve in our relationships is less about perfectly positive things occurring, and more about a mixture of elements coming together to form something precious.
How to Water Your Relationships
Imagine a garden as representing the relationships that are currently present in your life. The hydrangeas might symbolize your aunt, the strawberries your sibling, and the ornamental grasses your parent. Every relationship you have would be represented by a different type of flora because no two relationships are the same.
Say you have a limited amount of space for your garden. Which plants get the sunny spots? Which hide in the shade? Which do you water daily and which, like succulents, are left to fend for themselves without water for most of the week?
You can only fit so many relationships in your garden, and there is only so much sun and water to go around. The relationships that you tend to most often—on a daily basis—are the ones that get the prime spots.
So what happens to the relationships that you leave by the wayside? If they were plants in your garden, they would likely wilt and suffer from the neglect.
But it’s important to note that not all relationships—or plants—require the same things to keep them healthy. You might have a cactus that can go months without water and be just as beautiful and healthy at the end of that period of time as at the beginning.
Some plants start to burn if they get too much sun. Some relationships become strained if one person puts too much pressure on the other.
So how do we learn to care for the people in our lives and the connections we have with them? We start by recognizing that people’s needs vary.
Tending the Garden of Family and Friends
Today, sit down and consider your relationships. Think about familial relationships, romantic connections, and friendships. Ask yourself if you have been taking time to water these relationships recently.
If the answer is no, then go through your mental list and decide what gestures you could make to help tend to these people in your life.
Perhaps you know your mother values quality time, so you will plan a date to cook with her on the weekend. Maybe your nephew gets excited when he is given small gifts that make him feel thought of, so you decide to pick a little something up for him before your next visit.
Make the gestures personalized and as unique as the person receiving them. If you continue to water your relationships frequently in the ways that matter most, then like happy flowers, these relationships can flourish and bloom like the ones we see under the rainbow of the Ten of Cards.

Cups in a rainbow…contentment of the heart…wonder, ecstacy, perfection of human love and friendship…?

Ten of Cups

According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, the Ten of Cups is described as the following:
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstacy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.
Divinatory Meanings: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.
Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.
The ten vessels on the Ten of Cups card are displayed in a joyous rainbow that arcs above the heads of a man and a woman. To see the cups in this manner suggests a momentous event is occurring: it suggests that these cups represent something miraculous and perfect.
There are two children beside the couple, ignorant of the cups but happily dancing away. The scene overall is pastoral and familial. It makes us think of “human love” and the relationships we build in our lives, while the perfection of the rainbow asks us how we are achieving “perfection” in love and relationships.
Of course, “perfection” seems like a lofty goal to aim for in our relationships.
Instead of thinking about perfection, let’s remember that a rainbow is formed from both sunshine and water. The state that we are looking to achieve in our relationships is less about perfectly positive things occurring, and more about a mixture of elements coming together to form something precious.
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, the Ten of Cups is described as the following:
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstacy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.

How to Water Your Relationships
Imagine a garden as representing the relationships that are currently present in your life. The hydrangeas might symbolize your aunt, the strawberries your sibling, and the ornamental grasses your parent. Every relationship you have would be represented by a different type of flora because no two relationships are the same.
Say you have a limited amount of space for your garden. Which plants get the sunny spots? Which hide in the shade? Which do you water daily and which, like succulents, are left to fend for themselves without water for most of the week?
You can only fit so many relationships in your garden, and there is only so much sun and water to go around. The relationships that you tend to most often—on a daily basis—are the ones that get the prime spots.
So what happens to the relationships that you leave by the wayside? If they were plants in your garden, they would likely wilt and suffer from the neglect.
But it’s important to note that not all relationships—or plants—require the same things to keep them healthy. You might have a cactus that can go months without water and be just as beautiful and healthy at the end of that period of time as at the beginning.
Some plants start to burn if they get too much sun. Some relationships become strained if one person puts too much pressure on the other.
So how do we learn to care for the people in our lives and the connections we have with them? We start by recognizing that people’s needs vary.
Tending the Garden of Family and Friends
Today, sit down and consider your relationships. Think about familial relationships, romantic connections, and friendships. Ask yourself if you have been taking time to water these relationships recently.
If the answer is no, then go through your mental list and decide what gestures you could make to help tend to these people in your life.
Perhaps you know your mother values quality time, so you will plan a date to cook with her on the weekend. Maybe your nephew gets excited when he is given small gifts that make him feel thought of, so you decide to pick a little something up for him before your next visit.
Make the gestures personalized and as unique as the person receiving them. If you continue to water your relationships frequently in the ways that matter most, then like happy flowers, these relationships can flourish and bloom like the ones we see under the rainbow of the Ten of Cards.

