Pisces in the DruidCraft Minor Arcana: The Nine of Cups

Today we move on to the Nine of Cups, which - in the system I use - is linked to Jupiter in Pisces, as well as the  middle third of Pisces (28^th February to 9^th March).  Jupiter is the ruler of Pisces, so already we have a sense of how this might play out! Jupiter, the ‘Greater Benefic’, expansive, generous, jovial... and in Pisces, described so well by William Blake’s “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" (from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell). Jupiter in Pisces is compassionate and sensitive, and has great faith or trust in a higher power (and the self).  It wants to grow by living according to its ideals – it’s high-minded, yet its generosity of spirit makes it sympathetic to everyone and everything. 

Nine of Cups (trimmed)
DruidCraft Tarot

Jupiter’s expansiveness gives rise to a sense of benevolence and of being satiated. In Pisces, it’s all about bliss, deep joy, overflowing love... without restrictions.  In the image in the DruidCraft, we can see that this man’s emotions are nourished, the senses are satisfied (symbolized by the spread of food and cups). It’s a time for indulging, to enjoy dreams now fulfilled – “a full and rewarding emotional life”, as the creators of the deck write in the accompanying book.

Jupiter in Pisces also reflects imagination and creativity, which might also be in full Piscean flow. Things really do seem to be going swimmingly! There’s also the sense of ‘blessedness’ that comes from deep-rooted, absolute joy.

The shadow side of Jupiter in Pisces, and the Nine of Cups, is the tendency towards escapism, and losing focus. Not that escapism is always a bad thing, but Jupiter takes things to excess, so what might be healthy escapism runs the risk of becoming an addiction. It could be difficult to deal with the outpouring of emotions, to the point where the emotions end up becoming blocked for fear of the consequences.  There’s also the risk of becoming complacent or lazy in our contentment – the hot-air balloon of Jupiter, the nebulous depths of Pisces...it can be hard to stay grounded!

DruidCraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004

Pisces in the DruidCraft Minor Arcana: The Eight of Cups

In the astrological correspondence system that I follow, Pisces is linked to the Eight, Nine and Ten of Cups. Today I’m going to look at the Eight of Cups, which corresponds to Saturn in Pisces – and to the first third of Pisces (18^th-27^th February).

Pisces is the mutable Water sign, so we’re looking at our emotional resources and how these might need to change.  Saturn sets limits – something that Pisces doesn’t like! – but also helps us to maintain our integrity. Combined with Pisces, it wants to transcend the restrictions that we find ourselves surrounded by so that we can ‘merge’ with others.  It needs to find a way to express its feelings in such a way that it still feels stable – but not stuck.

 

8 of Cups (trimmed)
DruidCraft Tarot

So how might this play out in the Eight of Cups? The DruidCraft Tarot follows the relatively ‘traditional’ (i.e. Rider-Waite-Smith) depiction of the Eight of Cups, with a figure walking away from eight cups, neatly laid out on a flat stone beside the stream.  Despite the care taken to place the cups, the figure is abandoning them because they no longer provide the emotional security needed.  Notice the waning crescent moon in the sky – something is drawing to an end.  There’s no sign of any life in the landscape, so there’s no hint as to what the figure is heading towards. 

The number ‘8’ is the number of death and birth (8^th house themes, in astrology), cycles and recycling – time to let go of what’s no longer working, time to move forward to something new and (as yet) unknown (shades of the Moon card, associated with Pisces).  The cloaked figure is letting go of what’s no longer of use, searching for something deeper within or beyond.

DruidCraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004

Pisces in the DruidCraft Major Arcana

Let’s start our exploration of Pisces in the tarot with the Major Arcana. The card associated with Pisces is the eighteenth one, The Moon.  That often comes as a surprise – you might think that The Moon in the tarot would be associated with the Moon in the sky, but no, confusingly, the Moon that orbits the Earth is linked to the High Priestess.  

So why The Moon?  Well, let’s think back to what we know about Pisces. It’s the mutable water sign, the sign that puts no boundaries on emotions and feelings, the sign that merges conscious with unconscious, that’s linked to compassion, sensitivity, all-encompassing love and nurturing... all qualities that have become associated with the Moon.  Often referred to as a psychic sign, Pisces is interested in exploring the soul, the psyche. It opposes Virgo on the axis of ‘service’ – while Virgo wants to be of use on a practical level, Pisces wants to be involved on the spiritual level.  Pisces can feel restricted by the ‘mundanity’ of everyday life; it wants to transcend this, and does so through dreams (the daydream variety or in sleep) as well as through creative expression and the imagination.  The Moon card, too, is linked to intense dreams and the power of the imagination. 

The Moon: DruidCraft Tarot (trimmed)
Created by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm,
illustrated by Will Worthington

We often see water in the Moon card, another link back to the water sign of Pisces, and the DruidCraft Tarot is no exception. Pisces floats through life, flowing with the tides – another link to the Moon. The gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun, combined with the effects of the rotation of the Earth, produce the rise and fall in sea level – the ebb and flow of the tides.  The Moon is also linked to cycles through its phases – new, waxing, full, waning, old. In Will Worthington’s depiction of The Moon card in the Druidcraft, we see clearly the waxing crescent moon, although with a bit of imagination I can also see the outline of the new and full moon as well.

The shadow side of Pisces can be a tendency to escape into a fantasy world, a world of illusion – which can also lead to addiction.  The Moon card is often associated with illusion – that things are not what they seem. Rachel Pollack, in her Seeker: The Tarot Unveiled (Llewellyn Publications, 2005) talks about ‘the passage through the unknown’, and how this can refer to actual journeys as well as inner ones. Either can be adventures, journeys of discovery – but both involve uncertainty.  Sometimes the uncertainty can make us feel a little ‘mad’ – bringing us to the link between the Moon and lunacy (‘luna’ being Latin for ‘moon’).  The dog and wolf depicted here, as in many versions of this card represent the wildness, the animal instinct to howl at the moon, to run wild, the ‘madness’ that needs to be released, the unconscious.  The crab, half in water, half on land, also symbolizes the connection between conscious and unconscious.  

Have you noticed how rarely people are depicted in this card? It’s often only animals...our wild side, our unconscious.

And it takes courage to walk that unknown path, not knowing where we’re going to end up or what we’re going to encounter on the way.  Yes, we could fall prey to illusion or deception on the way, but fear of this shouldn’t stop us. Fear, represented in the image by the two standing stones (the Gateway of Fear that leads to Rebirth, according to the accompanying book), has its place, as the creators of the deck say in their book, “in protecting us from danger and clarifying our emotional limits....but ...fear can also be our ally and teacher”. The dog and the wolf, the Guardians of the Threshold in the DruidCraft Tarot, can become our guides, our allies, as we step into the unknown.

Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm go on to say “The challenge offered by The Moon is to confront your fears, and use your discrimination to separate truth from illusion, while at the same time allowing yourself to be open to the realm of imagination..”.  By accepting the fears, the ‘madness’, the uncertainty, we gain access to instinct, to our unconscious – the goal of Pisces!

DruidCraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004