RLR008: The Suit of Cups

You're listening to Root Lock Radio. Hello and welcome to Root Lock Radio, a podcast for uncloging, learning, and exploring the tarot cards. My name is Weston, I live in New York City and I, and you're host. If this is your first time listening, you should know that Root Lock Radio is designed to be a course in tarot, and you might want to start at the beginning with episode one. If you're not new to tarot, you might find it interesting to start wherever you want. Just be aware that each episode builds on the information provided in previous episodes. In today's episode, we'll continue our exploration of the cards of the minor arcana by looking in-depth at the suit of cups. And through these particular cards, we'll see that the tarot advocates for the pursuit of emotional maturity and what emotional maturity looks like according to the tarot. We'll also take some time to see how the skills that we've developed over the last few episodes translate into a tarot reading, and I'll give a demonstration of how this knowledge of elemental energies and numbers can come into play in an actual tarot reading. If you haven't checked out the Root Lock tarot website, you can find show notes for each of the episodes, as well as information about the services that I offer. If you're interested in one-on-one tarot lessons with me, either online or in-person in New York, you can easily set that up on the website and use the offer code RLR 007. That's RLR 007. That will save you a Root Lock Radio listener, $20 on each and every lesson that you book. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you enjoy this episode of Root Lock Radio. [Music] When we explored the suit of wands in the previous episode, we saw how the fire energy worked through the numbers 1 through 10, and saw how it expressed itself in both simple and complex ways. Overall, as we moved further and further through the fire energy, we saw the fire energy get out of control, and how impulsiveness and narcissism can cause problems when that fire energy is unchecked. The water energy, as we remember from earlier episodes, offers a balancing to the fire energy. When you put water and fire energy together in balance, you tend to achieve that meditative, yet active ideal that we saw in the major arcanas world card, and that combines the masculine tendencies of the magician card with the feminine tendencies of the high priestess card. As we turn now to the suit of cups and look through those cards, numbers ace through 10, we'll see the ways in which the water energy develops and expresses itself through those numbers. So, as with all ace cards, the ace of cups depicts a hand from the clouds, holding out the symbol of the suit, which in this case is a cup. And if you'll remember the number 1, which the ace is associated with, is the number of conception or manifestation. So, what's happening here is the water energy is manifesting seemingly out of nowhere through this hand from the clouds. And if you look at the cup on the card, it's overflowing, right? And this gives us a little bit of an idea of the fullness that the cups energy can offer us in our lives. When we really develop the cups energy, it brings the sense of fullness to us that comes through things like joy and love, and appreciating the beauty of the world and life. These are all things that we see in the cups cards. When you look at the landscape of the ace of cups, it's really a waterscape, but it's not some deep, scary ocean place. We see a little bit of land, which makes us think there's still some grounding there, and we haven't just drifted off into the open ocean. There's still a little bit of land keeping us connected to the real world, or at least the human world. And then we also see these lily pads and flowers blossoming up out of the water on the card. In this shows us that, though a body of water represents our subconscious, and usually is something kind of mysterious and hard to understand, there are things of beauty that can emerge from that. And so when we feel that deep emotional fulfillment in our lives, we get these great little blossoming of emotions that make us feel that fullness completely. We see that spontaneous and unbridled emotion doesn't have to be a bad thing. We don't have to learn to control our emotions. We just have to learn how to refine them. Another way that people look at this card is looking at the cup as a sort of holy grail, which the dove and the wafer with a cross on it are representative of. And another mystery that people focus in on this card is that letter W that actually looks more like an upside down M on the card. This is something that Arthur Wade and Pamela Coleman Smith never explained about their Ace of Cup card, and something that a lot of theories have gone around about. And one that I've seen is that it's actually an upside down M. And so when you turn the card upside down as a reversal, it's representing Mary Magdalene. Now this is not something I'm going to get into right now. And I think you can just kind of gloss over those details as you learn these cards and zero in on that later if it's something that interests you. One more way that we can look at the Ace of Cards is by looking at the way that the hand is holding the symbol of the suit. And the way that I would describe the way the hand is holding the cup is by cradling it. And this denotes to us that gentleness that we see in the suit of cups. Emotion, meditation, deep feeling. These are all things that do best when treated gently. And there's also a receptivity to both water and cups that is tied in with this gentleness. Love and emotional fulfillment is not something that you can really successfully chase after. It's more about being open and receptive to it. So while the suit of Wands cards show someone really actively and hotly pursuing something, the suit of cups cards is much more about turning inward and opening yourself up as much as possible in order to receive those deep fulfillment of life. So if you draw the Ace of Cup Card in a tarot reading, in the same way that the Ace of Wands was a fresh dose of fire