Three of Cups And Cheating

[Eric13]

@Raggydoll And that's what I'm saying. 

[Raggydoll]

22 hours ago, Eric said:

I feel theres limitless possibilities to the pictures and to only fo by Waites meanings is really limiting the artists vision. 

Absolutely, every card comes alive in a reading and they tell new stories together. And I feel that the potential of tarot is constantly growing and changing, just as we humans are. But there’s a difference in what cards can mean in a specific context and what their general basic meanings are. That’s why I don’t ever write down meanings for card combinations (like: the fool + tower = _____ ) because for me that is not something that can be worked out beforehand in a formula. All that presents itself in a unique way for every reading. Sometimes a reading will give me more layers or perspectives on a certain card but I generally won’t add new keywords in my mental repertoire based on what I’ve seen in one reading. Does that make sense? I know lots of readers think differently and have a more cartomancy/lenormand based approach where they do have set meanings for different combinations (just like we saw in the translation of the antique tdm deck!) I guess that simply takes away the intuitive approach for me. 

[Raggydoll]

1 minute ago, Eric said:

@Raggydoll And that's what I'm saying. 

Yes I got that!

[Raggydoll]

And I apologize for going so off topic on this! 

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, Raggydoll said:

That’s why I don’t ever write down meanings for card combinations (like: the fool + tower = _____ ) because for me that is not something that can be worked out beforehand in a formula. All that presents itself in a unique way for every reading. Sometimes a reading will give me more layers or perspectives on a certain card but I generally won’t add new keywords in my mental repertoire based on what I’ve seen in one reading. Does that make sense? I know lots of readers think differently and have a more cartomancy/lenormand based approach where they do have set meanings for different combinations (just like we saw in the translation of the antique tdm deck!) I guess that simply takes away the intuitive approach for me. 

Re: set meanings for combinations, they're contextual, and so not really "set". You can see this very plainly in Lenormand: there are combos that are standard for pregnancy, electricity, etc. But if that doesn't fit the context, you have to find what works. So if pregnancy is out of the question and not relevant to the reading, Birds + Child calls for a different interpretation. Same with Tarot.

Edited September 10, 2019 by katrinka

[Grizabella]

On 9/10/2019 at 10:41 AM, Raggydoll said:

@katrinka I agree. I don’t think Pixie ever wanted to contradict any of the intended card meanings. I believe she respected Waite and his vision and I don’t think she felt she was knowledgeable/initiated to the degree that she could add any further mystic layers. But I do believe she added her own personal flare to it and that she was inspired - perhaps even to the point of tapping into the greater knowledge. So it’s very possible that there are a lot of remarkable things to find in her art, simply because of that. 

A lot of us are artists ourselves and I, for one, think Smith did her best to fulfill what Waite's and Rider's vision was as they outlined it to her in the commission to do the art work. I know I'd do that. Of course, the essence of her own artistic ability, psychic information, or her own impressions of what was needed would be part of why she was hired and would have influenced her. But artists, writers, Tarot readers----we're given inspiration from outside ourselves and we may not even totally realize everything that's coming from somewhere outside ourselves. I've read interviews with writers who say they like seeing what others say about what they meant by this or that because they didn't intentionally, consciously mean those things in lots of cases but yet they can see the logic.  Besides that, a lot of the knowledge we have is hidden so far back in our memories that we may have forgotten we even knew it but it comes out in our creations. And then, if you're a believer in reincarnation like I am, we probably have past life memories locked away that come to the fore in our creations, too. So on a conscious level, I'm sure Ms. Smith just did her best to consciously use her art talent to fulfill the commitment she made to the vision of those who hired her but everything else in her process was at play, too, though on a level that might not have been deliberate.

[Eric13]

Well said @Grizabella

[katrinka]

Art can have some pretty unintended interpretations, yes. And on rare occasions, it does seem to reveal something deep and multifaceted that the artist wasn't conscious of when it was created.
More often, though, it's unfortunate human error. Witness the couples who called Every Breath You Take "their song", or played it at their weddings. 🙄🙄🙄

 

The Three of Cups is pretty straightforward celebration. And that's a good thing, because reading cards requires a clear grasp of card essences.

Short version: As with anything else. discernment and critical thinking are vital!

Edited September 12, 2019 by katrinka

[Wyrdkiss]

In a one-card reading I second the others who have responded; go with the traditional interpretation.

