Thoth – Rider-Waite

Satiety: Having Too Much, Tiredness, and Midas’ Touch

The Ten of Cups. Satiety. Tiredness. Having too much. Being overfed. Contradictions. Midas’ Touch. The Ten of Cups corresponds to the Sefirot of Malkuth – Reality. The sum, the root, the origin, and the completion of the cycle. This is where the abstract ideas of the suit of Cups meets reality – and proceeds to fall flat on its face. Happiness is good as a concept, but when applied to the “real world,” rarely ever works out the way you think it will. This card represents the contradiction inherent in having too much happiness; eventually it will all seem fake, and having everything you want makes life boring, and will lead to unhappiness and discontent. This card represents the rich man (weather materially or spiritually) who has all he desires, and so feels as if an integral part of himself is missing. He has missed out on some part of life. This is also the stomachache one experiences after having eaten too much. One grows tired of having all that they want; their life is not truly complete. What someone thought they wanted more than anything in the world turns out to not be their true heart’s desire. And from this sense of incompletion can arise something new; a drive that can lead one to find what one is missing from their lives, and so return back to Kether and the Aces.

The Rider-Waite illustration shows a family – mother, father, and two children – happily embracing and dancing beneath a rainbow. This illustration, I believe, clashes with the meaning of the card in many ways, and instead is a more accurate representation of the previous card, Happiness. It shows fulfillment, joy, and pleasure; not Satiety. The Thoth illustration, on the other hand, shows ten cups overflowing to the brim, spilling out the light of happiness and wasting it. The cups are no longer content with what they have; and are getting rid of some of it. The red and orange background also gives off an ominous feel of impending fire.

In a reading, this card indicates that you might have too much; more than you know what to do with, and more than you are comfortable with. It asks you to re-examine your desire – are they really what you wanted? Are you truly content with what you have? Are you missing something? Reversed, this card’s energies are blocked, and you might believe you are happy on the outside – but inside you feel hollow, and maybe even feel slightly guilty for having everything while others may have nothing.