Five of Cups Tarot Card: Meaning, Upright and Reversed

In brief: number, name and keywords

The Five of Cups is the card of regret. Where the Four refused an offer, the Five grieves over what has been lost. Traditionally it is read as disappointment and grief, a loss, but also as an invitation to see what remains.

The card is called Five of Cups in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and it bears the same name in both traditions. Within each suit, the Fives are among the most difficult cards to receive.

Keywords: regret, loss, disappointment, grief, what remains, letting go.

The image in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck

In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, a figure wrapped in a long black cloak stands with its back or three-quarters turned, head bowed, before three overturned cups whose liquid spills onto the ground. Behind the figure, barely visible, two cups stand upright.

In the background, a dark river and, further off, a bridge leading to a house or castle on the far bank. The sky is grey and low. The figure looks only at what has fallen.

• The black cloak: grief, restraint; the face is not seen, which makes the sorrow universal.
• The three overturned cups: what is lost, disappointed or spoiled; the attention is fixed on them.
• The two upright cups: what remains, which the figure does not yet look at.
• The river and the bridge: a separation, but also a possible passage towards a welcoming place.

In the Tarot de Marseille

In the Tarot de Marseille, the Five of Cups is a pip card: five cups, often arranged in a cross with one cup at the centre, with flower and leaf ornaments. No figure and no overturned cup. The symmetry gives an impression of calm, even of fullness, which contrasts with its traditional sense of trouble. Some readers see a centre that holds in the midst of loss.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Five of Cups traditionally evokes regret, sorrow, disappointment, loss, sometimes grief. It is read as a tendency to dwell on what went wrong, forgetting what endures.

The card is not an announced misfortune: it is an image of sorrow and an invitation to turn your head. In a spread, it may say that it is time to welcome the pain, and then to look at what remains. If sorrow overwhelms you, speak to someone close to you or to a professional.

Reversed: different schools

School 1: the opposite or excess. Reversed, the Five of Cups is read as sorrow easing, forgiveness, acceptance, a return to what remains: the figure turns around and sees the two cups.

School 2: blockage or held-back energy. In another reading, the reversed card intensifies withdrawal: one shuts oneself in with regret and refuses to go through it. The card then invites you not to stay alone with this pain.

Some tarot readers only read the upright card: this is an equally valid choice.

Correspondences (Golden Dawn) and numerology

According to the Golden Dawn, the Five of Cups corresponds to Mars in the first decan of Scorpio: Mars’s ardour in an intense water sign, hence the idea of violent emotion or disappointment. This attribution comes from nineteenth-century English occultism and is not universal.

5 breaks the stability of 4: in traditional numerology it is the number of movement, instability and rupture. In the suit of cups, rupture is emotional. The four Fives of the deck are often the most uncomfortable of their suits; the page on the Fives of the tarot compares them. Major Arcana number 5, The Hierophant, evokes the rites that accompany difficult passages.

Possible readings and reflection questions

Tarot does not say what will happen: it offers images to reflect on. Here is what the card may symbolically evoke, depending on your question.

• Personal reflection: welcoming a sorrow without shutting yourself inside it. Possible question: what have I lost, and what remains?
• Relationships: separation, resentment, regret for what did not happen. The card speaks of a sorrow, not of a certain end.
• Work: disappointment, a project that did not succeed. Symbolically, a moment of stocktaking.
• Money: loss, regret over a choice. It predicts no loss.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What am I grieving, and am I ready to look at it?
• What remains that I do not yet see?
• Who can I confide my sorrow to?

Combinations with neighbouring cards

A card is rarely read on its own. Here are a few simple pairings as starting points:

• Four of Cups: from weariness to regret; a missed opportunity.
• Six of Cups: after sorrow, the tender memory and the sweetness of childhood.
• Death (the nameless arcanum): an ending and a transformation; accepting what is coming to an end.
• The Star: hope after loss; a gentle light.

To practise: the three-card spread; for the whole suite: the guide to the minor arcana.

Common beginner mistakes

• Reading the card as “a misfortune is going to happen”: it describes a regret, not a future event.
• Forgetting the two upright cups: they are the key to the card.
• Believing that tarot can replace psychological support in bereavement.

Try it yourself

Take a sheet of paper and write down three things you regret. Then, on the other side, write three things that are still there despite everything (a person, a memory, a talent). Read both lists without trying to balance them. You do not have to resolve the regret: only give it a place next to what remains.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to the Minor Arcana.