Meanings Of Tarot Cards - Suit Of Cups

The Ace of Cups
The Root of the Powers of Water

Numerical Value: 5
Season: Summer
Direction: West

Divinatory meaning
Upright – Faithfulness, fertility, joy, love.  The commencement of creative or artistic projects.  All the positive powers of the unconscious mind.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – The card is symbolic of changes for the worst, possibly a time of barrenness, which can be either of a physical or mental nature.  Failure of love, stagnation, despair and possibly loss of faith.

The Two of Cups
The Lord of Love

Numerical Value: 2

Divinatory meaning
Upright – Affection, love, the beginnings of a new romance, partnership or friendship. Emotional affinity, sympathy, joyous harmony, the reconciliation of opposites in mutual trust.  Resolved differences.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – Separation, dissent, divorce, deceit or unfaithfulness in a personal relationship.  Misunderstandings and quarrels, love not returned.

The Three of Cups
The Lord of Abundance

Numerical Value: 3

Divinatory meaning
Upright – A fortunate end to a valued project or venture.  A birth possibly physical, but may mean the birth of a new project instead.  Great happiness as the result of a marriage or a birth.  Something coming to fruition that was conceived out of love.  A card of abundant fertility, trust harmony, maternity and the healing of ills.  Possibly a celebration.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – Self indulgence to excess.  Selfishness and sensuality.  Loss of happiness.  Loveless sex, unbridled passion, famine, illness possibly associated with smoking or over-eating. Promiscuity and obesity.

The Four of Cups
The Lord of Blended Pleasure

Numerical Value: 4

Divinatory meaning
Upright – Time to re-evaluate an all too familiar environment, dissatisfaction and boredom.  The need to search for a more stimulating way of life.  Apathy, dwelling on past experience.  Love that turns to familiarity.  Happiness that has reached its peak.  Possibly the establishment of a family.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – All kinds of excess, ill health or fatigue as a result of over indulgence.  The overturning of a way of life.  Rapid change resulting in new anxieties.  Excitement for its own sake that brings little or fleeting pleasure.  A low boredom threshold.

The Five of Cups
The Lord of Loss in Pleasure

Numerical Value: 5

Divinatory meaning
Upright – A need to re-order and re-evaluate priorities.  Union and espousal.  Dishonour that cannot be overcome, loss defeat.  There is a need to curb futile belligerence and accept the inevitable.  Worry and regret, broken engagements and emotional letdowns.  Emotional or monetary legacies.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – The overturning of a way of life.  False starts.  Worries which arrive both unexpectedly and from an unexpected source.  Ill luck which leaves a feeling of being bereft.  Worries and anxieties.

The Six of Cups
The Lord of Pleasure

Numerical Value: 6

Divinatory meaning
Upright – Harmony, past associations have brought present relationships.  A sense of the past.  Happiness that results from past efforts.  Pleasant memories and the realization of a dream.  Can also indicate new elements entering one’s life which are linked to the past, which will work through the present to create the future.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – A hankering after the past and that which is gone and never to return.  Vanity and pride in past success and accomplishment creating a barrier to future success.  A Clinging to the past and outdated habits and customs.  Exaggerated nostalgia.

The Seven of Cups
The Lord of  Illusionary Success

Numerical Value: 7

Divinatory meaning
Upright – A need to reflect upon choices.  Sometimes too many choices and opportunities are presented, which need careful consideration if a grave error of judgement is to be avoided.  May refer to a variety of choices of people for example marriage and other partners. The inquirer is faced with several choices one of exceptional promise but great perception is needed for this to be seen.  This card may also indicate mystical experience of an inspiring kind.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – Reliance upon false hopes.  Inaction causing the loss of opportunity.  A fear of success.  Self-delusion and indecision.

The Eight of Cups
The Lord of Abandoned Success

Numerical Value: 8

Divinatory meaning
Upright – A turning point, a severing of links with the past, which have become outdated.  A turning away from established relationships and objects of affection, to facilitate progress to newer and deeper things.  A change of perspective a change of viewpoint.  Security and attachment.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – Abandonment of that which has been well founded in order to pursue an impossible ideal. Fantasy and risk.  Restlessness and recklessness.

