TAROTFour of Cups
Upright
Disappointment, indifference or apathy.
Failure to grasp the opportunities life is offering.
A focus on the past, unfulfilled plans, or giving priority to superficial things.
A feeling that you deserve more but expect action from others to fix this.
Taking the easy route rather than the one that leads to growth.
Intuition
The image shows Narcissus, a man so engrossed in himself that he does not see the wealth of cups he already owns, nor the additional cup held out to him through divine providence. Instead, he lives in a dream world where he has even more cups, and prefers to live in that world rather than the real one.
He is literally where the word narcissist comes from.
Reversed
Understanding that pleasure has to be blended with the pain of earning it.
Moving forward by earning the life you desire.
Breaking out of a rut.
Becoming truly self-aware after a period of superficial self-gazing and seeing yourself from the eyes of others as an engine of change
Astrologia
Emotional depth, protective, especially with home and family. Financially responsible. Can be moody or self-absorbed by allowing emotions or feelings to become more solid than the reality of the situation.
Four of Cups
The four of Cups denotes someone who ignores the wealth they have in front of them and instead dreams of what they do not have. They miss gifts and experiences staring them in the face because they are looking inward towards things they may never have.
The man in the image has three cups beside him but dreams of having more. In doing so he ignores the three cups he has, and does not notice the angel offering a fourth one! Sounds far-fetched, but we all do it.
This situation starts through dissatisfaction with what you have, leading to boredom or disconnection, which in turn makes the situation worse.
An idle mind can make up stories and webs of deceit and sometimes, a grandiose dream of what we should have, and what others should admit to or give us. We will dig in our heels and not move until we get it all, or carry a false sense of loss or injustice.
And it needn’t happen at all if we only took some responsibility, or took a chance on change!
The solution is to accept what you have and move forward with an eye to change.
A person who believes they deserve everything, or believes themself to be more important than others (often resulting in them being uncaring, cruel, or expecting others to do all the work) is often called a narcissist. The name comes not from a psychology book but from mythology.
Narcissus
There are a few versions of the story of Narcissus, but most center on him having received far more than his fair share of good fortune. He was born with good looks and a natural charm that attracted many suitors, causing him to eventually see them all as beneath him. He also developed a high sense of self-importance, becoming dismissive of the needs of others.
Nobody he saw was good enough for him until he chanced to see his own reflection at the bank of a river, whereupon he fell deeply in love with his reflection and remained there, thinking about the beauty of the reflection for so long that he sprouted roots and became the plant Narcissus. This plant is often seen growing on the edges of water with a drooping head as if staring at its own reflection.
Description and Symbology
The card shows the self-absorbed Narcissus sat by the bank of a river and contemplating the superficial and unimportant (i.e. himself) and ignorant of the good fortune he has (the three cups next to him) and a fourth cup being offered to him by a winged messenger, aka providence.
He will remain there lost in his own world, squandering both what he has and what he is given.
Narcissus contemplating himself
We see Narcissus superficially contemplating himself. A pointless act that helps nobody, and especially not Narcissus.
The forgotten gains
In superficially contemplating himself, Narcissus forgets the gains he has made so far. These are denoted by the three cups beside him.
The ignored future potential
A fourth cup offered by divine providence is as ignored as the other cups. Narcissus can move neither forward nor back as he is trapped in himself.
The flowers
Around Narcissus we see the yellow flowers he will become if he does not snap out of his self-gazing.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
A lack of fulfilment in the relationship. This is perhaps caused by a lack of success in other areas and may be causing distance between loved ones, a retreat to fantasy, or becoming sensitive to minor issues. All will lead to conflicts or disconnection.
There needs to be a reconnection with relationships as an important cornerstone of life, irrespective of other failures.
You are moving beyond any previous feelings that the relationship is in a rut or unfulfilling and finding ‘you get out of it what you put in’.
A greater care for the needs of others and fixing problems (rather than dwelling on them) serves your own needs and produces true growth in the relationship.
Denotes disinterest in career path. This could be caused by boredom, lack of personal growth, or simply ‘doing it for the pay check’.
The card suggests fighting any current apathy and kick-starting your current career or looking elsewhere for a new start.
Any previous disconnection or dissatisfaction in your career direction will dissipate as you begin to realize others will not fulfill your needs. Instead, you have to be the master of your own direction, becoming either better at what you do, or find opportunities that match your aims better. Create your own future by making your future!
A sense of general apathy (or ability to ignore change) is having an effect on health.
