Six of Cups: Nostalgia or Living in the Past?
Quick Answer: The Six of Cups commonly represents nostalgia, childhood memories, and the pure joy of simpler times. It may suggest reconnecting with your past, embracing innocence, or finding comfort in familiar places and people. Your interpretation depends on the card's position, your question, and surrounding cards.
What this guide does not do: This guide does not predict specific events or label cards as good or bad. Instead, it focuses on symbolic patterns and personal reflection to help you understand the guidance your reading offers.
Six of Cups at a Glance (Summary)
- Core Meaning: Nostalgia, innocence, memories, reunion, simplicity
- Love: Reconnection with past love, innocent affection, tender memories
- Career: Familiar work, mentoring, returning to previous roles or industries
- Yes or No: Maybe â Leans yes if you're returning to something familiar
- Reversed: Stuck in the past, idealized memories blocking present opportunities
Card at a Glance
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Arcana | Minor Arcana |
| Number | Six (balance, harmony, reciprocity in numerology) |
| Element | Water (emotions, intuition, relationships) |
| Astrology | Sun in Scorpio (deep emotional currents, transformative nostalgia) |
| Keywords (Upright) | Nostalgia, childhood, innocence, reunion, gifts |
| Keywords (Reversed) | Living in the past, stuck, idealization, missed opportunities |
| Yes/No | Maybe â Leans yes if revisiting familiar ground feels right |
| Timing | Late autumn (Scorpio season: late October to late November) |
Symbolism & Imagery
The Six of Cups typically shows two children in a garden or courtyard, surrounded by six cups filled with white flowers. One child offers a cup to the other, creating a scene of gentle exchange and pure generosity.
Key Symbols
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Two children | Innocence, simplicity, childhood memories, pure intentions |
| Six cups with flowers | Gifts from the past, emotional abundance, cherished memories |
| Garden or courtyard | Safe, enclosed space representing comfort and familiarity |
| White flowers | Purity, innocence, untainted joy |
| Exchange gesture | Generosity without expectation, simple acts of kindness |
Colors
| Color | Significance |
|---|---|
| Yellow/Gold | Joy, warmth, childhood happiness, optimism |
| White | Purity, innocence, untainted emotions |
Background & Setting
The scene often depicts a walled garden or protected courtyard, suggesting a safe space where vulnerability can exist without threat. The setting evokes a sense of being sheltered from the harsher realities of the adult world. This enclosed environment represents the protective bubble of childhood or the sanctuary of cherished memories.
Observation exercise: Before reading interpretations, spend 30 seconds looking at the card. What draws your attention first? Your instinctive focus often points to your reading's personal message.
How to Interpret Six of Cups in Your Reading
Before reading further, answer these questions to narrow down your interpretation:
Step 1: What Was Your Question About?
| Topic | Six of Cups speaks to... |
|---|---|
| Love/Relationships | Reconnecting with past love, innocent affection, or finding someone who feels familiar |
| Career/Work | Returning to previous work, mentoring relationships, or familiar professional environments |
| Finances/Material | Gifts, inheritances, or financial support from family or past connections |
| Personal Growth | Healing childhood wounds, embracing innocence, or honoring your inner child |
| Decision/Choice | Whether to return to something familiar or move forward into unknown territory |
Step 2: What Position Is This Card In?
| Position | Interpretation angle |
|---|---|
| Past | Childhood experiences or past relationships that shaped your current situation |
| Present | Currently experiencing nostalgia, reunion, or revisiting familiar ground |
| Future | May encounter someone from your past or return to a familiar place or situation |
| Advice | Consider looking backward for wisdom, reconnect with your roots, or embrace simplicity |
| Outcome | Reunion, return to familiar circumstances, or finding comfort in the known |
Step 3: What Cards Surround It?
| Nearby Cards | Modified meaning |
|---|---|
| Many Major Arcana | Your nostalgia or return to the past has significant life lesson implications |
| Same suit (Cups) | Strong emotional or relationship component to this reunion or memory |
| Court cards | A specific person from your past may reappear or influence your situation |
| Opposing element (Swords) | Tension between emotional comfort and intellectual progress or truth |
Step 4: What's Your Gut Reaction?
| Initial feeling | Consider... |
|---|---|
| Immediate recognition | You might be dealing with unfinished business from your past |
| Confusion | Examine what "the past" means to youânot just chronology, but emotional safety |
| Resistance | You may be avoiding nostalgia because it feels indulgent or counterproductive |
| Relief | You might be craving the simplicity and safety this card represents |
Your combination of answers creates your unique interpretation. For example, if you asked about love, the card is in the future position, surrounded by other Cups, and you feel reliefâthis might suggest a comforting reconnection with someone who feels like home.
