January 3-5, 2012: Ace of Cups
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THE ROOT OF
THE POWERS OF THE WATERS
Ace of CupsMeditation Pattern: Place the Ace of Cups between Atu XII, The Hanged Man and Atu XIII, Death.
Qabalistic Correspondences: The seed or root of elemental Water. Kether of Water, or Kether in Briah.
Traditional Description: A White Radiant Angelic Hand, issuing from clouds, and supporting on its palm a cup, resembling that of the Purifier. From it rises a fountain of clear and glistening water; and sprays falling on all sides into clear calm water below, in which grow lotuses and water-lilies. The great Letter of the Supernal Mother Heh is traced in the spray of the Fountain.
Meaning: Water in its most secret and original form. It symbolizes Fertility – is productiveness, conception, beauty, love, pleasure, happiness, etc.
http://usgs.typepad.com/.a/6a013485938a51970c0147e1b53f81970b-320wi
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FIrst impression: Ahhhhh, what a refreshing shift from the 10 of Wands!
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Okay, delete this if it's too off-topic, but it is about the Ace of Cups. (I asked this question a while back on lashtal.com but nobody had an answer.) In my long-gone youth I once saw a Vincent Price movie where he played some kind of sorcerer or alchemist. In his laboratory was a large reproduction of the Ace of Cups from the Thoth tarot. Even though It was in black-and-white, I was astonished by its beauty. I have no idea now what the movie was, though, and haven't been able to find it. Does anybody here know?
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No idea. Researching IMDB.com suggests to me it was perhaps The Raven (1963) in which he played a magician.
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"FIrst impression: Ahhhhh, what a refreshing shift from the 10 of Wands!"
You couldn't be more right Jim. The 10 of wands sucked.
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So in the 10 of wands arrangement, I dealt with a lot of my own resistance.
The Ace of Cups arrangement has me nose to nose with the source of that resistance. A lot of deep seated crap is coming to the surface and dealing with it has been emotionally uncomfortable.
There are ways of being I am holding on to that need to be released. They are impacting my relationship with others and realizing this is helping me become aware of how isolated I am from the love, affection and affinity of others in addition to the immature ways I go about eliciting nurturing from people.
What's been really jarring is seeing just how selfish and how consumed with my own agenda I am. When I'm out to do something I find that I have little regard for the people around me. I get very results driven at the expense of taking into consideration how my actions are going to impact my environment.
The process has been very sobering for the most part but it's necessary in order to make room for love, affinity, peace of mind and the fulfillment of what became possible during the time I spent working through the fire suit.
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It's funny how something like Love(under Will), y'know, that warm fuzzy stuff that opens us to growth, can--and often has to--open us to its reciprocal pain FIRST. The closest to bottom I have ever been was because of the realization of Love. It's the true aqueous solvent for ego, which doesn't necessarily enjoy being dissolved, being a part of All in a network of free Love and Will. It wants to be IT, not a part of IT.
Ace of Cups for me is that flood of letting go of your personal musings on "will"(psh!)from the Wands to the flow of the Undertow, letting it take you straight down to Choronzon's lair(7 and 8 of Cups; THE WORST CARDS IN THE DECK), because you know it has to be done if Purity of Heart is to be accomplished. -
Let's see how this serves people:
[attachment=0:z9zzblq9]<!-- ia0 -->Cups 1.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:z9zzblq9]
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Yes that's much better.
My first impression is a pretty intense kundalini experience.
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You know what Jim, when I set up the arrangement I set it up with the Death Trump on the left, the Ace of Cups in the center and The Hanged Man on the right and have been reading the cards from left to right. D'oh.
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@Al-Shariyf said
"You know what Jim, when I set up the arrangement I set it up with the Death Trump on the left, the Ace of Cups in the center and The Hanged Man on the right and have been reading the cards from left to right. D'oh."
That still fits the description I gave. Might be interesting to compare the two. (Yours has Death facing inward, right?)
My only design idea from the beginning was that the Root of Water stand between the cards for elemental Water and the Kerub of Water.
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"That still fits the description I gave. Might be interesting to compare the two. (Yours has Death facing inward, right?)"
Yes I had Death facing inward. I immediately sensed a subtle shift when I saw your layout.
The process is still very similar but what I got from your arrangement was: Surrendering for the Transformation to occur.
What I got out of mine was: Transformation as prerequisite for Surrendering.
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I guess I don't see these sequentially. I place my attention primarily on the Ace, and then on the other two more or less equally and simultaneously as enhancing and clarifying the core card.
So... Transformation and Surrendering as collaborators? As two different ways of saying what the central card says?
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Transformation and Surrendering as two expressions of what the central card is saying.
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Well, I've been embarrassed to say it, but it keeps giving me the impression of sort of fainting into an orgasm. I guess you might call it surrendering to it.
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"Well, I've been embarrassed to say it, but it keeps giving me the impression of sort of fainting into an orgasm. I guess you might call it surrendering to it."
I failed to mention my impression of the central card, partly because I was afraid of sounding too cliche but what kept coming up for me when I looked at the grail on the Ace of Cups was the idea of pouring every last drop of one's self into that cup and giving it to someone or something else. So I could relate to what you're getting over there Iaomai.
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I'm more inclined to see it as: Making myself as empty as possible, with an intention to RECEIVE everything being poured into me from Beyond.
That's pretty close to my hit on Mem + Nun, as well, come to think of it.
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Relax/Don't do it/When you want to go to it. Relax/Don't do it/When you want to...
@Iaomai said
"Well, I've been embarrassed to say it, but it keeps giving me the impression of sort of fainting into an orgasm. I guess you might call it surrendering to it."
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lol..
Yeah, not so much the orgasm part, but it's what made me think of it. I'm trying more to describe that inner feeling of deeply, deeply relaxing, so much so that it starts to feel erotic and tingly. Surrender, yes. Emptying, yes. But with a blissful sense to it. I don't know if that communicates.
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"Making myself as empty as possible, with an intention to RECEIVE everything being poured into me from Beyond."
Thanks Jim. This makes a great deal of sense and "feels" spot on.