13 August 2009

5 of CUPS

5 of cups: change is certain, both gain and loss. The joy and pain that comes with each is up to you - your attachments & expectations.

Numerology isn't my strong suite...but when a number shows up two days in a row, it warrants a look.

I've looked at several sources, and my understanding of the number 5 is this:

First look for any personal meanings, which take precedence over any generalized 'dictionary' meanings...it can represent an important date, or month or any other personal association. Sometimes it can be a sort of signal from someone who has died, to get your attention. Often, if a number keeps repeating in your life, it helps to think of people who might have been born, died, or had some anniversary or association with the date or month the number represents.

Some people have a personal association with a particular number through their birth date. Add the individual digits in your birth date, keep adding the individual digits of the answer until you get down to one number. That number is thought by some to be the guiding concept or 'life path' number. I would tend to think, given the wide variety and high number of people born on any given day, that the 'life path number' would have the same benefit as the one size fits all newspaper horoscopes.

Some thoughts I've found associated with the number five, is freedom, restlessness. I personally tend to associate it with the mental realm, logic and reason, symbolic of base 10 math and other scientific ideas.

The idea of restlessness co-ordinates well with the idea of change. For the restless, change is a relief. For the restless, stillness and stability is needed for balance.

cups has to do with relationships, but also with intuition. So there is a sense of balancing reason with intuition, which resonates with the reading yesterday of the 5 of wands. The two have been connected by number to similar concepts, adding depth, complexity and emphasis to these simple, generalized single card 'readings'.

This shows Tarot can be an elegant, sophisticated tool for understanding, helping us unlock both reasoning and intuition.

May you find balance of logic and intuition, gain and loss, joy and sadness: all a part of a full life.

No comments: