Studying Symbolism and Hidden Meanings in Traditional Playing Cards - The Six of Hearts

THE SIX OF HEARTS

This week we’ve got the month of May in our year-long journey in discovering symbolism and hidden meanings in traditional playing cards and at this point we are leveling up from the ranks of five to the ranks of six.

The suit of Hearts is equivalent to the suit of Cups in the Minor Arcana (Lesser Knowledge; lesser does not mean less important, it means the internal “Self”) subdeck of the Tarot (The Book of Truth).

A “Cup” represents the “Chalice”? Its archetype is an upside down triangle symbolizing feminine energy? This upside down triangle, called the “chalice”, is part of the symbol we call the “Star of David”?

The color association for hearts (and cups)  is “blue” and its element association is “water”. In consciousness the color blue and the element of water represent our emotions. Emotions are generated from the right-hemisphere of the neocortex region in the human brain, this is referred to as “feminine” consciousness? 
The season associated with hearts (and cups) is autumn? Hearts (and cups) “fixed” Zodiac sign is Scorpio?

Appearance

The traditional appearance for the “Six of Hearts”.

The index in the upper left corner of the card features a red number “6” indicating its rank and underneath the 6 is a red heart to indicate the suit in which the card belongs. A reflection of this appears in the lower right corner of the opposite index.

The pips are red heart shapes - one is located just to the right the red “6” and “heart” in the left index and another to the left of the right index, two more pips reflect these at the bottom of the card. Two more pips are in the middle of the card and aligned with the corner pips at the top and bottom of the card. The two middle pips could appear upside down depending on how the card is held.

The pip orientation on the six of hearts is kind of like the three of hearts split into two. On the three of hearts the pips form a single column or pillar in the middle of the card, perhaps representing the pillar of “Harmony” on the Entered Apprentice tracing board (first degree) from the Freemasonry tradition. The pips on the Six of Hearts form two pillars one on the left side of the card and the other on the right side. These two “pillars” might represent the pillar of Severity (or Judgment) (left side) and the pillar of “Mercy” (right side) from the same first degree tracing board. The pillar of “Severity” represents left brain consciousness? Masculine energy? Linear thinking? Math? Science? Where as the pillar of “Mercy” represents right brain consciousness? Female energy? Creative thinking? Art? Music?

The Six of Hearts Tarot counterpart is the Six of Cups.

Wikipedia entry on “The Six of Hearts” does not exist, so you’ll have to view the Wikipedia entry on the suit of “hearts”..

Popular Culture

The “Six of Hearts” is the name of a character in a novel written by Australian author Jack Heath titled “The Lab”.

“The Six of Hearts” is the name of a Kenny G jazz album released in 1997.

Symbolism and Hidden Meanings

According to Seven Reflections

The heart suit is the suit of love.

The Six of Hearts is the card of a soul. It represents the Law of Love, the Christ Principle, which itself entails sacrifice and selflessness. It stands for a family - Father-Mother-Child principle, for beauty, harmony, order, and completion. It is union and cooperation, adjustment, and responsibility. There are debts to be paid in concerns with love and personal relationships.

According to www.cardarium.com/6-of-hearts

The Card of Cupid

The Six of Hearts is the card of Cupid, who is aiming an arrow at your heart. It means falling in love. Stand still, please, while he shoots you. Joy bells and whistles - love is coming your way. By and large the Six of Hearts means the beginning of a new love affair or a marriage proposal.

According to www.artofcartomancy.blogspot.com on the “Six of Hearts”

Number influence = Six is the number of “Man” and represents “imperfection”. The “sixth sense” are man’s five senses (sound, sight, smell, taste, touch) plus the extra sensory perception (ESP). Six represents low consciousness and the “anti-christ”?

Suit influence: Hearts = love, emotions, feelings, romance, marriage, children, happiness, peace, contentment, comfort, compassion, and more.

The Six of Hearts = A love relationship, a friendship, emotional security, gallantry, courage, faith, trust, compassion, Emotional connection. Past life or soul connections. Masculine energy, male lover, brother, son, bachelor, unmarried man. Anything generally associated with the male gender such as a toolbox, a tie, facial hair, etc.

According to www.thetarot.guru/six-of-hearts-meaning (using the Six of Cups)

TheSix of Hearts (or Cups) represents nostalgia, childhood memories, inner child work, and innocence.

According to “Metasymbology on the Six of Hearts”

Hearts = Emotions, Relationships, Love
Six of Hearts = The Law of Love
Karma = Responsibility

The six resonates with duty and purpose in line with the meaning of the suit. The heart suit represents relationships and social aspects of our society. The Six of Hearts feels that its purpose of life is the duty-bound to support their family, friends,and worldly causes.

The six of hearts does not believe in luck, they work hard to achieve their objectives, not for fame or glory, but because they feel obligated to do so.

A quick description of the Six of Cups from the Minor Arcana of the Tarot (see the Cardarum website above)

The VI of Cups = The Past, Happy Memories

The VI of Cups depicts children in an old garden with cups filled with flowers (like a vase?)

Divinatory meaning = A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as for example: on childhood, happiness, and enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct.

Reversed = The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently

Video Explanations

Youtube: Six of Hearts card reading

Youtube: Six of Cups card reading