Five of Cups
- Upright
- loss · grief · regret
- Reversed
- acceptance · comfort · fresh start
Grieving over what was spilled while two cups still stand.
Meaning
The Five of Cups stands for grief, disappointment and regret over something that can no longer be changed. The card takes the pain seriously. It does not demand that you quickly function again or look on the bright side. Three cups have fallen over, and that is allowed to hurt for as long as it hurts.
As a Five, it brings crisis into the sequence of the Cups: after the calm of the Four, something tears open. Feeling becomes loss. Typical situations are the end of a relationship, a quarrel that seems beyond repair, a missed opportunity, a farewell to a person or to an image you had of yourself. Often there is shame involved too, because you believe things could have gone differently if only you had been more attentive.
The card invites you to grieve and, at some point, to lift your head. Two cups are still standing, and they stand behind you, where you are not looking right now. They may be people who stay, abilities nobody can take from you, or simply the fact that the river keeps on flowing. Ask yourself when the moment will come for you to turn round. Perhaps not today. But the bridge is there.
Advice: Grieve, and then turn round.
Reversed
Reversed, the grief begins to ease. You no longer look only at what has been spilled; you notice what remains and, for the first time, can talk about something else again. Forgiveness becomes possible, towards yourself or towards someone who has hurt you. Often, help arrives from outside in this phase, help you could not accept before.
Reversed, however, the card can also show that you are stuck in your grief and have made it part of your identity. Then every new cup is immediately compared with the ones that fell. Ask yourself whether the pain is still fresh or whether you are now holding on to it because it is more familiar than the step across the bridge.
Love and relationships
In love, the Five of Cups shows disappointment: a break-up, a breach of trust, a hope that has not been fulfilled. If you are single, it can mean that you are carrying an old story and so leave little room for anything new. In a relationship it points to a hurt that has not yet been talked about. Grief needs time; after that, it is worth looking at what still holds you together.
Work and money
At work, the card stands for setbacks that hurt: a rejection, a failed project, a promotion that went to someone else. The disappointment is justified, but it is rarely the end. With money, it shows losses or wrong decisions that you have to admit to yourself. Sort out soberly what is really lost and what is still there, and for bigger questions get expert advice before you take any further steps.
As the card of the day
As the card of the day, the Five of Cups allows you to be sad without smiling it away. Take time for what weighs on you; write it down or talk to someone about it. And then deliberately turn round, just once: what is all right today, who is there, what is working? Both may stand side by side.
The image
A figure in a long black cloak stands with bowed head on sandy ground; the face can hardly be made out beneath the hood. At the figure's feet lie three golden cups, knocked over, with red and green liquid trickling from them into the sand. Behind the figure, out of its line of sight, two cups stand upright and intact. A blue river flows across the picture; on the right a bridge with arches spans it, and on the left a castle stands among trees on a hill. The sky is a dull, brownish grey. The spilled cups are the loss that cannot be undone; the two standing ones are what remains. River and bridge show that a way back into life exists; you would only have to turn round.
Questions for you
- What am I really grieving right now, and have I taken time for it?
- Which two cups are standing behind me that I can't see at the moment?
- What would need to happen for me to turn round and cross the bridge?