Have you been curious to know more about the suit of Cups in Tarot?
If so, you have come to the right place!
Just what is it about Tarot that fascinates us so much? The first documented Tarot cards date all the way back to the 1400’s – but it is possible they have been around much longer than that. Divination can be traced back to ancient times, particularly among the Ancient Egyptians and the city of Alexandria where magic was common practice.
For Tarot is magic and as we emerge into the Age of Aquarius, magic is making a comeback!
So if you feel drawn towards Tarot, just remember that you are responding to the magical vibrations that are beating through our planet right now.
Understanding the Tarot cards at a deeper level can help guide us as we journey through life, helping us with our relationships, careers, personality and even our soul journey.
So how about the suit of Cups? What meaning does it bring to our lives?
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What Do the Cups Mean?
The Cups suit relates to our emotions and especially relates to our relationships, love, feelings, and connections with others.
Everything that enters the realm of relationships is associated with the Cups suit.
Cups are represented by the element water. In astrology, they are associated with the zodiac signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.
The Cups cards are one quarter of the Minor Arcana which represent everyday elements of our lives, particularly pertaining to our relationships with others, as well as our relationship with ourselves. Where the Swords represent thoughts and ideas, the Pentacles represent the material world such as work and money, and the Wands represent energy, motivation and sex, the Cups cards represent everything that is deep and churning within us – our basic emotions, the feelings that drive us and elements of ourselves that link to matters of the heart.
Cups also represent creativity and imagination. It represents intuition and instinct. With this suit, there is very little in terms of logic and reason. Save that for Swords – Cups are pure emotion!
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The Cups from Ace to King
Each card in the Tarot has many layers to it – you can read it with complexity or depth, but what matters is that you read it in a way that feels right to you.
Remember that Cups relate to emotions so it is usually easier to read a Cups card in a reading about feelings than a Sword or a Pentacle. Most of them are popular cards to show up in readings about love and relationships!
Below is a summary of each Cup card, along with their associated meanings. It is up to you as the reader to use both your knowledge of the cards and your intuition to decide what each card means in the context of the reading you have laid out!
The Cups Cards & Their Meanings
- Ace of Cups: Unconditional love, experiencing attraction, getting in touch with your feelings, developing a bond with someone, being affectionate, removing negativity, forgiving those who have wronged you, listening to your intuition.
- 2 of Cups: Feeling a strong attraction, healing damaged relationships, making a new relationship of friendship, celebrating a union, deepening a bond with another, feeling positive about your relationship.
- 3 of Cups: Trusting in friendship, enjoying time spent with friends, a relationship that blossoms from friendship, being happy, experiencing joy, feeling on top of the world, feeling like celebrating, working together.
- 4 of Cups: Being self-absorbed, only seeing things from your point of view, losing interest, feeling disengaged, lack of motivation, boredom, withdrawal, wanting something you cannot have, contemplation, keeping yourself to yourself.
- 5 of Cups: Suffering a loss, mourning, saying goodbye, feeling grief, breaking up a relationship, regret, wishing you could turn back the clock, crying over spilt milk, thinking you made the wrong decision, recognizing past errors, remorse, longing to be with someone.
- 6 of Cups: Soulmate, sharing what you have with others, feeling blessed, having positive intentions towards someone, having pure and loving feelings towards someone, feeling a sense of comfort and emotional security, feeling innocence, turning your back on corruption, having a clear conscience, feeling carefree, feeling taken care of.
- 7 of Cups: Wishful thinking, daydreaming, having an overactive imagination, strong creativity, indulging in fantasy, fantasizing about someone, feeling someone is your dream partner, feeling you have a lot of options, believing in many possibilities, being disorganized, falling into addictions, procrastination, laziness, not being in the “real world”.
- 8 of Cups: Moving on, letting go, saying goodbye, moving on to new or better things, moving away from a relationship, moving toward a relationship, seeking the deeper meaning, finding yourself, leaving a hopeless situation, accepting something is over, lacking energy, losing hope.
- 9 of Cups: Having your wish fulfilled, your dream has come true, meeting your dream partner, feeling like the cat that got the cream, feeling satisfied, feeling smug, getting what you wanted, feeling nothing can bring you down, enjoying sensuality, enjoying pleasure, making love, appreciating beauty.
- 10 of Cups: Feeling great joy, counting your blessings, enjoying a sense of peace, achieving your dream relationship, achieving your dream life, can’t believe your good fortune, bonding with family, supporting family, forgiveness in the family, calling a truce, feeling powerful delight.
The next 3 cards are the Cups Court Cards. They can represent a person in your life, you, or the energy that surrounds a situation in your life. They can also represent energy that you are being advised to take on yourself.
- Page of Cups: Puppy love, a crush, strong attraction, expressing your feelings, being romantic, admiring from afar, secret admirer, trusting your intuition, having psychic experiences, powerful creativity, solidifying friendship, feeling close to someone, forgiving someone, being loving, showing empathy and not judgement, being sympathetic.
- Knight of Cups: Falling in love, sensitive, in love with the idea of love, high empathy, wants to love and protect, idealizes love, sentimental, romantic gestures, tactful, diplomatic, appreciates beauty, knight in shining armour, chivalrous, seductive, courting, spiritual, strong intuition, good fashion sense, gentle, affection, fairy-tale love.
- Queen of Cups: Loving feelings, powerful connection with another, love of someone’s life, dear to your heart, sensitive, sweet, caring, compassionate, moved by others’ pain, high empathy, psychic abilities, empath, empathy, kind to people and animals, spiritual, appreciates the deeper meaning, patient, healer, never turns away from someone in need.
- King of Cups: A master of your emotions, benevolent, strong, protective, kind, loving, deep loving feelings often kept hidden, gives good advice, knows what other people need to help them grow, emotionally stable, calm, diplomatic, has a quiet influence on others and the world, compassionate, healer, sees beyond negative emotions, tolerant, open-minded, gives others freedom.
Closing Thoughts …
If you have pulled some Cups in your reading then hopefully this article can help you pinpoint the exact message your card is telling you. Sometimes you may just know instinctively what a card means and the definitions help to clarify that feeling!
Always trust your intuition – that is what Cups is all about! Emotions, feelings and intuition – the more in touch with our Cups side we are, the more we can influence our external surroundings for the better.
The Cups represent everything that is deep and true in human nature. It can represent the best feelings or the worst feelings but one thing we know about Cups is that they are always real and authentic. Tap into that side of ourselves and the magic will inevitably unfold.
Related article: The Wands Suit: How to Understand the Wands in Tarot
♡ Iberia Tor