The Six of Cups generally points to the value of your pastâwhether that means actual people and places, or the qualities of innocence and simplicity you once embodied.
Six of Cups Upright Meaning
The Six of Cups upright often represents a return to simpler times, whether through actual reunions, nostalgic feelings, or embracing childlike wonder. This card suggests that looking backward may offer valuable insights, healing, or joy. It can indicate reconnecting with old friends, revisiting childhood places, or remembering who you were before life became complicated.
This card carries a gentle, sweet energy. It's not about dramatic passion or intense transformation, but rather the quiet comfort of familiar faces, places, and feelings. The Six of Cups reminds you that not all growth requires moving forwardâsometimes wisdom comes from honoring where you've been.
General Interpretation
The Six of Cups typically appears when you're either experiencing nostalgia or when the universe is suggesting that your past holds something valuable for your present. This might be a lesson you learned as a child, a connection with someone from your history, or simply the reminder that joy doesn't have to be complicated.
The deeper question: What did you know as a child that you've forgotten as an adult?
This interpretation strengthens if:
- You've been thinking about someone from your past recently
- You're feeling overwhelmed by adult responsibilities and craving simplicity
- You're considering returning to a place, person, or pursuit from earlier in your life
Love & Relationships
In short: The Six of Cups often points to reconnection, innocent affection, or relationships that feel comfortingly familiar.
In love readings, this card frequently indicates reunions with past partners or connections with people who knew you "before"âbefore your current career, before your defenses went up, before you became who you are now. There's a quality of being truly seen and accepted for who you are beneath all the roles you play.
For new relationships, the Six of Cups may suggest someone who feels familiar, like you've known them before. This card carries an energy of ease and safetyâlove that doesn't require performance or pretense.
Single: You might reconnect with someone from your past, or you could meet someone who appreciates the "real you" beneath your polished exterior. Consider what qualities you valued in your earliest ideas of loveâthose instincts were often wiser than we realize.
In a relationship: This card can indicate a sweet, tender phase where you remember why you fell in love. It might also suggest engaging in simple pleasures togetherâactivities that don't require planning or performance, just presence.
Seeking reconciliation: The Six of Cups often leans toward reconciliation, but examine whether you're drawn to the actual person or the comfort of what's familiar. Nostalgia can sometimes blur the difference.
Career & Work
In short: The Six of Cups commonly represents familiar work environments, mentoring relationships, or returning to previous industries or roles.
This card might appear when you're considering returning to a former employer, industry, or type of work. It can also indicate mentoringâeither being mentored by someone who knew you earlier in your career, or mentoring others and passing along what you've learned.
The Six of Cups in career readings often suggests that your past experience holds more value than you realize. Skills you developed years ago, connections you made, or even childhood interests might become relevant again.
Job seekers: Consider industries or roles you've explored before. Your past experience might be more applicable than you think. Also, reach out to former colleaguesânetworking within your existing relationships may be more fruitful than cold outreach.
Employed: You might find yourself in a mentoring role, or you could benefit from seeking guidance from someone who knew you earlier in your career. This card can also indicate that aspects of your work feel comfortingly familiar.
Business owners: Consider how your business might incorporate elements of your pastâchildhood interests, family traditions, or skills you developed long ago. There may be wisdom in where you've been.
Finances & Material
The Six of Cups can indicate gifts, inheritances, or financial support from family or established connections. This isn't typically about earning money through new ventures, but rather receiving or benefiting from what's already in your network.
This card may also suggest that your approach to finances would benefit from simplicityâreturning to basics, eliminating complications, or remembering financial lessons from your upbringing (either to follow them or consciously choose differently).
Health & Wellbeing
The Six of Cups often points to healing through nostalgia or reconnecting with activities that brought you joy as a child. This might mean returning to a sport you loved, reviving creative hobbies, or simply allowing yourself to play without purpose or productivity.
