Six of Cups

Six of Cups is one of the 56 minor arcana of the tarot, in the suit of Cups; in the Golden Dawn tradition it corresponds to Sun in Scorpio.

The Six of Cups is two children sharing a flower-filled cup in an old courtyard: memory, simple kindness and the comfort of the familiar.

Symbols on the card

The flower-filled cups

Simple gifts given freely.

The children

Innocence and play.

The old courtyard

The past as a place of comfort.

Number and suit

Sixes restore harmony after the five: giving, receiving and moving on. Cups are water: feelings, relationships, intuition and imagination.

Upright meaning

Kindness and memory soften this moment. Reconnect with what gave you joy before.

Love　A tender, familiar love, or someone from the past.

Work　Returning to old skills or a familiar place.

Inner life　Care for the child in you.

Reversed meaning

Nostalgia may be keeping you from the present. Take the lesson and move on.

Love　Idealising a past relationship.

Work　Clinging to how things used to be done.

Inner life　The past can inform you without holding you.

In a three-card spread

Situation

Comfort from memory or old ties.

Challenge

Living in the past.

Advice

Bring the warmth of the past into the present.

Tarot and astrology

In the Golden Dawn system this card is the decan of Sun in Scorpio: the themes of Scorpio, expressed the way Sun acts. Scorpio →Sun →

Questions to sit with

• What memory comforts me, and why?
• What simple kindness could I offer today?

Through the suit

Tarot here is a mirror for reflection, not a prediction. The meanings follow the Waite-Smith tradition and the Golden Dawn attributions, in our own words.