Seven of Cups

What the card means

Upright

Many shining options, most of them vapour. Seven cups in a cloud: a wreath, a castle, jewels, a crown, a dragon and a face, and only one with anything real in it. The card is not against dreaming - it is against choosing without telling the difference.

Reversed

The fog clears and one real choice is left. Sometimes unwelcome: the real option is plainer than any of the imagined ones.

Love and relationships

Upright

In love with an image rather than a person. Or too many options and not one step. Check against facts rather than against how it looks.

Reversed

Saw the person as they are. Or chose one and stopped looking around.

Work and business

Upright

Many ideas and none carried through. A good time to write them all out and cross off six.

Reversed

Picked one direction. Or realised half the plans were fantasy.

Money

Upright

Offers that sound too good. Check each: exactly one cup on this card is not empty.

Reversed

Turned down something tempting, and were right to.

The card's advice

Pick one and close the other six. Not because they are bad, but because seven cups is not a wealth of choice - it is a way of not choosing at all.

As the card of the day

A daydreaming day. Good for thinking things up. Poor for believing what you thought up.

What is depicted

A dark figure stands before a cloud of seven cups: a head, a veil, a serpent, a castle, jewels, a wreath and a dragon. His hands are raised. Of all of them only one is covered - and what is in it cannot be seen.

Zodiac sign and correspondences

Venus in Scorpio - desire that paints.

With other cards

• Seven of Cups + Eight of Cups — picked one and walked away from the rest.
• Seven of Cups + The Moon — fog twice over; decide nothing.
• Seven of Cups + Ace of Swords — the fog clears at one exact word.