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Seven of Cups

The Lord of Illusion

Cups, 07

A dreamer looks at the unattainable cups exposed in a shop window. The cups are very similar and If you look closely at the shop window, you will see that it reads "shop of life".

Outside, the city is hard and cruel and the buildings look pityless, as if they are made of basalt. It's certainly no place for a dreamer. The streets are empty as it is getting darker and it's starting to snow. You can see by the lit windows that the "sensible" people have all gone home where it's warm. The dreamer's vision is undimmed, he does not really care about the cold or his own loneliness.

The cheap cut of his clothes (OK, so I'm not a very good artist. But they ARE cheap clothes he's wearing) show us that day-dreaming has led him to being either a beggar or a saint, depending on your point of view. In fact, the dreamer is anything but an unpleasant character. In the middle of the snow (or are they stars?) we see the moon, the inspiration for so many poets.

I have made the stars look just like snowflakes in order to imply that often things depend on how you see them. They can be either winter snow or summer stars.

Meaning

A choice must be made, maybe between the mystic and the material. Too many possibilities and we might choose the wrong one.

Reversed

A tendency toward day-dreaming, castles in the air. A belief in false promises, possibly a fear of success