A very different 5 of cups

[Xtof]

Hey everybody! I’m looking for so thoughts on this unique 5 of Cups. This comes from the Flux Arcana deck by Micah Ulrich. I’m newer to tarot, and this deck has a few cards that differ from the standard RWS imagery, one if them being this one. I love this deck, but it’s tough for a beginner, though in general i click really well with it.

 

So our imagery here is not the usual 5 cups you’d see, with 3 overturned and 2 upright. Here we have a figure holding one in what seems like…joy? And the other 4 are upright on the ground, with ‘halos’ around them. To me this speaks of, instead of sorrow, perhaps like a choice. Lifting up one at the expense of the others. But I don’t see sorrow here. 
 

A couple things of note: this deck was illustrated with a dance macabre theme, so the skull is an artistic choice common throughout all of the cards. Likewise, the red halo is seen on almost every figure through the deck, also an artistic choice I think. Anyway, I’d love to get y’all’s input. This one stumps me when it comes up.

 

 

[fire cat pickles]

Seems to me like he knows what he's doing. This is an updated version of the card, which in the original never made much sense to me. 5 of Cups is Mars in Scorpio, which is in a rulership, very powerful and comfortable. Not an "unhappy" situation. Add to this the modern rulership of Pluto (Scorpio) and I can see why Ulrich chose this representation and a more jubilant characterization. 

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by fire cat pickles

[Xtof]

26 minutes ago, fire cat pickles said:

Seems to me like he knows what he's doing. This is an updated version of the card, which in the original never made much sense to me. 5 of Cups is Mars in Scorpio, which is in a rulership, very powerful and comfortable. Not an "unhappy" situation. Add to this the modern rulership of Pluto (Scorpio) and I can see why Ulrich chose this representation and a more jubilant characterization. 

 

@fire cat pickles That's really enlightening. I figured I was missing something and misinterpreting what I saw. So this really IS a very different 5 of Cups. Thanks for your persepective!

[DanielJUK]

I have issues with this card where it leaves me stumped as well. I am starting to think that not everything in tarot should have astrological links, it's a separate system for divination.

The 5's in tarot are about instability, change and chaos after the initial stability of the 4's. I think the chaos and instability of these cards are ultimately about finding strength, or that things are not really so bad.

Apart from the astrological link, I find this card really hard to reconcile with its art, raising a cup in celebration!

[FindYourSovereignty]

It is definitely a unique visual

of the 5 of Cups. My eye immediately caught the right hand being in the mudra Ardha Pataka (half flag)­ position.

 

That site says this mudra “represents the banks of a flowing river upon which we will build our bridge.”

 

The best correlation I can get from that is the successful change one makes when he/she crosses the bridge from point A to point B and elevates an emotion or feeling.

[Laurelverse]

The right hand caught my attention as well but I'm not versed enough in the mudra to have recognized it.  TY.

I took a few minutes and went looking at the Flux Arcana deck online.  It isn't one I'd seen before.  I also read a little about the artist himself.  I think there was definitely an intention of this card diverging from the typical presentation of the 5 of Cups representing grief-based or sorrow-based themes.  I see this 5 of Cups as a card of celebration of challenges, changes, and the passions both dark and light that life brings out in us.

 This would be a deck that I'd throw out "traditional" card interpretations and instead rely on first anything the artist wrote in a lwb or companion guide as a foundation, then journal about the cards and readings I did with it.  It is a beautiful, unique deck.  

[Grizabella]

What I read in this card is a portrayal of someone who always concentrates on how HE (or SHE) has been  the victim rather than seeing, much less admitting, any culpability or their own negative contribution to the situation.  In the RWS image, the figure is concentrating on the sadness of his loss, ignoring the two upright Cups he still has.  In this image you've shown, it comes to me that all his Cups are upright and fine, but he's choosing to  pick out one Cup/aspect of the situation that he can use to say "oh, look! See what this person does that's wrong and that hurts me. I have no blame."  (or similar).  I won't get political here but in the US we have one particular figure I'm totally sick of who is the extreme illustration of what I'm getting at if that helps anyone to be more clear as to what I mean.