March 30, 2022: VII of Cups and V of Swords; a hint at the 7 steps of the alchemical process

I just love the Tarot Minor Arcana Seven of Cups card!  The True Black version of the VII of Cups shows seven Cups arranged in front of a beautiful golden castle.  The seven floating Cups each contain a manifestation of desire: a hummingbird, a butterfly, a snake, a fish, a salamander, and a mouse or rat, with vapors rising up out of the seventh Cup and surrounding the castle, as if it had risen out of that seventh Cup.  The keywords for this card are fantasies, daydreams, illusions, and procrastination.  

The V of Swords shows a large sickle-shaped golden Sword with the handle down; the base is surrounded by white flowers which are healthy close to the golden Sword but the ones farther away are drying up.  Behind this Sword are four other Swords with points down and handles up; these Swords are cracked and broken.  Each of the four Swords is attached to the larger Sword by a gold cord.  The keywords for this card are selfish, criminal, immoral, and conflict.

We have several things to consider here.  Numerically, the number 7 is a passive number, passive for the moment anyway as it indicates some kind of pause while we consider our options, and the number 5 is an active number which imposes action onto stability in order to prevent stagnation.  Elementally, Water is a passive element that represents the cold that binds and the wet that adapts, and Air is an active element that represents the heat that separates and the wet that adapts.  These two elements are neutral and can tend to cancel each other out, but they do retain their individual energies, effects and consequences.  Both Air and Water are adaptable and if used with balance, the intellect and the emotions can coexist in a beneficial way.  

The V of Swords to me always warns of some kind of selfishness or devious action, but that is not necessarily sourced from within me.  What I need to remember whether I am on the doing end or the receiving end is that selfishness is promoting one's benefit at the expense of others; not an ethical thing at all even if it appears beneficial.  Forewarned is forearmed.  

The VII of Cups is a fascinating card.  It reminds us that dreams can sometimes blind us to reality, that too many possibilities could mean we end up with nothing, and that if we allow any one dream to shine brighter than the others, we might miss something important.  There are Major Arcana correspondences to the contents of each of the seven Cups, with the castle connected to The Tower, the veiled figure with The High Priestess, the jewels with The Wheel, the laurel wreath with The World, the woman with The Empress, the snake with The Magician, and the dragon with The Sun.  Thus, the VII of Cups is connected to each of these Majors, or at least connected to the possible manifestation of each of the Majors, if one or more is chosen. 

 I just read that the seven steps of the alchemical Great Work can be connected to the seven Cups of this card!!  The article did not offer which alchemical step was connected with which Cup, so I am off to travel down a new rabbit hole.  I am gathering together correspondences of the Major Arcana cards and the seven steps, so I can determine the commonalities.  Don't worry, I will share the fun once I get a grasp on things.