Although other areas of your life may be in the doldrums that is not an excuse to apply the same apathy or sense of inevitability to your health.
That route will only make you ill and not benefit you, other than giving other problems in your life more company as you add health problems to your list!
The real cure is to address the apathy and take control in the direction of your life.
A better understanding that the problems in your life are problems for you to solve will give you a better understanding on how to proceed in health.
Illness is for your doctor to cure, but health is for you to create through proper lifestyle and mindset.
If only others knew this secret!
You appear to have fallen into a rut of believing you are lacking rewards in life, and this is making you bored or apathetic.
The solution is to realize what you have now is probably enough. If you need more, it is up to you to make that happen rather than rely on others.
Your recent life may have felt like you have been painted into a corner by others. It may have felt like you have not got the expected rewards and have stood still while others moved ahead of you.
A little bit of thought and self-awareness will go a long way here. You have what you need already because it is free. It is called 'a belief in yourself'. Now it is up to you to use it to get ahead!
A lack of fulfilment will cause either apathy when it comes to finance. That or a bout of retail therapy. Neither will be good!
As noted in other sections of this table, the real cure is to address the current apathy or disillusionment in your life and take more control.
You should see an improvement in other areas of your life, particularly coming to terms with previous failures or setbacks.
There will be a sense of taking back control of your life and making proactive decisions that lead to better finances
No through indifference or apathy.
Yes through taking control of your life and fixing previous failures.
Reading the Card
An important sentence in the Rider-Waite-Smith description regarding the Four of Cups is often misunderstood. The sentence is ‘This is also a card of blended pleasure’, which begs the question what is pleasure blended with?
The answer is pain.
Too much of what gives you pleasure means you no longer enjoy it or treat it as worthless. What would happen if you have everything you would want given to you every time you asked? It would make you waste it or ignore most of it and probably become disillusioned and bored as per Narcissus on the card.
The theme of the Four of Cups is that pleasure quickly becomes meaningless unless you have earned it and are deserving of it. Earning involves pain (or more correctly, work and growing away from undeserving behaviors of a child and becoming an adult). Without this pain, you will simply become unfulfilled, discarding what you already have or is offered.
The solution to thinking you have no fulfillment in your life is to go out and earn what gives you pleasure. Earned pleasure is always fulfilling.
The solution to thinking you have no fulfillment in your life is to go out and earn what gives you pleasure. Earned pleasure is always fulfilling.
There are two versions of what the reversed Four of Wands means. Some Tarot readers assume it means a deeper disconnection than the upright card, and others believe it means realizing the power of earning what gives you pleasure. This deck assumes the latter case, as it ties in most with the (albeit very brief!) description of this card in Waite’s Pictorial Key to the Tarot. More specifically it addresses blended pleasure.
The upright card
The upright card signifies being stuck in a rut of your own making.
It can signify ignoring (or being dissatisfied by) your gains because they were given or won easily.
It can represent a feeling of dissatisfaction or apathy with your current situation through lack of movement in career, or unfulfilled emotional needs, or being stuck in a situation with little ability of self-expression, change or excitement.
It may point to an over-reliance on your self-image or self-worth based on one thing that you have become too invested in, or concentrating on something that others see as trivial, superficial or childish
It can even denote a complete lack of priorities aka giving up. This can eventually lead to living in a fantasy version of the world where your mistakes and responsibilities are ignored or downgraded. It can also lead to vices and addiction in an attempt to gain immediate pleasure without any pain (although that doesn’t work as well as advertised; the pain is usually very swift in coming!).
Looking at the card, Narcissus gives us the answer to all of these situations. Don’t get taken in by your own reflection. Instead consider how others see you and look at views other than the one you are fixated on. There may be things you are completely missing!
The reversal
The reversed card denotes becoming self-aware after a period of dissatisfaction or apathy. That means not just seeing your problems or wants, but also what you have as a starting point, forming a direction and making things happen yourself rather than expecting everything from others.
None of us is perfectly desirable and this isn’t a perfect world. It could be worse, but let’s instead make it better!
Card Design Process
One of the most common terms on the web today (and especially on self-help videos) is the words narcissism and narc, so one of the checkboxes on the to-do for this deck was ‘put Narcissus on one of the cards'. Job done, checkbox ticked!
Final Words
The Four of Wands is about blended pleasure or earning your right to success, growth and pleasure. This earning of pleasure requires commitment and work aka pain. Without both pleasure and pain, we grow numb to the one we are receiving, and life falls apart through the imbalance caused by the one we are not receiving.
