Four of Cups

Four cups receive the flow of a lotus, but the lower cups only fill because the upper ones overflow; the sea beneath has begun to stir.

Chesed, Mercy, in Briah, the world of creation. Mercy, the first Sephirah below the Abyss and so the first that can be called a real thing: the solid, the four-square, the king who builds. Chesed is Jupiter, generosity and law. The Fours are Chesed in the four worlds, cards of completion and settled order.

Chesed in the world of Water: the element made stable, but Water does not want stability, and the settlement is already too much. The Moon in the last decan of Cancer, its own sign, is at its most passive.

The Moon in the third decan of Cancer (20°–30°, about Jul 12–21). The Moon is reflection, tides, the fluctuating soul, memory and instinct. On the Tree it is Yesod, the Foundation; among the trumps it is the Priestess, who veils the light rather than shining it.

Cancer is cardinal Water: the crab and its shell, the home, the first flood of summer at the solstice. The Moon rules it and Jupiter is exalted here. Its trump is the Chariot. The trump of Cancer is The Chariot.

This decan is ruled by the Prince of Wands, whose arc runs from 21° Cancer to 20° Leo. The two Shem angels of the decan are Melahel and Hahuiah.

The Solid: the first number that can enclose a space, and so matter, law and the square. Chesed, Mercy. The Fours are cards of completion and settled order; the Emperor is trump IV.

Feeling settled into comfort; the value no longer questioned, and so no longer alive. The Cups are usually read as the feeling function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Cups (also Chalices). Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (Lord of Blended Pleasure) is shared by both traditions.

The Moon at its best gives nurturing, empathy, intuition, emotional intelligence, belonging. At its worst: moodiness, clinging to the past, emotional reactivity, dependency, smothering.

Cancer (“I feel”) brings nurturing, loyalty, emotional depth, intuition, memory, protectiveness. Its shadow is moodiness, clinginess, defensiveness, manipulation through guilt, living in the past.

Together: Moon rules Cancer and is at home here. Dignity explains part of the title and the Sephirah explains the rest: a planet at home in its sign can still sit in a hard sphere, and a weak planet can be carried by a strong one.

The Sun crosses this decan around Jul 12–21, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Prince of Wands. Find a birthday.