The Six of Cups tarot card showing children exchanging cups filled with flowers in a garden, evoking nostalgia, innocence, and childhood memories

Six Of Cups

💧 Water Jupiter Scorpio
Arcana Minor Arcana
Element Water
Planet Jupiter
Sign Scorpio
Yes / No Yes

Correspondences

Crystals
Rose QuartzRhodonitePink Tourmaline
Herbs
ChamomileLavenderElderflower
Chakra Heart Chakra (Anahata)
Colors

Green, Pastel shades (e.g., pale pink, light blue)

Scents

Vanilla, Rose, Baby Powder

Musical Note F
In the courtyard of an old village home where generations have played, two children engage in the timeless ritual of giving, one offering the other a cup overflowing with flowers from the same garden that bloomed for their grandparents. The older child extends the gift with the unselfconscious generosity of innocence that does not calculate cost or expect return; the younger receives with the wide-eyed delight of one who has not yet learned to be suspicious of kindness. Six golden cups bloom with white stars of fragrance, arranged throughout the scene like moments of beauty that memory has preserved—not the cups of intoxication but of nourishment, of simple pleasures multiplied by sharing. In the background rises the familiar shape of home, the ancestral dwelling whose walls hold the accumulated warmth of everyone who has ever belonged there. A figure walks away in the distance, perhaps toward the future that still awaits even as the present moment holds the past so tenderly. The light is soft and golden, the color of memories that have been loved so long they glow, the warmth of safety that the body remembers even when the mind has forgotten.

✦ Upright Meaning

The Six of Cups rises from the waters of memory bearing the sweet fragrance of nostalgia, innocence, and the comfort of all that was loved before we learned that love could hurt. This is the card of childhood remembered not with the critical eye of adult analysis but with the heart's full appreciation for what was given, learned, and experienced in simpler times. Reunions are indicated—with old friends, with former homes, with the parts of yourself that time and experience have caused you to forget. The Six of Cups speaks of healing through reconnection: with your inner child, with your roots, with the people and places that first taught you what it meant to feel safe and loved. Give as you have received; the kindness passed down to you waits to be passed on.

❤️Love & Relationships

In the realm of love, the Six of Cups arrives wreathed in the flowers of sentimental connection and the sweetness of love that has history to draw upon. This may indicate the return of a past love, the rekindling of connection that time and distance have only deepened, or the comfort of a partnership where familiarity has become foundation rather than limitation. For those seeking new love, the Six of Cups suggests that significant connection may come through childhood friends, hometown visits, or environments where innocence is valued. Love flourishes now in the gentle exchange of kindness, in the recreating of the security that the heart first learned in childhood, in the gift-giving that expects nothing but joy in return.

💼Career & Work

The Six of Cups brings its gentle energy of nostalgia and comfort to your professional landscape, suggesting that career fulfillment may be found in familiar territory or by reconnecting with earlier professional loves. This is favorable energy for returning to work you once found meaningful, for collaborating with colleagues from your past, for finding in present work echoes of what first drew you to your field. Creative pursuits, teaching, mentoring—anything that allows you to give what you have received—flourishes under this card's blessing. The Six of Cups confirms that looking back with appreciation can illuminate the path forward.

💰Finance & Money

In financial matters, the Six of Cups brings its energy of gifts and comfortable security, often indicating that support may come from family, inheritance, or the fruition of past investments made long ago. This is not the aggressive accumulation of wealth but the gentle appreciation of sufficiency, the recognition that you have enough when enough is measured by contentment rather than comparison. The Six of Cups speaks to financial patterns established in childhood now bearing fruit, to the security that comes from being part of a family or community that shares resources. Gratitude for what you have received opens channels for what you may yet receive.

🌿Health & Wellness

The Six of Cups brings its comforting energy to all matters of health and healing, highlighting the value of familiar remedies, the importance of emotional security in physical wellness, and the healing that comes from reconnecting with the innocent self who knew how to rest and play without guilt. Your health benefits now from approaches that feel nurturing rather than punishing, from the comfort of familiar routines that create security, from the inner child work that addresses wounds too old to have clear memories but too present to ignore. The Six of Cups reminds you that healing is not only a future destination but a return to the wholeness that was your birthright before the world convinced you otherwise.

🔮Spirituality

The Six of Cups appears in spiritual matters as an invitation to reconnect with the faith of your childhood—not the dogma that may have limited you but the innocent trust that once came naturally, the direct relationship with the sacred that existed before theology complicated it. This is powerful energy for inner child healing, for spiritual practices that feel nurturing rather than demanding, for finding in ancestral wisdom the roots of your own seeking. Your spiritual growth benefits now from simplicity, from the kind of faith that a child can hold, from the recognition that you were always already connected to something larger than yourself before you began the search to find it.

✦ Wisdom & Guidance

Advice

Let yourself be comforted by the past without being trapped by it. The memories that surface now come bearing gifts of perspective, of gratitude, of the sweet reminder that you were loved before you did anything to earn it and remain loved in ways that effort cannot increase or neglect diminish. Reconnect with the innocent generosity that was natural before cynicism taught you to calculate. Give as you have received; the kindness that found you as a child wants to move through you now into a world that desperately needs it. And tend your inner child—that part of you still waiting for the reassurance that everything will be okay.

Affirmation

"I honor the gifts of my past while remaining present to the gifts of now. My inner child is safe, loved, and welcome. I give generously what was generously given to me, and the chain of kindness continues through my hands."

? Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Six of Cups mean in tarot? +

The Six of Cups represents nostalgia, childhood memories, innocence, and reunions. It signifies comfort in the familiar, gifts given freely, and the pure joy of simpler, more innocent times.

Is the Six of Cups about an ex? +

The Six of Cups often indicates reconnection with the past, which can include ex-partners returning or memories of past relationships surfacing. It may suggest someone from your past thinking of you.

What does the Six of Cups mean for love? +

In love readings, the Six of Cups suggests nostalgic connections, childhood sweethearts, soulmates from past lives, or relationships with an innocent, playful quality. It can indicate reunions.

What does the Six of Cups reversed mean? +

Reversed, the Six of Cups warns against living in the past, being stuck in nostalgia, or refusing to mature. It may suggest releasing outdated attachments to move forward.