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TheSeven of Cups is aMinor Arcanatarot card in the suit ofcups. This single card is a part of the popularized tarot deck used for the practice of tarot card readings, often seen under the practice of occult and fortune telling. One of the more well-known illustrations, encapsulating a variety of symbols, is by the artistPamela Colman Smith. What the card represents is subjective to the individual, but has a speculative meaning that has been agreed upon by the generalized tarot community.
Tarot playing cards appeared in history in Italy during the fifteenth century. Tarot was developed further in Britain during the late 1880s to the 1930s, withArthur Edward Waite being one of the key figures in the development of the tarot deck.[1] Waite was a British poet and scholar who wrote considerably on occult and esoteric subjects, leading him to co-create the Rider-Waite tarot deck. He would often draw from ideas of folklore and cultural studies in order to engage with interpretations and practices of the cards. Though influence was taken from Arthurian Literature andCeltic myth, he also revised the imagery based on his own theories and interpretations. Eventually, these developments of the cards, with the illustrations byPamela Colman Smith, were published as a newer version of the deck in 1910.[2] To this day, this deck still remains well-known and recognized amongst tarot users.
A.E. Waite, in one of his publications,The Key to the Tarot: Being Fragments of a Secret Tradition under the Veil of Divination, which was published in 1986, delves into the interpretations of each card. For the Seven of Cups, he describes it as showing different moments of vision. Divinity meanings could include gaining favors, moments of reflection, a newfound view of a situation, imagination, or seeing new confirmations in a situation.[3]
Arthur Edward Waite describes these cups asstrange chalices of vision.[4] The illustration places the seven cups on acloud, possibly reflecting their impractical or transient nature. This may also reflect the idealizedimagination or confusion of the figure conjuring them. Accordingly, the cups have been associated withwishful thinking.
There is some dispute as to what the 7 symbols in the cups mean, with the exact elements of this vision being less important than the very act of conjuring them.
Each cup seems to offer:
According toA.E. Waite, if the Seven of Cups occurs in a reversed format, it may represent a sense of desire for a certain outcome, the determination and will to gain an outcome of a situation, or some kind of project presenting itself.[9]
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