Artist: Jessica Shanahan

Like unripe fruit, memories sweeten with age. Like fine wine, they leave a complex mingling of flavors on the tongue. The Six of Cups is a card of sweet remembrance of things gone by. It is possible to drink from the cup memory to the point of intoxication and delusion.

When we think we remember something correctly, we must remind ourselves that the contents of the mind are fluid. Beginning at the moment of occurrence, memory of events changes over time. Each one of us— each body— views an event through the filter of our past experiences. Unfortunately, there is no unbiased bank of memory for us to draw from. There is no unbodied observer, completely devoid of experience, with whom we can consult about what really did happen. Each of us sees an event from a slightly different angle, from a slightly different body, from a slightly different mindset. Our memories are skewed by emotion and circumstance. Visions of the past are as plentiful and as varied as visions of the future.

The people on the Six of Cups card descry knowledge of the past by reading tea leaves. Photo albums, journals, scrap-books, stones and driftwood, animal bones, stars and layers of soil, tree rings and faerie rings, a scattering of ashes, the shapes of clouds, a crystal ball, history books, faerie tales, or Tarot cards could all be used for the same purpose. The past is just as certain as the future. Perhaps this card could be seen as a reminder to remain present.