Five of Cups

Grief, and the two cups still standing.

The picture

A figure in a long black cloak stands with head bowed under a grey sky. On the ground in front of the figure, three cups lie tipped over, with red and green liquid running out of them. Behind, two cups still stand upright. A river runs across the land. On the right a bridge crosses it, and on the far bank to the left stands a small castle keep.

Upright

Five is disruption, loss and struggle. In Cups, it is the loss that is felt: grief, disappointment, regret, the thing you hoped for that did not come.

I read this card as a mirror, gently. It shows you where you are standing and what you are looking at. Right now that is the spilled cups, and that is allowed. Grief needs its time. Nobody gets through a loss by being told to cheer up.

The card also shows what the figure cannot see yet. Two cups are still standing. Something remains. A friendship, a skill, a part of you the loss did not touch. They will still be there when you are ready to turn around.

And there is the bridge. The way back across the river exists. The card does not ask you to walk it today.

Reversed

Reversed, this card stays a mirror, and I read it as turned inward or delayed.

Turned inward is grief held in. The cloak pulled tighter, the loss not spoken about, a brave face for everyone else. It can look like coping and feel like carrying a weight alone.

Delayed can go two ways. It can be grief that has not been felt yet because life has not stopped long enough to let it. It can also be the turn towards the two standing cups, slowly beginning.

To tell which, ask whether you have let anyone see the spilled cups. If nobody knows, it is turned inward, and one person you trust may be the bridge. If you have been noticing the standing cups again, the turn has started.

When it turns up

What is still standing behind you, waiting until you are ready to look?

If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.

Related pages
The Number 5