← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 39/121
Three of Cups
The Three of Cups is the card of celebration in company. Where the Two is a pair, the Three opens the circle: friends, family, a team, a community gathering to mark something good. It is often read as a happy occasion, support from the people around you, or a matter brought to a cheerful close.
The image
Three young women stand in a garden, cups raised above their heads as if drinking to one another. Fruit and gourds lie at their feet. The raised cups are usually taken as a shared toast; the harvest at their feet as abundance that has come in and is being enjoyed together.
Upright
Friendship, festivity and fulfilment. Waite reads it as "the conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection and merriment", and adds healing and solace. It can point to a gathering, a reunion, a good outcome shared with others, or simply the comfort of belonging.
Reversed
Waite's reversed list moves toward conclusion and "excess in physical enjoyment". Modern readers often read too much of a good thing, gossip or a clique, a celebration that rings hollow, or feeling left out of a group. Some readers do not use reversals.
Correspondences
The Three of the suit of Cups, element water. The Golden Dawn, whose attributions most English-language decks follow, calls it the Lord of Abundance and gives it Mercury in the second decan of Cancer, 10°–20°. On the Tree of Life it sits in Binah, the third sephirah.
In a reading
In the past, it can recall a time of shared happiness. As advice, it suggests reaching out to friends. As an outcome, it is usually read as something worth celebrating. Waite notes that a reversed Seven of Cups beside it was taken as success.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Decan: Mercury in Cancer, 10°–20°
Element: Water — the element of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
Mode: Cardinal — Cancer is a cardinal sign