A Guide to Tarot Card Readings

Suit of Cups

Click a card image to see more about the card.

Ace of Cups

Keywords

Intuition, spirituality, affection, motivation

Range of Meaning

Light: Trusting your feelings. Opening yourself to spirit. Accepting and returning affection. Getting in touch with what motivates you. Taking advantage of an opportunity to express love to others. Listening to the still, small voice.

Shadow: Hiding your feelings. Spurning an opportunity to love or be loved. Numbing yourself to spiritual yearnings. Rejecting the counsel of your heart. Becoming a puppet of your own emotions. Indulging in hysteria or obsession.

Two of Cups

Keywords

Union, attraction, combination, affection

Range of Meaning

Light: Being drawn to someone. Longing for someone or something. Acting on your desires. Discovering a feeling is mutual. Doing what makes you feel good. Healing broken ties. Admitting two people feel differently about each other and moving on.

Shadow: Burning bridges. Becoming caught up in unhealthy codependency. Shutting out anyone but your chosen few. Obsessing on someone who does not return your affections. Despairing over finding “the one.” Deceiving yourself about your true orientation.

Three of Cups

Keywords

Celebration, expression, community, friendliness

Range of Meaning

Light: Celebrating your feelings or connections with others. Expressing joy through song, dance, or physical affection. Working together with others who share your feelings. Performing acts of service as a way of saying, “I love you.” Embracing unconventional romantic arrangements.

Shadow: Mistaking giddiness for true affection. Being dominated by manic emotions. Expecting everyone to always feel the same way you do. Demanding unreasonable support from friends or family. Partying to a dangerous or unhealthy extent.

Four of Cups

Keywords

Boredom, listlessness, lethargy, stability, ingratitude

Range of Meaning

Light: Maintaining your emotional stability. Refusing to give in to overwhelming emotions. Appreciating what you have and refusing to take it for granted. Seeing the value of long-term commitments.

Shadow: Being bored. Daydreaming at the expense of your work. Refusing to be engaged by opportunity. Taking people and relationships for granted. Ignoring romantic or spiritual opportunities. Spurning inspiration. Feeling everything should stay “just like it is!”

Five of Cups

Keywords

Loss, despair, re-evaluation, regret, uncertainty, repentance

Range of Meaning

Light: Acknowledging loss and moving on. Focusing on how the glass remains “half-full.” Finding the silver lining in a dark cloud. Recognizing that loss is a natural part of life. Embracing healthy grief. Learning lessons from harsh consequences.

Shadow: Wallowing in unhealthy grief or self-pity. Refusing to move on and let go. Clinging to the past. Obsessing on past lives and past loves. Failing to live in the present. Beating yourself up over past mistakes. Allowing fear of failure to limit your efforts.

Six of Cups

Keywords

Charity, sharing, sacrifice, cooperation, fairness

Range of Meaning

Light: Donating your time and talents to others. Taking satisfaction in knowing how your efforts will aid others. Creating a “win-win” scenario. Giving even when you know repayment is not possible. Being motivated to do a good deed.

Shadow: Linking your sense of self-worth to the appraisals of others. Striving to appear more needy than you really are. Taking undeserved or unmerited charity. Bragging about your charitable efforts. Profiteering in times of distress. Refusing to share a burden.

Seven of Cups

Keywords

Imagination, dreams, illusions, goals

Range of Meaning

Light: Motivating yourself with images of future success. Using visualization to encourage progress. Taking an imaginative or creative approach to problem solving. Making dreams come true. Gleaning insight from personal visions.

Shadow: Obsessing on imaginary fears or uncertain consequences. Giving in to emotional or political terrorism. Spending more time dreaming than working. Failing to envision the possible repercussions of your choices. Being controlled by fear.

Eight of Cups

Keywords

Longing, dissatisfaction, quest, departure, withdrawal

Range of Meaning

Light: Wanting something better. Blazing your own trail. Realizing there must be more to life. Leaving an unhealthy situation behind. Starting your own business. Going on a retreat. Seeking the “still, small voice.”

Shadow: Being implacable. Finding fault. Nitpicking. Refusing to settle down. Running away from problems or confrontations. Saying, “It’s my way or the highway!” Harping on past mistakes and disappointments. Threatening to quit as a strategy to get your way.

Nine of Cups

Keywords

Satisfaction, sensuality, luxury, pleasure

Range of Meaning

Light: Being delighted with your own achievements. Recognizing your own talents and abilities. Reveling in the good things life has to offer. Indulging yourself. Relaxing and unwinding. Having everything you need in order to feel complete.

Shadow: Being smug. Satisfying yourself at the expense of others. Being selfish. Over-indulging. Avoiding work that needs to be done. Claiming achievements or skills you do not possess. Never being satisfied, no matter how much you have.

Ten of Cups

Keywords

Joy, fulfillment, overwhelming emotion, giddiness

Range of Meaning

Light: Having more than you ever dreamed. Being deeply thankful for all you’ve been given. Recognizing the Hand of God in the gifts the Universe brings your way. Experiencing transcendent joy. Achieving domestic bliss.

Shadow: Comparing your achievements or relationships to unrealistic fantasy standards. Experiencing emotions so intense they blunt your ability to cope with reality. Feeling overwhelmed. Envying the achievements and happiness of others.

Page of Cups

Keywords

Enthusiasm, first impressions, romanticism, superficiality

Range of Meaning

Light: Showing your emotions freely. Throwing yourself into romance. Nursing a secret crush. Indulging in romantic fantasy. Starting a new relationship. Recalling your first love. Experiencing love for the first time. Converting to a new religion.

Shadow: Mistaking a crush for true love. Reading romantic intention into innocent action. Frantically trying to impress others. Indulging in overly-sweet sentimentality. Pretending to more romantic or spiritual experience than you possess.

Knight of Cups

Keywords

Fervor, zeal, moodiness, illumination

Range of Meaning

Light: Being deeply committed to a cause. Giving in to strong emotions, from excitement to depression. Acting on intuition alone. Solving problems intuitively. Believing in and basing decisions on ideals instead of realities. Bringing intuition or passion to the table.

Shadow: Becoming a fanatic. Rejecting information that suggests your intuitions are misguided. Allowing your emotions to control you. Giving in to jealousy, confrontation, and peer pressure. Hiding or ignoring intuitive insights.

Queen of Cups

Keywords

Insightfulness, spirituality, compassion, empathy, instinct

Range of Meaning

Light: Allowing yourself to be moved by the plight of others. Feeling strong emotions. Possessing unusual sympathy or empathy. Trusting your feelings to guide you. Calling on psychic abilities. Achieving unity with Spirit.

Shadow: Becoming so caught up in matters of Spirit, you become detached from the world. Allowing empathy to disable you (instead of inspire action). Using psychic abilities to wield covert influence. Wallowing in emotionalism, sentiment, or self-pity.

King of Cups

Keywords

Wisdom, diplomacy, restraint, composure

Range of Meaning

Light: Keeping a stiff upper lip. Being brave and clear in the face of adverse circumstances. Sharing experience as a way of comforting others. Making fair and empathetic decisions. Honoring the spirit, not just the letter, of the law.

Shadow: Allowing yourself to become rigid and unemotional. Making unfair decisions based on a hidden agenda. Making decisions without regard for their emotional impact on others. Abusing spiritual authority. Using emotional or spiritual leverage to exercise unhealthy control over others.