This month I am going to present you with my musings on the 9 cups, happiness.
This is not a card questioned all that often being positive so many times when it arises and unlike the RWS deck this card doesn’t have the ‘smugness’ about it. It does indeed portray solid dependable happiness, the feeling of your life being structured such that things are flowing and people help you as you need and you extend yourself to others easily and effortlessly. It is not joy though, happiness is a great feeling, but joy does have something more ethereal to it and though your life is flowing and things are working well there is a sense of sameness and somehow a lack of spirit to it. It is good for a time or as a background, but as a continued state it can feel somewhat lifeless. I am happy enough, but where is the challenge, the growth and the joy of change and transformation from one moment to the next so it is a card like all others with its downside. However when I see this in a reading it is usually very positive and adds the positive impact of the other cards around it. The exception being 4 cups which also carries the energy of stagnation out of excessive comfort and together these cards can indicate a real need for risk to come into your life.
The card is Jupiter in Pisces so as such is all about extending oneself effortlessly to help others, and to help situations around one. Spiritual service and the highest love are represented by this card. As we offer to others we receive at the same time. All struggles of need of love and personal gain are over and we can see and accept the love in all things, situations and people. However it can show up on the negative side if surrounded by more difficult cards as indicating the feelings of ‘happy happy’ – being out of touch with reality and not acknowledging the shadow side within oneself, others and situations before us. If we face the truth then true happiness can be found, joy, true joy, in effect can be the outcome. However we need to accept the truth of the situation to truly experience the joy potential of this card.
In the majority of cases this card is great news when it turns up in your reading, you have achieved a good sense of happiness in your life or the situation enquired about. I also have seen this card represent networking successfully in a business reading, and really forming the client base you need on the basis of honesty, truth and the ideals you stand for rather than some kind of temporary connection through hope of all problems being solved. It’s the soft sell ideal.
In a personal sense a group of supportive friends around you is likely where each has each others growth and highest interests at heart – so a community rather than everyone being the of the same opinion, each can extend themselves to want the best for the others even if that is different from what one would choose for oneself. In many ways this is the highest form of love.