Bohemian Gothic Tarot
ACE OF CUPS
Lighter or more conventional meanings
Feeling open to fresh creative ideas * Overflowing with emotions * New love and passion * Artistic projects blossom into life * Welcoming a new person into your life.Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings
Turning your creativity to something morbid or macabre * Using others to further your own art or innovation * Feeling or acting overemotionally in a way that could be destructive or disturbing.Like all the Aces of this deck, this is a simple image based in that most Gothic of settings, a graveyard. The cup that it shows is actually a huge stone urn made, disconcertingly enough, of human bones and skulls all beautifully arranged. The Ace of Cups traditionally indicates a tremendous burst of creativity and the beginning of events and opportunities to do with the Arts or with the emotions. Typically, it might point to someone beginning a new book, painting, dance or craft project, or it might be about an opportunity to explore your emotions and feelings.
In the Bohemian Gothic card there is certainly creativity - the cup is highly original and decorative in a gruesome way. But the image points to a dark, gloomy or even macabre side of artistic endeavour, one that could shock rather than entice other people. There is also an implication of something done at the expense of others, or at the very least that lacks respect for them. When this card appears in a reading it's worth considering these darker aspects of creativity; it asks us if we are taking advantage of people in our work, or in some way treating them as commodities. It's possible that the end product, however beautiful and breathtaking, does not really justify the means.
