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SPIRIT
LODGE
LIBRARY
Symbology
Page
18
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(Main
Links of the site are right at the bottom of the page)
The 27 pages in this Symbol section are below
The Cup of Abundance
By CinnamonMoon
There are many names for this cup:
Chalice, Holy Grail, Cauldron of Cerwidden, the Cup of Abundance,
the Horn of Plenty...it's a long list and there are many myths
and legends about it, many traditions that speak of it in esoteric
ways that leave us wondering...just what is it? Is it real?
Is it symbolic? Is it an ever an elusive enigma? Let's begin
with the image of a chalice overflowing. It represents abundance
in all things, love, joy, fertility, nourishment from Spirit,
and if it were to be turned over, it would be unstable, or an
overturning of the present state of things the glass overturned
upside-down saying 'enough already'; on its side it is tipped...spilled
water, wasted nourishment, regretted actions. Is the cup before
us full and overflowing, tipped, or overturned?
The contents of this cup are water
in the Tarot, this represents connection to higher consciousness
and the emotions that take us into deeper introspection. It
is a reminder that when the mind is filled with Spirit and faith
in Spirit that Spirit will fill the material cup with overflowing
abundance, enlightenment, guidance, and understanding that brings
great happiness.
If we turn to the Horn of Plenty...we
have the image of a fruitful harvest, bounty to share. With
the Cauldron of Cerwidden we have the baptismal rebirth into
enlightenment and spiritual understanding that allows us to
evolve...it is the womb of the Great Mother. In the Holy Grail
we see the chalice that held the blood of Christ...the containment
of the spirit that brings life to the body, and the face of
God that gives that life creative form or denies it. It contains
what is sacred and holy...do you see your spirit as such and
nourish it?
The cup is often a symbol of knowledge
or enlightenment, nourishment from Spirit. It is also preservation
for it 'contains'. It represents love, pleasure, and enjoyment.
The rebirth of the soul is tied to this as well. It is the fountain
of youth, the ritual of baptism, and we can either drink from
it to be replenished or we can spill it to dissolve the old
"I" and connect on a higher level with the Oneness.
It tells us the life of each individual
is finite (the space the cup contains), and that the certainty
of death is part of life (the empty cup). The overflow is the
process of rebirth, a sense of communion with Spirit that brings
abiding peace, happiness, and liberation when we connect through
our Self and Spirit to merge with that Oneness. There is no
fixation of ego in this enlightenment, just the union of Oneness...that
which contains understanding. It is the way we perceive our
quality and quantity of life. Whatever that chalice contains
is a gift from Spirit, and when it appears in some form to us
it is an indication that the cup is being offered to us...the
gift of Spirit is presented. A toast to life.
The gift (in whatever form it is
going to take) gives our inner and outer life a new point of
reference (the cup being the body, the contents being internal,
those contents being mana...spiritual nourishment). It lets
us come to the awareness that we can use our inner abilities
and connect to all that is with them.
Each of us, as human beings are
that chalice, cup, cauldron, what-have-you. The body contains
the spirit to give it form.
Without the body the spirit is energy and expands, merges, melds
into the Oneness, it becomes fluid and ethereal. Within the
body it takes host and is the source of our nourishment and
enlightenment that allows life to exist in this physical form,
allows us to experience life as a person. You are your own Horn
of Plenty, Holy Grail, Chalice, Cauldron...you contain your
spirit. Are you toasting life with the contents? Have you tipped
your Self and spilled the contents? Have you overturned yourself
and ceased to exist? Have you stopped ingesting the contents...stopped
growing? Has life or circumstance done that for you? Do you
realize that it's up to you to set your cup upright and be patient
as Spirit refreshes the contents? Or that you can ask Spirit
to right you if you are too weak to do so yourself? How often
do you drink the nourishment, look into your Chalice and see
what it contains, connect to the life force within you?
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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