This is the 5th card in the Cups suit, it represents loss, grief, mourning and saddened states of being. It foreshadows emotionally tumultuous and challenging times.

Five of Cups [Upright]

On this card, we have a gloomy figure garbed in black, around it are 5 cups, three spilt in front of her, two standing upright behind her. So immediately we know that all is not lost, but the person is focusing on that which she lost.

The sky is grey, hopeless, the ground is yellow, like the cups, there’s a river behind the three spilt cups, a bridge in the distance and some abode in the far distance. This serves to depict the feelings of isolation, loneliness and despair.

Beneath the 2 of the spilt cups, there’s a red liquid, it could be wine, it could be blood, so the loss is grave, but if the figure would just turn around, it would figure that not all is lost and there’s still some saving grace to be focused upon.

Five of Cups Keywords [Upright]

• Grief
• Mourning
• Loss
• Disappointment
• Sadness
• Being let down
• Gloom
• Discontent

Five of Cups Meaning [Upright]

This is one of the hardest cards of the Minor Arcana to come up in a reading, it foretells a divorce, separation, breakup, despair, depression, end of a friendship, regret and sorrow.

Melancholy, sadness and despair are unusually strong in Five of Cups, what’s even worse, this card can be an omen of a (family) curse when it comes up in a reading next to the Moon and the High Priestess. Someone very close to you with a grudge has made their ill intent focused on you.

This card is the representation of crying over spilt milk, refusing to acknowledge that the two cups are still remaining in the background – some blessings are still left to be found, alas, the reader/asker is unable to focus on that.

Key Points – Love [Upright]

• This is not a card you want to see in any reading, but especially not in a love reading as it acts as an omen of awaiting separation or divorce. You tried making things work, but they just didn’t.
• The good thing is that not all is lost, there’s still something that can be a silver lining, something you can be positive about if you would just turn around and find the good points in the sad situation that has stricken you.

Key Points – Money [Upright]

• When this minor arcana shows up in a money reading it foretells of a financial loss, but unlike its reversed position, not all is lost; on the contrary, there’s still something to be learnt and taken out of this unfavorable situation.
• The message here is to focus on the remaining blessings and to take this lesson to heart for future references, lest it happens again.

Key Points - Career [Upright]

• When the Five of Cups shows up in a career reading it’s telling you to abandon your current goals for they aren’t bringing you happiness nor success.
• You should focus on something you’ve forgotten, something that you were good at in the past, but you let it fade to black in order to focus on something else, something that is failing you right now.