Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore's personal and professional lives for nearly twenty years. Right from the start, tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, history, mystery, and magic. She has studied under...
It is probably impossible to go through life without loss of some sort. The Five of Cups is not about what or who has left our lives but about our experience of and reaction to that now-empty space. It represents a period of mourning. Everyone responds differently, although it is said that however grief is expressed, we all go through similar stages. The card does not say whether the grief is warranted or not, just that it is being experienced.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Universal Waite card shows the stages of grief in one image. The scene in the foreground has denial (his back is turned), anger (the cups have been kicked or knocked over), and bargaining and depression (he is hunched over with his head down). The background contains the final step of acceptance ... crossing the bridge into the city to begin anew. The figure is in the middle but nearing the end of the grieving process.
Core meaning: Experience of loss and grief.
The woman in the Legacy card is much more emotionally evocative than the Universal Waite image. Although her pain is raw and apparent, her healing is also in the image. The broken glasses show her shattered emotions and disrupted life. However, she clutches two unbroken cups, representing hope and healing. She is also in the midst of the grieving process.
In the Shadowscapes card, a woman is gazing into a bowl with a fish. With the two empty bowls at her feet and the shiny new bowl being brought to her by the water spirits, she is in the midst of her experience of loss. The circle surrounding her and including the faeries highlights the healing aspect of the grieving process.
