Love, In Ten Cups
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I invite you into the mystic realm of tarot to explore the multiple facets of L.O.V.E.
In the tarot, the suit of Cups represents the realm of emotion, intuition, connection, and the heart. Associated with the element of water, the Cups speak to love in all its forms: romantic, platonic, & familial. They trace not just the thrill of falling in love, but the vulnerability, the loss, the generosity, and the devotion that follow.
Here is my take on the first 10 Cups through the lens of love: a story of how we connect, relate, and open our hearts.
To my fellow mystics, mystics-in-training, or mystic-curious : The Tarot deck is endlessly rich and shines best when subjectively & intuitively interpreted. Here, I simply offer one narrative to (hopefully) enrich your relationship with each of the cards featured. XO
Ace of Cups- Quenching the Thirst
Our story begins with the Ace of Cups, where two souls meet at a plentiful fountain of connection. They step eagerly to its edge, ready to drink from the elixir their hearts have been quietly (or desperately) hoping for.
Here, we are thrilled to give and thrilled to receive. We are generous with our hearts, dancing in the euphoria of being seen at our best, and in turn seeing the very best the other person has to offer. Possibility abounds: every ripple from this fountain carries promise.
Yet beneath the thrill lies a tender vulnerability. We are exposed here, offering parts of ourselves we might have kept hidden before: the longing, the quirks, the quiet fears. In this moment of tender vulnerability, the ace of cups invites us to lean in, to sip, and to discover all that love might become.
Two of Cups- Hands Joined
By your side, your love clasps your hand and joins you shoulder to shoulder, gazing at a shared horizon. From the epic to the mundane, experiences become rich, precious, and imbued with meaning when they are shared. This soul picks up the torch of your most heart-held desires and declares them not yours to chase alone, but ours to reach together.
Each heart focuses on what matters most to the other, offering partnership through the unpredictable terrain of life.
Three of Cups- Family Love
First, love sparks the spirit of each lover, enhancing the individual experience. With time, one plus one equals three, and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Connection builds a support structure — offering safety and security to anyone beneath its sacred umbrella. Unconditionally, each member of the family is safe and welcome here.
Four of Cups- Heartache
When it comes to romantic/relational pain, the first sting strikes the ego. The self feels threatened, challenged, or deprived. A resource that once healed has now harmed, and our personal pain points become the focus of the story.
Heartache is romantic in its own tortured way. Perhaps it’s the intensity. The ways we are disrupted and impacted as we go about our days.
We cannot avoid entering the landscape of this card, however when it enters a reading we are being invited to ask if we have remained here too long. Perhaps it is time to move forward, not in an effort to avoid the pain but with the courage to face it in its entirety.
Five of Cups- Grief’s Deep Waters
As we gather our fractured selves from the wreckage, we begin to look beyond our own wounds and bravely face the full impact of the loss.
If we wish to move forward, we must decide how to carry this new, painful narrative through the world. If we opt to hide from the full scope of our grief, we risk moving through life in delusion: not truly healing, but attempting to fill an un-fillable void.
We are asked to honor the loss by fully facing both its impact and its permanence.
Only then can we open ourselves to something (or someone) new.
Six of Cups- Love Remembered
After the harsh realities of grief, we arrive to this card a little battered and bruised by life.
The Six of Cups invites us to gaze into the crystal ball of the past and remember our most open and innocent experience of love. Before we were taught what to fear in matters of the heart, we loved openly, wildly, & joyously.
Here we find an invitation to scoot a little closer to that version of yourself, to rediscover what it means to be hopeful, open, and curious. Find your inner child and perhaps even seek out the inner child of another.
Seven of Cups- Choices of the heart
Early in life, we are invited into the realm of possibility. Our first visits are bountiful, magical, and low-pressure. Come hither, pick an option! If it doesn’t feel right, return and choose again. We rest assured that we have full access to any life-path we choose.
But as we come to understand the finite nature of this life, we also confront a jolting reality: that each choice we make exiles the other options from the realm of possibility.
And so each time we return to this metaphorical realm we find it more charged with significance, more pressurized.
Possibility is beautiful. It represents a love for the wild adventure of life itself. Yet the Seven of Cups reminds us that possibility is not in fact reality, and remaining there too long can leave us feeling isolated and confused.
This card gently beckons us back to the tangible world, and encourages us to move forward confidently.
Eight of Cups- Devotion in Departure
Sometimes we must love ourselves (and the other) enough to walk away.
Devotion at personal cost serves neither party. To love honestly and fully, we must respect the autonomous journey of another.
When entrenched in the painful labyrinth of the heart, it is an act of great love and courage to sacrifice the love to save the lovers. The true hero makes the call and shoulders the burden, allowing the repercussions of that choice to fall on them: for better or for worse.
Nine of Cups-A Heart Overflowing
Reciprocal love is a dance of giving and receiving: one that must find balance in order to endure.
The Nine of Cups invites us to plant ourselves firmly on the giving side, without expectation of return. Here, we recognize when we have more than enough and that the bounty is meant to be shared openly, generously, joyfully.
This feast is best enjoyed family-style.
While love can feel deep, intense, and significant, we must remember it is just as potent in moments of merriment, comfort, and laughter.
Ten of Cups- Persistent Love
Where the Ace began with thirst, reaching outward from lack, the Ten rests in love sustained through devotion.
Shaped by water, this partnership has been carved by time. Like stone softened by a steady current, we have allowed love to smooth our sharper edges. What once felt urgent now feels deep. What once felt fragile now feels held. Here, we understand that love will require persistence: a commitment to turning towards each other even when it may feel easier to walk away. As we move forward and face new challenges, we are bolstered by the shared victories of our past.
Without declaring one another “right” or “wrong” for our personal needs, we commit to the current we have created together, and trust it to carry us forward.
Every Cup Counts
The Cups remind us that love is never linear. It flows, it ebbs, it returns. We revisit chapters again and again, aiming to arrive each time with deeper understanding, greater courage, and more empathy.
Whether you are standing at the fountain, hand and hand with a new connection, grieving a loss, or sustaining a union shaped by time, you are part of this story. Every chapter, and every cup, counts.