energy, this is a fresh dose of water energy. So basically it means that you're being offered this energy of deep emotional fulfillment. So it could be an opportunity for love or some other emotional fulfillment. It could be an opportunity to get in touch with your meditative and subconscious side. It's being offered to you and it's up to you to decide how you're going to channel it and use it and pursue it if at all. The number two we associated with the keyword of gestation. And on this card you see these two figures stopped on a road sharing some sort of very special and synergistic moment. And the idea of gestation, right, has a lot to do with stillness and really stopping and letting something marinate or letting something stew for a while. And so the idea that these two figures are meeting on a road is really important because we're seeing them stop and a road is place where you move. And another thing we notice is that one of the figures on the card looks a lot like the fool the way that he's dressed. And of course we associate the fool also with the journey. So what we're really having here is a moment of really stopping and standing still with another person. There seems to be an emotional flow or resonance between them. They're holding their cups up to each other. They seem to be holding hands and they're looking in each other's eyes. So there's a real flow between the two people happening in this still moment. Above them we see a winged lion. And the wings suggest something spiritual in the lion often suggests something a little bit sexual. So it's denoting a exchange between you and another person that maybe has some sort of sexual or romantic or just soul resonating aspect to it that does also cross over into the spiritual realm. And we also see the intertwined snake symbol beneath that lion, which is often seen in the field of medicine and associated with the idea of healing. So there's a suggestion that this moment of stopping and being still and really sharing yourself and sharing a moment with another person can have a very deeply healing aspect to it. In the background behind these people we see a very small house on a very small hill. And this both echoes and contrasts the castle on a hill that we saw on the wand cards. That was a much bigger hill and a much bigger castle denoting the ambition that the wand's cards have. But here it's much gentler and smaller and it suggests sort of the intimacy of a domestic or cohabitation situation and really sharing your self with another person. And with these two figures stop and meet on the road, because that house is on a hill behind them, it suggests that there may be starting a situation of striving towards that domestic cohabitation, that true and deep sharing of oneself with another person. But it hasn't happened yet. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading, it can be the beginning of a friendship or romantic relationship, or any sort of resonance or connection with another person, or a meaningful encounter. So it really suggests a true, deep and connected exchange with another person. And it doesn't have to be romantic, but there has to be that feeling of stopping in the world sort of standing still around you while you and another person make this connection. In the number three, we see this energy develop, right? Because number three always denotes a sort of development. And here instead of two figures, we see three figures. And instead of being still and really looking at each other, these three figures are raising up their cups and celebration, they're wearing robes and flowers in their hair. And it looks like they could easily be dancing. So what's happened is the one-on-one connection. The energy of that one-on-one connection that we saw in the two-card has now developed into something that's not just about two people, but is about community and the celebratory aspect that stems from feeling connected to a community of other people. So in this card, we don't have that feeling of threes a crowd or a third wheel, but rather the more the merrier. And this idea that there's another sense of fulfillment that's much more celebratory and a little bit more movement oriented that comes with being connected with a community of people instead of just one person. There's also something ritualistic going on here. We can see that there's sort of a harvesting energy around the pumpkins and the other fruits growing around them. And so this could be some sort of harvest celebration that they're having, something like Thanksgiving that we would have in America. What we're seeing is that ritualistic celebration that people share and that brings this sort of open feeling of joy. So if you draw this card in a terror reading, it denotes the joy that community or family or any group of people can bring. And that celebration that happens when you feel that you love and are connected with a group of people, it brings this idea of plentitude and flowing joy. So it could denote something of a party or a traditional celebration of some kind and having that great open joyous flowing feeling that we all want those situations to have. Or it could possibly represent something like an open relationship and one that goes very successfully in which the couple we saw in the two card opens up and lets other people into their relationship. And that brings this heightened level of excitement and joy. When we turn to the four of cups, there's such a strong contrast between the previous cards. We immediately see that there's a lone figure and this person looks very shut off and closed off to the world. She's got her hands crossed in front of her. Her gaze is downward and so it would be very difficult to make eye contact with this person. And so this is where we're beginning to see the more negative side of the cup's energy. And the reason for that is that the number four is the number of structuring, right? But another word for structuring could be rigidity and because we saw that open flow in the ace card and we see that the cup's energy likes to have a flow to it. The idea of water becoming rigid seems to contrast that greatly. And you can kind of think of ice in this way. Ice is cold and rigid and even though it was once water, it's now become something much different and much less approachable or comfortable feeling. So the figure on the card is looking down at these three upright cups, right? Which could be even the three cups that we saw in the three of cups. It seems to be sort of obsessing over them, right? So we're seeing something of being caught up in the past. It's like this figure doesn't want to let go of the good times that they had in the past and that those three cups symbolize and therefore is unable to see that a fresh cup energy much like we saw in the ace card is being offered to her. