Two of Cups
A youth and a maiden pledge their cups beneath the caduceus and winged lion, sealing a bond of mutual attraction, respect, and emotional equality.
Cups, II
Upright keywords
- partnership
- mutual attraction
- union
- reciprocity
- reconciliation
- connection
Meaning when upright
The Two of Cups is the card of a meeting between equals, where two people recognize each other and choose to commit. It is classically romantic, but it just as readily describes a close friendship, a business partnership built on trust, or a reconciliation after conflict. The caduceus and winged lion above the pair suggest that the union is more than the sum of its parts, joining healing and passion. Waite lists love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, and sympathy among its meanings. The emphasis is on reciprocity: each person gives and receives in equal measure.
On the card
- youth and maiden exchanging cups face to face
- a pledge between equals; the meeting of complementary energies
- Caduceus of Hermes rising between their cups
- healing, negotiation, and the reconciliation of opposites through the two entwined serpents
- red winged lion's head above the caduceus
- passion and desire raised to a higher, spiritual level; the fire that animates the union
- laurel wreath on the maiden, garland of red flowers on the youth
- honor and achievement meeting love and ardor
- youth reaching toward the maiden's cup
- initiative offered and received; the moment of commitment
- house with a red roof on a green hill
- the home and shared future the partnership may build
In Waite’s words
A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place.
- Divinatory meaning
Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and—as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination—that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.
- Reversed
[No reversed meaning is given for this card in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911).]
- Additional meaning
Favourable in things of pleasure and business, as well as love; also wealth and honour. Reversed: Passion.
Correspondences
- Element
- Water
- Astrology
- Venus in Cancer
- Sephira
- Chokmah (2)
- Golden Dawn title
- Lord of Love
- Decan
- Jun 21 – Jul 1
- Number
- Two brings duality into balance, so the emotional seed of the Ace becomes a relationship between two people who meet as equals.
To reflect on
- In my closest relationship, do we give and receive in roughly equal measure?
- What qualities in another person draw me, and how might they reflect something in me?
- Is there a rift I could begin to repair with one honest conversation?
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.