Five of Cups
This happened, and I'm still here.
In the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Five of Cups shows a person in a black cloak facing three spilled cups and looking sad, head bent. However, there are two cups behind the person that are upright and presumably full.
The initial take is one of perspective. If the person could only see that there is still abundance right there, if only they took notice and stopped focusing on the spilled cups. Easier said than done when we’re in the shit.
I’ve always liked this card. I think it’s important to remember that, even on the darkest of days, we have access to some kind of abundance.
This reminds me of Viktor Frankl’s ideas. His work sprouted from four years in a concentration camp during WWII. He says:
“I can see beyond the misery of the situation to the potential for discovering a meaning behind it, and thus to turn an apparently meaningless suffering into a genuine human achievement. I am convinced that, in the final analysis, there is no situation that does not contain within it the seed of meaning.”
The Five of Cups is an opportunity to learn. To look at the damage, loss, or heartbreak that has occurred and seek the gift. I don’t believe this has to be done all at once or even immediately. Grief is not only allowed, it is necessary and important. But attempting to find meaning in a disaster is a path toward growth.
To me, it’s about the importance of seeing what has happened. Facing it, rather than hiding from it or avoiding it. I often remind my clients that the way out is through. Most of us want to stay safe and cozy and, consciously or not, avoid pain at any cost.
But the way to release the pain is to see it. To acknowledge what has occurred and even say, “This has happened, and I’m still here.”
What resources can you embrace to help with these tender first steps toward mending? Maybe it’s a friend, a nap, nature, or therapy.
If you are still breathing, a cup is still full. And your fresh wound, like everything in life, will change in intensity and fortify you if you allow it.