Blinded by Grief- The Five of Cups

The Five of Cups is the card of grief. Archibald Craven, the sad patriarch from the Secret Garden embodies the meaning of this card.

Mr. Craven had a lonely life, isolated by both his wealth and that he had a hunchback. It is implied that before he met his wife he believed himself unworthy and unlovable. After meeting Lily, a beautiful young woman, he (and everyone around the couple) was shocked when she returned his love. His life became filled with unexpected happiness and a clear purpose to treasure her. When Lily died in childbirth, Mr. Craven became consumed by his grief. 

A decade later, Mr. Craven’s grief is as sharp and present as the day his wife died. She is the ghost that haunts him with the joyful life he could have had. Mary Lennox, Mr. Craven’s niece and new ward asks him if “Everyone who dies becomes a ghost?” and he responds, “ They're only a ghost if someone alive is still holding onto them.” Mr. Craven holds on to Lily so tightly that he can see nothing else.

Exploring Tarot Interpretations

At first I had selected the four cups, a card that can be interpreted as a person who cannot see the blessings around them, who is sensitive, and feels deep emotion. They are like stagnant water that needs to flow. All of this fit the character of Archibald Craven. The traditional Rider Waite tarot shows a person contemplating three overturned cups while ignoring the fourth full cup. I sketched Mr. Craven staring blankly ahead, with three empty cups before him. In the background Mary Lennox, his young ward, was silhouetted in the doorway bringing a fresh cup of tea. In the image Mary represents the possibility of renewed purpose and connection to the living, just as she provides that bridge for her uncle in the novel.

As I continued to research tarot  and grief I discovered that the very next card in the deck, the 5 of cups, was better aligned with my message, representing deeper mourning, while still depicting that grief can blind us. I shifted the image so that Mary, now in the foreground, holds two fresh cups of tea. It was a convenient solution, but it was also narratively poignant. What Mary offers Mr. Craven is not comfort, but connection, a reminder that here in the world of the living he has relationships he can foster. In fact the two cups could be interpreted as the two children, Mary and Colin, his neglected son, who eventually remind him of his purpose. By moving her to the front I emphasize how Mr. Craven has this blessing right in front of him, and yet he still does not see.

Casting Archibald Craven

The process of designing Mr. Craven’s character was immensely rewarding for me. Working out the choices in depicting his character and emotion led to higher clarity and more depth in what this card and character meant to me. I began by collecting references of actors who had played the roles, or a role that felt similar to me. Because of my love of the Secret Garden Broadway Musical, Mandy Patinkin's interpretation was a strong contender. However as I sketched Mandy I realized that his expression of grief was powerful but also too open- more appropriate for singing on stage. I explored Jonathan Bailey’s performance of Anthony Bridgerton. In one particular scene, Anthony is informed that the love of his life has survived a horrific accident. He reacts with a smile, but is then immediately overwhelmed with emotion.  This depiction of masking immense pain until it was too much was incredibly moving. However in the end it was the 1993 John Lynch interpretation of Mr. Craven that hit exactly what I was looking for. I had not even seen the movie, but the haunting frames of John Lynch caught me.

Learning through Drawing

One of the things I love about drawing most is how it slows you down so that you see things you didn't before. While the impression of grief and pain were clear on the very first scan of his face, it was not until I tried to recreate his expression in graphite I understood why. His eyes had a blank far away expression- covered in shadow without highlights or definition- just an unfocused haze rimmed in red. This showed that he was not present in his environment but always elsewhere, consumed by the ghost of his wife. The tension in his jaw and the way he sucked his lip showed a man whose emotions were just below the surface, always on the edge of spilling over.

Despite the passing of ten years Mr. Craven’s emotions are still intense, and it takes all of his strength not to be overcome. 

Beyond expression I ended up modeling Mr. Craven’s design after John Lynch. Rather than leaning into the archetypes of Quasimodo, the other famous hunchback, my interpretation of Archibald was that his self perception was  profoundly warped by his hunchback- believing that he was deformed and unloveable. He did not see himself as an equal to Lily, and was astounded that she could possibly love him. However Lily did not see him this way. When I imagine Archibald and Lily meeting for the first time in the garden, I  imagine that she would have found him striking and handsome, and that as she got to know him, found that he was gentle, kind and generous. She did not pity him, she loved him. John Lynch has that striking appearance, with his thick long hair making him a romantic and passionate figure. However it is still believable that he may not know this about himself.

Dressing the Set

To build the background I researched Victorian manors and old english studies and recruited my husband to model for lighting reference images. To add richness to the image referenced William Morris wallpaper design with a Lily motif, to further emphasize Mr. Craven’s obsession with his late wife. The original design was predominantly green, however I did not want green in my color scheme because within the Secret Garden, the color green is associated with healing and growth. Instead I chose a triad of colors from my Holbein Acrylic Gouache set: blue violet, light red and yellow ochre. The dark blue purples connected with the idea of grief and the reds and oranges the current pain.

To learn about color triad check out James Gurney's blog

On the mantle below the ghostly portrait of Lily I placed two embracing elephants, like the ones Mary found earlier in the novel as she explored the manor. A third baby elephant was placed turned away from the parent and partially shrouded in shadow. The objects are meant to hint at Colin, the lonely child neglected by his grief-stricken father. Though I had been so consistent in avoiding greens in my color scheme it suddenly occurred to me that Mary, the catalyst to Mr. Craven’s healing was the one place where green made sense. I mixed viridian with blue violet and kept the contrast low and the values dark. She melds with the stark darkness on the right side of the illustration, emphasizing again Mr. Craven’s inability to see the blessing before him. 

In the end, this illustration became more than a tarot interpretation — it became a meditation on how we hold onto grief, and how healing often stands quietly in front of us, waiting to be seen.