AUTHOR’S NOTE: It seems to be a common misapprehension that the suit of Cups and the element of Water are predominantly about “love” rather than simply referring to the emotional aspects of a tarot reading in general. Asking about a prospective liaison doesn’t guarantee receiving an answer in that vein if it isn’t “in the cards” at that moment in time, no matter how much anxious anticipation is poured into the question. When it comes to achieving our “heart’s desire” by naively requesting it, I’m of the opinion that the Universe doesn’t typically work that way.

I wince whenever I encounter this hopeful appeal because what is being pursued is rarely devotion in its idyllic form but rather an unfulfilled dream fraught with sexual frustration. While searching for a suitable tarot image as the basis for my recent tattoo, I was struck by the awareness that the “heart” as expressed by elemental Water symbolizes compassion, which is a broader, more sympathetic feeling than amorous aspiration posing as “love.” I’ve always said that the question asked by a lovelorn seeker should not be the oblique “What does Joe or Mary think or feel about me?” but rather the more direct “Does Joe or Mary like or love me?” I once saw a querent on the Aeclectic Tarot forum ask point-blank “Does he want to have sex with me?” which jumped right over all the platitudes and disingenuous niceties and got right down to the nitty-gritty. (My cynical reaction at the time was “Is he breathing?”)

The “thinks-or-feels” query is a smoke-screen for the more fundamental pursuit of opportunistic coupling, a dodge that the tarot facilitates by being entirely anonymous in its “mind-reading” mode. It puts a mask of obscurity on the face of desire that will remain in place as long as the person of interest never hears about the querent’s obsession. This admittedly innocent ploy is the main reason I choose not to do love readings in that particular form. The status of an existing romance is fair game because both parties are already immersed in it, but when the target of the inquiry ts ignorant of the querent’s fixation there is nothing to be served except idle curiosity of the “feel-good” kind that stays well away from the embarrassment of exposure.

In fact, I prefer not to attempt reading the unknown thoughts and feelings of an absent third party under any circumstances because I don’t believe divination is particularly effective for that type of “psychic fishing expedition.” The seeker’s wishful thinking can turn any such effort into a case of “confirmation bias” that will only feed speculation without giving reliable testimony. On the other hand, if the querent plans to take the initiative in contacting the other person, I have no problem exploring what that individual might do when approached. This is well within the “action-and-event-oriented” purview I set for myself when I decided fifteen years ago to steer clear of psychological profiling with the tarot.