5 of Cups Tarot Meaning: Loss, Regret, and Forgetting the Emotions

5 of Cups tarot card mean loss, regret, and grief. The card will more likely suggest grief for something lost in the past rather than what lies in the future. It’s a painful card for emotional circumstances where hope is overshadowed by sorrow. But all that here in the card conveys this message to come: healing does come and things will work out for the best in the end.

Release from the 5 cups meaning, healing, and acceptance on an emotional level, lie hidden beneath these. Reverses that would be otherwise necessitated by the card, deliver good lessons through failed experience into readiness down the line yet traveled.

Symbolism and Meaning of the Five of Cups

The interpretation of the 5 of Cups tarot card also informs us about the internal meaning that is assigned to this card. It is always drawn as one in black mourning over three overturned cups and walking away from the remainder. The background reflects the tears of what may have been remorse, disappointment, or grief and leaving behind what’s left.

The five cups of love are nearest to romantic in their interpretation, i.e., disappointment, sadness, or shattered emotional expectation. It will most likely be pointing toward unresolved grief or residual romantic love. It is not loss — it is as much a promise of renewal. It urges those who are experiencing personal renewal to release regret and consider what lies ahead and is therefore located in emotional healing and resilience.

Five of Cups in Readings

In the 5 of cups meaning when the card is in an upright position, this is a period of sadness and reflection. It is a picture of emotional anguish of loss or disappointment and is thus a very popular card to appear in readings for the end of relationships, business loss, or disillusionment. While it does acknowledge the pain, it also reminds individuals that life goes on and healing will come later.

Tendency themes for this card are:

• Stuck in the past and looking back fondly
• Overpowered by regret or disillusion
• Following old hurt rather than the present possibility
• All is not lost

Professionally, the 5 Cups career is a mirror of discontent or disappointment in a new profession. It signifies remorse over a career, career switch, or lost opportunities. The card is also requesting us to move away from past disappointments and look for newer options rather than getting stuck on them.

Reversed Five of Cups Meaning in Readings

The 5 of cups reversed is a very positive interpretation of the upright. It shows healing on the emotional level, moving on, and letting go. While there is hurt involved, the card shows there is acceptance happening so one can let go of the guilt and move into whatever is next.

Some of the fundamental themes for the reverse card are:

• To accept and release previous errors made and move on
• Allowing progress and mentally heal from past errors
• Accepting new learning possibilities
• Learning from failed attempts and anticipating the present experience

In a love reading, the position of the cup relationship is reversed, and the curing or healing of old wounds is shown. In a break-up reading, space for feelings or regretful thoughts about one’s actions, healing is shown by the card. Wounds stay in feelings but not in one’s head anymore.

The Five of Cups in Various Tarot Spreads and Readings

The 5 cups tarot guide is useful in explaining the way the card looks in different tarot spreads. It is relative to the position it is in and to cards around it and provides more detailed information regarding feelings, relationships, and insights gained.

• In past positions, it is a sad or disappointing past event and had an effect on current psychological concerns.
• In current situations, it speaks of constant emotional pain, requiring the subject to be capable of suffering but not leaving windows of recovery open.
• In future situations, it speaks of emotional wars but with attitude emphasis being what will make the difference in how such wars will be waged.

When the Five of Cups love appears, what it’s saying is that healing must occur on the emotional level. Either at the workplace in the case of a relationship that’s ongoing or a relationship break-up of one that was already dissolved, what the card here is commanding one to do is release something one has lost and discover what one leaves behind.