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Meaning of the Six of Cups

The Six of Cups Minor Arcana Tarot card is a sweet, simple, nostalgic card of tender moments reconnecting to the childhood self and community.

When it appears for us in a reading can be an invitation to lean into what once brought us joy, reach out to others, and foster moments of generosity and communal support.

Read on for more Six of Cups Tarot meanings, including Astrological and Numerological correspondences, what it means reversed and in a career, love, or general reading:

The Six of Cups

The Minor Arcana Six of Cups is a warm, nourishing card of moments spent in simple bliss and shared nurturance. It is an invitation for inner child healing, to connect to our little selves and what they loved to do, what they need from us right now.

Sometimes it can represent someone from our past reaching out to us or a friend giving us assistance. Either way, it a prime opportunity to listen to your heart and give your body what it needs, and spread a little TLC to your loved ones too.

After the pain of the Five, we have reached a moment of sweet solace. Embrace.

This card reminds of slow, cosy Sundays. Of picnics in Spring. Of long summer days. Of warm winter nights spent reading by a fireplace. Reconnect to those dear to you, to family, to children.

Six of Cups Tarot Card Description

In the Pamela Colman Smith rendition, and many other Tarot decks, we can see a child offering one of six cups to a smaller child in a courtyard, in the back there is some kind of guard walking away. We are potentially in the town square here or a type of gated community.

Crucially, this is the only Cups card in which something is growing out the cups. There is the potential for regenerative nourishment and abundance when we share in what we have!

In the Thoth Tarot deck, this card is aptly called Pleasure, an invitation for indulgence. I also find it interesting that the cups are arranged in a circle and are each individually being watered by their own flower, but not overflowing. Tending to one’s own vessel first is important!

Numerologically as a 6 it refers relates to balance, harmony, and the magic of abundance that is created when reproduced (3, a powerfully creative abundant number, multiplied by 2, duality). The 6s of the Tarot typically all reflect this, except for the Swords.

This also connects it to the Major Arcana Lovers card, a reflection of our choices in life (or lack thereof) and how we choose everything (even by not choosing). It also represents being a mirror to the world and see it as a reflection of yourself; as well as, of course, love and leading with an open heart.

Astrologically, it is a Sun in Scorpio card. The Sun in Scorpio shines a light on darkness, acknowledging that we cannot have one without other. Indeed, the closer you are to the source of light, the longer the shadow. It seems particularly fitting coming after the gloom of the Five of Cups.

Six of Cups Upright Meaning

Generally, the Six of Cups upright represents nostalgia, tenderness, sweetness, comfort, nourishment, childhood memories, people from your past, community, nurturance, time with loved ones, cosy moments at home.

Take a trip down memory lane, reconnect to your inner child— perhaps even heal and revisit childhood issues.

Six of Cups Reversed Meaning

A reversed Six of Cups can be an invitation not to resist tending to your vessel and indulging in your inner child. To not isolate yourself and reach out to community. It can also suggest an over-focus on the past, a stuckness, and pining over how things were.

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Six of Cups in a Relationship Reading

As with any Tarot card, the actual significations of the Six of Cups in love Tarot readings will of course depend on the situation at hand, the question asked, the position in the spread it has fallen in, the cards surrounding it, and your own intuition.

Overall, if the Six of Cups appears here can be an invitation to lean into play, to get to know each other’s childhood selves, to reach out to past lovers even perhaps, and allow for moments of simple, sweet tenderness.

Six of Cups in a Career Reading

Again, the nature of the Six of Cups in a career reading will depend on the context, but in general it can represent an invitation to look back to how you used to do things, to return to the original vision of why you create your business. It can also be a suggestion to reach out to people from your past to network!

So those are some Six of Cups Tarot card meanings, I hope they’re insightful for you! Let me know in the comments section below if you have anything else to add or any questions.

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