Five of Cups
Upright meaning
Grief and disappointment that draw attention toward what has been lost. Some connection or support still remains.
Something to consider
A disappointment deserves to be felt without becoming the whole picture. Give the loss a name, then notice who or what is still available to support you.
What is on your mind? Begin a reading →Historical texts
Waite: the card
A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups; two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding.
Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain
Waite: divinatory meaning
It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.
Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain
Waite: reversed
News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
Source: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot — A. E. Waite (1922) · Public domain
Mathers: meaning
45. Five of Cups.-Union, Junction, Marriage, Inheritance; R. Arrival, Return, News, Surprise, False projects.
Source: The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1888) · Public domain