The Five of Cups as Advice: Grieve, Then Turn Around

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Five of Cups as advice asks you to honour the loss and notice the standing cups. Here is how.

If you want the short answer, the Five of Cups as advice says: grieve what you have lost, and then turn round. Two cups are still standing behind you.

What the Five of Cups advises upright

Tina Gong's the Five of Cups guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with loss, grief, disappointment and regret. In an advice position I read those meanings as an instruction: the attitude or action the card is asking of you, rather than a description of what will happen. The Minor Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, the Five of Cups advises honest grief and then a turn: name the loss, feel it, and when you are ready, count what remains.

What the Five of Cups is not asking you to do

The Five is not asking you to rush or to pretend you are fine.

The Five of Cups reversed as advice

Reversed, the Five of Cups as advice says you are starting to recover. Let yourself notice the good without guilt. A reversed card in an advice position is usually pointing at the habit that is getting in your way, not at a punishment.

The Five of Cups as advice in love

In love, the Five of Cups advises honouring the hurt before making any decision.

The Five of Cups as advice for work and money

For work and money, it advises learning from the setback and counting your remaining assets. Advice from a card is reflection. For decisions with legal, medical or financial weight, take it to someone qualified as well.

One step to take this week

Write down three things that are still standing in your life, and do one small thing for one of them.

For comparison, the Six of Cups as advice and the Star as advice ask different things of you. The the Five of Cups card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Five of Cups as a yes or no, the Five of Cups as feelings and the Five of Cups as timing cover the other questions people most often ask of it. You can draw a card for yourself with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to an online psychic reading explains how readings work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.