This card can also indicate that health wisdom might come from looking backwardâtraditional remedies, family health practices, or treatments that have stood the test of time. As always, consult qualified healthcare professionals for medical concerns.
Spirituality
Spiritually, the Six of Cups suggests that your spiritual development might benefit from examining your earliest spiritual experiences or beliefs. What did you believe before you learned to doubt? What sense of wonder or connection did you have as a child?
This card encourages approaching spirituality with innocence and openness rather than cynicism or over-intellectualization. Sometimes the most profound truths are the simplest ones.
Six of Cups Reversed Meaning
The Six of Cups reversed often indicates being stuck in the past, idealizing what was, or allowing nostalgia to prevent present growth. Where the upright card suggests valuable wisdom from your history, the reversed card warns that you might be using the past as an escape from current challenges.
Understanding Reversal
Key distinction: Upright celebrates and learns from the past; reversed gets trapped in it.
Reversed cards can indicate:
- Blocked or internalized energy
- Delayed or weakened expression
- Need for introspection
- Shadow aspects requiring attention
General Interpretation
The Six of Cups reversed commonly appears when you're clinging to how things used to be, idealizing the past, or refusing to acknowledge that you've outgrown certain people or situations. This card suggests that nostalgia has crossed from pleasant to limiting.
The deeper question: What are you avoiding in the present by focusing on the past?
This interpretation strengthens if:
- You frequently compare current circumstances unfavorably to "how things used to be"
- You're considering reuniting with someone primarily because they're familiar, not because the relationship is healthy
- You're stuck in patterns from childhood that no longer serve you
Love & Relationships (Reversed)
In relationships, the Six of Cups reversed may indicate staying with someone because they're familiar rather than because the relationship is fulfilling. It can also suggest idealizing a past relationship to the point where current or potential partners can't measure up to your memories.
This reversal might appear when you need to release someone from your pastânot with bitterness, but with recognition that you've both changed. What was right then may not be right now.
Career & Work (Reversed)
The Six of Cups reversed can indicate being stuck in outdated professional approaches, refusing to adapt to current industry standards, or staying in a familiar role that you've outgrown. You might be clinging to "the way things used to be" at work instead of embracing necessary evolution.
This card reversed may also warn against returning to a previous job or industry purely for comfort, when growth lies in unfamiliar territory.
Finances & Material (Reversed)
Financially, this reversal might suggest over-reliance on family support or inherited wealth without developing your own financial independence. It can also indicate that financial approaches from your past no longer serve your current circumstances.
Six of Cups Card Combinations
How Six of Cups interacts with other cards:
With Major Arcana
| Combination | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Six of Cups + The Fool | Beginning a new journey by embracing childlike wonder and innocence |
| Six of Cups + The Lovers | Choice between past relationship and new connection; choosing based on genuine compatibility vs. familiarity |
| Six of Cups + The Hermit | Solitary reflection on your past to gain wisdom for your present |
| Six of Cups + Death | Release of the past to make room for transformation; necessary endings of nostalgic attachments |
| Six of Cups + The Star | Healing childhood wounds; reclaiming hope and innocence after difficult experiences |
With Same Suit
| Combination | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Six of Cups + Ace of Cups | New emotional beginning rooted in past wisdom; opening your heart with childlike trust |
| Six of Cups + Knight of Cups | Romantic reunion; someone from your past arrives with emotional offering |
Challenging Combinations
| Combination | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Six of Cups + Five of Cups | Dwelling on past losses; difficulty moving forward due to grief over what was |
| Six of Cups + Eight of Swords | Feeling trapped by past experiences; beliefs formed in childhood limiting present choices |
Supportive Combinations
| Combination | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Six of Cups + The Sun | Pure joy through reconnection; reclaiming childlike happiness and vitality |
| Six of Cups + Ten of Cups | Family harmony; emotional fulfillment through established relationships |
Working with Six of Cups
Reflection Questions
When this card appears, ask yourself:
- "What did I value as a child that I've forgotten to prioritize as an adult?"
- "Is there someone from my past I need to reconnect withâor finally release?"
- "Am I idealizing the past to avoid dealing with the present?"
- "What would it look like to approach my current situation with childlike openness and trust?"
- "What is my intuition telling me about this?"
Meditation Exercise
Hold the Six of Cups card and close your eyes. Imagine yourself as a child in a safe, beautiful garden. Notice the detailsâwhat flowers grow there? What does the air smell like? Is anyone with you?
