5 of Cups (RWS)

[Joan Marie]

What's been spilled?

The image of the tall black-cloaked figure in the center of the Five of Cups is a strong image indeed.
You can't look at it without a feeling of loss, sadness or dread.

Like the figure on the card, one tends to identify with and focus on the negative aspects portrayed, the three spilled cups.
It takes a minute before you can see the two upturned ones and the bridge over the river leading to some kind of place.

So, that's a kind of trite little message, "Don't be so focused on the negative that you don't see the positive." Okay, maybe trite is a bit harsh because that isn't really bad advice.

But one thing I've always wondered about it. What exactly was spilled?

There are 3 upset cups and three puddles. One puddle looks like water and two are red. Wine? Blood?
Water, wine and blood feature prominently in the New Testament.

Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana. At the last supper he turns wine into blood, an act that is the most important part of the Catholic mass, the transubstantiation. Basically alchemy.

Now, stay with me here, I've recently learned (Catholic school education never went here) that Jesus was educated in Jewish mysticism. He was a Kabbalist among other things. He was also a rabbi and a mystic. I think quite a lot could be written here about all that but I'd like to stay with this 6 of cups.

What I'm getting at is I think there is some significance to these spilled liquids relating to mysticism or alchemy.

I fear I'm getting out of my depth and I wonder if anyone out there has any feelings or ideas about the significance of what was spilled and how it may be connected to alchemy, mysticism, and the tarot.

That, or of course, any other thoughts on the meaning of the images in this card.

[Joan Marie]

Also, any thoughts on the significance of the bridge?

[BlueStar]

Hi Joan, I haven't used the Rider Waite deck, but I had some thoughts - the water is between the figure and the structure on the other side,where it looks more fertile in comparison to the side he's standing on. Perhaps the structure represents stability, in a less arid area, and the bridge indicates there is a way to get to stability (it goes over the water, over the emotion)?

In a tarot book I have it says that in the 1910 version of the deck the figures face was the same red as the spilled wine/blood. Maybe it's a link to the feeling of shame/regret?

[Amoroso]

This is what the 1910 card looks like:

For me, the bridge stands for getting over the troubles that the querent is currently experiencing. It stands for moving on to something that's hopefully better. He must have the courage and drive to cross it and not just wallow in his misfortune.

Curious thing though - two puddles are red but the one in front is green.

[Vox Populi]

The river has no banks, and notice how fast it appears to be flowing. I believe it to be a warning not to dwell too long nor let the mourning process overwhelm you, otherwise the river (out of control emotions) will flood your life taking you and the upright cups (your resources) with it. Many years down the line you'll have forgotten why you drank, why you were depressed etc, as the source of it will have washed away, and it will be just a depressing sequence of repeating the same mistakes.

The 5 of cups is saying that it's natural to obsess over lost love, to wile away those frozen days/weeks/months, but over the bridge life goes on, and at some point you're going to have to pick up the cups that you have left and cross the bridge and rejoin life. Otherwise you will literally drown in your own sorrows.

The two standing cups are telling us to never give yourself 100% to another person, keep back something emotionally, financially etc, otherwise if and when it goes wrong the person who gives all to another is in big trouble. Just because we fall in love doesn't mean we have to stop investing in ourselves.

Some people never quite recover from a broken heart. This card is a dire warning.

[Vox Populi]

The 5 of cups is about bereavement and loss of love, and to a lesser extent shame & regret. The good times of 2 & 3 of cups that you thought would last forever has ended, and ended abruptly. When we first get our heart broken it is an emotional pain that shakes you to the very core; and you focus and you obsess. And invariably, you are on your own. Yes, caring friends, family, even counselors are there, but if all your going to talk about is that person, or if your gonna bring down the vibe, people are going to start avoiding you. Everyone's lost in love, it's nothing new, but like our man in the pic in his Victorian Mourning cloak (even his hair has gone grey) he is morbidly fixated on his loss. However, life goes on.


