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Minor Musings on the Six of Cups


BradGad

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So, I'm here manning the Cosmic Command Post. I didn't have a real question to hand, and I didn't want to dissipate the energy I've got going with my main deck with practice questions, so I got out an RWS just to see what I can see... you know, bear-went-over-the-mountain stuff, nothing at stake. (It said I will receive some money recently.)

 

Anyway... 

 

My glance fell across the 6 of Cups. One of my favorites, such a sweet card. There are four things about this card that always capture my thinking. The first is fairly obvious and I've seen it discussed. The second as well. The third and fourth, though, not so much... especially the last: never seen anyone else talking about this. (The third and fourth, they're easier to see with the good ol' Yellow Box Rider than one of the more tidied-up versions).

 

1) I find that small image of the guard with the spear walking away to be so deft, so much gracefully captured in a tiny detail. The children seem to be in a safe environment regardless, but there is a guard there too: they are protected. At the same time, the guard is walking away, not looking at them, so they are able to share an *unguarded* moment... unguarded as in open and spontaneous, with no one watching them.

 

2) The attraction between them is obvious, but she is wearing a mitten, and he is not. Does this mean that despite her fond gaze, she is not ready to touch, while he is?

 

OK... now it gets interesting.

 

3) It looks like they're looking toward each other with great fondness and attraction, but (especially with the rough art of the Yellow Box Rider), it could be that she is looking at him adoringly, and really he's just smelling the flower, and not mentally or emotionally engaged with her at all.

 

4) The first time I looked at this card, years ago (and I still see this)... the first thing my eye lit upon was the girl's golden hair... but it didn't look like her hair: it looked like a face... a face turned demurely down and away from the boy. To this day, the business with the girl's face and hair strikes me as one of those optical-illusion pictures (that's not quite the right term)... one of those ambgious images like it could be a cup or it could be two faces, or it could be a duck or it could be a rabbit backing up, or rabbit or a duck backing up. (Of course since we're in tarot, it could be both, which is pretty damned cool.)

 

Just some musings.

 

 

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20 hours ago, BradGad said:

I got out an RWS just to see what I can see... you know, bear-went-over-the-mountain stuff

The other side of the mountain was all that he could see - and the view can be startlingly different. I will muse myself, partly to play the Devil's Advocate and partly to read the Six of Cups as looking back on a really bad childhood. I will not reveal how much is which.

 

20 hours ago, BradGad said:

1) I find that small image of the guard with the spear walking away to be so deft, so much gracefully captured in a tiny detail. The children seem to be in a safe environment regardless, but there is a guard there too: they are protected. At the same time, the guard is walking away, not looking at them, so they are able to share an *unguarded* moment... unguarded as in open and spontaneous, with no one watching them.

 

On the other hand, how do we know a) the guard is there to protect the children, b) he is walking away, and c) he will come back?

 

a) Maybe he is imprisoning rather than protecting the children. b) whether his job is to protect or imprison, maybe he is just turning his back because he doesn't care what happens to them. c.1) if he is walking away, he may be abandoning his responsibilities and abandoning the children. c.2) If he does come back, does this bode well or ill for the children?

 

20 hours ago, BradGad said:

2) The attraction between them is obvious, but she is wearing a mitten, and he is not. Does this mean that despite her fond gaze, she is not ready to touch, while he is?

But we can only see the girl's left hand and the right hand of the boy. We cannot know whether either of them are or are not wearing a mitten on the unseen hand. Not enough information to draw conclusions. Sometimes important information is kept hidden, by design or otherwise.

 

20 hours ago, BradGad said:

3) It looks like they're looking toward each other with great fondness and attraction, but (especially with the rough art of the Yellow Box Rider), it could be that she is looking at him adoringly, and really he's just smelling the flower, and not mentally or emotionally engaged with her at all.

 

Yeah that's probably it. She's being manipulated, deceived, maybe even gaslighted by someone she loves.

 

20 hours ago, BradGad said:

4) The first time I looked at this card, years ago (and I still see this)... the first thing my eye lit upon was the girl's golden hair... but it didn't look like her hair: it looked like a face... a face turned demurely down and away from the boy. To this day, the business with the girl's face and hair strikes me as one of those optical-illusion pictures (that's not quite the right term)... one of those ambgious images like it could be a cup or it could be two faces, or it could be a duck or it could be a rabbit backing up, or rabbit or a duck backing up. (Of course since we're in tarot, it could be both, which is pretty damned cool.)

