Nine of Cups (Marseille Tarot): Floating Downstream
A man has come to the weekly ecotherapy group for the first time. His friend, who comes to the group regularly, has encouraged him to try ecotherapy, to get out of the house. His mum died last week, and it is still raw. I see it in his eyes, which look wet from crying, and in his demeanour: vulnerable and hunched as his friend repeatedly pats his back, congratulating him for making it outdoors in the depths of his grief.
Another one of our regular group members – a gentle and vulnerable woman who comes every week – is also mourning the death of her precious cat. She, too, carries the burden of loss. She lives alone, feels the sting of loneliness; her cat means more to her than anything else in her life.
We are outside the Water of Leith centre, a charity that protects and cares for its namesake river, which runs through the city of Edinburgh. The Water of Leith is a sliver of freshness, home to otters, kingfishers and heron. A variety of beautiful creatures can be found bathing here on any given day, and we often see majestic creatures if we are still and patient enough.
The Water of Leith Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland.
I change my plans for today’s activity, to honour the grief of the group members. After we have our weekly chat about our recent experiences with Nature, followed by a little grounding meditation, I invite the group to walk silently. We move along the long wooden bridge which takes us high above the banks of the water. After ten minutes of walking, we are down there, walking along the banks of the riverside, meandering through ivy-smothered willow trees.
I have invited the group to each look for a small natural object on our way to the riverside, such as a stick or a feather – something that won’t disturb the local wildlife if removed. Everyone has done so. We stop before the water. On the other side of the river, the city is in full swing with the sound of traffic and drilling and a graffitied wall staring back at us. But the Sun shines down, sparkling starlight onto little eddies that are created by rocks in the shallow river. The sound of rushing water drowns out the city, and it is everything. We feel it fresh on our face, we inhale its vapour in our lungs, our spirits invigorate.
One by one, we each throw our natural object into the water, honouring something that we need to let go of in life. What we are symbolically letting go of is personal to each person (we can share about it later if we want to, but there is no pressure to). The woman whose cat has died squats on the rocky riverbank as her stick flows away into the distance. The man whose mum has died smiles with a melancholy look on his face; he links arms with his friend, watching his stick get stuck in some rocks before breaking free and moving onward.
Soon, chat begins to break out. The mood becomes lighter. Some of us share about what we let go of, or how it felt to watch our offering flow down the river. Everyone feels some sense of release. We walk back along the bridge to our original meeting point at the Water of Leith centre, exploring each other’s connection to the water.
The number Nine in Tarot can represent deep reflection on a journey that is coming to an end.
Cups, as we know, can represent the flow of water, emotions, relationships.
Above: Nine of Cups from the Jodorowsky/Camoin version of the Tarot de Marseille.
In a literal sense, the Nine of Cups sees the energy of water carrying something to its conclusion. In the Tarot of Marseille, nine cups are arranged in trios, one on top of the other. The leaves of a plant reach between all cups, sometimes withering, sometimes in symmetry, depending on the deck. The number ten, a finality, is now ready.
Notes: to protect the identities of the people I have written about, I have changed many details so that they are unrecognisable. The group activities we did together remain true, though. Another note: this card in the Marseille Tarot has little in common with Waite-Smith-based Tarot decks.
That’s all for now, friends. Thank you for being here – and please check out my Therapeutic Tarot Sessions and my courses embracing Tarot and Nature if you’d like us to work together. You can also sign up for the Tarot Blog newsletter (different to my main newsletter) below to receive occasional email updates (roughly monthly) with the latest posts.
Smiles from Scotland,
Stephen
