The Suit of Cups - Emotions & Feelings
ACE OF CUPS - Love
KEYWORDS
Emotions. Feelings. Intuition. Intuitive creativity. Universal love. Purity of feeling. Unconditional love. Falling in love.
THE LIGHT
This Ace represents sacred universal love, intuitive creativity and the fluidity of our feelings. It embodies the purity and virtue of unconditional love.
It can represent the initial rush of emotions when we realize we're falling for someone. This card often depicts a cup overflowing with water, a metaphor for the fluctuating, irrepressible nature of our true feelings.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Ace of Cups signals an imbalance in our emotional state of being. It may represent a fracture in our connection to our true self and to others.
It may also indicate that we're voluntarily repressing our feelings or that we no longer have any love left to give. It can represent falling out of love, divorce and breakups.
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TWO OF CUPS - Soulmates
KEYWORDS
True love. Soulmates. Emotional connection. Commitment. A couple. Perfect compatibility. Romantic attraction. Balanced relationship. Reciprocity in love.
THE LIGHT
The Two of Cups is about the deepest emotional connection between two people. I see it as one of the loveliest cards in the Tarot. It's often compared to The Lovers in the Major Arcana. While The Lovers can also indicate true love, it's more about choices, duality and long-term partnerships of all kinds. The Two of Cups is about romantic attraction, emotional commitment, loving someone and being loved in return. It's also about a healthy, stable and equal relationship.
THE SHADOW
The shadow side of this card indicates trouble in paradise. It signals incompatibilities, forced relationships and one-sided feelings. It may also represent any kind of non-exclusive, open relationships and the need for emotional freedom. Like the shadow Ace of Cups, this card can also indicate separations and breakups as well as infidelity.
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THREE OF CUPS - Three's Company
KEYWORDS
Friendship. A group of friends. Social life. Cliques. Love triangle. Threesome. Polyamory. Amicable collaborations.
THE LIGHT
This is the card of friendships and other platonic partnerships. It may represent exclusive associations, private clubs, cliques, sororities and fraternities. Pay attention to surrounding cards as they may provide additional information on social interactions within the group, the presence of toxic elements or interfering outside influences.
This is also the card of love triangles, threesomes or polyamorous dynamics. It indicates a very close relationship between at least three individuals.
THE SHADOW
The shadow side of this card represents problems with our social life; misunderstandings between friends; the end of a friendship or an unequal, damaging dynamic within the group. It could also signal that we're being ostracized or that we're deliberately keeping away from our social circle.
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FOUR OF CUPS - Detachment
KEYWORDS
Apathy. Detachment. Boredom. Indifference. Emotional distance. Melancholy. Ennui. Moodiness. Meditation.
THE LIGHT
The Four of Cups is a complicated card. It can indicate indifference, discontent, nostalgia and ennui. It can also signal mild depression, melancholy and regret. It often appears when we're bored with our day-to-day existence and long for a more exciting life, or for a return to a more enjoyable time in our life. This feeling can cause us to ignore the blessings we already have and make us neglect our loved ones.
This card can also represent a form of meditation that temporarily cuts off all emotional connection to others.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Four of Cups can be best understood as a reflection of 'The Hermit' archetype in the Major Arcana. It represents a voluntary withdrawal from society in order to reevaluate our life and understand what we need to change to keep growing as a person.
It can also represent a tendency to protect ourselves from others and trigger a self-defense mechanism that creates a shell around our heart and makes it hard to truly connect with others.
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FIVE OF CUPS - Disappointment
KEYWORDS
Sadness. Disappointment. Disillusion. Crying over spilled milk. Pessimism. Emotional distress. Self-pity.
THE LIGHT
The Five of Cups is about disappointment, self-pity and broken or damaged relationships. All is not lost at this point, however. The damage can still be repaired if we focus on the parts that still work. This card can also indicate that it's time to take off the rose-colored glasses and see the situation for what it truly is, the good and the bad.
This is often a pessimistic, defeatist card. It causes us to feel sorry for ourselves, to cry over spilled milk and to dwell on that feeling until it becomes much worse than it initially was. What has happened can't be changed, but there are other options available. When this card shows up, remember the saying: 'When one door closes, another one opens.' The trick is to lift the fog of disillusionment long enough to see that new open door.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Five of Cups is about hope and silver linings. No matter how bad things get, we're able see the light at the end of the tunnel and focus on the positive.
