Stormy weather - Margarete Petersen’s Five of Cups

Margarete Petersen’s version of the Five of Cups is not a traditional one! No overturned cups or full cups being ignored, as in more traditional (Rider-Waite-Smith-based) versions of this card – and the sense of loss or despair doesn’t really come across, to my mind. 

Five of Cups (trimmed): © Margarete Petersen Tarot

Having said that, that swirling cloud over the beach does suggest turmoil – whipping up the sand, blurring the boundaries between sand and sea.  Emotional turmoil then, with boundaries in relationships unclear. 

The saving grace here is the deep blue sky above the spiraling cloud – the promise of better weather, better times (i.e. the ‘growth and future positivity’, to quote the accompanying book to the deck) to come.

Like gentle rain, tears
Wash away clouds, revealing

The promise of the sun.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004