arcane arcana

On the first page of my glossy brochure I have a copy of the Rider-Waite-Coleman-Smith seven of cups minor arcana Tarot image. Like this one:

link.

This is an obscure image which means many things to different people. That wikipedia article for example, is a mess. Regardie's Golden Dawn textbook describes the card as Lord of Illusionary Success. My interpretation of the card is the simplest I have seen. To me, this card is isomorphic to the first command: Thou shalt have no gods before Yahweh. It is a caution regarding false gods, seven of which are shown which do not lure everyone; everyone is lured by at least one of the seven. In order, the false gods we are to be wary of are:

A sex object, a ghost, a snake, a palace, jewels, a laurel wreath, a dragon. The sex object and the palace and the jewels and the laurel wreath are pretty obvious. The snake to me would represent dangerous substances--alcohol, tobacco, &c. The ghost to me would represent a dead relative with an inappropriately large influence--like if you were Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is your dad, then Darth could be the ghost. The dragon is a mythological distraction. Like if you thought you were writing the great 21st century American novel or epic poem. The wikipedia article has something about wishful thinking in it. That would be close to the meaning of the dragon.

In my Tarot interpretation sheet this is my notation for seven cups: beware false gods.

If you are like most of the people who I am acquainted with, you should be wary of worshiping the number on your 401K statement, the price listings of your neighborhood housing market, and your credit rating. Obviously these are all important and affect our material well-being. They are not worthy of worship.