This card also reminds me of regret through something that has been done whilst drunk. A reputation ruined by a drunken action that can never be taken back, and as the old adage goes -- There's no use crying over spilt milk -- there's no going back. He hides his face in shame from the drunken one night stand that will ruin his marriage; from driving whilst drunk that has destroyed so many lives; from saying the things he did to his friend that he can't take back and will never be forgotten. This is the aftermath, the psychological stress and pressure of whatever occurred, shown by the "stage card". However all is not lost, something remains in the 2 cups behind, or perhaps it's saying those things needed to be said, or maybe the marriage was going nowhere etc, and in the long run something good will come of this, something better. Or perhaps it's saying: the cups are full, now you can drink to forget.

The three downed cups always remind me of the Trinity in the Christian Kabbalah, representing the three highest spheres and the deep soul. Bereavement and love loss can not only feel like your bones are crushing inside of you, but it can be so painful that it can "burn little holes in your very soul."

Medieval physicians believed that illness was caused by a imbalance of elements & properties within the body (the 3000 year old Indian Ayurvedic medicine is still practiced in many countries) and was called humors where red was blood and green was phlegm, yellow was choler and black was melancholy. Too much of one indicated an imbalance. We see red & green spilt from the cups, the melancholic black of the cloak, and the yellow of the cups. Maybe, Waite meant something along these lines. Maybe.

[CharlotteK]

Also the benefit of mourning a loss. It's important to recognise and acknowledge loss and the need for some kind of emotional release. I hear the phrase about there being no point crying over spilt milk all the time but, I don't agree (well maybe on the issue of milk literally I do, but other kinds of loss). Often we do need to 'cry about' a loss before we can cometo terms with it, accept it, and move on. The spilled cups here are three against the two full ones remaining. Not all is lost, but the loss is significant. Perhaps the contents were bad and he poured them away, perhaps someone else kicked them over. Either way there is pain. What he had he no longer does. We do ourselves a great disservice to trivialise loss and deny the emotional trauma. With the loss of a loved one, or a relationship, we we feel the pain of the loss but we also have the opportunity to recognise the value of them/it in our lives and what they/it contributed whilst we had it. The we can turn around, pick up our full cups and carry on our way.

[chiscotheque]

if some of the liquid is blood [i like the idea of water, wine, & blood being represented], the suggestion could be that a sacrifice has been made. Like Christ, and the liquid relationships Joan Marie mentioned above, his sacrifice and resurrection, and his sacrament of transubstantiated blood. Blood & water also spurted out of his side when the centurion Longinus pierced him on the cross.
the way the figure is hiding suggests to me a person who has gone into themselves, has entered the universe inside them, the emptiness, the black hole. Again like Christ when he was dead 3 days; even when he appeared again in a raiment of white after the ordeal, he was not ready to be touched. The figure also reminds me of the actor who pulled the cape over his face, pretending to be Bela Lugosi after he'd died, in Plan 9 from Outer Space.
I would just like to say i think the stress on interpreting the card as indicating disproportionate sorrow and self-indulgence and "don't cry over spilt blood" to be a misrepresentation and - if anything - revealing of the interpreter's lack of empathy. grief is a human emotion, one cannot rationalize or be admonished out of it. until one goes through it, there's no saying what it will be, and why should anyone - especially anyone not themselves going through it - prescribe what it should be? Christ [again] said if one sheep is lost, he will abandon the rest to find it. Then again he also said let the dead bury the dead.

[Joan Marie]

I would just like to say i think the stress on interpreting the card as indicating disproportionate sorrow and self-indulgence and "don't cry over spilt blood" to be a misrepresentation and - if anything - revealing of the interpreter's lack of empathy. grief is a human emotion, one cannot rationalize or be admonished out of it. until one goes through it, there's no saying what it will be, and why should anyone - especially anyone not themselves going through it - prescribe what it should be? Christ [again] said if one sheep is lost, he will abandon the rest to find it. Then again he also said let the dead bury the dead.

That's right in line with what CharlotteK said. Maybe this card is about acknowledging grief and how it can be overwhelming. Depression is this way also, it doesn't matter how many "upturned cups" there are.

A couple of others mentioned the idea of shame and regret being expressed here. There are some mistakes we just can't make up for or fix and realising this can be excruciating.

But how this card is interpreted really depends on the situation doesn't it? And the surrounding cards. I think all these are valid interpretations and even the "spilt milk" idea could fit at times. There are disappointments sometimes in life that we do need to "get over."

