The Six of Cups as Feelings: Nostalgic, Fond and Looking Back

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Six of Cups is the two children with a cup of flowers. Here is what I would read when it appears as someone's feelings, and why warm memories are not a plan.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Six of Cups as feelings that are fond, nostalgic and turned toward the past. In a feelings position the card suggests the person thinks of you warmly, remembers good things, and feels a soft pull toward what you shared. It does not tell you they want to share it again. Nostalgia is a feeling about then, and it is comfortable precisely because then is over.

This is a sweet card and an easy one to over-read. The flowers in the cup are a gift from the past. They are not a question about the future.

The Six of Cups upright as feelings

Tina Gong's the Six of Cups guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with nostalgia, innocence, reunion and childhood memories. When the card lands in a position that asks how someone feels about you, I read those meanings as the shape of the feeling rather than as a verdict on the person.

Upright, I read the Six of Cups as a person who feels tenderness toward you rooted in history: the way things were, who you were to them, the version of you they remember. The feeling is real and it is partly about a time rather than entirely about you as you are now.

What I would not read into it is present desire. The Six of Cups can describe a person who would smile to think of you and would not change anything about their life to see you. It can also describe a reunion. The picture does not say which.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm that the person wants to reconnect, that their fondness is for who you are now rather than who you were, or that they have any intention of acting on it. No card lets a reader check a real person's private feelings. What a card can do is give you an honest picture of the feeling you are hoping for or fearing, and a prompt to compare it with how the person actually behaves.

The Six of Cups reversed as feelings

Reversed, the Six of Cups is often read as being stuck in the past, refusing to grow, or a nostalgia that distorts. As feelings, I read the reversal as a person who feels for a version of you that no longer exists and is disappointed by the present one, or who uses memory of you to avoid something in their current life.

In your own question, ask which fits. Does the person seem attached to who you were rather than curious about who you are? Or do they reach for memories of you when their present is hard, and go quiet when it is not? A reversed card is a prompt to notice which of those is true from what you can see, not a diagnosis of the other person.

The Six of Cups as an ex's feelings

Asked about an ex, the Six of Cups is the card people most hope to see and the one I would read most carefully. It suggests warm memory and a soft pull. It suggests nothing about whether they want to return, and the pull of the past is strongest in people who have decided not to go back to it. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Six of Cups as a new person's feelings

For someone new, this card can mean that you remind them of something good, a feeling of home or of youth. That is a tender beginning. The thing to watch is whether they come to like you for yourself, or keep liking you for what you remind them of.

What to watch for in their behaviour

Look for reminiscence: they bring up shared history, they are soft about the past, they remember details. A Six of Cups feeling is visible in the looking back. The question is whether they ever look forward, and that is answered by whether they make any plans.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the person seems to remember fondly, and whether they have shown any interest in who you are now. The third note separates nostalgia from feeling. Another draw will mostly reflect the same two children in the same garden.

For comparison, the Five of Cups as feelings and the Three of Cups as feelings describe different feelings. The the Six of Cups card meaning page covers the card outside feelings questions, and the general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference. You can practise a single-card reflection with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.