The ace of Pentacles…

According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Ace of Pentacles is described as the following:
A hand–issuing, as usual, from a cloud–holds up a pentacle.
Divinatory Meanings: Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also speedy intelligence; gold.
Reversed: The evil side of wealth, bad intelligence; also great riches. In any case it shews prosperity, comfortable material conditions, but whether these are of advantage to the possessor will depend on whether the card is reversed or not.
The reversed Ace of Pentacles brings some potentially bad news about your financial situation. Maybe you’ve recently overspent or made a wrong marketing decision with your business. Today’s card suggests you take a closer look at where you’ve put your money and whether it’s growing or disappearing.
It could be possible that the effects of it haven’t hit you yet, and you’re unaware of what may be going on in the financial department of your life. You’re asked to reevaluate your spending habits, or if you own a business, your marketing strategies, and your investments.
Overspending, failed marketing plans, wrongful investments
Today’s draw brings light to your possible poor financial decisions. Have you consciously or unconsciously been spending past your budget limits? What have you been wasting your hard-earned money on that’s not doing you any good? This card suggests there may be cheaper ways to do things.
If you own or manage a business, the reversed Ace of Pentacles may be speaking of a recent marketing scheme. You may have just put it into place, and it just isn’t doing any good.
Or, perhaps you’re working on, or about to work on, a new marketing and sales plan. In that case, consider holding back a bit. It’s asking you to think every detail of this marketing strategy over carefully before launching it into action.
Another financial issue that this card could be pointing towards is your investments. Have you recently made an investment that you didn’t put much thought into? Things may be about to backfire.
Or, have you been thinking about investing some funds into a relatively new idea? The card is asking you to think long and hard about the potential outcomes of that investment, and if it really is worth it. If it’s not a guaranteed gain for you, it may be best to put your money elsewhere.

How can you fix any damage done to your finances?
Although the reversed Ace of Pentacles speaks of poor financial decisions and money issues, there are still ways to recover and protect yourself from further damage. Keep a close eye on your fund to ensure you don’t lose another cent.
Create a budget—and stick to it!
Creating a budget for your finances is a great way to keep track of your finances. Having a set budget will help you make sure all your money is going where it’s supposed to, and you aren’t overspending on anything unnecessary.
A helpful budget tracker is Mint—it’s a completely free app available for both Android and iOS users.

Upgrade your marketing skills.
Upgrading your marketing skills can do wonders for your sales rates if you own or manage a business. Even if you believe you know everything there is to know, it doesn’t hurt to do a bit of additional research on the latest ways to succeed. Even hopping online and looking at what your competitors got going on can give you great insight.
Remember, there are seven crucial elements in a great marketing plan. Always keep the seven P’s in mind when coming up with a strategy: Product, Pricing, Promotions, Placements, Packaging, Positioning, and People.
Look into your investments.
Take a close look at what you’ve been investing your money into. Are you just barely scraping by, or are you losing money from it? It may be time to reevaluate what you invest in and maybe stop putting money into something that’s not giving you anything back.

the page of wands promises abundance…

According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

The Nine of Cups shows us a very satisfied-looking man. Dapper in his red hat, he sits in front of nine cups with his arms crossed. His facial expression tells us that he is pleased, but his body language also makes it clear that he feels that the amount of liquid or food he just consumed was completely well-founded.
We often think of wine when it comes to cups on tarot cards, but wine represents something greater than an alcoholic beverage. Think of the liquid in the cups that this man consumed as representative of matter that can fuel him. It doesn’t only give him “contentment”, it also enables his “physical bien-être”. If it helps his physical well-being, it is likely that it is not literally wine.
So, what has he consumed? What has brought him this satisfaction?Going Back to the Basics: Food, Water, Shelter
If the man on the Nine of Cups is satisfied and healthy, then it sounds like he has checked all of the boxes of his needs as a human. Consider today if you are doing the same.
For the fortunate of us, daily life is not a struggle to survive. It may have been thousands of years since all we had to worry about was making sure our basic needs were met and that we had food in our bellies, a water source, and a roof over our heads.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to worry about now. On the contrary—it is human nature to take that worry and transpose it to the next possible thing to worry about.
If we know that we will be able to afford rent this month, are we then taking that stress and applying it to the question of how much we will be able to spend buying presents over the holiday season?
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:

Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

If we know we can afford the groceries that are in our shopping cart currently, does this mean we are stressing about if this food is what we are supposed to be eating, or if this food will help us gain or lose weight?
We don’t have to worry about an apex predator making us their lunch, so we are probably anxious about that job interview coming up. The interviewer might as well be a lion seeing us as food for all our nerves about it.
In modern life, these secondary worries can take such precedence that we forget that there are primary ones to concern ourselves with.
Making Sure Your Cups Are Full
Today, carve out some time to sit down and reflect on your current physical well-being. Ask yourself if you are drinking enough water, eating balanced meals of food that nourishes you, getting the sleep that your body needs each night. You shouldn’t need to do much research to reflect on these things. Instead of asking the internet about what the right answers are, try asking your body.
As you go about your week, make mental notes about how you are feeling. Did you enjoy your food today? Did you have three square meals today and an abundance of energy? Did you miss out on your perfect number of sleeping hours, which made the afternoon slump an extra challenge?
According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfect.

Think of the cups behind the man on the Nine of Cups as vessels with which you can fuel your day. You can do your best to fill them properly, making sure your basic needs are met, or you can neglect them, which will make it hard for you to nourish yourself when you need to the most. Remember his satisfied look. Aim for achieving that feeling this week.

Succor the Breast Milk

As a baby cries for milk, cry for salvation. 1 Peter 2:1-3

Newborn:
drink
forgiveness
honesty
contentment
openness.

Let go the afterbirth:
hatred
pretense
jealousy
talking behind peoples’ backs.

Cry for grace.
Thrive!