Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! (AL I, 12)

Chapter 3 — Cups

Ace of Cups

Cups represent the element of water, which is primarily associated with love, which in Thelemic terms signifies union. As such, it involves notions of attraction, and naturally relates to human relationships and affections. More importantly, from the perspective of our Qabalistic framework, the ideas of union and attraction render the element of water inextricably connected with the concept of form. Thus, on a high level, fire represents change, or motion, and water represents stability, or form.

Water is a passive element; it changes its shape to fit any container in which it is placed, and still water functions as a mirror, further emphasising its connection with the notion of form, relationships and structure in general. It is also connected — through the amniotic fluid — with the womb, which nurtures and protects the fœtus, allowing it to grow and giving it form.

Naturally, as we have already discussed,[1] motion and form cannot exist in isolation, but are complementary, and must exist together. The concept of attraction may correspond best with notions of form, but without motion, the two things can never actually come together. Without the ability to come together, the idea of attraction is meaningless. Nevertheless, whilst the two are inseparable, it is instructive to consider fire in relation to motion, and water to form. These are the two primary elements, air and earth being the secondary elements which derive from fire and water; fire and water are traditionally associated with the father and the mother, respectively, whilst air and earth are associated with the son and the daughter, further cementing the distinction between the primary and secondary elements. Furthermore, on page 10 we suggested that all of existence can be ultimately reduced to ideas of change and stability.

As fire was associated with the Sun, so is water in its reflective capacity associated with the Moon, which reflects the Sun's light (which is itself a further illustration of the difference between the active and passive natures of fire and water) and causes the tides through the force of its gravity, its power of attraction.

In Aristotle's scheme, water is — naturally — a “moist” element, due to the ease with which its form can be changed.[2] The fact that water in nature comes in many forms (stagnant pools, babbling brooks, rushing rivers, calm seas, raging oceans, waterfalls, rain showers, thunderstorms, clouds, ice, snow, hail etc.) shows the distinction between itself and the inertness of earth, the other passive element, but which is a “dry” element due to its fixity.

In the small cards, as the suit of Wands showed the progression of will and power from conception to manifestation, so does the suit of Cups show the progression of love, attraction and desire. In its associations with will, fire represents the repulsive or “departing” force in the individual, that which makes him seek a change in the current order, which makes him assert his own individuality on the environment. Conversely, in its associations with love, water represents the attractive force in the individual, that which makes him seek order, balance and harmony. Fire represents the tendency to go, whereas water represents those things in whose direction he is going, or more accurately, the conditions within himself which makes him seek such things.

Two of Cups

As the Two of Wands signified the ideal manifestation of the element of fire, which is dominion, the imposition of will on the environment, so the Two of Cups signifies the ideal manifestation of the element of water, love, the attractive force which motivates that will. It is love which gives will a direction, a purpose and an end, and as we have already stated the two are fundamentally inseperable; will is guided and motivated by love, and love is satisfied by will. As the Two of Wands was the “blueprint” for the individual's faculty of movement and expression of individuality, so is the Two of Cups the blueprint for the individual's faculty of attraction and dissolution of that individuality in the objects of his love.

The sign of Cancer[3] is associated with strong emotions and attachments, especially to the home and family. There can be a tendency towards possessiveness, vulnerability and emotional smothering, but in the ascendant decan (and above the Abyss) these negative qualities are not yet in evidence. The love of the first decan is selfless and pure, representing a genuine attraction towards the true objects of will. The rulership of Venus is natural, representing as it does attraction, inner values, and the need for both inner and outer harmony. In the horoscope, Venus is said to determine the comparisons and judgments we make, and to colour our values and æsthetic preferences, and in our framework it is the fundamental tendencies of attraction, unique to each individual, which will fulfill this purpose.

Three of Cups

The Two of Cups, attributed to the change sephirah of the archetypal triad, represents love, which is a dynamic process. The three, attributed to the stability sephirah, is abundance, the structuring of love, and the infinite variety of opportunities for love. If we define “will” as “the tendency to act in accordance with the preferences of the individual, as defined by his nature,”[4] then in any given situation there is a tendency to act in a particular way. Since that tendency must be a function of love (“love,” as we have defined it above, representing the direction of the will, or its target) then it follows that at each moment there is some object of love to which he can move. This being the case, the individual always has the opportunity to unite, and hence need not be concerned about separation from the objects of his love.

Naturally, this realisation only occurs upon complete identification with the will and the annihilation of the ego, and is properly attributed here to Binah, the first sephirah above the Abyss and associated with the attainment of the Master of the Temple. This is the ideal manifestation of the element of water, the provision of a direction for will at every moment. The “longings” of love which plague the Man of Earth arise essentially from the imposition of a standard contrary to his will, and only the destruction of the personality can finally banish this nefarious standard.

The succedent decan of Cancer represents the sign in its full strength, and the influence of Scorpio (the “fixed” sign of water) gives the embracing nature of Cancer substance and power, enabling the realisation of that love. The rulership of Mercury brings with it a dynamic element and fluid element, preventing the fixation of Binah from becoming an attachment, and enabling the joyous taking of love in the moment, followed by a genuine acceptance of change and a fresh progression to the next moment. This is the ideal of love, and the proper combination of change and stability.

