The Six of Cups card is part of the Minor Arcana group, and like all cards in the tarot deck, the Six of Cups will have a different reading as it appears in combination with other cards, and in accordance with the querent’s question. But in general it is a letter loaded with nostalgic emotions, and focuses on the querent’s past. However, let’s understand better about the Six of Cups, below.
Visual Description and Symbology of the Six of Cups
In the Rider Waite Smith Tarot, the Six of Cups shows a young man bending down to offer flowers to a young girl, and the flowers are in an arrangement inside a large vase that symbolises the suit of Cups (Cups, in English, which can mean cup or vase). What can have its symbolism interpreted from the following aspects:
The girl is holding out her hand to accept the flowers he offers her, and is looking at him with admiration and respect;
There are four more goblets lined up next to them, and a fifth positioned on a pedestal just behind the youth;
The bowls symbolise the memories of days gone by;
The garden and residence at the bottom of the card represent comfort and security;
There is also an elderly man in the distance, who represents older people’s affairs and their responsibilities, contrasting with the two young men in their innocence in the card’s central scene.
Six of Cups
To better understand the interpretations related to the Six of Cups card, let’s list the keywords related to it.
Keywords: childhood memories, past influences, nostalgia, reunions, innocence.
Inverted keywords: maturity, growing up, independence, idealised view of the past, stuck in the past.
Six of Cups meaning
The Six of Cups card is a card that points to aspects related to the past that directly influence the present through childhood memories, remarkable events and a feeling of nostalgia.
Most likely, you are in a phase of your life in which memories come back to your mind, bringing an enormous desire to relive a significant period of your life, especially your childhood and adolescence, a period that brought many joys and moments of fullness, peace and freedom. Someone very important to your story is also constantly in your thoughts and the desire to see that person again fills your heart with good energy, even if it is not actually possible to do so.
However, this card warns of the dangers of letting yourself be completely caught up in nostalgia for a time that will never return. You have to be careful not to get caught up in that sense of fulfilment that your past brings into your life and end up trapped in it. Happy moments can and should be built in the present time and that doesn’t mean erasing your past, but leaving it where it belongs.
This card also symbolises the search in the past for a way out in the face of some extreme difficulty. You may be returning to a familiar place to be close to the people you love and it will be this contact that will give you strength to face any adversity that comes your way. Do not be afraid or ashamed to seek this comfort, it is extremely necessary for you to get through the storm.
So, let’s understand how the meanings of this card can be interpreted for the querent in each type of reading.
Love and Relationship
If in a relationship, the Six of Cups can symbolize a long-term or childhood union. It is a letter that brings the nostalgic energy of a sublime and happy past, memorable moments that are rescued for the present of the relationship and brings a nostalgic feeling of sweet memories. However, one must keep in mind that reliving the past is only good when it involves everyone in the relationship and not just one of the parties. Being able to remember good things and recover the pleasant feeling that this brings with your partner is wonderful and can help to recover old feelings, but know how to balance this so that you don’t end up getting stuck in the past and failing to live in the present.
It can also mean the arrival of another member to the family. A pregnancy is seen when this card appears in-game, so if you’re trying to get pregnant, this card is a beautiful sign that you’ll soon get pregnant.
If you are single, a love from the past may resurface in your path, bringing up feelings that you thought were buried. It could also be that you start to get romantically involved with some childhood friend or that you haven’t seen for a long time. Either way, love is in the air and comes with a taste of recognition for being linked to your story.
In relation to the context of love and relationships, the Six of Cups means looking back at the couple’s past. For those already in a relationship, it could indicate that both are childhood sweethearts or long-term sweethearts, if combined with other positive cards. It is also a sign that perhaps you will have a child soon.
In the case of a single person, the Six of Cups can mean that the person can find a past love, such as getting involved with a childhood friend or falling in love with someone in the place where you grew up.
Money and Career
The Six of Cups card is a very positive card when it appears in a game of money and work. You are in a prosperous phase and you are able to recognize that your achievements are the result of a long journey. Today, you look back and realise how important all your effort and dedication has been and, just like you, your colleagues also recognize this. Take the opportunity to improve teamwork and sow new things for future harvests, mainly because you are in a phase where your creativity is on the rise.
In the financial field, this card can represent the arrival of a resource through family channels, an inheritance, a gift or an extra receipt in a family business. Either way, it’s a very welcome money and will help you balance finances if you’re on a tightrope.
On the other hand, you may be ready to give up some of what you own through an act of charity, writing a will or opening your home to receive and help someone you love very much.
The Six of Cups card is essentially a card related to good prospects. That is, it could mean creativity, sharing benefits and goodwill. So, in a reading about money and work, it signals positive aspects in both areas. The consultant can go through good moments of creativity and group work.
