TAROTNine of Cups
Upright
A sense of happiness and inner peace through achieving your goals
A period of happiness in your life.
An appreciation of what you have and acceptance of what you do not have.
Self-congratulation on a job done or goal achieved.
Intuition
The card shows Apollonia Senmothis, a real woman who lived in Ptolemaic Egypt around 100BC. She kept records of her life as a mother and businesswoman. They provide a fascinating glimpse on the life of a successful self-made woman of the period.
Reversed
Unfulfilled expectations after completing all you set out to do.
Reaching goals and targets in your life yet feeling empty or unfulfilled by them.
A pyrrhic victory.
A need to look at your goals and replace them which what really matters to you.
Astrologia
Abundant personal growth and strong learning ability, often as a reward for hard work. Highly creative and dreamlike imagination. Strongly intuitive. Can become excessive when pursuing dreams, resulting in disillusionment.
Nine of Cups
After the emotional trials of the Seven and Eight of Cups, we see the gains in the Nine of Cups. The card shows a woman taking a moment to reflect on her successes. She dresses in fine clothes and sits on a golden throne.
Nine cups sit above the throne, signifying emotional wealth over monetary wealth. You must stop, bask in your successes, and view yourself as Queen (or King) for the day.
The Nine of Cups is sometimes referred to as the Wish Card as it signifies success in all that you initially wished or aimed for.
The Nine of Cups is sometimes referred to as the Wish Card as it signifies success in all that you initially wished or aimed for.
It denotes a period of emotional stability and success, arriving after trials and hard work. You met your goal. Now is the time to inwardly celebrate. Recognize that anything you lack pales against these gains.
The Reversed card denotes completing the same goal, but the resulting happiness rings hollow. You achieved your aim, gaining wealth or popularity, but you remain emotionally unsatisfied.
The character sits on a solid gold throne. It offers no comfort. True success requires constant striving, changing your goals, and enjoying the journey alongside the rewards. The uncomfortable seat reminds you that you have work to do. Sit for a short while, but prepare to rise and carry on.
The woman on the card comes from history, not myth. She lived in Ptolemaic Egypt, the final dynastic period before Egypt fell to the Roman Empire (following the death of Cleopatra). We know her because her family kept meticulous personal and business records.
Apollonia Senmothis
Apollonia Senmothis lived in Ptolemaic Egypt, a period ruled by Greek royalty. She grew up as an Egyptian but held Greek ancestry through her father, a cavalry officer. She married another Greek cavalry officer, Dryton, at age 20, and bore several daughters. She built a successful business and raised a thriving family.
Her family retained records spanning three generations (150–91 BCE). Archaeologists uncovered them in 1891.
She operated shrewdly, using her Egyptian upbringing in business (Egyptian culture treated men and women as equals) to undertake all dealings under her own name. She leveraged her Greek heritage to exploit the stature of the ruling classes. Greek culture denied women equality, forcing her husband to sign documents for her. But this stood as a mere formality for Apollonia: the records prove she dictated the business.
She lived a fruitful, successful life in a remarkable historical period.
Description and Symbology
A woman sits on a golden throne in a golden room, dressing elegantly. She holds no royal title; she is a self-made woman. She built her life and family through hard work, solid planning, and good fortune. She projects satisfaction and contentment.
Sitting on a golden throne in a golden room symbolizes taking a moment to celebrate life's gains. We must all do the same after our successes. Introspection serves not only to exorcise dark thoughts and traits, but to celebrate our victories and integrate them into the Self.
A cat rests at her feet. Ancient Egyptians associated cats with deities like Bastet, believing they brought health, wealth, protection, and good fortune to a household. This holds practical truth: a good mouser swiftly rids a house of disease-carrying pests.
The woman
The woman sits on a golden throne, is well-dressed and has an air of satisfaction and confidence.
The throne
The woman is seated on a golden throne, a symbol of success. The throne is topped by nine cups, suggesting a large amount of that success came from emotional strength. The throne doesn’t look too comfortable, although the woman sitting on it probably doesn’t have time to be sitting on it for long. She has things to do!
The cat
The woman appears to be raised in Egypt, where the cat is a sign of good health, wealth, protection and good fortune.
The golden wall
A close look at the wall to the woman’s left arm reveals a faint drawing of the God Hapi, who was greatly celebrated by ancient Egyptians as he represented the flooding of the Nile. This brought fertility and successful harvests to the land, an event of great joy. To the woman’s left we see the God Dedun, who was the God of incense, an expensive commodity. Dedun was thus associated with wealth and luxury.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
You should expect to move forward towards emotionally rewarding successes in the near future.
If you have a personal goal to strengthen your relationship (or forge a new one), expect success. The existing (or new) relationship will be emotionally fulfilling.
If your goal does not relate to relationships, your existing relationships may be pivotal to success.
