Aces symbolize beginnings, the start of something new and the seed of new growth.  Cups are associated with the element of water, with emotions, love, pleasure in life, matters pertaining to the unconscious, intuition and inner planes.   They represent the growth and awareness of the unconscious, emotional interactions and relationships with others.  Cups can also connect us with psychic activity and the Universe on an unconscious level.  The Ace of Cups traditionally refers to a new emotional connection, new insight about a relationship or new growth in an area that brings pleasure to your life.  

"You're feeing something new, maybe something you haven't felt before.  It might be a new emotion, a new relations, or a new awareness about an existing relationship.  The seed of love, anger, jealousy or another emotion has been planted." - Gail Fairfield

I need to focus on what brings joy and pleasure into my life.  More than that - what makes my soul sing in joy.  Sometimes I spend so much time focusing on things that I dislike that I forget what makes my heart swell with the unbearable joy of living each day.  So for today I'm going to consider what I love about life.

• I love reading cookbooks and looking a photos of luscious and seductive meals beautifully laid out.  I especially love it when they are offered in a context that is actually a fantasy for me - something that offers menus for weekends in the Hamptons or ski holidays.  These are things I may never experience but I love the fantasy.
• I love music of various types.  Led Zepplin can send me into orgasms of rapture and ecstasy.  World music can transport me to mystical lands that I may never visit except in my mind.  Even country music can offer a tongue-in-cheek view on life that can make me smile.
• I love watching moves that take me away - whether it's to a zombie ridden landscape where man may not survive or a magical world full of flying brooms, witches and elves, I love them all.  The classic screwball comedies full of witty banter and the film noirs where no one is who they seem both hold a special place in my heart.
• I love readings books - all kinds books.  I enjoy horrors, historical romances, science fiction, mysteries, books with occult overtones and classics.  Even when I end up not liking a book I've read, I almost never regret having read it.
• I love the smell of the seasons.  I can tell when Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Autumn.  I love the smell of freshly mown grass and the wet dirt after a rainfall. I love the sound of the ocean as it crashes to the shore.
• I love watching the squirrels as they scurry all over the trees and across my  property.  I love observing the cats who regally stroll across my lawn as though in royal procession.  I love watching the swans as they glide along the water by my mom-in-law's house.
• I am grateful for the many wonderful people I have in my life from my darling hubby to all of my varied friends.  I am even grateful for my relatives - although they sometimes drive me to distraction.
• I am just grateful for my life in general.  It has had its ups and downs; its triumphs and its failure but overall I have been blessed in so many ways that I am very grateful.  

These are just a few of things that bring joy to my heart and make my soul sing.