Six of Cups
One child offers another a cup of flowers in an old garden, evoking nostalgia, innocence, and kindness rooted in the past.
Cups, VI
Upright keywords
- nostalgia
- childhood memories
- innocence
- kindness
- reunion
- simple pleasures
Meaning when upright
The Six of Cups brings the harmony of six into memory: in an old garden, an older child offers a younger one a cup full of white flowers. It speaks of nostalgia, childhood, innocent kindness, and the comfort of familiar places and people. Waite calls it a card of the past and of memories, with happiness and enjoyment coming rather from the past. It can mark a reunion with an old friend, a visit home, a gift given without expectation, or a return to something you loved when you were young.
On the card
- older child in a red hood offering a cup of flowers to a smaller child
- kindness, generosity, and innocent affection
- six cups filled with white star-shaped flowers
- memories and gifts of the heart; purity and gentle blossoming
- old manor house and square tower
- the past, home, and the security of familiar surroundings
- stone pedestal bearing a shield marked with a saltire (X)
- heritage, family tradition, and protection
- guard with a staff walking away in the background
- the adult world and its authority receding; safety within the garden
- enclosed courtyard garden
- a protected space of innocence and childhood
In Waite’s words
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers.
- Divinatory meaning
A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as—for example—on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct.
- Reversed
The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
- Additional meaning
Pleasant memories. Reversed: Inheritance to fall in quickly.
Correspondences
- Element
- Water
- Astrology
- Sun in Scorpio
- Sephira
- Tiphareth (6)
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Pleasure
- Decan
- Nov 2 – Nov 12
- Number
- Six restores harmony and reciprocity after the loss of the Five, here as the gentle give-and-take of innocent kindness and memory.
To reflect on
- Which memories from my past still nourish me, and which keep me stuck?
- What did I love as a child that I could bring back into my life now?
- Who from my past would I like to reconnect with, and why?
In your readings
Hasn’t appeared in your readings yet.
Ask about this card
Marguerite, the traditionalist, answers from Waite’s text, what is drawn on the card and its correspondences. You can choose another reader in settings.