V, Suit of CupsFive of Cups tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedFive of Cups in shortIn short
The Five of Cups is loss. A figure in a black cloak bows his head over three spilled cups, while two still stand behind him. Grief, regret, and the slow turn toward what's left.
- Loss
- Grief
- What remains
Piece oneThe keep
Across a blue river a small grey stone tower stands among trees, and a stone bridge crosses the water on the right. Waite mentions a bridge leading to a small keep. The way home is there, over the river.
"a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe keep is the way forward. Across the river stand a stone tower and a bridge, a home and the road to it. The cloaked figure faces the spilled cups and never looks that way. Turning round would show him the two standing cups and, past them, the bridge. Loss fills the front; the way out waits behind.
Piece twoThe cloaked figure
A figure in a long black cloak stands with head bowed. You can't see the face. Waite says the figure looks sideways at the fallen cups, and so misses the two behind.
"A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe figure is grief given a shape. The cloak covers everything but the bowed head, so the loss fills the whole body. Facing the spilled cups, it turns its back on the two cups still standing and on the bridge home. The card hangs on one question: will the figure turn round?
Piece threeThe spilled cups
Three cups lie on their sides, red and green spilling onto the ground. Everything in them is gone. Waite calls it a card of loss and adds at once that something remains.
"It is a card of loss, but something remains over"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe spilled cups are the loss itself, three of five gone. They lie in front of the figure, where the eye lands first, and the bowed head points straight at them. Waite counts them so you'll count the rest. The two standing cups behind make this spill only part of the story.
Piece fourThe two cups
Two cups still stand behind the figure, upright. Waite counts plainly: three taken, two left. To see them, the figure only has to turn round.
"two others stand upright behind him"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe two cups are the hope the figure can't see. They stand behind the cloak, upright. Waite's count makes it plain: three lost, two kept. Beyond them the bridge leads to the keep. Everything left to the figure sits on the side it isn't looking at.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
-
The keep
Stone grey, river blue. The far bank is calm and cool, far from the black cloak. A tower among trees comes back in the Six of Cups, where an old stone tower stands behind two children in a sunny courtyard. That tower holds the past. This one sits across the water, still to be reached. In the Ten of Pentacles a tall tower rises over a whole family.
Also in -
The cloaked figure
Black on grey-mauve. The cloak is the darkest shape on the card, heavy and closed. The Hermit wears a long grey cloak and bows his head too, but he chose his solitude and carries a lamp. In the Eight of Cups a man in red turns his back on his cups and walks away. This figure has turned too, and stopped.
Also in -
The spilled cups
Gold cups and a dark red spill, like wine on the ground. Red for what was lost, a little green running beside it. In the Ace of Cups water pours out of a cup too, four streams of it, and the overflow feeds a lake of lilies. Here the cup has tipped over, and what runs out goes into the dirt.
Also in -
The two cups
The same gold as the fallen cups, still bright. Nothing in them is lost. The Four of Cups has the same blind spot: a young man stares at three cups on the grass and misses the fourth held out beside him. Both cards hold more than their owners notice. Both men could fix it by looking up.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
Five of CupsUpright
Loss and grief. Waite reads it with care: loss, but something remains; three taken, two left. He also calls it an inheritance that falls short, and some interpreters see a marriage with bitterness in it.
A break-up, a letdown, a plan that fell through. Grief takes time. Mourn as long as you need, and when you're ready, turn round and look at the two cups still standing.
Five of CupsReversed
Waite's words: news, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects. The figure turns from the spilled cups toward the people and the home that remain.
You make peace with a loss, hear from someone you lost touch with, or see family come together again. He also warns of false projects, so check new plans with care.
Yes or noNo.
No, or not the way you hoped. Something is lost. Waite stresses that something remains, so the story goes on.
Five of Cups in your lifeIn your life
Love
Sadness, a break-up, regret. Something is still worth saving or rebuilding once the grief eases.
Work
A setback or a failed plan. Count what you still have before you quit.
Money
A loss, or an inheritance smaller than you hoped. Protect what's left.
Health
Grief tires the body. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor, and let people help.
Spirituality
Mourning, and learning to let go. Healing starts when you turn round.
Advice
Grieve what's gone. Then count what's left.
As a person
Someone grieving or full of regret. Give them time and kindness.
Past, present, future
Past: a loss that still hurts. Present: grief, and two cups you haven't noticed. Future: a return and a road home.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Suit
- Cups
- Element
- Water
- Astrology
- Mars in Scorpio
- Sephira
- Geburah
- Upright
- Loss
- Reversed
- News
QuestionsCommon questions
It's sad: loss and regret. The loss is never total. Waite says something remains, and two cups still stand.
A break-up, a letdown, regret over a relationship. Or something still worth saving.
No, or not as you hoped. Look at what's left first.
They are what remains. Waite puts it simply: three taken, two left. The figure only has to turn round.
Mars in Scorpio, in the Golden Dawn system: hard and intense, in a water sign. Its element is water.
Waite calls it a loss with something left over: three taken, two left, and an inheritance that falls short of what you expected.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Element, decan and sephira: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
All 14 Cups