Minor Arcana, Cups
Seven of Cups
daydreams, options, imagination, illusion
Upright
A dark figure faces seven cups floating in cloud, holding a castle, jewels, a snake, a veiled form and more. Waite names imagination, sentiment and reflections, with some attainment and nothing solid or lasting.
With several career or relationship options, daydreaming can feel like progress. Choose the two most appealing and find out what each would cost in time and money. One phone call to someone already doing the thing can clear away a lot of cloud.
Reversed
Turned over, the clouds thin. Waite gives four firm words: desire, will, determination and project. A wish may be ready to become a plan.
Pick the option you keep coming back to and give it a deadline, a budget and a first task. Determination can overshoot, so ask a trusted friend to name what you might be ignoring.
A card is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
In Waite's words
Upright: Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.
Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project.
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Part 3, on Wikisource. The meanings above are by Cast & Chart.
Card art by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.