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading, you see that sort of juxtaposition of the structuring nature of the number four with the free flowing nature of the cups and it's a stuckness. So it can denote something like fixation on the past or on what you typically expect to bring you joy and how this fixation and rigidity is actually preventing you from receiving any new forms of joy. It can denote things like emotional rigidity or smugness as well as being closed off or shut off from other people. And like all negative cards, this card urges you to think otherwise. It urges you to open up and be more open-minded about what could fulfill your emotions. Because since the nature of the cup's energy and the water energy is to have some flow to it, we have to be open to things changing and flowing in order to get the most out of that energy. So emotional maturity really comes from that ability to to be able to really enjoy things the way they are, but at the same time accept the fact that things are going to change. And this is sort of the the challenge that the cup suit is offering us. It's asking us here to open back up and trust that there's still more beauty to be had in life. And that in order to truly appreciate life, you have to appreciate its changeable nature. So as we move into the card number five, which we'll remember is the transition number, we see how again emotion and deep feeling doesn't really like transition because it means there's a loss. So on this card, we see a figure in a black cloak, which tends to represent something like mourning over a loss. And this figure is staring at these spilled cups under a gray sky. And again, it could be the same three cups still symbolizing the good times that we saw earlier in the suit. So there's a very brooding, emotional morning energy to this card. And we still see a cutoffness from other people. We can see that in the fact that the figure is cloaked and looking downward, but also in the fact that they're on the other side of the river from the building that we see in this card. But at the same time, even though we have these spilled cups, there are two upright cups right behind the figure. And even though we're across the river from humanity, there's a bridge in the background. So that's what the transition is, the ability to eventually let go of the past and move forward. So what this card is saying is that this figure will move forward, but they need to fixate on the grief first. Now I've read many people explain this card as urging you to turn around and look at the upright cups and move on. But I kind of think that's wrong because the true emotional maturity comes in acknowledging the importance of the morning process. So I see this card is actually urging you and validating you in fixating on your morning and telling you that that's actually the key to moving on and moving forward. So in a tarot reading, the five of cups tends to denote something like the morning process over loss and grief. This idea that time heals you and you will have the resources to move forward eventually, but the morning process is necessary. So this could be over a death or a breakup or really just the end of an era. We've all had very three of cups type times that feel great and very fulfilling and then they end and we don't want them to end and we feel a loss around that. So the five is very much a transition time because unlike the four where we have that emotional rigidity, we do see the path forward, but at the time we just need to stop on the road and look down at what has spilled, what has ended or what has gone badly and take some time to mourn it because we won't be able to move forward until we truly feel and acknowledge the loss. The number six is the number of rebalancing in the minor arcana. So after this transition as we move into the more complex expressions of the energy, we rebalance. And you can see that happening here in the six of cups where we rebalance after the sense of loss and the morning process that happened. in the five of cups. So it's a much more positive and happy image. First off we have a bright blue sky and a lot of yellow which is a very happy color that seems to just flood over this card. So as if the sun is just filling this card with its rays. We have the image of two children in a garden sharing. So there's a very nice childlike joy and happiness in this card and a sense of sharing something and there's also a sense of safety that seems to permeate this card in that we have this garden that seems to be walled in as far as we can see and very well could be inside the building that we see in the background on the five card and then on top of that we also have a guard walking in the far left corner of the card. So we know that these children are very very safe and this is a movement on from the previous card in that in one sense it embodies the idea of nostalgia in which we are able to find joy and looking back on things that are over which very much contrasts the morning and grief process that we saw in the previous card and the sort of bratty fixation on the past that we saw in the card before that. So rather than looking back and regretting that it's over we're looking back and finding joy and fulfillment in the fact that it happened and this is a great maturation moment because the suit of cups reminds us that life is about loss and constant change right the wheel of fortune keeps on turning and so to have a healthy mentality and a healthy emotional and mental life we have to be able to come to terms with the fact that things end and move on and one of the best ways to still find fulfillment through those things is through nostalgia to be able to look back on it and still enjoy that it happened. Now another interpretation of this card could be that of having your own children and sort of this idea that even though your own younger years and childhood years are done a new fulfillment comes out of raising children of your own so that could be another term that this card brings to us and either way we're finding this rebalancing after the transition period of the number five and we're finding a new source of joy be it nostalgia or a new generation. