Soulful Connections

The Two of Cups is a very positive card. While it normally relates to unity and love in romantic relationships it can signify harmony and mutual respect and appreciation in friendships and partnerships.

A strong pair is indicated here, the joy of two becoming one.

The Two of Cups is an exchange. You offer your cup – a container for all the love and pain and mystery in your heart – to someone, to something. In return, you receive their cup. There is so much trust here, so much willingness to be naked in this way.

If the Ace of Cups represents the flow of love from within, the Two of Cups is the flow of love between two people. With this card, you are creating deep connections and partnerships, based on shared values, compassion, and unconditional love.

Jodie Cooper and Pauline Menczer

In the 1980s, women were not welcome in surfing culture, and the few women who tried faced endless ridicule and discrimination.

So, when professional surfer Caroline Marks held up her cheque for winning the first competition of the 2019 WSL’s Championship Tour, and it displayed the same amount as on the cheque in the men’s competition, it was a watershed moment.

For many of the women who had pioneered women’s rights in the sport in years past, it marked an incredibly special moment in history.

Jodie Cooper, Pauline Menczer, Jolene and Jorja Smith, Wendy Botha, Alisa Schwarzstein, Rochelle Ballard, Layne Beachley, Pam Burridge, Frieda Zamba, and Lisa Anderson are some of the pioneers of women’s surfing who preserved for years on end without equality in the sport.

Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis

When the cameras started rolling on Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis in October 1970, both their lives and Australia would never be the same.

Fifty-one years ago, the pair made history by being the first lesbian couple to come out on national television, in an interview with the ABC’s This Day Tonight.

“The early 1970s were very, very conservative … Gay women were invisible, because people didn’t think lesbians existed,” Ms Papps says.

Ms Papps and Ms Curtis, who are still together and live on Victoria’s Phillip Island, have once again shared their story.