When you picture a Tarot reading in your mind, even if you have never seen a deck of cards before in your life, you are hoping for a card to come out that confirms you will be getting everything you are wishing for. Every Tarot reading starts with the desire for your psychic to pull up the Nine of Cups.
A well-fed man sits on a bench with his arms crossed. He wears a fancy red hat with a matching red feather in it. Behind him is a circular table covered top to floor with a blue cloth. This makes the man’s white robe stand out all the more. On this table are 9 cups. The man sits with his table of cups in an unadorned golden hued room with a golden floor.
The man has such a smug look on his face. He is big too, satisfied and well fed, perhaps even a little bit cocky after a fulfilling experience for which he had obviously longed. He is getting exactly what he wants. The Cups are his and empty; he has enjoyed their contents and has arranged them as trophies. When you get exactly what you wish for, you too will have that satisfied look and that line of trophies. Will you be enjoying your satisfaction alone like our friend with the fancy hat? Will you be on a throne or just a functional wooden bench?
Meaning in Past, Present and Future Positions
The Nine of Cups carries a great power to grant your wishes, and so you may want this card to stick in the future position. You might want to have “credit” with the forces of the Tarot in case you need a wish granted at some point in the future. When this card appears in the past position, you can look back to when you got what you wanted with the perspective that comes with having moved on and evolved. With age comes wisdom and as time passes we may see that the things we really wanted were not what we should have gotten. Women who “get” a man by having a child with him see this card in readings later in life. They got what they wished for and now see the Nine of Cups as a truly hollow victory. The temptations of this card in the Present position are often overwhelming. Is there a man you crave? Is there a co-worker you wish would get fired? Is there a job prospect out there that would be the best imaginable career move possible? Be careful what you wish for, you may get it. That man might be a jerk. Your co-worker might be replaced by an even more terrible person. That job might be great but the company could close at a time that is terrible for your finances. Even though the suit of Cups represents emotions, the Nine of Cups is a card that should make you put thought before desire.
Card Combinations
The Nine of Cups mixes poorly with other cards of the Cups suit. This card needs precision and thought and Cups are too emotional. The chance to have something you really want blinds you to the practical realities. This is wishing to make love with your cute professor and finding out you were one of a few girls in your class that he bedded. Too many Cups cards in a reading with the Nine of Cups present and you are likely to follow a false passion toward oblivion. The Nine of Cups surrounded by many cards from the suit of Swords is a blessing. Swords are cerebral and active. Swords bring about practical and deliberate action. A reading such as this would find you wishing for your college to deliver a friend who also doubles as a study partner.
When the Nine of Cups appears in a reading and there are many cards from the Pentacles suit, look for a financial wish to come true. If Swords and Pentacles appear in equal numbers, your financial decisions and investments will be especially good! If you are in business for yourself or are in the fine arts, you should enjoy seeing your Tarot Reader pull up the Nine of Cups amongst a reading with a lot of cards from the suit of Wands. This is the suit that rules creativity and if you have been longing for that creative breakthrough or the big chance for your paintings to be seen in a gallery or your band to play in a nicer venue, be sure to think about your creative career when the Nine of Cups appears and grants you one wish.
All Tarot cards in any suit bearing the number 9 are lower echoes of the Major Arcana’s cards numbered 9 and 19. The Hermit is card #9. This is the card of loneliness. It is echoed by the man on the bench in the Nine of Cups being alone. Sometimes getting what you want means alienating a lot of people along the way. The Sun is Tarot card #19. This is the card of glorious fulfillment. The Cups arranged on the table symbolize having attained what was desired, a lower echo of the powerful Sun card and the achievement it symbolizes.
When the Nine of Cups appears in a reading with Death, you are likely to get a good transfer in your workplace or move to better domestic situation. Combined with The Devil card, the Nine of Cups gives you more partying than you have ever had, but a bigger hangover than you can handle awaits.
Since the Nine of Cups grants your wishes, perhaps the best companion for it in a reading is the Temperance card. This is the card of foregoing pleasure for a greater sense of purpose. To have the opportunity for the universe to give you a quick route to the things you most want and to also receive the most disciplined and reverential card in the entire Tarot deck is a blessing of wisdom beyond almost any other possible Tarot reading.
