Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
Nine of Cups
Yesod in Briah
- Suit
- cups
- Rank
- Nine
- World
- Briah
- Station
- Yesod
- Verb
- I create
Yesod, the instinctive foundation
Yesod is foundation: the instinctive, habitual ground beneath what will be made manifest.
Upright
Flowing. Contentment as foundation: what you made rests on being at ease with yourself. In the world of creation, the instinctive ground is a settled sense of enough, and everything built on it stands better for it.
Misdirected. Contentment as display, or settling for the wish granted.
Reversed
Blocked. No ease can be reached.
Flooded. Contentment as indulgence, more and more of what satisfies.
The image
A stout man in a red cap sits on a bench with his arms folded and a contented look. Behind him, nine cups stand on a curved shelf covered by a blue cloth. The picture fits the station only partly. It shows contentment as something displayed, and less as the ground under what was made.
Learn how to read Nine of Cups in a spread
This page shows you what Nine of Cups means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
