Five of Cups
Secret whisperThree cups spilled, two still stand — turn around; the bridge is there.
Upright meaning
Upright keywordsloss, grief, regret, disappointment
You are focused on what was lost. Let yourself grieve, then turn and notice what still remains.
Reversed meaning
Reversed keywordsacceptance, moving on, forgiveness, recovery
Healing has begun. Forgive — others and yourself — and step onto the bridge toward what comes next.
About the suit of Cups
Cups belong to Water: feelings, love, friendship, intuition and the imagination. They show what is happening in the heart and in your relationships.
Reading the Fives of the tarot
Fives break the calm: conflict, loss or change that unsettles what the four built.
In Waite’s own words (1910)
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, public domain. Original English text.
Divinatory meaning: 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. Divanatory Meanings: 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.
Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
The picture
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. Divanatory Meanings: 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. Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects
