The 9 of Cups is the Minor Arcana ‘Wish Card’ so is generally seen as a good sign in most readings. However, like all 78 Keys, it too contains the full spectrum of meanings from light to dark.
Positive Meanings
- Wish Fulfillment: The 9 of Cups represents the fulfilment of desires and dreams. It indicates that your wishes will come true, bringing joy and satisfaction.
- Abundance: This card symbolises material and emotional abundance. It suggests that you will experience a period of prosperity and contentment in your life.
- Gratitude: The 9 of Cups reminds you to appreciate and be grateful for the blessings you have. It encourages you to count your blessings and find joy in the present moment.
- Celebration: This card signifies celebrations and happy occasions. It suggests that you will be surrounded by loved ones, enjoying their company and sharing happy moments.
- Self-Satisfaction: The 9 of Cups represents a sense of personal achievement and satisfaction. It indicates that you have reached a stage where you feel deeply satisfied with yourself and your accomplishments.
- Emotional Well-being: This card signifies emotional fulfilment and inner happiness. It suggests that you will experience deep emotional satisfaction and a sense of well-being.
Negative Meanings
- Excessive Indulgence: The 9 of Cups in a negative context warns against overindulgence and indulging in excessive pleasures. It advises moderation and balance in your actions and desires.
- Lack of Perspective: This card can indicate a tendency to focus solely on personal satisfaction, leading to a lack of consideration for others. It reminds you to maintain a broader perspective and consider the impact of your actions on others.
- False Contentment: In some cases, the 9 of Cups reversed can indicate a false sense of satisfaction or happiness. It suggests that you might be ignoring underlying issues or avoiding necessary changes, leading to a superficial sense of contentment.
Please note that Tarot interpretations can vary, and these meanings are just a general guide. The interpretation of the cards may also depend on the context of the question/spread position and the surrounding cards.
Feeling into the 9 of Cups
The 9 of Cups (Jupiter in Pisces) is a card that most people love to see in a reading. It signals happiness, good company, great food, plenty of drink and happy times in the company of friends. The little things in life take on great importance and bring equally great joy.
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
~ Dale Carnegie
While the 9 of Cups is considered a card of wish fulfilment, it can also indicate wishful thinking, illusion or even delusion if next to cards like The Devil, the 7 of Cups, the 2 of Swords or the 8 of Swords. Additionally, what we wish for is not always for our best and highest good. Sometimes our wishes lead to seemingly disastrous turns of events. However, if we learn from those turns, nothing has been lost.
Mostly, it brings news of happy times though. This is the cat-that-got-the-cream card in the deck. It’s not unusual to feel a bit smug about your good fortune when the 9 of Cups shows up.
Too much of a good thing
Jupiter in Pisces can bring a tendency to overindulge. This impulse comes from a fear of not getting/having enough. Alcoholism can sometimes be indicated when this card shows up, especially in the company of The Devil, the 7 of Cups and an ill-dignified or reversed Knight/King of Cups.
Physically, all the Pisces cards in the Tarot deck highlight problems with the feet and the lymphatic system. A good purge may be needed both physically (fasting/abstaining) and emotionally (forgiveness/release).
Affirmation: “All my wishes come true or something better comes to pass.”
9 of Cups Prayer
Dear Mother-Father God, thank you for being the one true joy of my life and for showering me with so many blessings. Open my heart wide to wishing every living being well. Amen and so it is!
Correspondences
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Planet: Jupiter
Archangel: Gabriel, ruler of the Element of Water
Gemstones: Aqua aura, turquoise and mother-of-pearl
Essential oils: Lime, vetiver, mimosa
The 9 of Cups in Love and Relationships
Emotionally, expansive Jupiter in watery and mutable Pisces signifies an urge to merge and become one with the other person. While this can be wonderful if the feelings are reciprocated, it can also highlight boundary issues, especially if this urge is taken advantage of by the object of one’s desire.
When the 9 of Cups shows up together with The Star, the Major Arcana wish card, you get a feeling that your wish will come true. This goes for any type of reading so obviously, if it shows up in a reading about love and relationships, it usually indicates that things will go your way too. And if they don’t exactly go your way, something even better will be just around the corner.
Ill-dignified or reversed, in a relationship reading it usually means that you are deluding yourself about the feelings of the other person.
Single and looking
In a single person’s reading, the 9 of Cups indicates their wish for new love to come true. Check surrounding cards for the Ace, 2 and 3 of Cups as well as The Lovers, the Knight of Cups or any court cards that could signify a new lover.
If the card shows up ill-dignified or reversed in a single person’s reading, it usually means a need to learn greater self-love and appreciation for life. A good way would be to start practising gratitude and to start giving more from the heart with no other intention than the joy of giving. Once this lesson is mastered, you will become a magnet for love.
Intimacy
Sexually, this card indicates a deep emotional merging. Your higher hearts are open and unconditional love flows unhindered (upright and well-dignified).
If ill-dignified/reversed, sex will be more about getting than being in the flow of giving and receiving. There could be an unspoken expectation of not getting one’s needs met.
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