Two of Cups
A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place. Divinatory Meanings: Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and — as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination — that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.
A. E. Waite, Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
Love, happy relationship, harmony and melting, receptivity, sweetness of youth, vitality and feeling, flirtation, a holiday romance with no commitments - all this represents a desire for openness and honesty. It is an initial meeting between active and passive, man and woman, projecting itself on to something or someone outside. In that other we see a glimpse of what we ourselves are in process of becoming. Chance for humanizing and to see the potential for immortality, which can lift the human love to a higher and more spiritual level.
2 of Water: Friendliness
The branches of these two flowering trees are intertwined, and their fallen petals blend together on the ground in their beautiful colors. It is as if heaven and earth are bridged by love. But they stand individually, each rooted in the soil in their own connection with the earth. In this way they represent the essence of true friends, mature, easy with each other, natural. There is no urgency about their connection, no neediness, no desire to change the other into something else.
This card indicates a readiness to enter this quality of friendliness. In the passage, you may notice that you are no longer interested in all kinds of dramas and romances that other people are engaged in. It is not a loss. It is the birth of a higher, more loving quality born of the fullness of experience. It is the birth of a love that is truly unconditional, without expectations or demands.
Tarot of the Ages - Mario Garizio ©1988 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
By its image, the Two of Cups almost always suggests a relationship between two people. Indeed, this is the primary meaning of the card and the one that appears most often in readings. But the love described by this card is not always love for another person. Before we can truly love another we must learn to love ourselves, to love and accept all of the different (and often conflicting) facets of the gemstone that makes up our personality. Like the Temperance card, this is a card of harmonious union, not just of two people, but of two parts of the same person.
That said, it remains obvious that a lot of the time the Two of Cups speaks of external relationships. This is often seen as the card of the soulmate, that person with whom we share a special connection and whom we can love unconditionally. The synergy of a person with his or her soulmate is like the meeting of two stars which, though bright when separate, shine even more brightly when together. From a distance they may even appear to be a single entitiy. Such harmonious combinations, whether they are between two people, groups or ideas, are a staple of the Two of Cups. It must be said, however, that this card does have its drawbacks. The energy of the Two of Cups is slightly more diluted than the Lovers card, and not simply because of the Major/Minor Arcana power drop. Whereas the Lovers is the reunion of two complete beings, the Two of Cups is a more immature union that, stable as it may seem, does have the potential to fall apart. This is an ideal union, but as you know, there are few ideal cases in our real world! It is ambiguous whether the relationship shown by the Two of Cups can stand the test of time. Only the two people involved can decide that.
One factor in deciding the stability of a relationship is the stability of the people involved. As mentioned earlier, a high self-love will lead to a greater and more comprehensive love of others. So when this card does not appear to signal a relationship, see it as a sign that you have some work to do within yourself. If you can see the light within yourself then you cannot help showing it to others. By releasing doubt and uncertainty we become able to love others without hesitation and without regret. When you stop telling yourself what you could be, you can start enjoying what you already are. And you can let others enjoy that too.
Tarot of the Dream Enchantress ©2009 Lo Scarabeo