In general, the Six of Cups will indicate in these aspects of money and work positive elements of earnings in the financial area – such as an inheritance – and professional – new creative projects.
Health and Spirituality
When it comes to a health reading, the Six of Cups is a card that symbolises someone going through some kind of illness and who needs your care. This is a person for whom you have great esteem and who, right now, needs your support, understanding, affection and love. Even if you think you can’t help, know that the simple fact of staying by her side is already of great help. Sometimes, when we feel bad, the only thing we want most is to be able to be in the comfort of those we love.
On the other hand, it could indicate that you are very fast-paced and this frenetic pace you are in can cause serious problems in your physical and mental health. You urgently need to slow down, find a balance between yourself and the outside world.
In the spiritual realm, this card shows how much you are complicating things that should be simpler. You look for detailed answers, participate in practices that suck your vitality or are lost between so many options that you end up stressing yourself instead of finding peace. Stop and look inside yourself. Listen to your spirit guides and try to understand that you don’t have to participate in fancy things to connect to the spiritual world. He is within each of us.
In terms of physical health, the Six of Cups signals to the consultant the need to perform good deeds for people experiencing difficulties in the health area. In addition, it may indicate a need to reduce the pace of activities and return to previous care, which made your health better.
With regard to spirituality, the Six of Cups signals that the patient may be complicating his life too much, needing to return to a more basic spirituality and rediscover rituals and traditions from his childhood.
Six of Cups Reversed
When in the inverted position, the Six of Cups is a card that symbolizes the need to free yourself from past events in order to move forward. You’re holding on to your past and the good memories it holds so much that you end up missing out on wonderful moments that you could be experiencing right now. Even if it’s tempting to live in these memories, you have to understand that life goes on happening and, if you don’t start walking your path, you’ll end up trapped in feelings of melancholy and sadness for not being able to relive what you consider to be the best times of your life.
On the other hand, this card can symbolize a strong disconnection with dreams and goals, especially those nurtured in childhood and adolescence. The reality of adult life brought with it the responsibilities and stress of everyday life and pushed away the dreams that had been cultivated for so long. The time has come to reconnect with them and open new paths, even if they are different today than they once were. Dreaming is what moves us to face challenges, so never stop dreaming.
But we know that the reading can vary according to the context in which the card is drawn, and it can have an opposite side, or inverted, in the reading of the same card. The Inverted Six of Cups can mean a look at the need to free yourself from past events, and look forward.
Thus, the consultant may be managing to overcome a situation of profound emotional instability.
Love and Relationship
If you are in a relationship, the Six of Cups in an inverted position shows a boring relationship that is stagnant to the point where you cannot see or plan a future together. It’s like you’re together for pure comfort and fear of getting out of that bubble and having to start over with someone else or even alone. The problem is that the longer you stay together watching the days go by without any emotion, the more you feel how much it suffocates you intimately. It’s time to have a frank conversation between you and discuss whether it’s really worth continuing in this relationship. If the answer is yes, then much work will have to be done by you to rescue this union and rekindle the flame that has been extinguished for a long time.
If you’re single, you’re so focused on trying to understand what went wrong in your past relationships that you can’t let go of the past and all the hurt and sadness those memories, even the happy ones, bring into your life. You need to leave your previous relationships behind and start thinking about a future with someone new, and when you break free, you will find the one that will make you happy again.
The inverted Six of Cups reveals that the querent who is in a relationship may be stagnant, bored and not seeing progress.
For those who are single, the reversed Six of Cups can indicate that the querent has not been able to move forward and is always looking at his old relationships in an idealized way. In that case, the Six of Cups will point to a time of need for healing and renewal with an eye on the present, in terms of love and relationships.
Money and Career
The inverted Six of Cups indicates that you are stuck in a stagnant job and that you don’t seem to have anything to add in your professional life. You feel discouraged, without creativity to start new projects or even to touch those in progress and this feeling of discontent begins to be reflected in other areas of your life.
Most likely you will continue in your job for the financial security it provides and end up accepting to live this way for fear of taking risks. The secret here is to get organized, think strategically and plan the steps to be taken to get out of this situation and not suffer losses along the way. Changing careers and jobs is a good option to expand your horizons and bring you the gas you need to progress, but you have to act rationally.
In the financial field, this card symbolizes maturity and financial independence. You are focused on improving your situation and you can think of different ways to rebalance your finances and that is wonderful. Keep acting in this way and soon you will be able to reach the desired breath. Don’t forget to think about the future and start preparing for it by saving.
In relation to work, the inverted Six of Cups can indicate a negative situation of stagnation. Because it can alert the consultant that he is dissatisfied and feeling stagnant in his profession, with a lack of creativity for new projects.
Furthermore, this reversed card may be alerting the querent to the possible arrival of financial maturity and independence.