It can also represent self-forgiveness, self-compassion and accepting that we can't possibly control everything that happens to us. The shadow Five of Cups urges us to be kind to ourselves and our emotional well-being.
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SIX OF CUPS - Remember When...?
KEYWORDS
Memories. Childhood. Nostalgia. Innocence. Playfulness. Living in the past. Regression.
THE LIGHT
This card is about bittersweet memories, familiarity, reunions with long lost friends, rekindled feelings and shared history. It takes us back to childhood, a time of innocence and carefree playfulness.
It can also indicate a tendency to live in the past, to refuse to grow up. It may signal childish behavior, emotional immaturity and psychological regression. Think of it as the 'Peter Pan syndrome'.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Six of Cups indicates a loss of innocence, a sense of being forced to grow up too fast. It can also represent rigid maturity, lack of imagination and losing touch with our inner child.
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SEVEN OF CUPS - Endless Choices
KEYWORDS
Choices. Opportunities. Variety. Temptations. Indecision. Feeling overwhelmed. Wishful thinking.
THE LIGHT
This card is about choices, variety and life's temptations. It represents the many possibilities and opportunities we're constantly faced with throughout our lives. This may leave us feeling overwhelmed when we want it all and are unable to choose just one option. Making the right choice can become a paralyzing experience and lead to indecision.
This card also represents wishful thinking, grandiose expectations and impossible dreams.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Seven of Cups indicates extreme confusion. It creates the illusion of choice, when none of the options are actually viable. It can represent a great loss of opportunity and leave us helplessly watching our ship sail away forever.
This card can also mean that we've made a terrible mistake and that we're now haunted by the idea of what could have been.
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EIGHT OF CUPS - Moving On
KEYWORDS
Moving on. Giving up. Leaving. Withdrawing. Cutting ties. Walking away. Ghosting. Abandonment.
THE LIGHT
When the Eight of Cups card shows up it's time to move on. We may feel unsure, defeated and emotionally bruised, but we also realize that this is for the best. When a relationship or situation no longer meets even the most basic expectations or commitments, it's time to let go, count our losses and walk away without ever looking back.
This card can also represent ghosting someone, cutting all ties without so much as an explanation.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Eight of Cups represents and inability to move on. We're stuck in an emotionally damaging place and find it impossible to extricate ourselves from it.
It can also indicate that now is not the time to give up on or abandon any given situation or person. Give it some more time and a lot more thought before making that final decision to leave.
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NINE OF CUPS - Joy and Serenity
KEYWORDS
Joy. Serenity. Contentment. Emotional stability. Dreams come true. Gratitude.
THE LIGHT
This is the card of serene contentment and emotional stability. Relationships are balanced and healthy. We are safe, loved and fulfilled. We feel like the luckiest person alive and couldn't ask for anything better. We're literally living a dream come true. We are thankful for all that life has given us.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Nine of Cups has us feeling unhappy and unsettled. Something important is missing in our lives and we're left emotionally off balance. What felt like a dream come true turned out to be a complete lie. This is normally a very positive card, so its shadow aspect is not destructive, but it can cause a lot of distress.
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TEN OF CUPS - Happily Ever After
KEYWORDS
Perfect happiness. Emotional fulfillment. Harmony. Blessed life. Fairytale existence.
THE LIGHT
This card is happiness, joy, perfection and harmony rolled into one. We've achieved the highest level of human contentment. It also indicates a happy marriage; a strong committed relationship; a wonderful love life. The Ten of Cups represents those rare, magical, perfect moments of joy we all strive for. These are the moments by which we weigh our degree of happiness in life. We put ourselves through untold heartache and countless failed relationships with the hope that someday we'll find the right person(s) to be this happy with. That's the Ten of Cups in a nutshell. The fairy tale has become our daily reality and we feel blessed beyond all measure.
THE SHADOW
The shadow Ten of Cups indicates disharmony, unhappy relationships and broken dreams. Something is terribly wrong, and it will be difficult, but not impossible, to set it right. Like the Nine of Cups, the Ten is a very positive card, so its shadow aspect won't cause irreparable damage, but it will inflict pain and we may shed a few of tears.
All images in this post feature 'The Field Tarot' by Hannah Elizabeth Fofana.