Four of Cups

With the crossing of the Abyss, the abundance of the Three of Wands becomes the luxury of the Four. At first glance, these concepts appear similar, but the difference is significant. “Luxury” implies a surplus, more than is necessary, and as with all the Fours, this concept contains the seed of trouble, for the addition of more than is necessary allows for the development of attachment to those unnecessary things. The motivation for this should be clear. In the case of the Three, love could be found in any moment, but it still had to be found; with the Four, there is a surplus of opportunity for love laying around, serving no purpose, and it is far easier to turn to this surplus, instead of to look for new opportunities. This is true even when the things in surplus are not what is desired.

This is the root of all attachment; loss is feared because the objects lost no longer provide an easy means for satisfaction, and if such an opportunity were to be desired then the individual would have to look outwards to replace this means. As physical wealth is accumulated so that the individual can impact his environment, so is “emotional wealth” collected to provide for future satisfaction. The flaw is this plan is that if the “proper” object of love is always present in the moment, then any object other than this (which is overwhelmingly likely to include the vast majority of the individual's emotional wealth) is unsuitable. At best, then, the accumulation of emotional wealth is unnecessary, and at worst, it confuses the individual into thinking that he wants things that he actually doesn't, by appealing to his fear of uncertainty and corresponding tendency to collect and stockpile.

The abundance of the Three already provides the individual with all the opportunities he needs; the luxury of the Four is only equivalent to this to the extent that the individual is not attached to his surplus (which, if so, cannot really be sensibly classed as “his”), but the downward progression over the Abyss indicates that this attachment has already begun to form. Chesed is the stability sephirah of the actual triad, and here represents the attempt to impose structure on love, to force it into order, and the element of water is just not suited to this treatment.

This is further signified by the cadent decan of Cancer. In this third and final decan the sign is beginning to fade, and the negative qualities that we mentioned in the context of the Two now come to light. What Cancer fears more than anything else is loss, and in its own fading its tendency to embrace becomes a tendency towards possessiveness, an attachment to the safe and to the familiar, even if it fails to satisfy. The rulership of the Moon brings its worst qualities, those of illusion and the distortion of pure reflection, the true instincts of love being misdirected into attachment to what is already possessed, and this can only be reinforced by the dreamy and idle influence of Pisces on this decan.

Water, being passive but fluid, is a very tenuous element, and is easily corrupted below the Abyss when not kept pure on the middle pillar. The contamination of attachment is a pernicious poison as will be seen when we continue down the Tree; change and stability must be perfectly balanced to avoid this pollution.

Five of Cups

The downward progression to Geburah, from the stability sephirah of the actual triad to the change sephirah, always signifies the disturbance of the order in the Four, and with the Five of Cups we see the result of the attempt to impose structure on love: disappointment. The luxury of the Four, the “emotional wealth” which has been accumulated, will inevitably fail to satisfy if it is substituted for the natural objects of attraction signified by the will. This is much more negative than the strife of the Five of Wands was precisely because water is such a delicate element.

Scorpio, the fixed sign of water, primarily denotes desire, jealousy, passion and possessiveness in this context, and in its ascendant decan it is not tempered by the other water signs; it is coming to full force. The sign usually indicates a very strong controlling tendency, which we have already seen is usually a flawed approach to the delicacies of love. It is this suggestion of “need” which really results in the disappointment, since the need is illusory and can never be satisfied. The rulership of Mars — Scorpio's natural ruler — compounds this tendency; Scorpio's unchallenged attempts to force love under its control will ultimately fail of their own accord.

Six of Cups

The movement down to Tiphareth resolves the errors of the previous two cards and brings us back to the middle pillar, to the equilibrium which is necessary to successfully master the element of water. Disappointment has given way to pleasure, and the adept is able to take this pleasure from objects, and then put them down again. The contamination which arises from attachment is not present, here; there is balance in the attractions of love which prevents the individual from falling into attachment, as he “loses himself” in the objects of his love, leaving no room for it. As with all the sixes, this represents a full acquiescence in the equivalence of stability and change, and this is the best manifestation of the element on the actual plane; pleasure is the natural result of the satisfaction of will.

The freneticism of Scorpio is tamed somewhat in its succedent decan, and the calmness, sensitivity and receptivity of the influence of Pisces provides a grounding and a sense of perspective. More than anything else, the rulership of the Sun provides a suitable centre of gravity upon which balance can be maintained, and this brings out the best elements of both Scorpio and Pisces.

Seven of Cups

Moving down across the Veil of Paroketh and into the change sephirah of the individual triad, the equilibrium of the Six is inevitably disturbed. Whereas the disturbance of the luxury of the Four ultimately led to the equilibrium of this six, the disturbance of this equilibrium compounds the error. Instead of learning the futility of attachment, it is pursued with even more desperate vigour; the Seven of Cups is debauch. This card is suggestive of addiction, which is characterised by a failure to satisfy resulting in an even more ravenous and voluminous consumption of the substance.

