The Ten of Cups shows a rainbow with ten cups. Under this image, we see two children playing, and a woman and man celebrating the land, their home and the joy of the rainbow. We call this, unsurprisingly, The Happy Family Card.
There is no castle in the distance, or ostentatious symbols of wealth, like in the Ten of Pentacles. But the parents appreciate all they have. It is the simplicity of their life and their home, the beautiful weather, happy children, togetherness. There is a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the blessings of their life.
This is one of the happiest, most positive cards of the Tarot (Pips and Majors included). It shows gratitude and contentedness. It is about togetherness, emotional connectedness, community, love, simple pleasure and of course the family. And by family, I mean many things. It can be your biological family, your partner and children, it can mean your work family, or your chosen family of friends. It can be any group of people who live together, work together or spend quality, intimate time together. If you are estranged from your family of origin, this might refer to the family you can created around you, rather than urging you to see the positive in your abusive family (Just want to clarify.)
But remember that the rainbow only comes after a storm, and so this card is about the end of difficult times. Tens carry the numerology of 1, so the beginning of a new cycle of joy, gratitude, harmony, and happiness. From the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), the rainbow comes as a symbol of the covenant that God made with Noah after the Great Flood that He will never create a flood again. There is this idea that this is a symbol of wrath and punishment is over.
The family home shows stability and comfort, while the river shows there is a healthy flow of emotions. And then there's the happy couple. They have everything they want. They're in love. They have a home, kids, and a community. The celebration they are engaging in is not about some rite of passage, but the everyday joys, simplicity of being together, and growth.
The Ten of Cups is the final card of the pips or the numbered cards in the suit of Cups, the symbol of Water. The Ten indicates we are ready to start a new cycle after a long emotional journey. We see this is a whole family dancing in front of a rainbow, as they look over their abundant land. So, the beginning of the Cups is the Ace, which is the Gift from Great Spirit of love, and the, the Two shows the marriage, but as you traverse the suit of Cups, you have emotional challenges, ups and downs. It is a powerful journey into the Ten. The Ten gives us hard-won emotional stability. We have harmony and love for the entire family. And the entire family is important, because the message here is that you work as a unit—if some member of the family suffers, we all suffer. The rainbow is key; it tells us a lot about the journey and arrival after great suffering.
The shadow or challenge of this archetype for the month is feeling like the rainbow isn’t quite there, or not seeing it by focusing on the little things or even to focus on what you do not have. Combined with other cards that indicate this, this card can be about leaving a family situation, breaking up the family or divorce when it comes reversed or inverted. The breakdown of the happy family. In months where we work with archetype of a card, we can sometimes volley between the upright expression and the shadow expression—meaning one day you are happy and the next day, you are threatening leaving your “happy family”. Obviously, I don’t suggest following the whims of a Tarot card. This card asks you to list out the simple joys of your relationship, family or chosen family unit. To remember that the rainbow appears sometimes during a storm to let us know the end of suffering is near.
This is a card that urges you to acknowledge and celebrate that you have been through storms and stormy times. It is about finding gratitude, joy, harmony and happiness within the daily grind of life, which can be hard when we are stressed. We look at our own ability to create untenable expectations (planned resentments) or cause our own suffering by seeing our partner or family through resentment or unhealed wounds. This is time to give yourself closure and choose to let the past be. The Ten of Cups says, Happiness is right there, honey. Just accept it.
