TAROTSeven of Cups
Upright
Making a choice from multiple options.
Managing the tightrope between reality and illusion when choosing the way forward.
Temptation vs practicalities.
Dreams vs plans.
Intuition
This is the only card in the deck that does not show a mythical character. The character shown in the card is the observer aka you.
This was chosen because to do otherwise would change the sense of the card itself. It is thus the card most similar to the ‘standard interpretation’.
Reversed
Making a choice and direction then sticking to it, or being taken in by illusion.
Making a choice and moving forward.
Making a choice based on practicalities over dreams.
Being taken in by desires and dreams.
Astrologia
Intense attraction and passion. Deep emotional connections and loyalty. Transformative ability to turn obstacles into solutions. Potential possessiveness, jealousy/conflict issues and holding secrets or false expectations.
Seven of Cups
The Seven of Cups is about choices, specifically following your dreams to build your future whilst at the same time realizing the difference between dreams and reality.
The card is unusual for this deck in that it shows no mythical archetype. This is because the dark figure on the card is you.
The choices in front of you sit on a cloud. This shows they are your dreams.
Dreaming is a part of what makes us human. It allows us to create new designs and build individual futures for ourselves. But we need to get those dreams out of our head and into reality, and this is the major point of the Seven of Cups. We must live by considering our dreams and desires (as that makes us human). At the same time we must realize we are constrained by reality.
There are few get-rich plans (or at least, few get-rich plans that don’t switch you over to the get-poor-quick plan without you knowing!) other than hard work and creative problem solving to turn dreams into reality.
Description and Symbology
We see a person looking towards a cloud containing seven cups. That they are on a cloud suggests we are looking at a dream inside the head of the figure.
Each of the cups contains an item or symbol. As cups represent emotions in Tarot, these items represent the passions and goals that our dreams are built around. The trick for the dreamer (who represents each of us) is to acknowledge our dreams, but temper our choices to what is right, what makes us grow as people, and what is practical and will make us happier rather than greedy, needy and lazy.
The Dreamer
The figure in shadow is anonymous but at the same time familiar; the dreamer. We all have dreams so the dreamer is you. Everything else on the card is on a cloud, denoting it as a dream, desire, or imagination.
The hidden figure
The hidden figure is intentionally vague. It can represent your spiritual goals, beliefs and path to the divine, or fame and fortune in this world. Whatever this is, it will be one of your primary guiding lights because it represents your true inner goal.
The snake
The snake can have modern religious connotations of temptation. The ancients saw it as one of the creatures that sheds its skin, and therefore a symbol of transformation and regeneration (which is why it is associated with several medicine symbols). Both meaning put you at a crossroads on an either-or path.
The dragon
The dragon represents wisdom, power, royalty and good luck in Eastern cultures. In the West, it is more likely to be seen as a magical beast of destruction (or at the very least, an uncontrollable and amoral force of nature). In either case, it is a rare beast, and you would not make reliable plans that included one!
The laurel wreath
The laurel wreath represents victory, and we see it in the World card. To dream of victory is always a good thing, but dreaming of victory, fame and success without also considering the work it entails is not the dream of a true victor.
Earthly riches
This cup contains gold and treasure. This is a universal sign of success but it is also universal as a sign of temptation. Your true goal should instead be something you are passionate about that will make you rich as one of the rewards of success.
The palace
We all desire a home, and the palace represents this. But do we all really need a palace? Perhaps a successful family is all we really need, and a large spacious home is a outcome of this rather than an aim in itself.
The head
The head resembles a statue of Aphrodite (or Venus) and represents a love of beauty. Beauty is by definition never creative (because it is a commonly held template of fixed ideals that everyone knows). To transcend beauty and move towards art we have to create something with more than just beauty: passion, the spark of the new, or a creative twist.
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
You are approaching a decision that will make you decide between temptation or the ideal lover vs contentment and reality.
We all have visions of the ideal relationship, sex-life or family life. We also all live in the real world and know how far we can take each. This card asks you to consider this in a choice you may soon be making, noting that there is no wrong answer, but there are life-choices you may regret taking in years from now, and also missed opportunities you will always fantasize over until the day you die!
You have made a definite decision on some aspect of your relationship. This either puts you in danger of being disappointed by the reality of the relationship because it does not fit with your dreams (in which case you need to consider how realistic you are actually being!) or have chosen a more reasonable and attainable direction to follow.
