Minor Arcana · Cups
Six of Cups tarot card meaning: upright and reversed
The Six of Cups is a small, simple kindness of the kind you remember from childhood. It is a card of nostalgia, simple kindness and the comfort of the familiar, sometimes bringing someone or something from the past back into view. It invites you to remember what once brought you uncomplicated joy.
- Upright
- nostalgia, childhood memories, innocence, kindness, reunion
- Reversed
- stuck in the past, rose-tinted memories, moving forward, independence, letting go
- Yes or no
- Leans yes upright; maybe reversed
Six of Cups upright
nostalgia · childhood memories · innocence · kindness · reunion
The Six of Cups is a small, simple kindness of the kind you remember from childhood. It is a card of nostalgia, simple kindness and the comfort of the familiar, sometimes bringing someone or something from the past back into view. It invites you to remember what once brought you uncomplicated joy.
What from your past is worth carrying forward, and what is ready to stay there?
Six of Cups reversed
stuck in the past · rose-tinted memories · moving forward · independence · letting go
Reversed, the Six of Cups suggests a relationship with the past that has fallen out of balance. You may be holding on to memories, or an idealized version of them, in a way that makes the present feel thin. It can also show the opposite: stepping into independence and leaving old patterns behind.
Are you remembering the past as it was, or as you wish it had been?
Six of Cups in love
Upright
In love, it reflects tenderness, playfulness and comfort, and can point to reconnecting with someone from your past or a return to early sweetness.
Reversed
In love, nostalgia for a past relationship may be coloring the present, or you may be outgrowing an old dynamic.
Six of Cups at work
Upright
At work, it points to kind, supportive connections, or revisiting earlier interests and skills that still matter to you.
Reversed
At work, you may be clinging to how things used to be, or ready to move beyond a familiar comfort zone.
Six of Cups as feelings
For questions like “How do they feel about me?” The card describes a possible mood, never what someone really thinks.
Upright
A mood this card can describe: fondness and tenderness, with a nostalgic warmth for shared memories. Is the warmth about now, or about then?
Reversed
A mood this card can describe: being caught up in the past, or trying hard to move on from it. Which of those feels closer to what you’ve seen?
Is Six of Cups a yes or no card?
Upright
Leans yes. Six of Cups: kindness, and the comfort of the familiar.
Reversed
Maybe. Six of Cups reversed: one foot in the past, one in the present.
A lean is the card’s mood, not a verdict. Yes or no tarot can’t answer questions about health, pregnancy, money, the law or what someone else will do. Draw one card for a yes or no question, or see every card’s lean.
Six of Cups in Lanterndeck’s deck
Lanterndeck draws an old kitchen dresser with a family set of cups ranged from big to small, the window’s light falling on the smallest: memory, home and the comfort of the familiar.
Six of Cups by the numbers
| In a one-card draw | 1 in 78 (1.3%) |
|---|---|
| In a three-card spread | 1 in 26 (3.8%) |
| In a ten-card Celtic Cross | about 1 in 8 (12.8%) |
| Reversed, when it turns up | about 1 in 3 in Lanterndeck’s draw |
Six of Cups is the sixth of the 14 cards in the suit of Cups, between Five of Cups and Seven of Cups.
Draw with Six of Cups in mind
Ask your own question and draw three cards from the full deck. Six of Cups may turn up or it may not: the draw is random, and the reading works with whatever comes.