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading it's probably speaking of nostalgia and how we can look back on things fondly and that can bring us joy so having our memories can be a source of happiness and comfort and joy and deep fulfillment and it's possible this card could also denote children and the new joy that children bring and that safe secure and pure happiness that children have so the one interpretation would be that we're witnessing that and the other interpretation would be that nostalgia also kind of brings us that safe secure pure happiness because your memories can't end something that's really enjoyable will probably end with the memory you have of it last forever. So the number seven is the number of raw power in the mitochondria and that's when we have that control we have the reins and the raw power of the energy of the suit is at our disposal it's kind of like that chariot card right where we have the reins in our hands and in this card though it's kind of a confounding image because we have this figure looking up at the clouds and there are cups in the clouds holding all these different symbols. So what does that mean and how does that mean that we have raw power? Well the thing about the suit of cups and water energy is that it's not particularly decisive right it tends to be much more meditative and a place where we sit in way options and think about possibilities but it's not the time that we actually act on them. So the raw power of the water energy is actually expressed in a sort of daydreaming or fantasizing energy that we see on this card. So the symbols in the cups in the clouds are sort of representing a spectrum of desires. There's a number of different ways that we can interpret these symbols but the jewels could symbolize wealth, the wreath could symbolize victory, the castle could symbolize status, the dragon could symbolize adventure or fantasy, the face in the cup could symbolize religion or mythology and the mysterious robed figure could symbolize something like spiritualism and the snake could symbolize something like death or danger. So because water is such an indecisive energy the idea of us having a lot of possibility which is another word that we can associate with seven brings about a wishy washy indecisiveness and this is where we sort of contemplate the possibilities without taking action. A lot of times our culture looks down on this sort of taking your time and not making a decision. Just as our culture would like to skip over the morning process we saw on card five and that's kind of a mistake because a lot of times the daydreaming or fantasizing or running through scenarios that can happen in this moment actually is paying off in the end because if you remember meditating before acting is is really the way to go in accordance with the terrorist philosophy. So what this number seven card is saying is that taking that moment to really meditate on the ideas and the possibilities in your daydreams is a good thing and really letting your mind go and fantasize about where you could go with this this energy that you have is a positive and so I think of this card as being a very positive card because it's kind of like you have all the possibilities. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading it could speak to that daydreaming or fantasizing the fact that you have these resources to do something with yourself and you're just not exactly sure what you're going to do. It could have a little bit of a crippling effect with the indecisiveness if you're in a position where you need to make a decision quickly but it urges us to think of it less as crippling and more as wise for us to think things through before we commit to them. So there's a lot of possibility here without yet a clear direction and it urges you to really think through these things really sit with them for a while and explore the possibilities before taking action. And that's exactly where we move into in the number eight card because remember the eight is an energized number and so here is the energy we need to push our decisions forward after the seven card. So on the card we see a red robed figure walking away from upright and unspilled cups. The fact that this figure's robe is red reminds us of the fire energy that we see in the strength card which is also the number eight and the fact that these cups are still upright and she's leaving them. Suggest to us that this figure is leaving a perfectly good situation. There's nothing wrong with what they're leaving but they're answering some sort of higher calling. They're going to climb that mountain in the back and that to us says there's some sort of spirit journey or vision quest this person needs to go on even though they're leaving a perfectly comfortable and fulfilling situation. You could almost think of this card as being squeezed in between the strength card and the hermit card because this is where you see the person having that leaving moment of leaving something perfectly good to go pursue whatever it is that they're dreaming about and of course the hermit is standing on top of a mountain. So this is the the moment where we decide we're going to climb the mountain. So the indecisiveness of card seven is taking decisive action but of course something must be left in order to move forward and how far we've come from