The Nine of Cups
The Lord of Material Happiness

Numerical Value: 9

Divinatory meaning
Upright – An assured future, satisfaction, contentment and physical well being.  Overcoming difficulty.  Emotional stability, a benign outlook.  Inner security which radiates a general aura of goodwill.  Liberality, generosity of spirit, feelings of well-being.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – Falling into error, complacency, vanity and self indulgence.  Shortage of money due to spendthrift tendencies or loss of credit cards.  Sentimentality and an overlooking of the faults in others which can lead to abuse of hospitality.

The Ten of Cups
The Lord of Perfected Success

Numerical Value: 10

Divinatory meaning
Upright – Lasting happiness and security, although sometimes this may be indicative of being in a rut.  Good reputation and honour, true friendship and happy family life.  Perfect love and concord between people.  A search for fulfillment is marked with success.  A peaceful and secure environment.

Ill Dignified or Reversed – The manipulation of society for personal gain.  Loss of friendship. Family quarrels, Sudden violent disruption of an ordered environment and ordered routine, anti-social actions.  Look for signs of new adolescents or new births.

The Page of Cups
The Princess of the Waters; The Lotus of the Palace of the Floods

Numerical Value: 7
Elemental Name: Earth of Water

Divinatory meaning
Upright – A symbol of Imagination.  May indicate a time for quiet reflection.  Depending upon surrounding cards: a messenger bringing news of an engagement, marriage or birth.  A reflective, poetic, quiet and artistic person, gentle and kind.  A person with a wealth of knowledge, giving freely his advice.  A person gifted with much foresight. 

Ill Dignified or Reversed -Depending upon surrounding cards: a deception that will be uncovered.  A failure to make meaningful commitments and shallow self indulgence.  A person with much surface and shallow knowledge, a jack of all trades.  A scheming person that is selfish and keeps his knowledge to himself.  he has an appreciation of the beautiful but is not applied enough to become an artist.  A person who is lazy and given to lies and harmful gossip.

The Knight of Cups
The Lord of the Waves and the Waters; The King of the Hosts of the Sea

Numerical Value: 4
Elemental Name: Fire of Water

Divinatory meaning
Upright - Change and new excitements, particularly of a romantic nature.  invitations, opportunities, and offers.  A person who is a bringer of ideas, opportunities and offers.  He is often constantly bored and in constant need of stimulation, but also artistic and refined.  A person who is amiable, intelligent full of high principals, but a dreamer who can be easily led or discouraged.

Ill Dignified or Reversed - Unreliability and recklessness.  Fraud, embezzlement, false promises and trickery.  A person who is congenital liar, someone who has trouble discerning the end of the truth and the beginning of falsehood.

The Queen of Cups
Queen of the Thrones of the Waters

Numerical Value: 4
Elemental Name: Water of Water

Divinatory meaning
Upright - A happy card which indicates balance and harmony, also symbolizes high achievements made possible by the use of imagination.  A woman who is highly imaginative and artistically gifted, affectionate and romantic in outlook, and creates an other worldly atmosphere around herself.  A woman who lacks common sense, but is highly intuitive and sometimes psychic and dreamy.  Atmospheres, other people and events can easily influence her.

Ill Dignified or Reversed - Fecklessness.  A woman who cannot be trusted someone who is a dreamer, unreliable and cannot be depended upon.  She is swift to change her opinions without reason or good cause.  A woman who is perverse and can be given to hysteria.  She may even lead others to destruction in pursuit of some idle fantasy.

The King of Cups
The Prince of the Chariot of the Waters

Numerical Value: 4
Elemental Name: Air of Water

Divinatory meaning
Upright - A person who commands respect, but not love.  A man of business or law, considerate and responsible.  He is kind but ambitious and a skilled negotiator.  He is a born manipulator, someone who has arrived in a position of power by the use of brain as opposed to brawn.  He avoids taking people into his confidence and often works in secret or behind the scenes.  He is a seeker of power, with hidden motives, often distrusted or feared by those around him.

Ill Dignified or Reversed - A violent, unscrupulous, dishonest man who is likely to be involved in double dealing.  His only responsibilities are to himself and he has no moral sense.  He may involve his associates in scandal, vice, dishonesty, corruption and evil, as he himself may be drawn.