5 of Cups
The 5 of Cups is the fifth numeral card of the Cups suit in the Minor Arcana. The number 5, in numeral suit cards, tends to introduce a rupture or loss within the process represented by the sequence — here, in the emotional domain.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-18
Historical fact
Before 1909, the 5 of Cups was typically a plain card, showing five cups with no scene. Pamela Colman Smith introduced, that year, the scene now associated with the card: a cloaked figure, back turned to the viewer, looking at three spilled cups on the ground in front of them, unaware that two cups remain standing behind them, with a bridge and a house in the distance. This specific composition did not exist in earlier decks.
Interpretation — Rider-Waite-Smith / Golden Dawn
Waite described the card as loss, but with something left over — part is saved, three cups have been spilled, but two remain standing. In the modern reading, the 5 of Cups is associated with grief, regret and disappointment, accompanied by the reminder that not everything is lost and that moving forward is possible, represented by the bridge in the background. Reversed, it commonly indicates acceptance and the start of recovery after loss.
Interpretation — Thoth (Aleister Crowley)
In the Thoth/Golden Dawn system, the 5 of Cups carries the title 'Disappointment,' directly in line with the Rider-Waite tradition's reading of loss and emotional frustration, without the more explicit emphasis on future hope that the bridge imagery suggests in that version.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the 5 of Cups mean in Tarot?
- In the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, it represents grief, loss or emotional disappointment, with the symbolic reminder that resources or possibilities still remain, even in the face of what was lost.
- Why do two cups remain standing in the card?
- This is a compositional element introduced by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909, generally read as a visual counterpoint to the grieving figure in the foreground — a reminder that the loss isn't total.
Sources
- Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City (1980).
- Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910).
- Aleister Crowley. The Book of Thoth (1944).
- Stuart R. Kaplan. The Encyclopedia of Tarot (1978).