Six of Cups

The Six of Cups upright: a cup held out from the garden of the past

The Six of Cups speaks of memories, innocence and warmth from the past. After the loss of the Five of Cups, this card describes the heart returning to somewhere familiar and safe: a childhood memory, an old friend’s voice, a kindness done without expecting anything back. After a hard time, the spirit looks for softness in the past.

On the Rider–Waite–Smith card, one child holds out a cup full of flowers to a smaller child, with an old town and houses behind them. The image carries both of the card’s themes: longing for the past, and pure, unconditional giving. In the Six of Cups, love is not calculated; it is shared the way children share.

In the Golden Dawn tradition, the Six of Cups belongs to the second decan of Scorpio, the Sun in Scorpio, and is called the “Lord of Pleasure”. The Sun brings warmth and vitality; Scorpio brings depth and memory. Together they explain why the card describes not a surface cheerfulness but a happiness that comes from deep down: something good lived in the past warming the present.

Upright, the Six of Cups invites you to look at your roots. Calling an old friend, returning to something you loved as a child, spending time with your family or doing someone a kindness without strings are this card’s suggestions. Listen to the voice of your inner child: it already knows what truly makes you happy. But the card also reminds you that the past is a refuge, not a place to live.

The Six of Cups reversed: between the past and now

The Six of Cups reversed shows that the balance in your relationship with the past has slipped. This can go two different ways.

The first is being stuck in the past: remembering old days as better than they were, thinking “everything was better back then”, or living in the memories of a relationship that has ended. In that case, the card reminds you that today also holds things that can become good memories, and invites you back into the present.

The second is a goodbye. The reversed Six sometimes shows that you have taken a healthy leave of the past, left behind a pattern from childhood, or are ready to move away from an old place and grow. This is the card’s mature, freeing face.

Sometimes it points to a painful side of the past: a memory you would rather not recall, a childhood wound that has not healed. Approach the memory by naming what it brings up today: the longing, the hurt and the pattern you want to carry forward or leave behind.

When it comes with the Five of Cups or the Moon, being stuck in the past weighs most. Beside the Eight of Cups or Death, a healthy goodbye comes forward. Next to the Two of Cups, it asks you to question the place an old bond has today.

The Six of Cups in love

In love, Six of Cups describes tenderness shaped by shared history. For a single reader, its focus is familiarity: the qualities you associate with an old bond, a childhood sense of safety or a first love. Look at what you miss and whether it belongs to the person, the time or the version of yourself you remember.

In a relationship, the Six of Cups suggests remembering your early days, having fun together and reviving that first innocent tenderness. Sharing memories, going back to the place you first met or doing something together with childlike joy refreshes the bond. Family, children and home life are also often read with this card.

Reversed, look at whether you are comparing your current relationship with a past one, or whether longing for someone from before is standing in the way of a new bond. If you are asking about an ex, ask yourself: is it that person I miss, or who I was back then?

The Six of Cups in career and work

At work, the Six of Cups describes connections from the past and old skills gaining value again. An offer from a former colleague, a pastime you loved as a child turning into work, or returning to a project you once put down all come forward with this card. Education, work with children, crafts and care also sit well with it.

Choose an old skill or unfinished project and note how it fits your present work. If you contact a former colleague this week, name the subject you want to discuss and the experience you bring to it. Six of Cups values continuity: use what you learned before without assuming an old connection still works in the same way.

Reversed, it points to resisting change with “the old way was better”, or struggling to adapt to a changing workplace. Keep the experience of the past, but adapt it to today’s conditions.

The Six of Cups and money

Cups is the suit of water, and in the Six of Cups that water runs through memory; money in this card carries the meaning of an exchange shaped by feeling, family history or the wish to give. Support from an older relative, a gift, a question of inheritance or help you give the people you love without expecting anything back are this card’s territory. Sharing and generosity come to the front.

The card also asks you to look at how your attitude to money was shaped in childhood. What did you hear and see about money at home? Those memories may be quietly steering your spending and saving habits today.

