Egipcios Kier Card 41 Dissension and the Ace of Cups

My goal is to write about each of the Egipcios Kier cards that Nelise Carbonare Vieira associates with the suit of Cups. I’m beginning with the card she links to the Ace of Cups: card 41, Dissension.

The title of card 41 seems at odds with the glowing abundance that I usually associate with the Ace of Cups. The central image, however, seems more positive than the title.

Here are my upright keywords for the Ace of Cups:

• Upright: Gift of emotions, compassion, creativity, joy, emotional renewal, overflowing feelings
• Reversed: Repressed emotions, distrusting your intuition

In the Marseilles Tarot tradition, all the Aces suggest Initiation. In Kabbalah, the number one corresponds to the highest sefirah on the Tree of Life, Keter (כתר), the Crown, where divine unity begins to emanate into creation. As the Sefer Yetzirah puts it, “Keter is the first emanation, representing the initial divine will and the beginning of creation.” (I wish I were familiar enough with even one school of Kabbalah to say a little more about this sefirah and its connection to the Tarot Aces.)

The central image on card 41 shows four individuals who may be praying, singing, or performing. While there’s a superficial resemblance to the Rider-Waite-Smith Five of Wands, these figures don’t seem to be in conflict; three are standing, one is kneeling, and all raise their arms expressively.

The cartouche contains these symbols:

• The lower section shows a jar or urn turned upside down
• The upper section includes a vulture, a glyph with eight branches, an inverted flame inside a green square, and the Hebrew letter Alef (א)
• On the title line are the symbol for Mercury, a double L, and the number 5 (which may refer to Tiferet or to Gevurah on the Tree of Life)

Kaplan writes that “internal strife was one of the primary causes of Egypt’s decline and eventual loss of independence.” That idea resonates with the Talmudic claim that Jerusalem was destroyed due to internal hatred. (Before that, it was infighting among the Hasmonean Dynasty, the Maccabees, that led to Roman occupation of the kingdom of Judea.) Kaplan adds that the three standing figures represent conflicting social groups: scribes, ordinary citizens, and royalty. The urn, he notes, is “an amulet of the heart,” which is a clear bridge to the overflowing heart depicted on the Ace of Cups in Robin Wood’s deck.

Kaplan’s meanings for card 41 are:

• Upright: unsatisfied desires, struggle, endeavors, violent strife, obstacles, dissension, failed negotiations
• Reversed: trickery, contradictions, complexity, involvement, caution against indecision

Nelise Carbonare Vieira offers a different perspective, emphasizing creative and emotional potential rather than discord. Her key phrase is: Opening space in society to reveal your gifts – Revealing your values. She follows with this quote from Iglesias Janeiro, an early 20th century Argentinian occultist: “The bows of the mighty have been broken; and those of the oppressed are filled with strength.”

Vieira sees this card as the beginning of the emotional and creative journey of the Cups, a moment when inner restlessness pushes us toward self-expression. To find our place in the world, we must step forward, express our talents, and reveal both our value and our values. We’re learning to craft roles that reflect our true selves, even as we struggle with the fear of stepping out of anonymity.

Many of us were discouraged from speaking freely in childhood, taught to suppress our feelings and ideas. We learned to hide our abilities to avoid rejection or criticism. But now, we’re beginning to recognize our gifts and feel ready to stop holding back. We want to trust our voices and be seen.

This card speaks to the courage it takes to confront self-doubt, to challenge a sense of inferiority, and to stop letting others’ disapproval define us. Though we may judge our own efforts harshly, we might be surprised, when we finally share them, to be met with appreciation and encouragement.

In focusing on Vieira’s interpretation, I have strayed from the card’s title, Dissension, and Kaplan’s keywords. However, I can discern a subtle alignment between Vieira's ideas and the title of the card. Inner restlessness is a kind of dissension, a clash between our hidden potential and the silence we’ve accepted. That tension can mark the beginning of transformation. It’s this discomfort that prompts us to create, to speak, to assert who we really are. Repressed emotions begin to rise. Dissension, in this case, may start within, but it doesn’t necessarily end in external conflict.

In conclusion, this card suggests a new beginning, as all Aces do, but a beginning not born of peace and harmony—as the Ace of Cups might suggest—but of friction. It is a call to break with submission and passivity, to challenge the roles we’ve accepted, and to step forward with our true gifts and convictions. Dissension, in this context, isn’t just conflict; it is the courage to disrupt the silence.

Perhaps this card suggests that healing begins with a rupture; the heart must break open before it can flow outward. To express what lives within us calls for courage, surrender, and faith. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk taught, “The only whole heart is a broken one.” Dissension within may mark not chaos, but the stirring of the soul, a holy disturbance that creates space for revelation and for the emergence of our hidden gifts.