Three of Cups
Three women raise their cups in a harvest dance, celebrating friendship, community, and shared abundance.
Cups, III
Upright keywords
- celebration
- friendship
- community
- reunion
- shared joy
- abundance
Meaning when upright
The Three of Cups celebrates the joy that grows when feelings are shared: friends gathering, a reunion, a wedding, a birth, or a success toasted together. The women dance on ground strewn with harvest fruit, so the card marks a time of plenty after effort, what Waite calls the conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection, and merriment. It favors sisterhood, friendship, and community over solitary achievement. Solace and healing come through the support of others.
On the card
- three women raising their cups together
- friendship and a shared toast; often compared to the Three Graces
- circle of dancers facing one another
- unity and equality; no one leads and everyone takes part
- harvest fruit, a pumpkin, and grapes on the ground
- abundance and the fruits of a completed effort
- bunch of grapes held by the woman on the right
- fertility, wine, and festive pleasure
- wreaths and leaves in their hair
- celebration, victory, and the festive spirit
- fruit-laden bushes at the edges
- a garden in full yield; the season of plenty
In Waite’s words
Maidens in a garden-ground with cups uplifted, as if pledging one another.
- Divinatory meaning
The conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection and merriment; happy issue, victory, fulfilment, solace, healing.
- Reversed
Expedition, dispatch, achievement, end. It signifies also the side of excess in physical enjoyment, and the pleasures of the senses.
- Additional meaning
Unexpected advancement for a military man. Reversed: Consolation, cure, end of the business.
Correspondences
- Element
- Water
- Astrology
- Mercury in Cancer
- Sephira
- Binah (3)
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Abundance
- Decan
- Jul 2 – Jul 11
- Number
- Three is growth and expression, so the love of the Two expands outward into friendship, community, and shared celebration.
To reflect on
- Who are the people I want beside me when something good happens?
- What in my life deserves to be celebrated that I have let pass unmarked?
- Where does my enjoyment nourish me, and where does it tip into excess?
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.