Five of Cups

 At first glance, the scene on the five of cups card doesn’t really present us with a picture of glaring optimism. Of course, nothing is what it seems at first glance… let’s take a look.

We see a person standing near a river bank, shrouded with a black cloak, their head hung low. In front of them are three cups that have been knocked over and various colored liquid is spilling out onto the ground. Directly behind them are two cups, still upright. In the distance we see a white bridge that leads to a home with some vegetation surrounding it. The sky is grey and the river appears to flow smoothly.

It doesn’t take a genius to see this person is clearly upset over what has been lost, and as we look at the liquid flowing out of the cups, some clues are given to the larger picture. Two cups have what appears to be wine flowing out of them while the third cup has green liquid flowing out of it. In todays world, we’d think perhaps it’s green juice, but if we think about the period when the cards were created, we realize that it is most likely some toxin or poison. If that is the case then perhaps it’s not so bad the cups were spilled, less this person drink the wrong cup and die or suffer greatly.  This person is so upset over what’s lost, whether it is good for them or not, that they do not even realize they didn’t lose everything. There are still blessings in their life, but they just do not see them at all! Furthermore, the white bridge in the background brings blessings of peace to this person, once they can expand their view fully, as well as a direct route to more blessings already in their possession. 

When this card is drawn we see that we are so busy being obsessively depressed about what we no longer have, that the copious blessings in our life elude us. Often, things that feel like loss are blessings in disguise and provide us an opportunity to truly see not only our worth, but how plentiful our life really is. The things we had that we thought made us feel fulfilled, may not have been serving us in the way we thought they were. This “spilling” or loss has given us an opportunity to truly count our blessings and that which brings us fulfillment, if only we could let go. This card is asking us to let go, to not “cry over spilled milk”. What’s done is done, only we can chose how to react to it and decide to see the blessing in the mess.