Health and Spirituality
The inverted Six of Cups appears in the health reading to indicate some illness of genetic or childhood origin that has not yet been resolved. You may have been suffering for some time and, most likely, you haven’t consulted a specialist because you have “become accustomed” to the ailments that afflict you. If this is the case, it’s time to put that kind of thinking aside and seek the advice of a professional as soon as possible so as not to let the problems evolve into serious cases and the cure becomes more complicated and difficult.
If you are trying to get pregnant, fertility problems are highlighted by this card, so it is important to seek medical advice to find ways to safely conceive.
In the spiritual realm, the time has come to explore other paths and allow yourself to experience new experiences, wisdom and beliefs from those learned in your childhood by imposition of the family. Don’t be afraid to follow different things for fear of judgments, you are the only person who can say what is good for your spiritual life. Nurture yourself with new ideas and keep from the past only those that complete your soul.
In a reading on health issues, the reversed Six of Cups can indicate that any problem you may be suffering from could be genetic in origin, or a manifestation of unresolved childhood issues.
On issues of spirituality, the card will point to the beginning of a new path. The querent will be more open to new beliefs and experimenting, without clinging to the traditional or beliefs of their upbringing.
Six of Cups Yes or No
When the Six of Cups is present in a tarot reading that can result in simple Yes or No answers, the answer will be of a neutral type. There is, however, a great feeling of reconciliation and moving forward, which can indicate a Yes many times.
Six of Cups Combinations
This card will often drain the nostalgic and past-loving side of a tarot card with whom it is paired. But it can be very useful to alert and guide you in relation to your ambitions and what really matters in the present moment.
Six of Cups and Ace of Wands
When these two cards come together in a tarot reading, they can indicate a new job opportunity. For example, it could be a place where you’ve worked before, or someone you’ve partnered with on other projects.
Six of Cups and the Chariot
This combination can be a warning to overcome a more prepared opponent. In general, it can indicate that people who are less likely to win will obtain favourable results, such as in legal disputes, sports and job promotion.
Six of Cups and Four of Spades
This combination represents that you are aiming for the financial side. Maybe you don’t trust anyone when it comes to your finances, even the people closest to you.
Six of Cups – Element, Astrology and other associations
Here are the main associations with the Six of Cups.
- Water element
- Planet: Neptune
- Astrological Sign: Scorpio
- Kabbalah: Tipharet – Beauty
- Important dates: Beginning of winter
- Yes/No: Yes
Six of Cups as Personality Types
When in the upright position, it indicates someone who has many ups and downs when it comes to their feelings. Often, he is unable to master his desires and ends up crossing the line with the people around him and with his own body, ending up regretting some attitudes he had, just to satisfy the constant search for worldly pleasures. They are people very attached to the experiences of their past, unable to get rid of negative feelings that end up overloading their heart and soul. Even if they appear to be fine, deep down they are in deep hurt and sadness.
When in the inverted position, it indicates someone who has a constancy of always interrupting things halfway through, failing to finish projects and activities. They are people who choose to live to the extreme, seeking an unattainable pleasure and not caring about the consequences, harming not only themselves but those around them. Normally, this way of not caring about the danger of their actions is a reflection of a traumatic past from which they try to escape at all costs, but which, in addition to not being able to get rid of the ghosts that haunt them, end up increasing bad memories and pain in an endless cycle.
People born under the influence of the Six of Cups card bring balance and harmony to any group. They are also excellent for advice.
Six of Cups as Feelings
In general, the card sometimes represents youthful and innocent emotionality, but they are also kind and generous.
General questions about the Six of Cups tarot card
Now that you know a little more about the Six of Cups, let’s see the main questions that are raised about this card.
What does the Six of Cups card mean in tarot?
The Six of Cups card means that the querent is in a moment of nostalgia and looking at some aspect of their past, which influences the present. Also, it can indicate the need to mature, overcome and look at memories without letting them get in the way of who you are now.
What does the reversed Six of Cups card mean in tarot?
In inversion, the Six of Cups means that there is a beginning of maturity and overcoming of old issues. Or that the querent has stopped idealising the past, childhood and old relationships. Thus, it brings a whole aspect of the client’s openness to the new, both in spirituality, as well as in relationships and in professional life.
How does he/she feel about me Six of Cups?
The Six of Cups signals that there are many feelings of pure innocence, or even feelings that are long standing and can be renewed. However, there can be an exaggerated idealisation of the past if it is a couple who have known each other before.
What does the Six of Cups mean in the love tarot?
The Six of Cups tarot card means that within a relationship there may be difficulties due to excessive looking to the past. It is necessary to stop comparing present and past relationships, and give opportunity to the new. Including, within love, the Six of Cups warns of the need for maturity, if you move forward to overcome unresolved issues.