Kyle is a foodie who loves Tarot. Theresa is a Tarot reader who loves food.
Together, we host Tarot by the Mouthful: a mouthwatering, multi-media culinary tour through the world of Tarot.
Sublime recipes. Soulful stories. Essays, videos, interviews and delicious surprises.
Join us every Sunday for a new installment — and get ready to sip, slurp, crunch and savor your way through the entire Tarot deck!
This week: Two of Cups
Two of Cups: Mutual attraction. The Two of Cups symbolizes a union. Two people come together. Merge. Moving beyond the initial spark and taking it deeper. Intimacy. A strong card for any sort of partnership. The ability to see eye-to-eye. Meeting someone where they’re at. Compromise. Marriage. True romance. Important meetings. Healing.
Kyle – Tarot for Two
The desire to simply my life could not have been stronger. I was one and half years into life as a new father, and though I felt I was coming closer to mastering the sequential delights and exhaustion that a new parent faces, my priorities where unequivocally to hunker down. I would do less socially and save more, see a bit less of the world for a year or two, and let the parts that faded away go back to where they came in the way that farmers cull their fields at harvest, leaving the smallest for the birds and the earth.
I was not, under any circumstances, looking to be on TV. However, an erstwhile neighbor of mine, Arthur Ircink, had an idea for a television show called Wisconsin Foodie, and for reasons that will always mystify me, beyond the fact that as new father I was home on Thursday nights watching Bourdain and Zimmern as they successfully broadened food based story telling, Arthur and his best supporter/confidant and now his wife Dana, thought I would be a good host for the show.
We met at Hinterland, a Third Ward restaurant and bar where I had become such a regular, the bar had an eponymous drink in my honor. Over a pair of those drinks, Arthur and I came to an understanding that has become the living entity which grew into a two time Emmy-nominated television show, broadcast to over 8 million people, presently, on the same night of the week I started watching Bourdain and Zimmern. Though my understanding of tarot is better than most, but still nascent compared to those work with it everyday, the partnership Arthur and I began at the Hinterland bar seems replete with Two of Cups card energy.
A card not to be outdone, 3 ½ years later, I had again returned to my refrain of simplicity in my life. As a single dad, my week was bifurcated into one half focused on my 5-year-old son, the other half free to engage friends, film with Wisconsin Foodie, recreate, and grow. I had in fact, recently announced to some good friends who where perennially attempting to set me up with people they thought a good dating fit, that “a relationship would fuck up my life”.
The Two of Cups, when called upon by the universe for the right reasons, is a potent card. To wit, again, despite my declarations, I found myself at Hinterland’s bar, engrossed in a conversation with the mother of a child my son-shared daycare with. We both where set against relationships of any sort that carried the whiff of romance, heartstrings, or the like. Yet, what might have been a post work cocktail, turned into a 7-hour marathon of inquiry and listening. The Two of Cups card, in full force, brought us to engagement two years later, and soon marriage.
I learned from both of these moments, is the power of “getting out of the way of myself.” We need each other, our relationships and partnerships, often more that we want to admit, or on terms and timing we wish to dictate, but are not in the rhythm of the universe. A chalice toasting another isn’t full of the energy of hesitation it is full, even overflowing with an energy meant to flow, to share, and be enjoyed.
Theresa – We’re toast
When I think of how the Two of Cups might relate to food, the first thing that comes to my mind is: toasting. The couple in the image are bringing their cups together – it couldn’t be more obvious than that!
Toasting is common in most cultures – it’s the clinking of two cups before taking a drink, usually of an alcoholic beverage. This tradition of raising our glasses may have begun in ancient times – perhaps pre-history. Evidence suggests that the Ancient Greeks may have started this tradition as a way of offering libations to the gods and each other’s health. There is a rumor that toasting was originally to test for poison but that’s not true. There is not a shred of evidence to prove that theory.
The word “toast” allegedly originates in the 16th century, when toast was added to wine. This practice was thought to improve the flavor of the wine by soaking up the acidity. This bread would be served in the communal cup and the host would consume it as well as the last few drops of the wine after the glass had been passed around to the guests. In time, individual vessels became favored so the clinking of the glasses became a way to honor the communal connection and celebrate relationships. Total Two of Cups in action.
As a child in a German-American household, the typical toast was an enthusiastic “proust” with a hearty clink of the glasses. This joyful gesture signified that the celebration was beginning, that we were about to feast. And feast we did.
Proust indeed.
How do you toast? What are your ways to celebrate the communal spirit of a meal or drink?
More about toasting:
How to create the perfect toast
Modern Drunkard’s All the Toasts You Need to Know
Two books on toasting from Paul Dickson:
Rising to the Occasion: The Best Toasts for Any Celebration
Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces
Proust!
Theresa and Kyle
© Theresa Reed | The Tarot Lady 2015
photos from personal collection and Jessica Kaminski
Hungry for more? Click here to explore the entire Tarot by the Mouthful series, from the very first card… right up to our latest installment. Bon appetit!
I’m Theresa Reed (aka, The Tarot Lady). I’ve been a full-time tarot reader for 30+ years — which, in my industry, makes me pretty badass.
I’m definitely not your average Tarot expert — I drop the F-bomb, I quote rappers, and I’m obsessed with pop culture + reality TV. Folks come to me for straight-talk + tough-love — without the woo-woo fluff. 
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