In its cadent decan, Scorpio is influenced by Cancer, the opposite combination of the Three. With the Three, however, Cancer was in its succedent decan, and already stable, so the energy of Scorpio gave it substance and power. In this case, Scorpio is in its cadent decan and beginning to fade, and the possessiveness and suffocating tendency of Cancer combines with Scorpio's passion to result in some approaching desperation. Venus also brings its negative qualities to bear here, its attractive qualities pulling the individual away from equilibrium and rendering him completely confused as to what his preferences really are. In the Seven, the combination of these three elements leads to an individual who is controlled by his desires, instead of informed by them.

Eight of Cups

When we discussed the Seven of Wands, we referred to Crowley's idea that the Eights acted as something of a remedy to the Sevens. Since water is such a tenuous and delicate element, and deviation from the centre tends to lead to mischief, the Eight of Cups, rather than resolving the error of the Seven, swings around to make the opposite error: indolence. Whereas the error of the Seven was an overactive chasing of desire, the error of the Eight arises from inactivity. There are suggestions of resignation in this card, the following of old and dusty routines which have long since ceased to give any pleasure, almost as a result of a simple lack of imagination. It is as if the error of the Seven has led to exhaustion. It is very suggestive — as indeed is the card itself in the Thoth deck — of stagnant water.

Pisces on its positive side is sensitive, calm, easygoing and unpretentious, but on its negative side can be idle, indecisive, melancholic and indulgent. It its primary decan it is unaffected by the other signs, but as it represents the “fading away” of the element of water which is a fragile element to begin with, it really needs this influence. The dull, heavy plodding of the rulership of Saturn merely adds to the feeling of resignation, and it is as if the individual simply cannot be bothered with love any more; since love is a dynamic process, this is fatal to success, but equally non-movement cannot lead to disappointment, either. The individual who disagrees with Tennyson's sentiment[5] in In Memoriam would be quite at home in the Eight of Cups.

Nine of Cups

The descent to the Nine once again resolves the preceding errors, and harmony is once again attained as change is balanced with stability. The “full impact of the elemental force, but in its most material sense,” is happiness in the case of water. It represents satisfaction, a degradation of the pleasure of the Six, being more quiet, moderated, and subdued, but this side of the Veil of Paroketh the individual is perfectly happy to accept it, being as it is wholly free of the defects in the Seven and the Eight.

Pisces gains some substance in its succedent decan, and primarily exhibits calmness, sensitivity to the will and an easygoing nature. The influence of Cancer brings both a dynamic quality and a degree of consistency to the picture, and the influence of Jupiter — the natural ruler of Pisces — causes the individual to look outwards rather than inwards, a key element in the proper attitude to the nature of water, since it both enlivens the fluid to avoid stagnation and avoids deliberately stirring it up into a storm. Both of these two influences lift the individual out of the indolence of the Eight, but aid Pisces in steering him away from the frenzy of the Seven.

Ten of Cups

Finally, the Ten represents the complete physical manifestation of the element of water, which is satiety. This is not the satisfaction of the Nine, but instead suggests saturation. As Crowley puts it, “the pursuit of pleasure has been crowned with perfect success; and constantly it is discovered that, having got everything that one wanted, one did not want it after all.”[6] This card serves as the final confirmation that love without will is no love at all; love is, at the end of all analysis, a dynamic concept. By itself, desire promises satisfaction in a fixed state, but this is merely illusion; love is an act, and once satisfaction has been obtained then the individual must move on. The “grass is always greener on the other side” because love works through motivation, rather than satisfaction in fixed states.

The cadent decan of the mutable sign of each element is the “fading away of the fading away” of that element, and here suggests the element of water coming to a stable but complete rest. The influence of Scorpio — an energetic sign — and the rulership of Mars — an energetic planet and Scorpio's natural ruler — would appear to contradict this, but it signifies that the possessiveness of Scorpio has finally won out, and it has succeeded in excluding all the other elements, aided in this task by its ruler. No more pleasure is gained, but Scorpio has held onto its possessions, and Pisces — especially in its cadent decan — is too weak to do anything about it. In this case, rather than the stolid indolence of the Eight, there is something approaching a mild sense of confusion at the absence of satisfaction, but a lack of energy to do anything about it.

The story of the Cups has shown that — below the Abyss, at least — any deviation from the middle pillar leads quickly to mischief, but even at the bottom of the pillar we can see that love, even when allowed to “win,” is ultimately powerless by itself, since it is a passive element. Will at least can oppress when exercised to the exclusion of all else, but love merely fizzles away quietly: “the nature of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a by-product of that Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparent contradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will guide us aright.”[7] Love and will are complements, but as the passive element, love must always come “under will.”[8]

Footnotes

1. See page 9.
2. See page 30.
3. Which is ruled by the Moon; see the comments under the Ace.
4. True Will.
5. “'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
6. The Book of Thoth.
7. Liber II.
8. AL I, 57

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