Five of Cups

Five empty cups are arranged in an inverted pentagram; the lotus above has withered, and the sea has become a stagnant marsh.

Geburah, Severity, in Briah, the world of creation. Severity or Strength, the power that breaks what Chesed has built so that it can move: motion, disturbance, the pentagram. Geburah is Mars. The Fives are Geburah in the four worlds and are the hardest cards of each suit, because the settled four has been set in motion.

Geburah in the world of Water: the settled feeling set in motion, and the motion is loss. Mars in the first decan of Scorpio brings the element's fire against its water.

Mars in the first decan of Scorpio (0°–10°, about Oct 23–Nov 1). Mars is force, war, energy, the breaking of forms so that they can move. On the Tree it is Geburah; among the trumps it is the Tower. Mars also opens the sequence of the decans at the first degree of Aries.

Scorpio is fixed Water: the scorpion, the serpent and the eagle, putrefaction and regeneration, the depths. Mars rules it. It is the kerubic sign of Water (as the eagle), and its trump is Death. The trump of Scorpio is Death.

This decan is ruled by the Prince of Cups, whose arc runs from 21° Libra to 20° Scorpio. The two Shem angels of the decan are Veuliah and Yelahiah.

Motion: the solid set moving, disturbance, the pentagram, the microcosm entering matter. Geburah, Severity. The Fives are the crisis cards of each suit; the Hierophant is trump V.

Feeling disturbed by force; the value attacked, the loss felt as betrayal. 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 Loss in Pleasure) is shared by both traditions.

Mars at its best gives courage, decisiveness, protective strength, passion, independence. At its worst: violence, impulsiveness, cruelty, rage, or, when repressed, passive aggression and burnt-out apathy.

Scorpio (“I desire”) brings depth, loyalty, intensity, psychological insight, resilience, emotional power. Its shadow is jealousy, obsession, vengefulness, control, secrecy, destructiveness.

Together: Mars rules Scorpio 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 Oct 23–Nov 1, so it is the decan card of anyone born then; their court card is the Prince of Cups. Find a birthday.