The number 5 represents that added something that brings the situation out of balance again.  It represents the struggle and challenge of inner and outer growth.  Cups are associated with emotions, love, pleasure in life; matters pertaining to the unconscious, intuition and the inner planes, and the element of water.   This card often symbolizes the need to let go of our emotional connection to something that has passed out of our lives. 

The first thing that struck me upon looking at the Voyager card is the broken goblets and cups that litter the landscape.  They are thrown away like so much useless junk.  Whatever beauty they once held, whatever purpose they once served is no longer a consideration.  They are expendable and need to be gotten rid of to make room for newer items.

This made me think of the modern consumerist attitude to things that have led us to the current state we're in.  Instead of trying to make things last or appreciate the beauty of something that has some age, some wear on it we convince ourselves that we are helping the economy by purchasing a new item.  People replace computers every years or so.  Cities tear down their historic buildings that have beauty, detail and character and replace them with bland, boring featureless high-rises whose only redeeming feature is that they are new and have wireless access.

Even the current push to convert all televisions to digital makes no sense.  The government is issuing coupons to aid people in making the transfer but I fail to see how television signals are a government concern at all.  It just seems to be part of the same mind-set that newer is better.  The modern is to be desired above all else. 

I am the first person to admit that I embrace the electronic revolution.  I love using my computer and having instant access to so many things via the Internet.  At the same time I love looking at the hidden gifts that decorate so many New York City building, decorations that would never even be considered on a modern structure.  It is amazing the treasures one can find in NYC by simply looking up.

I think the 5 of Cups symbolizes the lack of mourning or thought that we put into the things we leave behind.  We don't consider how the current hurried pace of life forces us to keep moving and not reflect on what has been left by the wayside.  I don't want to be that way.  Change may be inevitable and progress brings great gifts but that doesn't mean we can't pause periodically to remember how things used to be and some of the simple joys we lost.  It may be the joys of childhood or the joys of a simpler time when we didn't have hundreds of cable channels and when the family shared one television set or didn't have a television at all.  It doesn't matter what it is, I think the 5 of Cups is suggesting that we need to honor and remember these things that have passed away.  We don't need to linger forever in the mourning process but we should at least focus for a few moments on their loss.