Are We Falling in Love?: 5 Tarot Cards for New Love
Happy February! The month of love! It's a slow month for greeting card and candy companies so they came together to create a little holiday called Valentines' Day. It's a glorious day when we're obligated to show our special someone affection with cloyingly sweet poems and sugar confections. And don't forget the flowers! Maybe you can pick up on my slightly mocking tone, as I'm a firm believer that every day is a wonderful day to show love, appreciation, and affection for the people in your life that deserve it (and they all do!). Although I might not approve of corporations co-opting the best of human emotions in order to sell things, all the same, I'm going to spend some time this February writing about love and relationships and how these themes come up in the tarot. I believe that tarot reflects all human emotions and experiences in its 78 cards. How this is possible, I don't know. It's amazing! It's magic! Today, I've picked five cards that represent new love. When I see these cards in a reading, especially a reading focused on love and relationships, I get a little tingle that things are going well in the love department for this person. If all five came up I would be completely astounded, but even just one or two is a great sign that things are progressing well. If love between people interested in having a romantic relationship is what your reading is focused on, these are the cards you want to see.
Of course, these aren't the only cards that are indicative of a new love or a relationship that has lasting and loving potential. I'm just picking cards for fun here, to introduce some light and love into our February. I'm also going to write more than one post about love this February, and I refrained from repeating cards in these different love posts. So while it would certainly be great to get The Lovers in any card about relationships, I'm only going to write about that particular card once during this February series. That's just me giving more cards a chance to show their lovey dovey side.
Okay, introductions have been made, now let's move onto to my picks for the top five tarot cards for new love. Swoon!
Did you notice that I picked all cards from the suit of Cups for new love? Sure, there is emotion and love in all of the other suits of the tarot deck as well, but something about new love had me concentrating hard on the demonstrative emotions present in cards of the Cups suit. There isn't a ton of nuance to a fresh relationship. As much as you'd like to say that there are rational reasons why you're falling in love with someone, really you know that if you don't feel those butterflies in your stomach and that thrill down your spine, it's not quite what you were hoping for or expecting. It might not even feel real or good enough if you're heart doesn't skip a beat at the sight of your lover in a crowd, or your finger shake with anticipation as you swipe to open the latest text message. So I chose five Cups cards to evoke that newness in a relationship when you've got all the feels.
Okay, my first pick for a tarot card that represents new love, falling in love, or the beginning of a relationship is the Page of Cups. The Pages in the tarot deck are messengers and the Cups represent the Water realm of the emotions. So, the Page of Cups brings you messages from the emotions, and he really likes to be the bearer of happy news. He's here to say, "This one's a keeper. This one you could really fall in love with for good. There's potential for a deeper connection from the vibes I'm picking up." He holds out his Cup as if he wants to have a toast to celebrate the messages of love that he brings you. He's supper happy to be a part of the whole set up. If you're waiting to be asked out on that first date, or told that someone has a little crush on you, this card is a good indication that you're going to get the message soon.
The Page of Cups enjoys flirting, getting to know you, romance, love, and joy. This energy is great for first dates, and the beginning of a relationship when you're trying to put your best foot forward, but still be authentic to yourself. You will have the ability to project your best self, because you will truthfully feel worthy of love with the Page of Cups energy coursing through you. This Page is happy-go-lucky, playful, and exuberant. You'll be able to enjoy spontaneous moments of connections and share yourself without restraint. He is also new and innocent in a way. When the Page of Cups shows up in a new love reading, you might be ready and willing to leave your past behind, put down any relationship baggage that doesn't represent you and your highest self, and then align your energy to now resonate at that higher level that is your inner truth.
Next up in my top picks for new love is the Ace of Cups. The Aces, like the Pages, stand for new beginnings. Any Ace would be great as indicator for a new relationship, but once again, Cups are all about emotions and we're talking about love today, folks, so the Ace of Cups is a great new beginning in the realm of the heart. Aces also represent the essence of a suit, so the very essence of the Cups suit is love and compassion. It is the fulfillment of the heart's deepest desires. It is the overflowing wellspring of emotion that one often feels at the beginning of a relationship when you are just so happy, thankful, overwhelmed, and enamored with the one you have finally found.
