Nine of Cups
Three of Swords, Eight of Cups, Ace of Swords

NOTE; Pronouns for this are wide open. There is only the slightest indication (in Eight of Cups) of MALE pronouns, so adjust accordingly!
The same is true for TENSE of verbs, so use your imagination, too!
(Pronouns are he, she, it, him, her, you, we, us, them, etc. Tense is past, present, future.)

Divorce Perspective:
He/She is forced to give up on being broken up, so you get what you want.
Has to drop the divorce if he/she is to possess the good things he/she wants.
Forced by divorce to abandon the dream.
No longer has to have the divorce.
Really wants that divorce; has to get out.
The divorce, having to leave, was the best thing for you.

Pain/Suffering Perspective:
You must abandon the path that pains you to have the good life.
It’s when you no longer have to have it so bad it hurts that you get it.
Surgery is the best; it ends the pain.
It doesn’t hurt any more; that’s the main thing you want.
The pain of having to have it is gone.
Suffering is the only way out of greed.
The one and only thing (you) want is to put and end to pain.
The suffering was the only way to get (your)self onto the path (you) desired and off of the other.

Heart Attack/Stroke Perspective:
To get on the path (you) really want to be on, the heart attack/stoke had to happen
The heart attack is/was the one and only way for him/her to drop off one path and get onto the one he/she really desired to be on.

Fight/Adversity/Hostile Atmosphere Perspective:
Have to quit being hostile for the dream to come true.
Being forced out and fired was the best thing that ever happened for you/him/her.
You overcome and get away from the atmosphere that is against your dream coming true.
For you to have what you want, you have to walk away from person(s) who is/are hostile.
Must abandon this battle to have the good life.
All you want is to drop out when everything goes against you.
Wants to win this battle and get out.
Will not be satisfied until (he) wins the battle.
He emphatically does not want to fight over it.

Victory Perspective:
You won’t want to fight any more after you win.
Having it all means you won it already, there’s no fight.
Quit fighting for the one thing you want when you get it.
Wins the victory he/she/you want(s) by not engaging in battle.
Avoiding the quarrel is the best way to have the victory.
In the end you win the conflict and all is well with you.
When the battle is over, you win and are satisfied.

Even more could be made of these four Rider Waite Tarot cards, but this is enough. Two of these cards are about conflict, the Three of Swords and the Ace of Swords, respectively meaning (1) hostility or separation and (2) winning the conflict. Eight of Cups echoes the ‘separation’ theme because it means ‘abandon’; and it also announces a severe and abrupt change of course. But here comes the Nine of Cups that in any given Tarot deck will mean ‘Your wish is granted, the dream comes true.’

So in the end you win a conflict and all is well with you. There is a deeper meaning, an underlying advice to question whether the reward is worth the battle. Sometimes not striving for the reward is the way for it to come to you. Sometimes, like Odin (Father God of the Norse Myth) you sacrifice an eye for wisdom … as in the heart attack theme. (Vikings are famous for not doing things the easy way.)

Meanings and Illustrations:

Three of Swords: Conflict, strife, battle/war, heartache and hurt, injury and heart attack or stroke, surgery, pain, hostility and divorce or separation … you got that early on, what with the Rider Waite Tarot illustration being a heart with three knives through it and storm clouds with driving rain surrounding it. Some illustrations are more graphic than others, methinks.

Eight of Cups: Abandon course in midstream and take off in another direction. Drop one for the other. Something is over with. Give up, get out, avoid … in the end, there was no beginning anyway. Illustration illustrates that: Pilgrim quits going in one direction because the land ends, and heads off 90 degrees later.

Ace of Swords: A sword festooned with laurel means victory and winning, ya think? It also echoes that ‘the one thing, the primary thing, the most important’ of the Ace of Wands’ meaning, as well as its ‘have to/must/gotta’ meaning. And that’s about it: another simple graphic illustration.

Nine of Cups: Speaking of simple graphic meanings, here’s another. The fat guy ate and drank and is totally satisfied … he’s got it all and is a consumer of it all. This is about satisfaction as well as surfeit and greed. Placed after the idea of winning in the Ace of Swords previous … well he won it all, didn’t he?

Page of Wands
Ten of Cups, Emperor, Ace of Wands

The old man of the family tells the cute young dandy what he has to do.
The patriarch of the family is forced to appear in a suit.
His greatest pride is to be an old man with his family around him who is happily married.
The old man and the young man are both members of the same prominent family.
The young man is a member of a prominent established family.

The sexy young bachelor is now an old married man.
Father tells son ‘You have to get married.’
Grandpa was a sexy young bachelor when he married.
The elder tells everyone what they have to do.
Everyone says he is a sexy old man.

God says you have to love one another.
God’s word is the authority for these people.
Federal ruling about the word ‘marriage.’

Not much variety here. We have the Emperor old man (or patriarch, or God, or federal government), and the Page of Wands young man (a well-dressed good-looking bachelor), the Ten of Cups happy family or happy marriage, and the Ace of Wands mandate or order, which also means sexy when it stands next to the well-dressed good-looking young fella there. So the old man of the family dictates to the bachelor son. Or the federal government dictates to everybody (or dictates about the word ‘marriage.’)

The nearest thing to advice we have is to marry a young man who will still be family when he is of patriarchal age.

Meanings and Illustrations:

Ten of Cups: Such a happy well-adjusted well-off family. They even had to put a rainbow over the family estate.

Emperor: He be da Boss, the supreme commander. Often a rigid dictatorial type; and it can be a woman in that role or position, too. There he sits looking august in his metal legwear, symbols of power in his hands, crown upon his head over his rosy cheeks.

Ace of Wands: Again, the authority, the boss, the order or mandate. Sexy, too: The hand with the board in it that is shaped like a penis and is abloom with sprouts as a fertility icon.

Page of Wands: He is the handsome well-dressed young man who is proud of himself and well-spoken. The illustration shows this cute guy so full of himself, very green-behind-the-ears. The card refers to speaking, language, delivering a message, being the spokesperson as well.