Divination: Princess of Cups from the Lover's Path Tarot

With Valentine’s Day in mind, I drew a card from the Lover’s Path Tarot and turned over the Princess of Cups. the suit of cups is always to do with emotions, and the princess – sometimes the page – is generally a young person who is intuitive, creative and in touch with their emotions. They are usually depicted holding a cup or chalice. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, there’s a fish popping out of the cup and surprising the page, but in the Lover’s Path Tarot, the young woman is looking to one side, thoughtfully. The person represented in the picture is Brangwene  (or Brangaine), Isolde’s maid in the story of Tristan and Isolde, and she has reason to be surprised at what the contents of her cup will cause to happen.

Each suit in the Lover’s Path Tarot is based on a classic love story. That of Cups tells the tale of Tristan and Isolde. Tristan is escorting Isolde to be married to King Mark, but on the journey they drink a love potion that was intended for Isolde and Mark on their wedding night. Bragwene was the one entrusted with the fateful love potion. She had hidden it in her belongings, but Isolde found it and, thinking it was an ordinary flask of wine, shared the drink with Tristan. 

Brangwene gets pretty badly treated by her employer in the story. Not only does Isolde rummage in her maid’s belongings and take the potion without asking her about it, she later asks Isolde to take her place in Mark’s bed on her wedding night, then later considers having Brangwene killed to prevent her telling what happened. She changes her mind, but nevertheless that’s pretty horrible.

The booklet that comes with the  Lover’s Path Tarot says this card represents grace and talent, emotional receptivity, and possibly an enticing invitation. One of the keywords is loyalty. Reading intuitively, the feeling I’m getting from this is that it offers a message for those of us who are trying to juggle work for an employer with our own emotional needs. Sometimes our loyalty and hard work get taken for granted; sometimes things will go wrong no matter how good we are at our jobs. Most of us are in difficult situations at the moment. We might need to use grace, intuition and all of our natural talents to get by. 

Valentine’s Day could also offer us an enticing invitation promised by this card, and possibly a chance for love despite the troubled times. Follow your heart and use your intuition when deciding what to do. Above all else, know that you are loved by many people for who you are, no matter what troubles the world throws in your path.

You can view the Lover’s Path Tarot on Amazon and also read my review of the boxed set here.

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