the four and five cards of obsessing over and fixating on what has already happened and the emotional fulfillment we used to get. They were able to leave something fulfilling because we have this sense or calling to go do something else. This card also has kind of some crazy energy to it for a lack of a better term. The land is all broken up by water. If you look at that landscape it's just kind of broken up which says to us there's maybe a little bit of an emotional unsteadiness that happens in this moment because the water is breaking up the steadiness of the land and we also have this eclipse in the sky where the moon is moving across the face of the sun. So the fear and illusion that the moon represents is blocking out that clarity and joy of the sun. So this isn't an easy leaving even though we know we have to do it. So there is a lot that says that we're kind of uncertain we're not exactly sure this is what we're supposed to be doing. It's hard to leave the thing that we're leaving but somehow we know that we need to do it. So there's a lot of bravery of facing this emotional toll of leave taking in order to pursue something that's not guaranteed and there's a lot of trust happening here too and that this figure trusts that what's happening what they're pursuing is the right thing even though they don't know for sure. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading it means that you're potentially leaving a comfortable situation in order to pursue a calling. It denotes a bittersweet departure and take your time. making a gamble or rolling the dice on a sort of uncertain situation, but one that you have a lot of faith in anyway. It denotes the bravery of trusting your instincts and venturing off into uncharted territory. So this card is very valiant and very emotionally mature, and as we're reaching the end of the suit of cups, we see this emotional maturity that we didn't see in those earlier cards. As you move on to nine, and remember nine is the number of attainment and reflection. On the nine of cups, we see this lone figure sitting in front of a mantle of orderly cups that looks a little bit like a trophy shelf. And he's wearing this academic hat. It looks a lot like the hat you would get if you got a PhD. And he's got his arms crossed, which says to us that he's cut off a little bit from the world. Much like we saw in the forecard. Those arms crossed denoting a cutoffness, but he's looking straight forward. So there's something different here. So what we're seeing here is he's fulfilled something somehow. I mean, the colors are really bright and beautiful. The yellow, the blue, the denote happiness. So this figure is very fulfilled, even though he's alone. And a lot of times the cups make us feel that being alone is maybe a scary thing to do. But there's a lot of work that you can only do on yourself when you're alone. And it seems that this figure has done that and done it successfully as the trophy collection seems to denote. So if you draw this card in a tarot reading, it can mean achievement in what brings you personal fulfillment. You have that collection of trophies. But it does feel like there's still something missing, right? You don't want to be alone with your trophies for the rest of your life. You would like to have some sense of sharing your joy and your fulfillment with other people. So while the figure in this card has successfully turned away from society and done a lot of personal, emotional, and spiritual development, he's now turning back outward and ready to take all of that and share it with the world. It seems very steady and strong. The number 10 is the moment of reckoning with the universe, right? This is where we've gone through the numbers of the suit and the universe lets us know whether its supports or opposes the work that we've done in the suit. In the suit of ones, it was quite an oppositional energy, right? The narcissism that developed towards the end of the suit of ones was met with a bit of a punishing energy from the universe. But in this one, we have quite the opposite. So we're back on the road in this card from number two with the house in the background, which suggests to us that we're sort of fulfilling the dream that we saw planted in card two. And that's a dream of domestic cohabitation, right? So we see this family and the joy that they bring. There's children, there's open arms, dancing. And so the one thing that is missing from that nine card is a big thing and here it is. We also see this rainbow of cups spreading across the sky, making us think of things like joy and wonder. And so the universe is rewarding the spiritual and emotional work that we did in this suit, especially in those last few cards, where we pursued things that were not a guarantee in order to better ourselves. The payoff is great in that we get to have this very fulfilling and joyful life shared with other people. So if you pull this card in a tarot reading, it says something of deep fulfillment of the intimacy of family life, how that can bring us such joy and pure happiness. It's a little bit like the sun card, but it also has this sharing energy to it that the sun card doesn't necessarily have. And so what we're finding at the end of the suit of cups is that we are rewarded for pursuing emotional maturity. And once we find that stability within ourselves, we're able to turn back out and share it with the world. And the result is really beautiful. I've mentioned that having an understanding of the systems that lie beneath the minor economic cards, including the numbers and the elemental energies of the suits will help you to have a more flexible reading style and to develop your own personal interpretations and relationships with the cards. Because you're not just memorizing what the cards are supposed to mean, your understanding where that meaning comes from. So hopefully as you've been working with your tarot cards over the course of the last few episodes, you've been thinking about the numbers and the elemental energies in the cards that you pull. So now I'm going to do a demonstration and show you how I would approach