Two of Cups
Secret whisperTwo cups raised, and the winged lion blesses the vow.
Upright meaning
Upright keywordspartnership, attraction, mutual respect, union
A meaningful connection built on mutual respect. Romance, friendship or a working partnership in true harmony.
Reversed meaning
Reversed keywordsimbalance, break-up, mistrust, miscommunication
A relationship has fallen out of balance. Honest, open conversation can rebuild the trust.
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 Twos of the tarot
Twos speak of duality: balance, partnership and the choice between two paths.
In Waite’s own words (1910)
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, public domain. Original English text.
Divinatory meaning: Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and--as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination--that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.
Reversed: Lust, cupidity, jealousy, wish, desire, but the card may also give, says W., "that desire which is not in nature, but by which nature is sanctified."
The picture
A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place.
