Ace of Cups

A single great cup, shaped like a lotus, rises from dark water into light; rays fall on it from above and it overflows. It is the Holy Grail before anything has been poured into it.

Kether, Crown, in Briah, the world of creation. The Crown, the first emanation, the point that has position but no dimension. Nothing can be said about Kether except that it is; the whole Tree unfolds from it. The four Aces are the roots of the elements seated in Kether, and the Princesses are their thrones at the other end of the Tree.

The Ace is the root of Water seated in Kether, the first Heh of the Name, the seed of the suit of Cups. Its throne is the Princess of Cups, who rules the quadrant of the Pacific. It takes no planet or sign.

The Aces are the roots of the elements and stand outside the zodiac; they take no decan, planet or sign. In the Golden Dawn scheme the Ace of Cups is enthroned by the Princess of Cups, who rules the quadrant of the earth called the Pacific.

The Point: position without extension, the will before it has content. Kether, the Crown. The Aces are the roots of the elements here, and the Magus is trump I.

Feeling in its purest form: the capacity to value, before any particular value has been chosen. The Cups are usually read as the feeling function in Jung's typology, an interpretive convention rather than a text of Jung's.

Rider-Waite calls the suit Cups (also Chalices). Its small cards carry scenes; the Thoth small cards carry the suit emblems arranged geometrically, with the keyword printed at the bottom and the colours of their Sephirah and decan. The Golden Dawn title (The Root of the Powers of Water) is shared by both traditions.