Nine of Cups Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

The 9 of Cups represents self satisfaction, personal contentment, emotional fulfilment and happiness. In other tarot guides this card is often described as the "your wish comes true" card. It certainly does take its place among the best cards in the tarot deck but it occupies a unique position among them. It is important to be clear about what its distinguishing features are to prevent misinterpretation when it does appear.

There are other happy cards, especially in Suit of Cups, which the 9 of Cups should be compared to. The 3 Of Cups is about emotional self expression with others. It relates to a group of people expressing their feelings collectively. Parties and social gatherings. The 10 Of Cups is about emotional fulfilment, happiness and contentment for a group of people. It more commonly refers to a couple or family. Both the 3 and the 10 are about shared, positive, emotions but the 9 of Cups is limited to being focused on just one person.

The 9 of Cups is related to the other 9s in tarot which are all solitary cards. The most solitary card in the deck is The Hermit card 9 of the Major Arcana. There are 6 cards in a Tarot deck which have a numerological value of 9. Only the 9 of Cups and the 9 Of Pentacles are positive, well received, cards. Both cards symbolise an individual being in a good place and having it all emotionally and materially respectively. The number 9 in numerology has the traits of being a compassionate, charitable and generous humanitarian. The focus of these cards on an individual isn't selfish, far from it. They are willing to share what they have with everyone. The other major symbolic trait of the number 9 is that it marks the end of a cycle. 9s never symbolise the beginning of anything and anything that begins in a 9 will be short lived. It therefore doesn't bode well for personal relationships and explains why the 9 cards are solitary by nature.

The Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck's depiction of the 9 of Cups is of a jovial looking man, arms crossed, sitting in front of a table with 9 cups standing on it. He looks like he is well fed and well dressed in comparison to other non-court characters found elsewhere in this deck. The direction a tarot character faces is a very important detail. This card is unusual in the Minor Arcana because he is looking directly at us, we have his full attention. Of the 56 cards in the RWS Minor Arcana only three have a character looking at you. The other two are the King Of Swords and the 4 Of Pentacles. In the Major Arcana approximately half of its characters do this. A character looking at you symbolises someone who is content and happy with their attention in the present moment. The majority of other characters are lost in the past or worrying about their future and looking left or right respectively. The RWS 9 of Cups reflects the themes from numerology of both solitude and the desire to share good fortune with others. One way of looking at this card is that he has prepared for a party and is sitting waiting for his guests to arrive to help him celebrate what it is that makes him look so happy.

The 9 of Cups is a card of contentment, self-satisfaction and enjoying a good life. Its element of Water relates to love, emotions and relationships. The aspects of the number 9 in numerology are endings, completion of cycles, harvest time, charity and generosity. The number 9 is associated with The Moon, therefore this card can subtly warn of delusions, dreams and things not being all what they appear to be. The imagery of this card is often that of a jovial man at a table with 9 filled cups and sometimes includes a feast of fruit and food. Its simplest interpretation is one of having some good news to celebrate and wanting to share that joy with others. It could even be a warning about over eating and putting on too much weight!

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THE PICTORIAL KEY TO THE TAROT

By Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

A goodly personage has feasted to his heart's content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects. Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made. Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

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© Phuture Me Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.