By Sarah Taylor
There is a “pay it forward” feel to today’s reading — the idea of being offered something at a time of trial or challenge, and then being able to pass on that gift in a way that brings balm to the soul’s darkest night, whether yours or another’s, or both.
On July 28, the reading witnessed an appearance of three Aces: Wands, Swords, and Pentacles. What I observed then was that the Ace of Cups was conspicuous by its absence and in fact may have been emphasised by that absence. As if the responsibility were ours to meet the complement of the three Aces with our own creation and incarnation of the ideal of unconditional love that is embodied by the Ace of Cups.
In other words, it was up to us to put in the effort to bring Love to the matter. It might have been that it was harder to muster up love than it was to access our powers of creation, or to gain insight, or to bring something into physical form. But that was the task that was being allotted to us, if we chose to take it on.
Here, this week, we are now being asked to take it further.
In the Four of Cups, the figure sitting under the tree is closed off to the same Ace that was absent in the reading two weeks ago. The Ace of Cups is being offered to him, and yet he has chosen to make himself non-receptive to its presence. This state is optional; it rests with him to change his body-language and his mind-set, to open his heart to a force that is waiting for him to let it enter him.