You are experiencing (or will soon experience) material success in your life, but it will ring hollow because it does not satisfy you emotionally.
The card suggests considering why this should be and what needs to change.
It may suggest a misalignment in goals within a relationship, or a change in one or both of you that means the journey towards the goal has changed opinions. Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed before you reach the goal.
Expect success in career via meeting a significant milestone. When it happens, spend some time celebrating that success as that is key to getting enjoyment from it, putting it within the context of how far you have moved forward, and making plans for your next step.
At the same time, don’t rest too long on your laurels!
Although you may be satisfied by the pay and terms of your job, this card suggests you are not emotionally engaged.
This may be because you have ‘golden handcuffs’ (i.e., a well paid job that doesn’t really satisfy for personal growth), or you are more concerned about paying the bills, or are simply staying somewhere because it represents a safe bet.
Whatever the case, it is worth considering what you really want out of your career and how far your current position is really taking you.
Success will come for a major milestone or goal. This card does not so much speak for the success but how you deal with it, and this is crucially important to your health.
Spend time out to celebrate. This has been a long time coming, and you need some ‘me time’ for it to sink in.
Learn from the success, enjoy it and the peace of mind it gives for a while before getting back to the next goal!
You may not be as content or satisfied with your life as you thought. Everything seems to be going fine, but your direction in life is not exciting you.
A healthy body needs a healthy mind, and a lethargic, directionless mind will create a body that looks lost.
It is time to sort out what you really want and then let your body follow. This may take some time to sort out, as issues of the mind are harder to solve than mere flesh and bone, but taking the time to consider your real goals now will improve your life and then your health.
The Nine of Cups is about a success you will soon experience, but the card is actually more about how you deal with it. The card suggests the success will leave you emotionally and spiritually satisfied. You should spend time considering why this is, and how it changes you as a person. The time spent will be useful in mapping out your future path because success gives material gains, but it is more important to note how it has changed you as a person.
Everything seems to be going well and there may be good news in the future, but something is off.
You are not engaged in one or more parts of your life, and this is feeding problems for later. It will come through as disappointment and a sense of wasting a part of your life unless you address it.
You will soon meet a major goal or milestone, and this may lead to financial rewards.
More importantly, take time out to have pride and a sense of accomplishment in what you have achieved, as the wealthiest person is the happiest one.
Don’t stop for too long, though. Success breeds success, and you have more to do!
Although material success will soon come, it will leave you cold.
The card suggests a lack of direction in other areas of your life that give you the trappings of success but none of the joy of accomplishment.
Spending some time thinking about what you really want out of life will be time well spent.
Yes, through a meaningful and important success.
Indeterminate. Success will come, but it will be pyrrhic. The effort used to get there will feel like less than the final prize,
Reading the Card
The Upright Card
The Upright Nine of Cups signifies the need for satisfaction and self-congratulation after completing a major task or goal. The card predicts this success arriving soon. This success was not granted as a wish; it was something you worked for and now deserve.
You have completed something significant. Like Apollonia Senmothis, take a few moments to metaphorically sit on a golden throne in a golden room. Bask in the shine of what you built for yourself, your family, and your future.
The Reversal
The Reversed Nine of Cups foretells the same outcome as the Upright card: the completion of something significant you worked hard to achieve. Except this time, you will not feel the emotional joy of success.
Something will feel wrong. You thought you wanted the prize, but possessing it proves disappointing. You followed the crowd, ticking social boxes, only to discover the result does not reflect your true Self.
The journey proved more rewarding than the destination, granting growth and new perspectives that mean you no longer need the prize. Perhaps you realize you pursued the goal for other people, not for yourself.
This presents a tough call, but tough knocks are the best teachers. Learn from the experience.
You now possess a clearer idea of your true Self and what that Self desires. Treat this realization as a compass. You have a new direction or passion to follow, marking the exact time to make changes.
Card Design Process
The creation of this deck required significant research into the archaeological record. One goal was learning about the first true temple (Göbekli Tepe), which defined the High Priestess and Magician.
This research also revealed the names of ordinary people who lack historical fame but have vastly increased our knowledge of antiquity, including Apollonia Senmothis.
She proves that equality of the sexes and success based purely on ability was possible, and even common, in certain places 2,000 years ago. She presented an ideal fit for the Nine of Cups. Featuring her in this deck grants her deserved recognition.
Final Words
The Nine of Cups predicts that a goal you worked toward will succeed exactly as you wished. The card concentrates not on the success itself, but on how you process it emotionally.
When something works out well and leaves you emotionally satisfied, the card stresses the importance of recognizing your success before moving on. Success feeds happiness, but we frequently rush to the next task without soaking it in.
Some goals feel hollow once met, as denoted by the reverse card. This is not necessarily bad news, as the card is a messenger before the event, giving you time to consider the real goal and change direction towards it.
