Why Nine Cups?

 I’ll admit it. Nine Cups is an odd name for a writing community and publishing press.

Autocorrect always wants to change it to ‘Nice Cups’, and it never fits with the business advice on choosing a name that explicitly sells out your service. (No, I don’t make cups). 

But the name came to me in the most obscure way and if you love a 'truth is stranger than fiction' story, then get yourself a cuppa and read on.

When I decided to start a poetry press and online community towards the end of my PhD (read: when I chose to ignore the million other things I had to deal with as a PhD candidate and mum of three young children during a global pandemic) I went in search of a name. 

I wanted to work with people who had reached a point in their lives where they couldn’t hold their stories in any longer. Perhaps they want to write, but were not sure what. Perhaps they knew exactly what they wanted to write but were unsure where to begin. Perhaps they were carers struggling to carve out time. Perhaps they struggle with admitting that they would like to listen to their heart calling. Perhaps they’d been to formal writing classes and had the whole system up against them.

I was on the hunt to find a moniker that would embody the sense of having lived experience, accumulated wisdom and now wanting to share it. I was embracing a community of people who wanted to learn more and enjoy the craft of writing, no longer held back from this desire. As you can imagine, this is not an easy feeling to summarise. 

But one morning, after thinking this over and over as I tidied the house, I sat down and opened my Instagram account. The first thing to fill my screen was an image of a tarot card - the Nine of Cups card - with the caption, ‘this is for whoever needs to see this today’. I follow this particular person not for tarot tips and advice. In fact, at that stage, I had no relationship with tarot at all. But I decided to go ahead and continue reading the explanation of what the card meant. I can’t remember exactly what was written, but it went something like this:  

The Nine of Cups card depicts a man (sometimes referred to as a genie) sitting on a bench in front of nine full cups which represent emotional fulfilment. The man has been through a lot to fill his cups and now has enough to share with others. However he is taking some time on his own for gratitude. His bench is not too comfortable, he will move on to other dreams soon - his red hat signifies an active mind. But in the meantime, the Nine of Cups card represents contentment, satisfaction, good fortune, dreams coming to fruition, as well as, gratitude and preparing to share. It also signifies that now is the time to indulge in things that make you happy and bring you pleasure, such as artistic endeavours. Now is the time.

Now, I thought, this is interesting… Then I moved on with my day. 

But for the next few weeks, the card started following me. It was popping up all over the place. 

I think.

You see I have an issue with numbers.

They don’t stick in my mind. Or if I remember them, they are often in reverse (25 vs 52 for example). So after closing my Instagram, I couldn’t remember if I had seen a Nine of Cups or a Five of Cups. 

So eventually, having still not settled on a name, I decided to jog my memory about the card I’d seen weeks before and determine if it was Nine or Five. I found an old tarot deck that had belonged to a family member who had passed away. It was in the collection of their things sitting quietly in a cupboard at our house. And as I held the deck in my hand I suddenly decided to ask it a question and pull a random card for fun.

I remember the moment so clearly. I stood in my library and said, “OK deck, what do I need to know?” (That version makes me sound quite confident, but in reality, I felt like a bit of a weirdo talking to a deck of cards).

And then I randomly pulled the Nine of Cups.

Now, you would think that this would floor me. However, because I couldn’t remember if I was looking for nine or five I still had to read the description in the Waite Ryder booklet: ‘Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction’. I googled the card to confirm that this was the perfect embodiment of the community I wanted to create.

I registered my business name that day.

And in the years since my trusty Nine of Cups has popped up often. I hope this space provides you with a chance to appreciate your skills and experience emotional fulfilment.

Victory to you, writers, and welcome.