Five of Cups
A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding. Divinatory Meanings: It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration. Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
A. E. Waite, Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911)
This unexpected emotional experience brings disappointment, disturbance of ease, misunderstanding and contradictions. Being forced through outside circumstances to reassess one's feelings it can be a problematic relationship or a betrayal as a necessary and potentially creative experience. This provoking inevitable conflict brings sadness. Remorse and separation can occur but its not a final ending. Something remains which can be faced and worked on, take up the challenge and make the commitment to the future.
5 of Water: Clinging to the Past
The figure pictured in this card is so preoccupied with clutching her box of memories that she has turned her back on the sparkling champagne glass of blessings available here and now. Her nostalgia for the past really makes her a 'blockhead', and a beggar besides, as we can see from her patched and ragged clothes. She needn't be a beggar, of course–but she is not available to taste the pleasures that offer themselves in the present.
It's time to face up to the fact that the past is gone, and any effort to repeat it is a sure way to stay stuck in old blueprints that you would have already outgrown if you hadn't been so busy clinging to what you have already been through. Take a deep breath, put the box down, tie it up in a pretty ribbon if you must, and bid it a fond and reverent farewell. Life is passing you by, and you're in danger of becoming an old fossil before your time!
Tarot of the Ages - Mario Garizio ©1988 U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
Most people aren't too happy when the Five of Cups appears in a reading, and for good reason. This is a card whose meanings are quite simple: sadness, grief, disappointment and regret. Often these feelings will arise because of actions such as those pictured on the Four of Cups; taking love for granted and not valuing every person or thing in our lives that make us feel special. The Four predicted that all would be lost if nothing was taken to divert the path of events, and when this advice is not heeded, the Five of Cups becomes the inevitable result.
The Five of Cups usually is not a sign of existing hardship, but a warning so you may change your course in time. But often you will be too late, and the saddening event will happen despite your best efforts. This can be a broken relationship, a divorce, or the loss of a friend. No matter what the event or its reasons for happening, the effect is the same. The pain fills your mind, just as the tragic scene on the card burns itself into your memory so you can't forget it. To some it would seem that there is no way out of this situation, but the Tarot always shows problems on one hand and solutions on the other. In persistence of vision lies the key to overcoming the sadness.
This is pictured universally by a number of cups that have been spilled, but one or two that are left standing, out of sight of the grieving figure on the card. But they are well within your view if you look closely enough. While it is true that much has been lost, there is still a ray of hope because some of the cups remain full and upright. You must not pity the man on this card, and you must not pity yourself when you find yourself in his situation. After all, there is a way out if you will stop crying and open your eyes. You will have to work on it, but there it is.
Sometimes you also have to remember that change never happens just for the sake of change. There is always a reason for the disturbance, an imbalance that must be eliminated or a wrong that must be righted. In these cases, even a disastrous change can be beneficial. A relationship without love is bound to fall apart anyway, so it may be better that it fails sooner than later. The Five of Cups tells you to be thankful for what is left, don't worry about what cannot be changed, and turn a setback into a step forward. Never let your tears stop you from seeing what is left over.
Tarot of the Dream Enchantress ©2009 Lo Scarabeo