The card suggests being sure you have picked the sensible option of the two.
You will soon be at a career crossroads, or you will be moving to a new phase of life that forces such a decision. This is often a decision that has many points of view from many different people. At all times, it is important to consider what your dreams are and which of them are actionable, rather than going with the flow.
You have made a decision on a career matter. This card suggests being sure on the direction you are taking, and ensuring you have set the right balance between fulfilling your dreams vs retreating to the safe option. The card suggests thinking about your decision and how closely it matches what you want rather than what your boss or significant other wants. It might well already do that, but a little thought now may save regret later.
You have many ideas and ways forward, and will soon have to come to a major decision.
Whatever you decide, this card asks that you look after your health. Don’t take so much on or spread yourself too thin, and remember sometimes the best decision is the one that gets made, rather than the one that keeps you up at night worrying about the bits you can’t control anyway!
This card relates to making a decision in other parts of your life. This may be towards a practical solution, or following a dream. Whatever you have decided, ensure you are not running yourself down; the biggest fantasy we all have is that we will remain well until the day we die, but that is rarely the case unless your plans address health and time to recharge!
You will soon be making a significant decision in your life. This may be a choice or a direction to take.
Whatever you choose, the real point of the Seven of Cups is to balance needs and wants with reality and growth as a person.
It also notes that decisions are always a limitation; you can’t do everything, which means following your dreams means you have to filter it down to one or two at a time. Choose wisely!
You have made one or more decisions that represent an either-or crossroads. Make sure your solution creates growth in your as a person rather than just fulfilling spurious wants for fame or recognition. More importantly, the card asks you to be sure you are aiming for long term contentment rather than short term happiness.
You are approaching a decision that will decide between a number of financial strategies, some of which may be safe and boring, whilst others may mean making you wealthy very quickly – if they work out.
In making this decision, what you want vs what you need should be tempered by what is likely and what will leave you content with your decision.
You have made a decision regarding finance. This card asks you to be sure you are somewhere between meeting your dreams and playing safe, as being at either extreme will result in a loss or a regret.
In all decisions, remember we need a little of both excitement in meeting our dreams, and playing the safe but boring game!
Yes, because you are proactively making a decision, and have probably deduced what all the options really mean (and which are really traps!).
Indeterminate. The choice you have made can only be known to you. Consider the card carefully and decide if your choices are falling for a trap, or sensible.
Reading the Card
The upright card
The upright Seven of Cups signifies a big decision will appear in the near future. When making this decision, the card advises on the need to follow our dreams but not live in them. We have many dreams of what we want out of life but:
- We must pick what we really want to do. Having many dreams and trying to make them all reality is the same as having no dreams. Nothing will ever get done!
- We must pick out what is realistic and good for us. We have many wants but few needs, and even fewer of those will make us better people!
- We must have common dreams. Having a dream is one thing, but to build anything worth doing often needs more than one person with the same vision.
The reversal
The reversed Seven of Cups represents one of two things:
- Being taken in by vices or meaningless goals. Wanting to be rich or famous without something you feel strongly enough about that will make you rich or famous is not chasing a dream. It is wanting without passion nor meaning. There has to be an idea or creative drive that makes you want to do something, and money or fame should be a property of how well you do in that goal, and not the goal itself. Wanting shallow things tends to gain shallow things, and they never make us truly happy because they never satisfy.
- Deciding on a course of action that puts your dreams into a practical vision. This involves limitation - limiting your dreams to actions and goals that are achievable and then pursuing them fully by not doing anything else. This is the true way to follow a dream; to be led by it and passionate of the end goal.
Card Design Process
This is the closest to a standard card in the deck, as it does not link to mythology. Instead, it links back to something we already all know; you can’t have everything you desire.
The trick is to decide on something that you can actually attain and be passionate about, as that will always make you content with your life-choices.
The trick is to decide on something that you can actually attain and be passionate about, as that will always make you content with your life-choices.
Final Words
The Seven of Cups is about options created by your goals and dreams, and reducing them to something that fits with reality.
This usually involves following your dreams and desires vs playing the safe and sensible route. There is a fine balance here between trying to follow dreams that are fantasy (as you will always be disappointed by reality) or the safe route (as you will always regret some missed pleasures or gains).
