Suit of Cups
The Suit of Cups is the tarot suit of water: emotions, love, relationships and intuition. Its fourteen cards describe how we feel, connect and care for one another. It corresponds to Hearts in playing cards.
Also known as: suit of chalices, chalices
A cup holds water, and water takes the shape of whatever holds it, much like feeling. In the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition Cups belong to the element of water, so the suit speaks of love, friendship, family, imagination and the inner life.
Its cards follow the heart’s journey. The Ace is an overflowing cup of new feeling, the Two a meeting of two people, the Three a celebration among friends, the Five grief over what was spilled, and the Ten a rainbow over a happy family. The court cards are sensitive, caring, creative people or qualities.
When Cups lead a reading, the question is emotional at heart: what you feel, what you long for and how your relationships are flowing. They often appear in questions about love, family, old hurts and creative work.
Cups are not only about romance. They cover every bond, including friendship and your relationship with yourself, and some of their most important cards, such as the Eight, are about knowing when to let go.