The Seven of Cups could well be interpreted to be about a boundless imagination. However it is important to give our dreams structure and support. Rachel Pollack puts it best, in Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom:
Emotion and imagination can produce wonderful visions, but without grounding in both action and the outer realities of life these fantastic images remain daydreams, ‘fancies’ without real meaning or value. … They lack meaning because they don’t connect to anything outside of themselves.
It’s all well and good to be imaginative and curious but if ideas, callings, desires etc aren’t acted upon then they remain like the symbols in the card: figments of your mind, or rather, your heart. Of course there are some fantasies that one should be cautious about actually acting upon and Van Life is certainly one of these.
Running away to join a circus, selling up everything and living in a van sounds very appealing, especially if you are suffering from burn out in the work force. Since the pandemic, as people have fled the cities, the internet has been awash with curated stories about how exotic life is when you hit the road live in a camper van. It all sounds very romantic.
Colloquially known as #VanLife the growing movement of people living in vans, often gaining a large social media following while doing it, keeps increasing. Apparently there are four million posts with the hashtag on Instagram alone so it is certainly no longer just the domain of retiring grey nomads.
But some van dwellers are blunt and will tell you that the reality of life on the road is vastly different to the highly curated, picture-perfect and peripatetic lifestyles that social media shows.
Casey Hawkins is one of these honest individuals. She explains that it can feel as though life has no filter when you are on the road. She points out that living in a van is different is very different to living in a tiny home because no matter how hard you try, a van is not a house. It is always in a public space and you can’t comfortably stand up, move around, watch TV, or just dance around the kitchen in your underwear! Perhaps more importantly you really don’t want to get sick or have an injury.
So beware of seven of cups moments like this. If you are dreaming of hitting the road make sure to do some research because there are many more elements to consider. Unless you have a really luxurious motorhome, for example, after a while you will miss your four walls and a hot shower, especially in winter.
There is unquestionably a dark side to van life and it is prudent to research about some unfortunate truths about van life.
Your ideas may be wonderful, but can you make them real? What can they really mean, here, in your life? The Seven of Cups asks you to ‘make the impossible possible’, to actively manifest your desires, rather than admiring them as daydreams. In order to put in this energy, you may need to let some dreams go. Focus on what really lights you up, and don’t be afraid to leave some of your dreams behind (if only just for now). Let your heart guide you to choose the meaningful over the superficial.
Little Red Tarot
Waltzing With Matilda's 