 

How did I never see this? And now I can't not see it. Maybe the girl has already learned to hide parts of herself, even from herself, and/or to be cunningly selective in what she reveals.

 

Oh my goodness I could go on and on but it's breaking my heart. Joke? Maybe. I'm unsure myself.

Edited by Grandma
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@Grandma ... I've enjoyed my visits to your house. Thanks for popping by to the Cosmic Command Post.

 

Always need more devil's advocates.

 

> How cool, BradGad. Your deck can predict the past??!!!??

 

Yeah! And it's amazingly accurate.

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It's very interesting reading @Grandma 's devil's advocate musings about the card.  I assume these are all based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, as many others (even the ones based on  RWS) don't show the exact same imagery and of course the artwork is different.  However, all Grandma's musings are very useful ...especially when the card is reversed. 

This is why I always use reversals. It's more exact, if you're looking for answers to a specific issue, not just a chance to muse upon the entire concept represented by the card.  If a card comes up reversed, chances are the negative aspects of the card are what comes into play. When reading for an adult, looking back on childhood, I usually regard a reversed 6 of Cups as something akin to what Grandma produced.  Unhappy or traumatic childhood/memories. Someone who was not good to the child may be returning to create yet more issues.  Habits born of childhood trauma (hiding one's true self out of fear) may be occurring.  I definitely read these kinds of things in the reversed card.

(Obviously if the reading applies to children in the present day, a negative or reversed aspect of this card would be of major concern.)

Both the upright and the reversed card can also indicate excessive nostalgia in an adult, but in the case of the upright card it's probably not that harmful or long-lasting, and may be pleasurable for a while to remember or re-live nice things about the past.

 

In the case of the reversed card, however, excessive nostalgia may be problematic.  I've encountered that meaning recently, when reading for somebody who absolutely refused to let go of a childhood home (which was no longer a place she could live) but clung to the notion that if she sold this home, she would be disrespecting her (deceased) parents.  Once she got over this emotional obligation, she was able to move on, and is now living in a much better place.

Edited by Chariot
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@Grandma

 

a) Maybe he is imprisoning rather than protecting the children. b) whether his job is to protect or imprison, maybe he is just turning his back because he doesn't care what happens to them. c.1) if he is walking away, he may be abandoning his responsibilities and abandoning the children. c.2) If he does come back, does this bode well or ill for the children?

 

Oh jeez, you could be right. Jeez louise. Maybe, while he is walking away, this is their one chance to whisper to each other and plot their escape. I can totally see that.

 

Pee all over one of my favorite cards, why doncha? But, damn. Yeah.

 

Edited by BradGad
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On 1/26/2023 at 5:39 AM, Chariot said:

all Grandma's musings are very useful ...especially when the card is reversed. 

Thank you Chariot. I always learn from your posts as well.

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17 minutes ago, BradGad said:

Pee all over one of my favorite cards, why doncha? But, damn. Yeah.

 

Oh my God I would NEVER pee on a Tarot card..... what is the matter with you?

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Metaphrorically. Could be semantics. Let’s say “drenched” instead of “peed”. (I kinda like “peed.”) (i.e., I can’t see it as purely positive the same way anymore.)

 

You took on the mantle: Devil’s Advocate. With great power comes great responsibility.

 

You changed my view of the card.

 

 

Edited by BradGad
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2 minutes ago, BradGad said:

With great power comes great responsibility

I have always had great power and great responsibility. I am SUPER GRANDMA.

 

When my now 25 year old grandson Kyle was little, he and the late great Grandpa frequently played a game called Superheroes. Well actually they never got to the playing part because the setting up required so much time and effort. They had to negotiate which superhero they each would be, and what their (there, they're) superpowers were. By the time this was settled to Kyle's satisfaction he would be exhausted by the effort and go off to do something else. I asked Grandpa once how the game was actually played. He said he had no idea because it never was.  

 

Anyway, I told you that to tell you this. I always suggested that a super-powerful superhero could be Super Grandma. Her super power? She stops bad behavior with a single look. 

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Great story.

 

Here’s one of mine. 

 

With my two oldest, our favorite thing was to dump out all the Legos and make spaceships. Then we chose up teams (one member per team). They each had to pick to be either the League of Good Guys or the League of Bad Guys. As Dad, I had seniority, and could always pick the League of Misunderstood Guys.

 

I’m sure that relates to tarot somehow. The Fool, perhaps? Silly Dad.  

 

 

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