Ten cups are arranged in such a way that the circles surrounding them are all touching. The arrangement is two groups of four, each centered by a fifth - where the center circles intersect with those around them, there is a golden light. Otherwise, the circles are all tinted purple.
The background behind the cups is blue knotwork, and the border is geometric bands of yellow and orange.
The numeric highlights here are 10, 5, 4 and 2.
10 itself speaks of culmination and a successful ending of one cycle as it transforms into another... with the cups this has to do with emotional fulfillment that brings with it a transition to a higher understanding of the nature of happiness. It is an emotionally fulfilled life.
The pair of fives are a reminder that this level of happiness is not trouble free - fives are the number of humanity, and involve crisis and stress points.
Here those crises seem to have to do with stability (the sets of 4) - the desire for it, the urge to upset it, and each is surrounding a single cup - the individual. But this is a pair of 1s, and a key aspect of this card has to do with happiness in connection to others - being able to integrate ones personal needs for stability as well as one's stresses, with someone else to create a life together where each is able to support and uplift the other.
Where those individuals come together with their own life circumstances, the auras surrounding their cups turns golden - this seems to be spirit... our spiritual life stems from the melding of who we are with what happens to us, and allowing our emotional center to shine, we find spiritual meaning. The purple, as well, seems to point to inner concerns - the intuitive subconscious inner life that applies meaning to external circumstances. It also suggests 'royalty' - we are each the Kings and Queens of our own life and everything that happens has worth.
The blue background further highlights the watery, emotional nature of this card while the golden border again points to spirit as the structure that holds it all together.
While I do not think that being partnered to another is the only path to lasting happiness... or any guarantee of it... it is impossible to consider the 10 of Cups without noting the reference to connectedness. Whether one on one or one to all or any others, this is not the sort of happiness that can be tucked away or kept to oneself - it is an outpouring of joy that is heightened by finding some way to share it with others and sharing in their own joy as well.
It begs the question - how are you sharing happiness with others today?
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