Four of Cups
apathy · boredom · a missed offer · withdrawal
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Cups
In a few words
- apathy
- boredom
- a missed offer
- withdrawal
Three cups before you, a fourth offered, and you look away. Boredom, or a gift you are not seeing.
Upright
- Everything
- Three cups before you, a fourth offered, and you look away. Boredom, or a gift you are not seeing.
- Love
- Taking a good thing for granted. Look again at what is being offered.
- Work
- Disengaged, uninspired. An opportunity is in front of you; open your eyes.
- Money
- Indifference to money matters that need attention. Check the offer you ignored.
- Myself
- Withdrawn, contemplative. Fine for a while; not forever.
Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 218
Reversed
- Everything
- Waking up. Renewed interest, the fourth cup finally taken.
- Love
- Ready to engage again. Seeing the person, not the pattern.
- Work
- Motivation returns. Saying yes to the thing you were sulking about.
- Money
- Acting on a chance you nearly missed. Better late.
- Myself
- Out of the slump. Movement, however small.
Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 218
The card, as Waite described it
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 218
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.