Ten of Cups is a

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tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

card. Tarot cards are used throughout much of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to play

tarot card games Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

. In

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for

divinatory Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

purposes. Huson, Paul, (2004) ''Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage'', Vermont: Destiny Books,
''Mystical Origins of the Tarot''

Divination usage

In many decks, the Ten of Cups appears in the form of a series of ten cups arranged in a rainbow, being contemplated by a young couple, their arms raised in wonder. Nearby, two young children are seen playing. In other decks, the rainbow image is removed and the children are not evident, but in most cases, the cups are arranged upright and a young happy couple is pictured. The divinatory message is evident in this image, in that it represents fortunate marriage, contentment of the heart, and the perfection of human love and friendship. It can also refer to the town or country where the querent lives. This is one of the most positive cards in the entire Tarot deck. Reversed, it can refer to quarreling, violence, and a troubled heart. Other divinatory meanings include a peaceful environment and (reversed) a disrupted routine, and selfish exploitation. Within some esoteric disciplines, such as the

Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society#Europe, secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late ...

, each of the forty pip cards of the Tarot deck is assigned and attributed to one of the four letters of the

tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

and one of the ten

sephirot Sefirot (; he, סְפִירוֹת, translit=Səfīrōt, Tiberian: '), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and ...

h of the

Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History ...

. In the case of the Ten of Cups, this attribution is to the tenth sephirah of

Malkuth Modern: ''Malḵūt'' , Tiberian: ''Malḵūṯ'' , Ashkenazi: ''Malḵūs'' , 'kingdom'), Malkhut Malkhuth or Malchus is the tenth of the sephirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It sits at the bottom of the Tree, below Yesod. This sephirah ...

and the letter ה ( Heh). The correlation between the two terms in this combination leads to a symbolic title for each card. In the case of this card, that key name is ''Perpetual success''.

Rider–Waite symbolism

* The image appears remarkably

idyll An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). U ...

ic, rustic. * Besides the Seven of Cups, this is the only card in the suit where the cups are up in the air and not physically supported. This may show contentment which is not based on material circumstance, or a lack of material consideration.

References

{{Minor_Arcana Suit of Cups