X, Suit of CupsTen of Cups tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedTen of Cups in shortIn short
The Ten of Cups is a happy home. A couple raise their arms to a rainbow of gold cups, their two children dance beside them, and a small house waits on the hill. Whole-hearted contentment, shared with the people you love.
- Family
- Harmony
- Lasting joy
Piece oneThe home
Beyond the family a small white house with a red roof sits among trees on a green hill. Waite says only that a home scene lies beyond. Modest, and theirs.
"There is a home-scene beyond."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe home is what the rainbow is for. A small white house with a red roof sits among the trees, close enough to walk to. The couple raise their arms at the sky, the children dance on the grass, and all of it happens a short way from their own door.
Piece twoThe rainbow
A row of gold cups stands along a rainbow that spans the sky. Waite says the couple below watch it in wonder and ecstasy. A rainbow comes after rain, so this joy has a storm behind it.
"Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe rainbow is the card's crown. It carries the cups across the whole sky, so the joy covers everything below. A rainbow needs rain first, which gives this happiness a past. The couple raise their arms to it; the children don't even look up.
Piece threeThe couple
A man and a woman stand with their backs to us, his arm around her, each raising an arm to the sky. Waite calls them evidently husband and wife. They hold no cups; they look at them together.
"His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe couple are the reason for the home and the children. They stand close, his arm around her, and lift their free hands toward the rainbow together. They hold no cups. Their happiness is something they see and share, and the children beside them carry it on.
Piece fourThe children
Two children hold hands and dance on the grass. Waite notes they haven't seen the rainbow, and they are happy anyway, in their own way. Their joy needs no miracle.
"The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe children are the couple's future, and they don't care about the rainbow. They dance on the grass, hand in hand, red and blue like their parents. The adults look up at the miracle. The children are busy with their own joy, and the card counts that as enough.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
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The home
A red roof on soft green hills. The father's tunic is the same red, tying the house to them. The Six of Cups has a home too, an old stone house and tower behind two children, seen as memory. In the Ten of Pentacles the home is a great arched gate with a family and dogs. The Ten of Cups keeps its house small and far off.
Also in -
The rainbow
Soft red, gold and green on a pale sky. Gentle colours, like the sky after rain. The curve of cups comes from the Nine of Cups, where nine stand in an arch on a curtain behind one satisfied man. Here the arch has left the room and opened across the sky. A sky of cups, one family, nobody drinking.
Also in -
The couple
Warm red beside deep blue. Two different natures, side by side. In the Two of Cups this bond starts: a youth and a maiden face each other and pledge with two cups. In The Lovers a man and a woman stand apart under an angel, she looking up, he looking at her. Here they stand together and look the same way.
Also in -
The children
One child in red, one in blue, like their parents. One family, one palette. The two children in the Six of Cups pass a cup of flowers in an old courtyard, gentle and careful. The Sun has one child on a white horse, one arm spread under a huge sun. These two just dance.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
Ten of CupsUpright
The Ten of Cups is lasting happiness at home. Waite's words: contentment, the repose of the entire heart, the perfection of human love and friendship.
Family, belonging, a place to rest. Waite adds it can mean the town or country you live in, or, next to several court cards, a person looking after your interests.
Ten of CupsReversed
Reversed, Waite's words: repose of the false heart, indignation, violence. The happy picture is only a picture, and something underneath is wrong.
Tension at home, a family that looks fine from outside, or anger held back too long. Be honest about how the home feels.
Yes or noYes.
Yes, a warm and full one, above all for questions about home and family.
Ten of Cups in your lifeIn your life
Love
A loving, committed relationship and a wish to build a home together. One of the best love cards.
Work
A team that feels like family, or work that supports the home life you want.
Money
Enough for a comfortable home, and the security to enjoy your people.
Health
Emotional wellbeing and support from people close to you. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Joy in ordinary life: your people, your place, a quiet evening at home.
Advice
Look up and notice what you have. Spend time with the people who feel like home.
As a person
Warm, loyal, family-minded. Makes people feel they belong.
Past, present, future
Past: a happy home that shaped you. Present: harmony and belonging. Future: lasting joy with the people you love.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Suit
- Cups
- Element
- Water
- Astrology
- Mars in Pisces
- Sephira
- Malkuth
- Upright
- Contentment
- Reversed
- False heart
QuestionsCommon questions
Yes. One of the happiest cards in the deck: family, love, contentment that lasts.
A loving, lasting relationship, often with a shared home and family. Waite calls it the perfection of human love and friendship.
Yes, a full and happy one.
Waite describes cups appearing in a rainbow, watched in wonder and ecstasy by a husband and wife. The parents see happiness complete; the children just play.
Mars in Pisces, in the Golden Dawn system. Element Water, sephira Malkuth.
Waite shows cups in a rainbow, watched in wonder by a husband and wife while their children dance on. It means contentment of the whole heart and the perfection of human love and friendship.
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