Five of Cups: tarot card meaning

Five of Cups is card 5 in the suit of Cups, associated with the element of Water. Drawn upright it speaks of friction, feelings, connection; reversed, of feeling blocked, disconnection.

Upright meaning

friction, feelings, connection

Grief over what is lost -- a sorrow that asks to be felt, while a fuller cup still stands within reach.

Reversed meaning

feeling blocked, disconnection

Beginning to release the loss and turn toward what remains -- healing is underway even if it is quiet.

The suit of Cups belongs to Water and to feelings, relationships and belonging.

In a three-card reading

In the past position Five of Cups describes the current that carried you to where you are; in the present position, what is most alive in the situation now; in the future position, the direction things tend toward if nothing changes. A reading weighs it against the other two cards rather than on its own.