Cups

The soul is ruled by the Moon and the element Water, as is well known in astrology. It is in the cosmic principle of Soul, or in other words: in the Cosmic Soul, that the truth of the philosophic statement, Panta Rei (everything in the world is flowing), is revealed. And there is no better symbol for the specific nature of the soul in concreto than that of a cup or chalice, which contains the Liquor of Life. The cup is really suggestive enough with regard to the element Water.

When Jesus prayed: "Lord let this chalice pass from me," He indicated something which He feared would fill his soul with bitterness. And in the Last Supper He passed along the chalice of brotherhood amongst the disciples, as a sign of soul-union, a custom still followed by the churches of Christianity and in days of old by King Arthur at the meetings of the Round Table. The Christian churches lay much stress on the mystic happenings with the Holy Chalice on the altar, the receiver of Divine Light and Blessings. Herein we may see a demonstration of the mystery of Christ, Son of the Heart (that is, the Sun in the Solar system), Divine Soul (the 'Father' being Divine Spirit) using the persona of Jesus as Its Cup or vessel (vahana).

In one of the masonic High Grades the cup reappears with the symbolic 'supper' of brotherhood. The quest of the Holy Graal - the legendary Holy Chalice or Cup of Felicity - shadowed forth in the ritual of the church - is well known to represent the thirst or solicitude of the soul for the spiritual water or wine of Life Divine. The Graal itself symbolises the shape of a human or superhuman personality, a soul of human nature, filled or 'fulfilled' by this Divine Essence, by which it becomes a Holy One, a Master or Elder Brother. So it means the quest of the common human soul for the Master Soul.

Cups or beakers are used throughout the world to drink 'welcome' and friendship, i.e. to express the idea of soul-union: something like "my soul drinks from the same liquor as yours," viz. the liquor of life or of renovation of life; "my soul meets yours in the drinking of the wine divine, and so knows that we are brothers."

Among playing-cards cups cannot be anything else but diamonds - in French: carreaux - the two different names giving expression to exactly the same idea: that of the soul or persona of the spirit. The diamond is a jewel which allows the light to pass almost without any loss; the purer its 'water' the less the loss and the higher its value, which is the reason why Occultists call a perfected soul a 'Diamond-Soul.' The French and the Dutch use the same simile in a somewhat more prosaic though still very pretty way, when they compare the soul with a little window through which God is looking downstairs (Flemish: vensterke) into the lower worlds. The same is said of the human eye, which is styled the little window or vensterke of the soul in its turn. This is the origin of the French carreaux and the Dutch ruiten. Its symbolic figure is clear enough:



Without a shadow of doubt cups stand for diamonds or carreaux and for the element Water.

Ordinary divination correctly ascribes to cups the property of ruling money matters, because the soul is, in fact, the producer of work, which results in the production of 'money.'

The figure for diamonds in playing-cards is a square standing on one point, the opposite point reaching upwards. This symbolises the soul in its chief characteristic, standing on one end, one-pointedly directed towards Heaven or spirit and on the other hand one-pointedly directed towards Earth or matter, and squaring the Two within itself. One who really understands this may well be called a 'square man.'

Swords

Not much choice is left with regard to the fourth suit or colour. Perhaps a sword looks more like a magic instrument than a spade, but both are made of iron, which 'cleaves' the Earth or 'the body of Earth.' When in the Bhagavad Gita, the evident intention is to make it clear, that Shri Krishna did not appear in a 'body of Earth' or physical body, one of the images used to express this meaning is: "weapons cleave Him not."

Originally the sword and spade had the same meaning. Compare the Spanish espada and the French épée for sword. A later meaning of 'spade' became that of the agricultural tool.

In one way, viz. as a physical instrument, the emblem of executive power, the sword has much the same meaning as the wand or club: both are instruments of command, compelling obedience. The difference lies in the nature of the element used: wands compel by reason, intelligence, understanding, moral force; swords enforce obedience to laws of Earth, material necessity, actual resistance. This means also, that wands open moral, intellectual and reasonable possibilities, swords give material opportunities.

Both these suits start from the First house or Aries, as will be worked out further hereafter, the one leading up from the beginning of Intelligence, the other from the beginning of activity in Matter.

The swords wound or even kill, they sever the rotten limb from the otherwise healthy body, for which reason the sword became the symbol for discrimination between practical usefulness and practical uselessness.

From this, practical ideas of Right and Wrong, Good and Evil spring into being.

To wound and to kill is to destroy partially or wholly a body of Earth. This must not be regretted, as Shri Krishna explains, because it is only destroying maya, misleading appearances. That which is an inner reality can never be killed; it is Life itself. So the swords may mean destruction to some form or body, formula or limited existence, they may inflict pain, detriment, loss, sorrow upon bodily existence and material possessions or conditions. On the other hand they may mean renovation, birth and rebirth, the removing of obstacles, a clearance of the way and of the field of action, as the spade clears and turns the soil of the garden for a new sowing. So Jesus might well say: "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." And even so, where the I or Self manifests in the world of outer phenomena, it will be obliged to take either the sword or the spade in hand to kill out wrongs, illusions, obstacles or turn the soil for a new sowing. Sometimes it may have to cut away what is not wanted, in order to keep the rest pure and straight and healthy; just as the sculptor works on the marble. So also sorrow and pain will be inflicted upon the body of Earth so long as the hand of the Heavenly Sculptor is upon it.

The symbolic figure drawn for spades in playing-cards is the reverse of that for hearts, plus a design at the top reminding us of the cross upon the circle in the symbol of the planet Mars: it appears also to signify something in the nature of the heart oppressed by the cross of matter.



That ordinary divination takes spades as malific as it makes hearts benefic, will be clear from the above.

From an inner standpoint it is not seen in the same way; this also will be clear.



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