5 of Cups

move through grief at your own pace

Five confronts + Cups relates to our emotional life

And so, in its centered position on the spectrum, the Five of Cups invites us to confront our grief. The watery Cups long for meaningful connection, but are faced with sorrow and disappointment from something expected. We may be grieving and having a hard time letting go, but we must sit with it. We know intellectually that the pain will subside over time, and others may be telling us to put it behind us or to focus on the two remaining cups, but it’s all we feel right now and it’s valid. We must process our grief at our own pace.

In resistance, we may not be dealing with our grief at all. For so many of us, it’s easier to just ignore and repress.

In excess, we’re unable to move on, stuck in regret and failure and isolation, perhaps blaming ourselves for past loss. Or, we just expect pain and disappointment with a brooding contempt for love and relationships.

Questions we may consider when this card comes up include

• What do you need to grieve? Can you give yourself the permission you need to do so?
• Are ghosts from your past influencing current decisions? What parts are involved in that?
• Are you focusing more on what you have, or what you’ve lost?
• What chapter needs to close in your life? What can you do to welcome a new one?
• Has your (or a part’s) mode of relating to others left you in isolation?
• Do you default to self-recrimination, blaming yourself when outcomes have resulted in loss?

What else? These questions are by no means comprehensive but a way to get us started in thinking about the card’s many layered ways of fostering awareness and growth. How do you see it? How has it come up for you?