I think maybe the upturned cups are not meant to negate the profound grief or sadness, but, along with the bridge, remind us that even when it seems impossible to believe it, this too shall pass. But it is not always necessary to mention this and could in some cases be very unhelpful.

I can say for myself that there have been times in my life that being told to get over something was exactly what I needed to hear. And other times that advice was cruel and demeaning. This is why it's so important to have a view on all the possibilities of a card, so that as a reader, as a sensitive person, you can avoid banal platitudes and pull out the message that's going to help the most and express it in a way it will be well received and useful.

[chiscotheque]

This is why it's so important to have a view on all the possibilities of a card, so that as a reader, as a sensitive person, you can avoid banal platitudes and pull out the message that's going to help the most and express it in a way it will be well received and useful.

so very true, JM! often when i stress certain aspects of a card, i step up my argument in direct ratio to what i feel is the one accepted hegemonic interpretation which no one questions. in short, i try to compensate for what i perceive as an imbalance. so of course there is a bridge back to life, the figure was lucky to have the 3 cups to begin with, he/she still has 2 more, etc etc. the interpretation of the card is indeed contingent to its context, as is every card's interpretation. this is integral to the dynamism of the Tarot - it is never just one thing and one thing only; like life and human experience, it is manifold.
in that spirit, one interpretation i have sometimes felt about this card is that the black-caped figure has knocked the cups over himself - in anger, frustration, or spite.

[TheLoracular]

So many powerful things were said by others in this thread, there feels like so little to contribute.

This card is always about grief and regret when it comes up in readings for me. Whereas the Three of Swords is often about heartbreak and betrayal and the pain/suffering/rage that comes with the shock of a loss? The Five of Cups takes things deeper to me. There's so much guilt, so much of the time. Often, this is part of a reading where the Querent feels to blame for their loss and sometimes, I take the way their back is turned towards the other two cups as rejection because the Querent doesn't feel they deserve them because of what they did that caused the loss that came in their life.

The important thing for me as a reader when I have a querent in this situation (most especially when reading for myself) is to look at the whole picture. To see those two cups that should not be abandoned. To see the bridge to cross the river. To see the place the Querent needs to get themselves and those two remaining cups before they make any decisions about what comes next after that.

[A-M]

There will probably be some sighing here and there, and rolling of eyes, because I seem to suffer from kundalini tunnel vision....
however I do think the whole major arcana is about the kundalini energy mystery.

What I see in this card:
The bridge in the backgroud is partly blocked from our view, so we can only see two arches with water flowing through it, one arch we cannot perceive. This is a metaphor for the life energies only flowing through ida nadi and pingala nadi. The sushumna channel is blocked: the kundalini is not flowing. Man is only experiencing duality. This makes one in Biblical terms a 'widow'; God is not experienced. Hence the black clothes.

The cups confirm this. The two standing cups on the right are the ida and pingala nadi. The three cups lying down symbolize the kundalini not flowing (or 'spilt'). The cup in the middle being the actual sushumna nadi with the kundalini: the color red symbolizes the elixer of life, the goal of the alchemist, which is red. The outer two cups contain white and red liquor, which refers to the red king and the white queen: the ida and pingala nadi. The three lying cups communicate that there is no merger of the male and female energies (the royal couple) and no kundalini flowing.

The tower in the background is an extra confirmation of this interpretation

[rusticblonde]

Also, any thoughts on the significance of the bridge?

Hmm with this a card of self resentment, could it the fact that we never "got over that bridge" hence the resentment? IE, we regretted not getting over something which has happened. Therefore its amplified... just my thoughts.

[Joan Marie]

Hmm with this a card of self resentment, could it the fact that we never "got over that bridge" hence the resentment? IE, we regretted not getting over something which has happened. Therefore its amplified... just my thoughts.

I can see that, the idea of being stuck in a rut of the mind.

It kind of lines up with an earlier comment here that maybe the person here kicked the 3 Cups over themselves.

[fire cat pickles]

I agree with everything that has been said here. This is a wonderful discussion for one of the most confusing cards in the RWS minors sequence, no doubt.

