Nine of Cups
Mutable water: abundance, birthday cake, desires
NINE OF CUPS
Pisces is a time of confusion between reality and fantasy, and between past and present. In all of this water, it is possible to get lost.
The cups are here as helpful containers, so that the water doesn’t overflow.
This card asks important questions about how much is too much, and how much is truly needed.
PISCES II + NINE OF CUPS
This card correlates with the second decan of Pisces. You can learn more about the decans here.
Pisces II is The Inky Void Between Stars. This is the penultimate decan in the zodiac, and it has the expansive nature of Jupiter and the intuitive, secretive, fathomless nature of the Moon.
The Inky Void Between Stars is the place holds deep secrets, hidden knowledge, and divine connection.
But how much can one person, alone, make use of this fathomless knowledge?
Kira Ryberg makes an astute comment about the Nine of Cups, often considered to be one of success and celebration.
There’s an air of abundance to this card – what more could one want, anyhow? While she may enjoy the success and riches she has created for herself, the woman also sits alone. She might not be bothered by this fact but it is true all the same.
There is something almost painful about this level of abundance – perhaps a fear of losing what has been gained, or a sense of holding on too tightly.
T. Susan Chang has a really fun image about this card of wishes. She sees a birthday cake with candles waiting to be blown out.
Nine cups, polished and golden, pose atop a draped display, looking for all the world like the candles on a birthday cake. Go ahead, blow them out and make a wish! For indeed, we have arrived at last at the famous "card of wishes". Something magical is about to happen (though as always in magic, the causal mechanism is shrouded from view). The 9 of Cups is the Lord of Happiness - for what is happier than the moment when one believes one's fondest wish is about to be fulfilled? Happier, you could even say, than the fulfillment itself - for in the anticipation lies much of the sweetness.
Both Chang and Ryberg allude to something important about this card – time and presence. If you spend too long anticipating the wish, or hoarding objects that represent past struggles, you might not enjoy the only thing that really matters – the present moment.