#22 but really the 23rd picture. Here's the Ace of Cups

You know the Rider-Waite cup - the golden goblet and all that - I mean, I give it to them. Maybe there was a time when cups were rare and the idealized platonic cup had jewels on it. No point messing around without adornments of gold and lapis if your normal day-to-day cup is just your dirty old hands right?

Anyway - I know we don't all love or enjoy or want Starbucks. I know that we don't all drink coffee. I know that there are differences between us all. But the tarot is about archetypes and recognizable images representing higher concepts. Guess what - This cup is recognizable to you. This is (outside of sailing awards) america's cup


Or close to it anyway. I'm going to paint all the minor arcana and who knows if I'll use this particular white cup withe the green logo for all of them? It's a cup. Recognize it.


The three drops of coffee represent the 5 senses - which I find to be redundant. Here's the thing- I have to have coffee. Coffee appeals to all of the senses. Warm to touch, masculine scent, bitter-good flavor, deep-right amber color, I guess it doesn't sound like much - but you all know that coffee-shop cacophony, the milk being steamed. You know it. You need it like crazy. You need it like you need to breathe.

The Cups represent Compassion and Love. So to me the cup of coffee is right. A cup of whiskey is like a cup of reckless sex and pointless fighting. A cup of beer is like an invitation to additional cups of beer. A cup of water is... Okay, I like and need water bu hey - this is the west and it comes from a tap. Milk? I guess people like milk - not me - it is ignored. Coffee is the root of compassion and love. Without coffee I could not tolerate you motherfuckers even for a moment. That's the fact jack. Remember that time that Tigly woke me up from a dead sleep and my immediate unthinking reaction was to throw her better than 4 feet in the air? That really happened. That is who I am in the morning. That is the demoniac thing that is gestated in sleep. I believe that I wake up fully aware and furious.

I believe that the civilizing, moderating effect of the Turk's most excellent bean is the sine-qua-non of all my better angels.

So here we go - minor arcana. I'm keeping up with the hexagrams and the seals and the numbering for that matter. I want to and so I am. Don't worry there's a plan in place, it'll go just fine.