The Page of Cups

Unlike what I had intended to do, which was to randomly pick a card from the deck for writing about today, instead I allowed my mind to roam a bit and I settled on the Page of Cups.  This card has come up quite a bit recently and I felt it was time to give it some written attention.

Years ago I had been told by a woman who taught me quite a bit about the cards, that the Page of Cups can and will often refer to psychic, intuitive and creative abilities.  She also mentioned that it will sometimes refer to homosexuality as well.  In my years with this card, I have found those things to be true.  I would also, liken the Page of Cups to be close in relationship to The Fool in some ways.  By it’s nature as the youth and childlike representation of the the Page it is often implied that there is innocence, inexperience and even naiveté.  I always keep in mind that when comparing the minor cards to the major, that the major are archetypical in nature and tend to represent higher ideals, energies, and influences – often spiritual or psychological.  However it is important to keep in mind that the minor arcana more aptly represent the more mundane aspects of life.  So in this case I would have to state that the Page of Cups is a more limited and mundane aspect of The Fool.  There are many cards in the deck where I draw correlations between minor and major, but for now we will focus on our Page of Cups.

I think I might relate personally more so to this Page more so than any of the others, because he/she reminds me of myself when I was a child.  From here on in I will refer to the Page as “child”, but please keep in mind that in reality, it can also refer to child like.  This child is an introverted one.  This does not mean that this child is unhappy or insecure as would most often be assumed with those who are introverted.  No, quite the opposite.  This is the child that easily immerses themselves in their own fantasies and allows them to take them where ever they take them.  They are perfectly content with amusing themselves and have little need for others.  This does not mean they are aloof or solitary, it only means that they have an inner world that may be as real and fulfilling to them as their outer world.  Yes, they may have friends, and be quite social with them, but they are not longing for companionship – especially as a means of validating their own self worth.  This child sits and reads, draws, builds castles in the sand, constructs fantasy plays and can and will do all this without any outside prompting.  However, they are has happy doing it with others as well as doing it alone!  This is perhaps where the idea of this child card being one of the more predisposed to intuitive and psychic talents comes about.  It would seem natural that a person who can immerse themselves naturally into their own inner worlds to a point where the boundaries between that world and others begins to thin to a point where “visions” that are more than a fantasy begin to emerge.  It would appear to be a result of this child’s natural temperament.

Of course, emotion is of major import here as well.  With creativity and psychism there is often a strong correlation to being more in tune  to ones emotions or being more overtly emotionally oriented.  You might hear this person use the words “I feel” when they speak,  as they approach most everything in their world from a more emotionally oriented viewpoint.

I seldom rely on the court cards actual physical appearance to describe the person it may be referring to, but it does happen.  The reason being is that sometimes the qualities of this card are not limited to those of light hair and eyes as some of the more traditional definitions of years past have attributed.  Yet, there are times, when intuition dictates otherwise and then the card has little to do with the traits I’ve spoken of prior, and the card ONLY refers to those very physical characteristics!  AND to cause further confusion their are times when both inner and outer qualities are as described!  This is the part where intuition is important.

There is often a reference to the Pages as cards of messages or new events being initiated and to some extent I believe this to be true.  However, I let my intuition guide me on this.  In this case the new situation will be concerning those attributed to the Cups suit.  I seldom see references to children too young to speak as this is often symbolized by other cards for me.

Another aspect of this card is the act of withdrawing from the emotional turbulence that can either be of our own or others making.  It takes a singular mind to do this and in many ways this card may be referring to meditative work or again, introspective habits that enable us to push out those things that may cause distraction and instead focus on those things that help us move forward.  The obvious image of the child gazing at the fish starting back him from his cup suits this meaning perfectly.  The fish from the depths of our inner world, subconscious – call it what you will, has much to tell us if only we are able to find the means to listen.  Meditation and stillness are very effective means to do this.  Dreams and creative processes are another.  However it is that we find the mechanism to turn off the analytical part of ourselves and allow the world of symbolism to flow through is the way we interact with it.

When this card is ill dignified then we need to take different considerations.  All of the above may still hold true as the basic Cup nature.  However, instead of these traits being healthy, or positively reinforced they become weak or conflicted.  The child may be introverted, but not for the right reasons.  They may feel insecure and unable to reach out to others and use their inner world as a means of escape rather than to create or grow.  Perhaps the more psychic elements of this card become difficult to handle and burdensome or worse delusional?  There are hints of emotional distress or instability when ever any of the Court cards are ill dignified, but in this case it takes on more meaning because the type of person this card refers to is especially emotional by nature.  It is often said that the ill dignified Court cards refer to some form of treachery, deceit, self absorption, or selfishness and this may well be true.  In the case of the Cup Courts and particularly with the Page of Cups, the deceit in particular is not always intentional or malicious in the expected sense.  In this case there is considerable self deceit and perhaps self-delusion as well going on, and as a result any lies one is telling oneself (and believing), they are also telling those around them.  How can you tell the truth if you are believing the lie yourself?  One other consideration is that not all lies we tell ourselves, are of our own making either.  Their are institutional lies, marketing lies, family and friend lies etc., that we buy into wittingly or not.

Advertisement