An early summer afternoon Celtic Cross reading for myself. Here is what I saw .....
1. Atmosphere surrounding the reading - center card - 5 of CupsA figure stands looking glumly at three spilled cups, ignoring the two presumably full upright cups just behind him. The figure's shoulders - the slope of them, the folds in his cloak - look to me like the fountain of water overflowing from the brim of the Ace of Cups (that's not in the spread, but it comes to mind); and the cups themselves look very large in proportion to the figure - it would be just about all he could do to carry the two standing cups away with him. So why is he downcast? His very self echoes the epitome of abundance, the Ace of Cups; he has more at hand than he can carry; he is flush, yet wanting.
2. Crossing card - crossing the center card - Page of Wands
The Page of Playfulness and of quickening, the curious salamander boy, is looking away from the figure in the 5 of Cups, toward the future and out into the world rather than down at the ground and spilt milk. He may be young and inexperienced, but he's brimming with optimism: he sees places to go, ideas taking shape, journeys worth taking. He has vitality. He may signal distraction, but maybe that is a strength - an asset - in a card crossing the 5 of Cups.
3. The foundation - below the center card - The Fool (0)
Again, bright optimism. Fresh beginnings, setting out toward new territory, heading to the left (the internal realm) blithely and without a care. Adding the '5' from above and the Fool's zero is yielding 50 for me - maybe the Fool has completed the journey of his youth and now is heading into the next cycle of exploration, in his 50s: carrying all he needs, accompanied by his dog, into the bright sunshine. Maybe he is not so different from the Page of Wands, and the movement of the spread is a spiral, moving from the 5 of Cups, to the Page of Wands, to the Fool, to the ...
4. That which is passing away - to the left of the center card - Page of Cups... Page of Cups, facing the reader, sporting his affable grin and his cup with a fish like a rabbit in a hat. Yes, a spiral, spreading slowly outward toward the future and the external, moving through the Fool. One Page in the dry mountains, the other by the sea; one with lotus blossoms on his tunic, one with salamanders; one dark, one light. But both optimistic, in parity, wingmen to the Fool.
Maybe those five cups in the initial card were brought by the Page of Cups, and spilled, now distracting the central figure. But the Page of Wands is there to show fresh will or resolve, to look up and out and ask, What next? What cheer? Look at this sprouting we have!
5. A possible result - above the center card - Knight of Pentacles
Such an amazing draft horse or warhorse - the horse alone would be a hell of a combatant. The Knight and horse look forward, to the right and the future, expanding the spiral. He brings good news of money or economic stability. The horse is not charging, or dancing, but is stolid, ready for whatever comes; the Knight radiates security without threat, and with a little flash and bling.
6. The likely future - to the right of the center card - 10 of Pentacles
A card of impending or realized abundance, comforts, rewards of hard work, society and home together. It is a card indicating solid and secure circumstances with business and family. All is / are well.
7. The enquirer's sense of self - at the bottom of the cluster on the right - 7 of Cups
There are many choices here - but no particular urgency. Choosing a cup doesn't seem pressing; instead, it seems pleasant to have options. I'm seeing abundance and creativity.
8. Atmosphere around the enquirer - above the 7 of Cups - 8 of Cups
Here is a man leaving cups - or simply drink - behind. The 7 to the 8 feels like a progression: many choices presented without urgency, and then the man moving ahead without taking one, leaving his cups all behind. He has not been seduzzled. His destination may not be visible, but he does not seem to hesitate.
9. Hopes and fears - above the 8 of Cups - Death (13)
Today I see the sun rising in the distance and the priest most clearly, I see the hope for change. Again: optimism. Changes are scary, but the Fool doesn't know that; perhaps he has an advantage in that. And Death's horse, while he runs us all down in the end and cannot be evaded forever, looks like he is well matched in the steed of the Knight of Pentacles. I welcome the Death-changes in this reading, following the 7 and 8 of Cups, and balanced, or backed somehow, by the 10 of Pentacles. If all is / are well, the Death-changes needn't hurt.
10. Outcome - above Death - The Star (17)
A woman kneels by a pool pouring water in the pool and onto the ground from a pair of pitchers; her supply looks inexhaustible. The water she spills onto the land divides into five streams, like the five folds in the cloak of the figure in the first card - the 5 of Cups - and the Ace it brought to mind. There are 7 white stars, and one larger golden star, making 8; echoes of the 7-to-8 progression of cups a few cards back. The Star is visible in the night, it guides us when darkness is all around. Star follows The Tower and precedes The Moon, coming after the destruction of the constructions of self and before emergence from the primal and subconscious places; Star is the presence of hope before mystery is named, that which moves us. Aspiration.
Beneath the deck - off to the far left; this card was beneath the remaining / undealt cards - Temperance (14)
An angel - with one foot on land and the other in a shallow pool much like The Star - moves some liquid energy between two cups; he is not simply pouring from the upper cup to the lower, as the angle is wrong; he appears to be concentrating, clasping the cups firmly, and with his third eye open willing the energy to flow from one vessel to another. In the background is the sun rising between mountains, as in the Death card. Temperance follows Death, and precedes the Devil. Temperance is balance, is transformation by fire such as the salamander Page will know before he becomes the King and thus masters transformation, is alchemy. Temperance is the science or art of moderation.
And then ...... 5 (cups) + 7 (cups) = 12, reduces to 3; 3 + 8 (cups) = 11, reduces to 2; 2 + (1+ 3 of death = 4) = 6; 6 + (1 + 7 of star = 8) = 14. 14 (Temperance) = the 5 with which we began. So, whoa.
