This is a card of…

Loss

Grief

Acceptance

Mourning

Healing

“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.”

-Leo Tolstoy

As our emotional attachments move through time, we inevitably encounter loss. The bonds we treasure can break, through the physical separation of distance and death, or because individuals have changed to a degree that the bond cannot sustain.

As long as we remain emotionally alive through the pain and resist the temptation to numb ourselves, we will form new unforeseen attachments as our movement through time continues. Before moving on, though, we need to take this moment to let ourselves mourn the loss. It’s not healthy to get stuck in this moment, nor is it healthy to try to skip it through cavalier denial.

Taking time to process loss is a show of respect for your own spirit. In the traditional illustration, not all five cups behind the figure have fallen and emptied. When the figure is ready to turn attention outward again, the upright cups are there, offering a chance to move on.