looking at a spread from this perspective before I really come back to the surface of the cards and understand what they are supposed to mean. So what I'm doing is a modified past present future spread. And it's actually the cross section of the Celtic cross spread as well. So I plan to talk more about the Celtic cross later in a future episode. But if you're interested in that spread, you can of course find lots of information about it on your own. So the spread that I have here is a past present future with two additional cards. One below the present card and one above the present card so that it looks kind of like a cross. The card below is the underlying and unknown aspects of the situation. And the card above is the visible and known aspects. So we have sort of a conscious and subconscious addition to this past present future spread. So what I've drawn is the ten of cups for the past, the five of pentacles for the present, the eight of cups for the future, the two of cups for the subconscious and the four of ones for the conscious. Now the first thing I would note is that three out of five of these cards are in the suit of cups. So this particular spread has a lot of water energy to it, meaning that it's dealing a lot with the deep feeling aspects of life. So I would want to note that to myself and potentially to the person that I'm reading for. I'd want to let them know that I'm seeing a lot of energy around that particular realm of their life. So I also note that there is one pentacle card so there's a little bit of the earth energy and there's one one's card so there's a little bit of the fire energy too. So there's some balance here but we do have a majority of the cards in the water suit. As far as the numbers go, the past card is a number ten, which we'll remember is a completion and reckoning with the universe. So this says to me that in the past, this person has completed something. They've kind of ended a cycle and that is now over. The present card is the five of pentacles and we'll remember five are a number of transition that can be kind of uncomfortable. So what this says to me is this person ended something and at the current moment they are in transition and maybe they're not completely happy about that. The future card is an eight. So what this says to me is in the future, this person will have an energized moment that will push them or propel them forward because remember that eight is an infusion of energy in that number. So from the past to the future, it looks like this person finished something. They're in transition now and maybe not all that happy about it and they're not really sure where they're going or what direction they're moving in but they can expect that sometime in the future they will be energized in some way to move forward. The subconscious card is the two of cups and two is a number of gestation. So what this is saying is that somewhere beneath the surface, this person is probably stewing something over or gestating or taking their time and really kind of thinking and meditating on something but they might not be fully aware that they're doing this or that it's affecting the situation that they're asking for reading about. So I would want to point that out to them. Say there's something that you haven't figured out that you're still gestating and stewing on and this is affecting the situation and this is perhaps why you don't feel like you have that clear vision of where you're going at the present moment. The external conscious card is a four which is a lot about structuring. So a few ways that this could come up is either that they have an appearance of having a structured situation or the desire to have a structured situation or other people are expecting them to have a structure in their situation. So those are all structural things that are sort of on the surface or conscious level. They're very aware of this idea of structure. So that says to me that there's this sort of external desire to have every think figured out and clear, but on the inside they don't have a figured out. They're still stewing it over and taking their time, which is a good thing to kind of think it through and meditate on whatever it is they're trying to figure out. So my overall reading here is that they've completed something. They're in a time of transition. Somewhere deep inside they're trying to figure something out that's affecting the limbo feeling that they're having in this transition. They are expected or expect themselves to have a more structured life, which could be part of the reason why this transition is uncomfortable because they don't know what they're doing, but they can expect that sometime in the near future they'll get some clarity and they'll have the energy and clarity to move forward. So you can see that without even looking at the images on the cards or acknowledging what I know about them, just by looking at the energies of the suits and the numbers, I'm able to do a full tarot reading, which is basically what you would do if you had a deck like the Marseille deck that doesn't have these minor, iconic images on them. So though we very much enjoy the illustrations on these cards and we can draw from them and use the symbols in them, we also want to be able to understand what lies beneath them and maybe look at that first in a reading. So dive beneath the surface before we come back up and talk about what we see on the cards. Rute Lock Radio is a podcast for unclocking, learning and exploring the tarot cards. It's written and produced by me, Weston. Music for today's show was provided by Shenandoah Davis and Jure. You can find both of their information in the show notes. Notes about each of the cards covered in this episode can be found on the Rute Lock Tarot website at www.rutelocktarot.com/podcast. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for me, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected]. And if you like Rute Lock Radio, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and review the show. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you'll join me next time for Rute Lock Radio. [Music]