Seven of Cups
The Seven of Cups appears when there’s a dazzling array of options–or distractions.
This card represents possibility, imagination, and indulgence. It appears when we need to dream up new solutions, or alternatively, when we’re dealing with serious sensory overload and struggling to streamline.
Is your scope narrow? Or are you losing sight of the prize because there’s too much to choose from? The card asks you if you’re lacking reverie, or, buried in its aspirations. Consider where you stand to know what this card means for you.
When looking to unlock creativity, this card is terrific. Cups and tears overflow with options and routes. Jewels, new faces, and fantastical gifts present themselves as riches for the taking. To open up, you’re asked to dream big, innovate, or imagine a reality outside your limited scope.
Expanding your prospects brings spiritual, emotional, and material prosperity. But there’s a catch. The rewards are only reaped when muscle and mind follow the picture you’re painting. You need a streamlined plan or framework to support the influx of growth. Whether you’re expanding your path or even your emotional connections, a solid structure is required.
The energies of this card are best used as a show opener. It’s like envisioning an architectural masterpiece but knowing you must also create the architectural plans. There’s a flash of brilliance, with follow-through needed.
With its endless magic, the Seven of Cups can also bring mental frenzy. This card can appear for mania, hyper creativity, and sensory addiction. You might need to slow down, center, and refocus.
In romantic readings, the Seven of Cups can indicate distraction. You or someone else could be drawn to the nightlife, drinking, and compulsive sexual experiences. The array of riches in the Seven of Cups could also suggest gambling, glam and glitter, or self-obsession. Expectations for love could also be sky high or steeped in illusion. There’s a disconnect from reality and perhaps, an inner void that one can’t seem to fill.
On the other hand, you might look at this card and find its fantasy appealing. You could feel stuck at home and in dire hermit mode. You might need to walk on the wilder side of life –at least to get things jump-started.
When reversed, this card expresses the unhinged. You might feel scattered, unable to focus, or like you’re taking on too much. Mental functioning is fractured. You might need to scale back and reset.
This card’s reversal can also show a tight clamp on urges. You might believe your desires are wrong or that your dreams are unreachable. Are you punishing yourself unnecessarily or closing yourself off from what might bring greater happiness? The Seven of Cups reversed might ask you to examine your feelings around desire.
When its dreamy qualities are embraced with the weight of a plan, the Seven of Cups brings you beyond your regular sight and into something bigger.
Sources
Greer, Mary. Archetypal Tarot. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2011.
Greer, Mary. Tarot Reversals. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2002.
Pollack, Rachel. Tarot Wisdom. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2008.
Snow, Cassandra. Queering the Tarot. Newburyport, MA: Weiser Books, 2019.
Tea, Michelle. Modern Tarot. New York, NY: Harper Collins: 2017.
Wen, Benebell. Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach to Using Tarot for Personal Growth. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2015.
Video
Spread
If you are drawn to the Seven of Cups and want to dig deeper, get them outta your deck, make them your mascot, and draw some cards from the rest of the deck with this tarot spread I created!
