Matters of the Heart (and Gut): A Look at the Suit of Cups
Alright, let’s talk about feelings. No, seriously—feelings. Because if the tarot deck were a group chat, the Suit of Cups would be the friend who always asks, “But how are you really?” They don’t care what you did, they care about what moved you, broke you open, lifted you up, and left you spiraling.
The Suit of Cups is all water—emotion, intuition, relationships, memory. It covers love, grief, dreams, nostalgia, longing… that whole messy spectrum of being a human who wants to be loved but also has trust issues and drinks oat milk lattes while crying over a playlist. (Just me?)
And here’s the thing—while a lot of people associate Cups with romance, it’s not just about who you’re dating. It’s also about how you love, how you receive love, how you push it away, and how you make peace with your own emotional landscape.
Water, Water Everywhere – But What Does It Mean?
So, tarot has four suits: Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands. Each is linked to an element. Cups = Water. And water is fluid, reflective, and sometimes overwhelming. It flows, but it can also flood. It soothes, but it can also drown.
In that way, the Cups track our emotional highs and lows. They’re about the inner tides—your dreams, your intuition, your most private stories. That moment you get a gut feeling and know something before you can explain why? That’s Cups territory. So is falling in love, writing in your journal at 2 a.m., crying at a movie, or forgiving someone (or yourself).
They also govern creativity, spiritual connection, and empathy. Basically, anything that lives below the surface and doesn’t quite fit into a spreadsheet.
The Cups Court – Your Messy, Beautiful Inner Cast
Let’s start with the “face cards.” The Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings in each suit all carry distinct energy. In Cups, they’re essentially your inner emotional support group:
- Page of Cups – The dreamer. Curious, open-hearted, a little awkward. Think: “What if we just told people how we feel?” chaos.
- Knight of Cups – The romantic. He’s on a mission to rescue you—or maybe himself. Big grand-gesture energy, sometimes flaky.
- Queen of Cups – Deeply intuitive, nurturing, emotionally mature. The friend who always knows something’s wrong without you saying a word.
- King of Cups – Emotional balance personified. In touch with feelings but not overwhelmed by them. Compassion with boundaries.
These cards show emotional archetypes you can either embody or encounter. Some days, you’re the Knight, rushing in with a heart full of hope. Other days? You’re the Queen—holding space for everyone but quietly exhausted.
The Numbered Cards – A Whole Emotional Arc
There are ten numbered Cups cards (Ace through Ten), and they read like a little emotional novel if you line them up:
- Ace of Cups – The spark. New love, new hope, new feelings bubbling up. It’s that first-text excitement.
- Two of Cups – Connection. Not always romantic, but intimate and mutual. The energy of a solid “we.”
- Three of Cups – Friendship, celebration, community. It’s a cozy brunch with people who get you.
- Four of Cups – Apathy, emotional burnout, or maybe just needing a break. The “meh” phase. (We’ve all been there.)
- Five of Cups – Grief. Loss. Focusing on what’s gone and forgetting what’s still standing.
- Six of Cups – Nostalgia. Childhood memories. Sweet but a little sticky. Can be healing or delusional depending on context.
- Seven of Cups – Illusion, overwhelm, fantasy. So many choices, none of them fully real. Decision paralysis, anyone?
- Eight of Cups – Walking away. Emotionally spent. Sometimes love means leaving.
- Nine of Cups – Emotional satisfaction. Self-love. That rare moment when you feel… whole.
- Ten of Cups – The dream. Emotional fulfillment, connection, peace. It’s not always a fairy tale, but it’s close.
What’s wild is how these cards often mirror the cycles we all go through: joy, disconnection, longing, healing, repeat. And sometimes? The Ten of Cups isn’t about a picture-perfect relationship. Sometimes it’s about finally being okay with yourself.
Let’s Talk Love (But Not Just Romantic)
So yes, Cups = love. But not always in the “soulmate in a castle” kind of way.
The Suit of Cups deals with love in every form: platonic, familial, spiritual, self-directed. It looks at emotional honesty—how open we are, how vulnerable, how guarded. It also examines emotional habits. Do you give too much? Shut down too quickly? Avoid the hard stuff?
Pulling a Cups card is often a gentle (or not-so-gentle) reminder to check your emotional pulse. And yeah, sometimes it’s the tarot equivalent of your best friend texting, “Hey, you okay? You seem off.”
When Cups Show Up in a Reading…
Here’s the cheat sheet: if a reading is heavy on Cups, something emotional is going on. Could be romantic, sure. But could also be about a creative block, family tension, trust issues, or just feeling out of alignment with yourself.
And remember, water is tricky. It reflects things, but not always clearly. Cups cards ask you to feel your way through, not think your way out.
Also, heads up: reversed Cups cards often point to repressed emotions, emotional exhaustion, or manipulation. But they’re not “bad.” They’re just signals—like your body saying, “Hey, maybe slow down and drink some actual water while you’re at it.”
Real Talk – The Messy, Beautiful Part of Being Human
What makes the Suit of Cups so deeply compelling is its honesty. It doesn’t sugarcoat. The Five of Cups will sit next to you while you cry. The Eight of Cups will hold the door open when it’s time to leave. And the Ace? It’ll show up like a daydream, just when you’d given up hope.
There’s a raw, emotional truth to these cards that sticks with you. They don’t care about your résumé, your productivity, or how tidy your healing process looks. They ask, simply: “What are you feeling? And what are you going to do with it?”
Final Thoughts – It’s Okay to Feel It All
Let’s be real: emotions aren’t linear. Healing isn’t linear. Love, grief, creativity, intuition—they don’t follow logic. The Suit of Cups reminds us that just because you don’t have all the answers doesn’t mean you’re lost. It just means you’re human.
And sometimes? Pulling a Cups card is the universe’s way of saying, “Feel it. Let it move through you. And trust that you’re not drowning—you’re just learning how to swim in deeper water.”
You’ll be okay. The tide always changes.