Four of Cups ~ The Borderlands

Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Julia Jeffrey

Several weeks ago the Four of Cups swam into my awareness as one of those conundrum cards. You know the ones I mean. You understand the symbolism, you grok the traditional interpretation no probs but you feel like you're missing the deeper themes it speaks to. It's been my experience that holding the misunderstood card as a question and letting it live at the edges of my awareness without the need to analyze it eventually yields the kind of resonance I'm looking for. It's as if it takes on a kind of somatic reality that gradually trickles up to my mental reality.

Universal Waite by Pamela Coleman Smith
recolored by Mary Hanson-Roberts

And such was the case with the Four of Cups. Traditionally we see a figure seated at the base of a tree, arms crossed, three cups before him, one being divinely offered. On his face is a look of several possible realities, boredom, daydreaming, self absorption, disinterest, contemplation. It never really rang true to leave it at that surface level. But I was never able to get too far with it beyond this, at least not into something that felt resonant.

Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Julia Jeffrey

Enter this version from the Tarot of the Hidden Realm with its gorgeous and lyrical depiction of a selkie at the moment she is leaving behind her human body to transform into a seal and suddenly there it was, the deeper message. The level of her apprehension at taking up full embodiment in either realm is palpable. Leaving behind the riches of her Fey world is as daunting as not being able to swim freely in the ocean's currents. And it's this ambivalence that I think speaks to the heart of the card.

This is a card of navigating the liminal realms. Its geography is the borderlands, the edges. It speaks to a deep ambivalence towards incarnation, towards manifestation, towards the present moment. Betwixt and between is the phrase that comes to mind, and with it the suffering and isolation that ensues from such a state.





As I was musing on this very familiar state, on my own sometimes ambivalence at being present, occasionally at being in a body at all, I wondered at the possible reasons for it. The word perfectionism swam up to greet my inquiry. Yes, I imagine that is at the heart of things, an ideal so high that it's impossible to reach and therefore one spends a lot of time roaming, neither in the "imperfect" world of form nor the unattainable ideal world of, well, ideals. I dunno, for me this touches on subjects and themes that feel soul-oriented, that are questions I'm holding this lifetime. How often am I absent from the moment, from life, from myself?

The way the figure is seated at the base of the tree in the traditional depiction of this card gives me the sense that root chakra work would be a wonderful way to begin the slow and steady process of incarnation, of coming to terms with being here, now. Spending time with my back against a solid tree, feeling its roots spreading out beneath me, the ground supporting me. All of these bring the body into the present moment of sensation, of feeling and noticing. Perhaps even spending a bit of time each day connecting this way would go a long way to redress the imbalance between ether and earth. And I think when this card comes up for me now I'll have a much better sense of its message, not only emotionally but also somatically.

Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Julia Jeffrey