Cups
Six of Cups Tarot Card Meaning
What the card shows
Children exchange flower-filled cups in an old courtyard.
Upright meaning
Warmth from the past resurfacing, memory rather than fantasy. Upright, this is nostalgia or reconnecting with someone or something familiar.
If it's your card today
A day when an old memory or old connection may resurface — worth sitting with, not over-romanticising.
Commentary and alternative readings by context
Love and relationships
In love, it suggests nostalgia for a past relationship, or a sweet, uncomplicated connection that feels familiar.
Work and decisions
For career, it points to returning to familiar work or reconnecting with old colleagues or clients.
As a person
This person remembers the small kindnesses that shaped them and often makes others feel welcome. Nostalgia can be generous, though the past should not be asked to answer every present question.
Reversed meaning
Living too much in the past, or a reunion that doesn’t live up to the memory.
Where Tarot schools disagree
The main interpretation follows Rider–Waite–Smith. The Marseille and Thoth comparisons are attributed to named authors and works.
Six of Cups Tarot Card: Tarot de Marseille Interpretation
Tarot de Marseille — Six de Coupes (Paul Marteau, 1949)
In Paul Marteau's number-and-suit method in Le Tarot de Marseille (1949), this rank means harmonious balance and a reserve of power that can be drawn upon. Cups describe receptive feeling, from spiritual love to human affection. Read together, the card applies that stage to this suit's domain. This is Marteau's specific twentieth-century system.
Six of Cups Tarot Card: Crowley’s Interpretation in The Book of Thoth (1944)
Thoth — Six of Cups — Pleasure (Aleister Crowley, 1944)
Crowley's exact corresponding card in The Book of Thoth (1944) is Six of Cups — Pleasure. The decan is "Pleasure," ruled by the Sun in Scorpio — vitality and identity (Sun) intensified by Scorpio's emotional depth. Crowley's reading is enjoyment with real weight and history behind it, which resonates with RWS's nostalgic framing even though the astrological route there is entirely different from the pictorial one.
Why the interpretations differ
RWS builds much of the reading from Pamela Colman Smith’s narrative scene. Marseille numbered minors are usually read through number, suit and composition, while Thoth adds a printed title and astrological or decan structure. The systems can begin with the same number and suit yet emphasize different dynamics.
Sources and method
A. E. Waite — The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · Paul Marteau — Le Tarot de Marseille (BnF, 1949) · Marteau — attributed English translation · Aleister Crowley — The Book of Thoth (1944)
Automated factual and language passes completed 23 September 2026; no human native-language review is claimed.
Water
Frequently asked
What does the Tarot card “Six of Cups” mean upright?
Warmth from the past resurfacing, memory rather than fantasy. Upright, this is nostalgia or reconnecting with someone or something familiar.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Cups” mean reversed?
Living too much in the past, or a reunion that doesn’t live up to the memory.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Cups” mean in love?
In love, it suggests nostalgia for a past relationship, or a sweet, uncomplicated connection that feels familiar.
What does the Tarot card “Six of Cups” mean for career?
For career, it points to returning to familiar work or reconnecting with old colleagues or clients.
What kind of person does the Tarot card “Six of Cups” describe?
As a person, this card describes the same pattern in character: Warmth from the past resurfacing, memory rather than fantasy. Upright, this is nostalgia or reconnecting with someone or something familiar. Under pressure, its shadow may look like this: Living too much in the past, or a reunion that doesn’t live up to the memory.
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