According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, The Nine of Cups as the following:
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart's content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
The Nine of Cups shows us a very satisfied-looking man. Dapper in his red hat, he sits in front of nine cups with his arms crossed. His facial expression tells us that he is pleased, but his body language also makes it clear that he feels that the amount of liquid or food he just consumed was completely well-founded.
We often think of wine when it comes to cups on tarot cards, but wine represents something greater than an alcoholic beverage. Think of the liquid in the cups that this man consumed as representative of matter that can fuel him. It doesn’t only give him “contentment”, it also enables his “physical bien-être”. If it helps his physical well-being, it is likely that it is not literally wine.
So, what has he consumed? What has brought him this satisfaction?
Going Back to the Basics: Food, Water, Shelter
If the man on the Nine of Cups is satisfied and healthy, then it sounds like he has checked all of the boxes of his needs as a human. Consider today if you are doing the same.
For the fortunate of us, daily life is not a struggle to survive. It may have been thousands of years since all we had to worry about was making sure our basic needs were met and that we had food in our bellies, a water source, and a roof over our heads.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to worry about now. On the contrary—it is human nature to take that worry and transpose it to the next possible thing to worry about.
If we know that we will be able to afford rent this month, are we then taking that stress and applying it to the question of how much we will be able to spend buying presents over the holiday season?
If we know we can afford the groceries that are in our shopping cart currently, does this mean we are stressing about if this food is what we are supposed to be eating, or if this food will help us gain or lose weight?
We don’t have to worry about an apex predator making us their lunch, so we are probably anxious about that job interview coming up. The interviewer might as well be a lion seeing us as food for all our nerves about it.
In modern life, these secondary worries can take such precedence that we forget that there are primary ones to concern ourselves with.
Making Sure Your Cups Are Full
Today, carve out some time to sit down and reflect on your current physical well-being. Ask yourself if you are drinking enough water, eating balanced meals of food that nourishes you, getting the sleep that your body needs each night. You shouldn’t need to do much research to reflect on these things. Instead of asking the internet about what the right answers are, try asking your body.
As you go about your week, make mental notes about how you are feeling. Did you enjoy your food today? Did you have three square meals today and an abundance of energy? Did you miss out on your perfect number of sleeping hours, which made the afternoon slump an extra challenge?
Think of the cups behind the man on the Nine of Cups as vessels with which you can fuel your day. You can do your best to fill them properly, making sure your basic needs are met, or you can neglect them, which will make it hard for you to nourish yourself when you need to the most. Remember his satisfied look. Aim for achieving that feeling this week.
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