FOUR OF CUPS
Unseen Gift -- Emotional stability and the support of others. Unseen gifts. Open your perception. Look carefully. What you seek is at hand. The universe is conspiring to help you even when you lose sight of it. Allow others to helps and provide for you when you need it. You don't have to do everything by yourself.
SHADOW: What is the darkest thing holding your focus? Where do you place negative energy? How does it distract you from unseen opportunities staring you right in the face? Emotional reality is tricky and seductive. Once an emotion takes hold, it can trick you with the illusion of permanence, then vanish without a trace. Placing stock in emotional fluctuations is like grasping at the mist-it will always elude you. Knowing this, you are free to change your reactions to emotions as they bubble up.
Four cups stand before a female fox. She looks away, distracted and unamused. What she searches for is to her right. Her mate brings a tasty treat. It can be hard to see the gifts before us. We all wear personal blinders. Visual, audio, and sensorial stimulation comes at us at all times. Are the answers and gifts we are searching for in front of us all along?
Foxes are clever creatures who adapt with the seasons by changing coats of fur. How well do you integrate emotional change? Foxes blend into their surroundings and employ keen observation. Observation of the self is essential to introspection.When feeling sad or bleak, dour or depressed, turn your attention to the world around you. Become fox-like. Take the focus off yourself and turn it outward.
The number four implies stability. Trust what you feel. Allow your emotions to guide you while not overpowering you. Understanding your own emotional ebb and flow, cyclical like lunar phases, is essential for good mental health.
The four empty cups stand as a reminder that we are like empty containers filled with emotion. We fill our emotional container by focusing on situations, projects, and people.