Four of Swords and Six of Cups

I pulled the Four of Swords from the Pride Tarot—the artist for this card is Moomie Swan—and the Six of Cups from the Flux Arcana Skeleton Tarot.

Do Skeletons feel joy? Even though I pulled the Four of Swords first, the Flux Arcana image demands my attention. The Six of Cups, traditionally in the RWS deck, has two kids, one handing a cup to the other. It's a card of nostalgia. Remember when we didn’t have to pay bills and had summers off? The Flux Arcana card is not that, but aren't we all colored by what came before? In this card, I imagine the skeleton has taken a cup from the ground and is happily dancing around, losing their crown of responsibility. Our hero is blessed by a halo and makes a sign of benediction—passing that blessing on. Cups are emotional, and the skeleton is picking the best one, as if they are reaching back through their rolodex of memories, and choosing. Just for a moment, they are dancing away, unburdened by the responsibilities of their station. They are looking at the Four of Swords.

The Four of Swords in the RWS deck shows a tomb, and traditional interpretations consider it a card of rest and consideration. The Pride Tarot has a much better version. No finality here, just a break. Our hero is resting beneath a tree; they are clearly marked for adventure with a pack, sword, and adorable dog. Here is a good place for a nap before setting out again.

We spend a lot of time in “if I only…” land. Part of that is smart; we can figure out what we can do better, but too much rumination can lead to unhelpful thought patterns that stick with you. The Six of Cups is telling you to reach back and find moments of joy, or at least the upside to events in your life. Time to knock on some of those thought patterns and see if they have the right lens now that some time has passed.

Part of this comes from how society pushes us to view the past through a binary lens. It is either “good” or “bad.”  Especially when there are endings, there is pressure to say, “That’s bad.” I got divorced, gave up a hobby, or ended my podcast, and that’s “bad”. One lesson to learn is endings: not everything continues forever. I won’t. This blog certainly won’t, and my current obsession with tarot won’t either. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take joy in the middle of it, or appreciate what we learned along the way. I’ve learned how to have a non-traditional family structure, how to edit audio, and outwit the part of me that wants to drink beer and play video games all the time. 

This is powerful self-knowledge, and that is how you got here today.

In sum: Take a moment and walk down memory lane. What lenses do you need to swap out to work through rumination? What perspectives need to change? While you are swimming in the rivers of the past, pluck the self-knowledge you need to take with you. Be grateful to your past self that you learned it, and take it forward.