Celebration! The Three of Cups

The Three of Cups is a happy card.  Just look at Robin Wood's card:

You see? Just look at the pink-garbed blonde on the left! She's thrilled! They all are so happy to see you!
The Three of Cups is all about celebration.  This celebration may be a get-together with friends, a family reunion, a cast party after a great run...anything you can imagine.  While the participants in the joyous occasion may be any gender, this card has a feminine feel to it.
The women are surrounded by green growing things, and flowers and fruit.  This is a time of growth for the questioner, but this is a happy growth.
The three women traditionally associated with this card are the feminine triad of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

Here, Barbara G. Walker shows the three iconic women, and titles the card "Grace."  The person for whom this card is drawn is graced.  He or she is blessed with contentment, joy, and good company.

You may have noticed that both Barbara G. Walker and Robin Wood have drawn a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead.  The blonde symbolizes the Maiden, the redhead the Wife or Mother, and the brunette the Wise Woman.  On a deeper level, this card is one of feminine power--the potential and purity of the Maiden, the fertility of the Wife/Mother, and the experience of the Wise Woman.  By 'purity' I don't mean virginity, but something more like the mindset of the Fool.  Our Maiden here is open, enthusiastic, and curious.  By fertility, I don't mean necessarily pregnancy, thought that is a possibility, but also the birth of new ideas and creativity.  The Wife/Mother is self-assured. She is the symbolic Wife/Mother of her passions--represented by the color of her hair.  She is generous, a trait that continues with the Wise Woman.  The Wise Woman has dark hair, alluding to her knowledge of mysteries, and her intuition.
The Wise Women is normally seen as an old woman with silver hair.  The Three of Cups shows three young women because this card is associated with new romances, new babies, and weddings (Cups are associated with romantic relationships and family), as well as coming-of-age ceremonies, particularly for young women.

Kris Waldherr includes an older women with silver hair in her Three of Cups.  This card looks like it could be depicting the young woman's initiation.  There is a white gown, for purity, pink for love, and purple for royalty.

The Three of Cups for Julian De Burgh's Celtic deck shows five people, the traditional three and a couple anticipating the birth of their baby. They have gone from the happy couple of the Two of Cups to the family of the Three.

Reversed, the Three of Cups may symbolize dashed hopes or disillusionment in the area of romance, a wedding, or the birth of a new baby.  Metaphorically, it could also mean frustration in a creative pursuit. On a less depressing note, it could mean that there will be a postponement or rescheduling in one of these areas. You may have to wait a little longer for that wedding, or the fertility treatments may take longer than you thought. Perhaps that art gallery opening or performance got pushed back.  Ask yourself if this, while frustrating, may actually turn out for the best.

The Empress

I felt that it would only be fitting to write about the lady of fertility and blessings around the time of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The woman in the picture above is the Navaho and Apache earth goddess of change. According to the theology, she created mankind from white flour and corn meal she dusted from her chest. The chest is the place where we, from the time we are born, receive food and comfort. The Empress is a mother archetype, making sure all have all they need. Estsanatlehi (pronounced broken down into syllables--est-san-at-lah-hee) has the ability to age, but then grow young again by walking toward the East, the place of creation.  So, she never dies. This immortality is granted to the Empress archetype. The Mother is as old as time, and will last until the end of time. It is the same with generosity, I think.  The Empress can represent a person in the person's life who is extremely generous and is waiting to give blessings to the person. The Empress usually represents a mother figure, or a man who is very supportive, caring, and giving. It is also very fitting that Estsanatlehi is associated with the Earth, as is the Empress. There is a reason we call our planet Mother Earth.

When the Empress shows up, it means blessings are in the offing.  These blessings can be material--traditionally, a good harvest, but today it could mean a raise, or a new house.  The blessing could also be one of fertility. This could mean the obvious conclusion that a new baby is coming, but it could also be a new creative project--especially one that's more crafty and hands-on.  I also think that the Empress gives blessings of family, especially if it appears with one of the Cups cards. If the question is about marriage or adoption, this is a good card to get!  The wedding will be happy, the marriage will be loving, and the in-laws will be welcoming.  The adoption will be joyous and smooth.  The Empress can also represent a comfortable, loving home, contentment, and security.

The generous energy of the Empress, when in balance, is unconditional. There are no strings attached to the gifts, except perhaps gratitude, and taking the Empress' cue and sharing what you have in turn. Gratitude is generosity's twin, I think, and so the Empress represents gratitude to me, as well as generosity.

The shadow, unbalanced side of the Empress is someone who is stingy, someone who is incapable of giving, an abusive mother, or someone who is ungrateful. She can also represent someone who is giving too much, at the expense of his/her own well-being, or someone who is smothering instead of mothering.

In more esoteric views, the Empress is all about the fecundity--meaning the sex. As you can see in the Barbara G. Walker interpretation above, the Empress is seated in a very generous posture, if you know what I mean. This hearkens to a time of the temple prostitutes, who were treated like queens for providing not only sexual but spiritual services. They were the conduits of the ultimate empresses, the goddesses. In this context, the Empress is less mothering and more sex queen, but she is still an empress, in every sense of the word. Sexual power is also another meaning for the card, but it is up to you to determine whether this energy is strictly femme fatale or a combination of lover/possible wife/future mother to the children.  Even as I type this, that is not a very accurate way to describe it. It's just that the energy is not just about sex--it's about a deeper bonding where the beloved takes on multiple roles, each of them extremely important. If you are familiar with the Maid/Mother/Crone triad seen in matriarchal religions, it's like that--this is a woman of such powers she juggles various life roles seemingly effortlessly.

Questions for consideration:

1) Think about the women in your life, and their various roles--girlfriend, wife, mother, sister, best friend.  Which relationships are positive and which are negative? What have you learned about being a woman, or relating to women, from these relationships?
2) Who nurtures you in your life? Whom/what do you nurture? What defines "nurturing" for you, as opposed to smothering? On the flip side, who leaves you feeling neglected and abandoned?
3) What creative ideas, projects, or dreams are you incubating? What are some steps you can take to make the dream real, or to move it to the next level?
4) Are there any dreams that you may have abandoned, but still think about? How can you nurture them back to life?