If you haven't found anyone yet to share a love connection with, this is a great card to get in alignment with in order to bring that love into your life. Channeling the open and abundant energy of the Ace of Cups attracts love to you, as like attracts like. When you are feeling love, love is what you will get more of in your life. It is so very necessary to first have self-love before you go about giving and receiving love from another person. The Ace of Cups invites you to love who you are on a soul level, heart level, mental level, and physical level. The more success you have with this inner work of self love, the easier, more natural, and quicker will come the ability to connect with others in that same manner. When you see the Ace of Cups in a reading, it's a wonderful time to get into the deep emotion of love at it's core essence.
Along comes the Knight of Cups, as my next pick for a great indicator of a love connection in a reading. The Knight of Cups is the great romantic of the tarot deck. He loves to be in love. "All the feels" is his comfort zone. This card is more likely to show up when you're already dating someone, have decided to you're into each other, and are now feeling ready and willing to be intimate and romantic. This is the Valentine's Day energy of chocolate and flowers, candlelit dinners, weekends away in the country with rose petals on the bed. There's an air of seduction around the Knight of Cups, a sexy energy that you may feel like embodying to wow your partner. Or you could now be interested in allowing yourself to open up and share more deeply with the one you're dating these days.
The Knight of Cups is also a messenger, like the Page of Cups, but brings slightly more prestigious or important messages. If you're waiting to hear the "L word" from your (hopefully) lover, or have a big conversation about "where this is all going," this is the card you want to see for a positive confirmation that the feelings of love are mutual. Now is the right time to get real about sharing your feelings, listen to what your partner has to say, and take your relationship to the next level. The Knight of Cups will sweep you off your feet with swoon-worthy romantic gestures, straight out of a movie. You could find yourself making these grand gestures or be the recipient of a 100 red roses, either way, love is in the air and it feels wonderful!
Do I even need to explain the II of Cups? I mean, look at it! In the image from artist Pamela Coleman Smith above, we see two figures exchanging or sharing their Cups of emotions. They look seriously into each other, and are blessed from above by the winged lion of passion, and a caduceus of healing and balance. This depicts the idea that a new love is the coming together of opposites, the joining of binary energy to create oneness. This is the beauty of two becoming one (excuse the Spice Girls reference). I like the art of Pamela Coleman Smith because the people she draws defy typical gender norms, especially if you're willing to suspend the idea that men wear pants and women wear dresses. You can do it! It isn't just about a man and woman coming together, as opposites genders attract. It is beyond that, the idea that two people can be connected and understand their oneness with all of creation through the small experience of just the two of them sharing oneness.
Perhaps all of that is a bit deep for new love, but really, what is love besides the recognition of oneness in a binary world? We all crave love because we understand on an unconscious, fundamental level that we are all one, made of the same energy, and it is only our senses that separate us. The II of Cups hints at that oneness. The II of Cups is about kindness, togetherness, gentleness. It's that fresh start of love when you are on your best behavior naturally, showing the true essence of your kind and simple nature. There is a lot of potential for even deeper connection when the II of Cups appears in a reading. This new love that you are experiencing now may be the start of something long lasting.
The last card I picked to represent new love is the IX of Cups. This is the card of wishes come true. The fat and happy little man above is content and smug with all of his many Cups lined up behind him. This is the feeling you get when you wish upon every star to find a companion who listens to you and truly sees you and then you find that person! It's like you can hardly believe your good luck. It might feel like luck, so there can be a little prickle of doubt that you don't deserve this happiness, but do not go down that road. You need to be focused on how well everything is working out for you, and don't give doubt the time of day. You've hit the jackpot! Maybe you made a long list of attributes that you wished to find in a lover and they all walked in the door in one package and you just feel so goddamn good about it.
And you should feel good because you deserve this happiness! The IX of Cups shows up when you've been putting in the effort. You've worked on your self love, you've explored and probed for what you want in a relationship, you've asked the Universe for this person, and you've acted as if it was happening for so long that it is actually happening. This is a culmination of all that hard work. This is your reward and you can now be satisfied and content with the love you have attracted into your life by putting out all those love vibes everywhere you went. This is just the beginning, remember that, but still enjoy the shit out of these moments of new found love. These are the memories you are going to turn back to again and again with that blissful smile of nostalgia for new love. It's time to have your cake and eat it too!
Okay, that's it for today. It's a fun exercise to go through your deck and pick your top five love cards (or top five whatever cards!). If you're in the mood to play with your tarot deck, let me know what you would pick for this exercise! I would love to hear from you :) Happy February, month of LOVE! I hope to be back super soon with another top five about the next layer of the love parade, my top five cards for choosing your life partner and getting hitched!