The 5 of Cups is a marvellous tool to explore what is going on in your own journey towards happiness, and when doing so, it can be helpful to look at all of the Cups pips cards, Ace through 10 consecutively. So get all of these cards out and lay them down face up, in a horizontal line out in front of you.

You can see here that the 5 of Cups is at the centre of things, it is the midpoint in your journey towards emotional fulfilment.

The 5 of Cups can also be the crux of things so to speak; the challenge, the block, the impediment to your happiness.

How you deal with what has not gone well can define you. Whether you can turn yourself around to again face the direction in which the pot of gold lies beneath the rainbow, is what will determine the depth and expansiveness of happiness that you can enjoy.

Past losses, the grief and disappointments represented by the 5 of Cups can actually keep you stuck, even rob you of what is rightfully yours. Often it is a fear of feeling the pain again, which is what will stop you from going in to do the clearing and healing work required to become truly free. Sometimes there is just a lack of clarity about what is really there, and that’s why a Tarot Card Reading can help.

If you are in a place where you would like to explore how you can best get free from old hurts and woundings, then this spread might be timely for you.

Using the full deck, shuffle the cards well and then spread them face down. Using your left hand, choose the five cards one at a time.

Positions:

1. What is the issue that needs to be explored?
2. What is the loss?
3. How can I best come to grips with this?
4. What is the growth (or the blessing) available to me from this?
5. What (if any) action do I need to take at this point?

Now choose 5 additional cards. These 5 can take you deeper into what is going on, or feeding the sense of loss in position number 2 of your spread.

Sit with the cards, you are going inwards, be with them and let them speak gently to you. If you use a Tarot Journal, you might like to make a note of the cards and your interpretations of them in it.

You could also use what you learn from this spread over the next few weeks as a meditative tool, like a doorway in to your deeper self. This might be the right time to do this, it might not.  If action is required, you can make a decision to take it – or not. As always, your life is in your hands.  What would you like to make of it?

By Karen of Wild Woman Tarot