 

In more varied spreads, I have had this come up in positions of opportunity, or the hidden / subconscious, or past experience.  Some of these readings spurned the following conversations based on that three of cups in the areas above:

 

Opening up the relationship to consensual non-monogamy (multiple partners for both) or threesomes for fun.  Usually in an opportunity spread position.  Knowing someone / friends already interested often in context.

 

The issue of one partner in a poly relationship being more jealous / controlling than the other ( inequality of pleasure) often in a shadow or oppressive portion of the lay-out.

 

One partner wanting more sexual variety, but afraid to discuss with their romantic other (shadow position, what is "unsaid")

 

The potential pit-falls and mine fields of introducing a third into the bedroom.  What to be aware of / cautious of / complications position

 

lastly, a suggestion to consider increasing erotic play / kink for a couple that is still monogamous, again opportunity / solution / potential area.

 

Hope this is insightful.

 

 

 

 

[Littlewhitewitch]

I see the Three of Cups as totally joyful! I have never read it as a negative to be honest and so certainly not cheating. I am not sure of the context of your question but I see it as a joyful, celebratory, good times card. There are other cards that would certainly be more apt to mean something like a love triangle. 

[Carla]

On 9/4/2019 at 10:24 AM, Dew said:

Hi all,

Is three of cups always interpreted as a cheating card in relationships one card reading?

 

For me, most of the times, I do see this card as cheating card. But there are times that I don’t feel this card as cheating card. 

 

Examples, in one reading, I read there’s no cheating from man’s side because I felt the man seems unwilling to associate with the yellow girl by looking at the way he holds the cup and the yellow girl seems barge in forcefully. So I read it as only girls are trying to involved with him. 

 

In another reading, I interpreted this card as the man isn’t cheating and he and the yellow girl are only business associates because of the fruits in the girl’s hand. Also because I got the devil card in how the man feels for the querent. 

 

Opinions please and thank you. 

No, 3 of Cups doesn't mean cheating. Occasionally it might be a love triangle, but in general it denotes growth of emotional bonds, having a child or children in general, or 'adding beauty' in some way. Cards are easier to read in context. One card in isolation, with no question, is too abstract to interpret.  If I were asking a yes/no question ('Is he cheating?') and pulled one card and got RWS 3 of Cups - no. Things are great. 

 

If I got TdM 3 of Cups - probably not, but maybe there's someone he admires (because although 3 of Cups is in general positive, you can't deny the representation of 3 hearts instead of 2 sitting there right before your eyes.) 

 

In both cases, I'd have to draw more cards because a one-card draw does not a story make. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by Carla

[Saturn Celeste]

I LOVE the Housewives Tarot 3 of Cups.  Just don't toss the baby out with the bathwater!

[2curious]

19 hours ago, Ruby Jewel said:

I usually read the 3 of Swords as the cheating card.

 

In the "Mythic Tarot" by Liz Greene, the 3 of Cups is a card of gossip. 

How odd! I have the New Mythic Tarot deck and book by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene and there is no mention of the word gossip associated with The Three of Cups. From the book: "On a divinatory level, the Three of Cups suggests the celebration of a marriage, the start of a love affair, the birth of a child, or some other situation of emotional fulfillment and promise. But each of these situations is also a beginning, an initiation into deeper levels of the heart's experience, and the herald of further explorations into the future."

[Eric13]

See, the real greatness of all this discussion is that there's readers here who genuinely get the essence of the suit, and even the card and yet they all also have a slightly different view of what they see and use in the card and that's what makes this all so great for everyone. 

[Grizabella]

I've been working with the Barbara Walker Tarot for a few weeks now and here's what the little white book says about the 3 of Cups: 

 

The Three Graces dance in joyous celebration on a woodland altar. Charisma, the Grace of the Mother, was viewed as the gift of the Triple Goddess in her guise of the Three Graces , or Charities. Her three female figures dance together in sacred art from Greece to India. Even early Christian Gnostics called the Triple Goddess an incomprehensible and indescribable Grace. "She Who Is before all things."  Her card represents charis or grace in the old sense, that is, all forms of love: joy, pleasure, fruition, abundance, goodwill, mother-love, giving, and contentment. 

 

There's more in the larger book she wrote on Tarot. In the larger book she mentions that it could also mean the birth of a child---the romantic nature of the 2 of Cups was completed by "the Gracious three, as a couple may be completed by the birth of a child."  The  book also mentions the Norns, who were "three rosebuds" in the mystic garden of love. 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Grizabella