Reversed, it points to staying stuck in old money habits, a family expectation weighing on you, or the shadow of an old debt. If money is going to be discussed within the family, set the feelings aside first; putting the sums on paper beforehand and agreeing on what is a gift and what is a loan makes the conversation at that table easier. The child in the card hands over his cup of flowers openly, and money passed between relatives sits best when it is given just as clearly.

The Six of Cups, mood and inner balance

The upright Six of Cups reflects a soft, nostalgic, warm mood. An old photograph, a familiar song or a childhood dish gives that nostalgia a concrete focus. Notice what the memory contains: pleasure, longing or an expectation you still carry. Give your inner child a little room to play.

Reversed, longing can grow heavy: yearning for the past, the sadness of “those days won’t come back”, or an old wound reopened by a memory. Write down the memory and the feeling it brings up today, giving the pleasure and the hurt their own words rather than treating the whole past as one thing. The garden in the card is a remembered place, partly real and partly softened by time; ask what you truly miss: the people, the age you were, or the safety you felt then. Choose a small ritual or a familiar dish because it belongs to what you value now. Notice how the present setting differs from the remembered one and which qualities you want to keep.

Which way does the Six of Cups lean in a yes or no question?

The Six of Cups’ answer depends on the kind of question. If the question is about rebuilding an old bond, a family matter or doing a heartfelt kindness, it leans towards yes. If you are hoping to solve a present problem by going back to the past, it leans towards “not this way”.

Reversed, it leans towards “not yet” where nostalgia is doing the work of a present decision. Separate the remembered bond from your needs today, then ask: “What from that time do I want to carry into the relationships I have now?”

Advice from the Six of Cups

The Six of Cups’ advice is to draw strength from the past without living there. Use your good memories as a source: let them remind you what does you good, who you are and what you love.

Do a kindness without strings. Giving time to a child, calling an old friend, helping a neighbour: this card’s love grows through small, pure gestures.

Use the Three Card spread in the Larisa app to trace a memory’s place in the situation. With Six of Cups in “Past”, identify the old feeling behind today’s question; compare it with “Present” to see how that memory shapes your choices now. In “Future”, ask which part of the past you want to carry into your next step.

Key combinations with the Six of Cups

The card beside the Six of Cups shows how the past is being carried into the present:

Combination	What it points to
Six of Cups + the Sun	Childlike joy; a happy time within the family
Six of Cups + Two of Cups	A closeness rekindled with someone from the past
Six of Cups + Judgement	An old matter resurfacing; facing the past
Six of Cups + the Moon	Idealised memories; separate nostalgia from what you actually remember
Six of Cups + Eight of Cups	Saying goodbye to the past and setting off on a new road
Six of Cups + Ten of Pentacles	Family heritage; values handed down the generations
Six of Cups + the Empress	Motherhood, children and a nurturing home
Six of Cups + Five of Swords	An old grievance; the need to forgive

Symbols of the Six of Cups in the Larisa deck

Two children kneel facing each other in a flower-filled garden, their shared cup illuminated by the full moon above. The girl on the left wears a crown of white flowers in her long, curly hair and a pale dress worked with gold. The boy on the right has curly hair, a white shirt and a dark blue waistcoat.

The two children hold a golden cup full of white flowers together. Neither gives and neither takes; both hold it at the same time. Unlike the giving-and-receiving scene of the Rider–Waite–Smith image, this describes a shared innocence. The calm on their faces is the look of love that keeps no accounts.

Flower-filled golden cups stand across the foreground and beside the children, repeating the blossoms in the cup they hold together. Flowers instead of water show that feeling here has turned into a sweet memory, a beauty in bloom. Large white and pink roses blossom at the edges.

In the background, stone steps climb towards a town of steep-roofed houses with lit windows. On the left stands a mossy stone wall with an old fountain. The houses and steps describe the road back to the past, the childhood home, a remembered setting whose familiarity belongs to childhood. Notice how the garden frames the shared cup, giving the memory a place without making it identical to life today.

Moonlight falls across the children, the shared cup and the garden path, linking the figures to their familiar surroundings. The Moon is the planet of memory and feeling, and here it lights the scene with a soft glow, like the light of an old night. The small white petals scattered along the path remind you that this memory is still fresh, a trace the past has left reaching all the way into today.