In this garden, your adult self appears and sits down beside your child self. What does your child self want to tell you? What wisdom does this younger version of you hold? Listen without judgment.
Before you leave the garden, your child self offers you a gift in a cup filled with flowers. What is this gift? Accept it with gratitude, knowing you can return to this garden whenever you need to remember who you truly are.
Journaling Prompts
- Describe a moment from your childhood when you felt purely happy. What elements of that happiness can you bring into your life now?
- Who from your past do you think about most often? What does this person represent to you?
- What beliefs or patterns from your childhood are you still carrying? Which serve you, and which are ready to be released?
When This Card Keeps Appearing
If the Six of Cups appears repeatedly in your readings, you may be at a crossroads between honoring your past and moving into your future. The card's persistence suggests that your history holds something importantâeither wisdom to integrate or attachments to release.
Pay attention to who and what you're thinking about from your past. These recurring thoughts often signal unfinished emotional business or valuable lessons waiting to be recognized.
Common Misinterpretations
"Six of Cups means you'll definitely get back together with an ex"
Reality: While this card can indicate reunion, it more often suggests examining what that past relationship taught you or represented. Sometimes the lesson is recognizing what you need in relationships, not necessarily returning to that specific person.
"This card is only about romantic relationships"
Reality: The Six of Cups applies to all types of connectionsâfriendships, family, mentors, even places and activities. It's about the energy of familiarity and nostalgia, not exclusively romance.
"Six of Cups means living in the past is always bad"
Reality: The upright Six of Cups suggests that your past holds valuable wisdom and comfort. The card becomes problematic only when nostalgia prevents present growth (often shown by reversal or challenging surrounding cards).
"Reversed always means negative"
Reality: Reversed cards often indicate internalized energy, delays, or areas needing attentionânot inherently negative outcomes.
Six of Cups Yes or No
Short answer: Maybe â Leans yes if you're returning to something familiar and it genuinely serves your growth.
Upright: Leans toward yes, especially if your question involves reconnection, return to familiar territory, or decisions where your past experience is relevant.
Reversed: Leans toward no if you're asking from a place of avoiding present challenges or idealizing what was. The answer shifts to yes if you're asking whether to release the past and move forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Six of Cups a good or bad card?
The Six of Cups is neither inherently good nor badâits value depends entirely on context. If you're seeking comfort, healing, or wisdom from your past, this card is encouraging. If you're using nostalgia to avoid growth, it serves as a gentle warning. The card itself is neutral; your relationship to your past determines its meaning in your reading.
What does Six of Cups mean for love?
In love, the Six of Cups commonly indicates reunion, reconnection, or relationships that feel comfortingly familiar. It may suggest someone from your past re-entering your life, or a new connection that feels like coming home. The card emphasizes innocent, pure affection rather than passionate intensity.
What does Six of Cups mean for career?
For career, this card often points to familiar work environments, returning to previous industries or employers, or mentoring relationships. It suggests that your past professional experience holds more value than you might realize, and that growth might come from integrating old skills rather than only pursuing entirely new paths.
Does Six of Cups mean yes or no?
The Six of Cups leans toward yes when your question involves returning to familiar people, places, or pursuits that genuinely serve your wellbeing. It leans toward no if you're seeking comfort in the past as an escape from necessary present challenges. Context and surrounding cards significantly influence this answer.
What should I do if I keep drawing Six of Cups?
Recurring Six of Cups suggests you need to address something from your pastâeither integrate its wisdom or release its hold on you. Reflect on who and what you're thinking about from earlier in your life. Your past is asking for attention, either to honor what it taught you or to finally let go of what no longer serves you.
Disclaimer: Tarot is a tool for self-reflection and personal insight. It does not predict the future or replace professional advice. For health, legal, or financial matters, please consult qualified professionals.
Related Cards
Similar Energy
- Two of Cups - Connection and partnership, though more present-focused than nostalgic
- Ten of Cups - Family harmony and emotional fulfillment in established relationships
Contrasting Energy
- Five of Wands - Conflict and competition versus the Six of Cups' peaceful nostalgia
- Three of Swords - Heartbreak and painful truth versus comforting memories
Same Suit/Arcana
- Ace of Cups - New emotional beginning that the Six of Cups might reference from the past