Part of the reason it's confusing for me, as well, is because Mars is the day ruler of Scorpio, and should be in its best position. So why is this card so challenging? This has always been difficult for me to wrap my head around. But I think it's important to remember that the reason Mars was made the day ruler of Scorpio, from the classical perspective, was to temper the power of Mars, not to highlight it: https://www.skyscript.co.uk/triplicities.html (re: "One point that confuses many people").

Mars is the planet of "doing" and "action". There is too much of a good thing here. The energy of Mars has reached a tipping point. Mars is by nature a powerful planet that "wants" to be all-powerful and un-harnessed, if you will. This is a card of burnout. This person has had enough of being held back. They've kicked over those cups in frustration. It could be a moment of self-loathing, even. The ability to see the silver-lining in anything is gone. Resentment, disappointment, envy, all of these could apply.

[Ciderwell]

Hi,

All the posts here are equally valid, but what I find puzzling about the spilled cups is where the resolution is found!
That is, if one of the cups is refilled in order to address the balance and render, say, a painful or embarrassing memory as merely 'water under the bridge', where is the positive emotion to be found? How is the Querent shown where to look for an answer?

For example, if crossing the river is the way to undo a position of sorrowful isolation then what might happen if the bridge were an illusion - like things we might have said that can never be undone - a barrier, difficult to face?
But if the bridge were an illusion then I guess the river must also be an illusion!

I suspect The Empress holds an answer to this puzzle, though, I don't yet know what that could be.

[rusticblonde]

Hi,

All the posts here are equally valid, but what I find puzzling about the spilled cups is where the resolution is found!
That is, if one of the cups is refilled in order to address the balance and render, say, a painful or embarrassing memory as merely 'water under the bridge', where is the positive emotion to be found? How is the Querent shown where to look for an answer?

For example, if crossing the river is the way to undo a position of sorrowful isolation then what might happen if the bridge were an illusion - like things we might have said that can never be undone - a barrier, difficult to face?
But if the bridge were an illusion then I guess the river must also be an illusion!

I suspect The Empress holds an answer to this puzzle, though, I don't yet know what that could be.

Thats intriguing that you say that. Because what would be the significance then of 2 cups being upright...

Could it be it isnt totally burnt?!

[Ciderwell]

Thats intriguing that you say that. Because what would be the significance then of 2 cups being upright...

Could it be it isnt totally burnt?!

I was thinking along the lines that the 2 upright cups were half full, whereas the 3 spilled cups were half empty - optimism versus pessimism. One taking us to the past, the other to the future.

Not totally burnt?! I presume you mean the figure's black cape. Cool!
I saw the cape as his shadow, something he could never escape from. Unless, as A-M explained upthread, when the sun is directly overhead Kundalini is achieved.

[rusticblonde]

Thats intriguing that you say that. Because what would be the significance then of 2 cups being upright...

Could it be it isnt totally burnt?!

I was thinking along the lines that the 2 upright cups were half full, whereas the 3 spilled cups were half empty - optimism versus pessimism. One taking us to the past, the other to the future.

Not totally burnt?! I presume you mean the figure's black cape. Cool!
I saw the cape as his shadow, something he could never escape from. Unless, as A-M explained upthread, when the sun is directly overhead Kundalini is achieved.

Interesting you mentioned that. What I was meaning was with the bridge in the distance, and as you say the half empty / half full. Obviously the card being a regretful card, could it be that because 2 cups are upright (albeit half full / half empty), that the situation which has arisen isnt totally trashed by self sabotage or such...

You could be also right with the sun

[Ciderwell]

... the 2 of cups interprets friendship, and the 3 of cups celebration.
When the 2 of cups becomes plutonic love, the 3 of cups could be a celebration of a birth.
The Empress is sometimes associated with children. I only mention this because the buildings in the distance look to me like the shape of a throne.

I don't pay any attention to current news, but using Internet Explorer means I see news items on screen before I connect to a website. What caught my eye today was the continuing case of Madelaine McCann, the little girl who went missing while on holiday in Portugal with her parents back in 2007. Very sad to see a computer image of what she might look like today.
Anyway, this stuck in the back of my mind and has now gotten shuffled into my thoughts with the 5 of cups.

A regretful card indeed! Especially if viewed as a consequence of ignoring warning signs in the 4 of cups.