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The Meaning of the Three of Cups

The Three of Cups Minor Arcana Tarot card is a sweet, welcome card of convivial joy, celebration, and companionship. When it comes to us it is an invitation to revel and take pleasure in letting our hair down. Gather your coven and let the good times roll!

Read on for more Three of Cups card meanings, including its Tarot card description with Astrological and Numerological correspondences, as well as what it means reversed and in a career, love, and general reading:

Three of Cups Tarot Card Meaning

The Three of Cups is a card of simple revelry, community, and social belonging. It represents love in all its platonic forms and the importance of both friendship and the need for festivities. Having fun is not to be taken lightly!

Coming on from the Two of Cups, where we first encountered the other, here we expand our circle.

The figures in the Pamela Colman Smith rendition are raising three cups in a toast, celebrating the joy of being alive. Around them are abundant bounties of harvest. It is a reminder that the things that make us feel rich and satiated in life are the connections we foster to ourselves, others, and the land.

One figure is dressed all in powerful red, another in pure white, and one in a combination of the two. I find it interesting that it appears to be a “stage card” (like the Four of Pentacles or Five of Swords say), but the cornucopias block out the edge. We have always had ceremonies, rituals, celebrations, festivals, and parties: they make life worth living.

When this card shows up for you, gather your besties, animal familiars, or spirit coven and enjoy! Be present in company, bear witness to the fulfilment that comes from simply being together, and raise a toast to life.

In the Thoth Tarot deck, the Three of Cups is simply aptly called Abundance, happiness is real when shared as they say.

Numerologically as a 3 it represents creation. Three is considered a very powerful magic number, out of the duality of two and third can be created. Threes represent harmony, collaboration, and creativity.

This connects it to the Major Arcana Empress card, the archetype of creation and abundance. The Empress reminds us that the point of life is to live, that there is inherent beauty and richness in the world around us and within, we have an infinite wellspring: tap into it.

Astrologically, it is a Mercury is Cancer card. Mercury is the Planet of friendship, so this is fitting. Mythologically this is Hermes, the psychopomp messenger of the Gods that could travel between the worlds, the only one allowed to return from the Underworld. As such, it also governs communication, travel, and divination. Mercury in Cancer is sweet, tender-hearted expression, it is considerate, warm, and protective. Reconnect with your beloveds and speak from the heart.

Three of Cups Upright Tarot Card Meanings

Generally, it is welcome when the Three of Cups appears, representing friendship, celebration, joy, festivities, pleasure, happy times, connection, community, collaboration, fun, enjoyment, parties, and ritual meetings. Gather round your nearest and dearest (whether IRL, online, or in the spirit world), and raise a glass, find cause to celebrate.

Reversed Three of Cups Meaning

A Three of Cups reversed can indicate the need not to isolate oneself, to get out of the head and into the body, and reconnect to your loved ones. It can be an invitation to reach out to those closest to you, or to foster new connections, and enjoy a simple moment of pleasure, for no other reason than just because. Alternatively, depending on where in the spread it has fallen, it may suggest a need to let go of too much partying!

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Three of Cups in a Relationship Reading

As with any Tarot card, the significations of the Three of Cups in a love Tarot reading will depend on the situation at hand, the question asked, the position in the spread it has fallen in, the cards surrounding it, and your own intuition.

Overall, however, it can represent a need to foster a foundation of friendship in a relationship. Take yourselves out on dates, get to know each other again, and lighten the mood. Enjoy being in each other’s company and celebrate something about your relationship. Perhaps you need to expand your social circle and spend time cultivating friendship outside the relationship! It might even mean it feels like there are three of you in the relationship, like a third party involved.

Three of Cups in a Career Reading

Again, the nature of its final meaning will depend on the context, but in general the Three of Cups in career Tarot readings can be an invitation to have an office party! Lead with the spirit of friendship, network, collaborate, and foster mutually beneficial professional relations. Find cause to celebrate your achievements and how far you’ve come, and bring the spark back. Expand on your social life, it can’t be all work and no play! You never know what creative insights might come from it.

So that’s an overview of the Three of Cups Tarot card, I hope it’s insightful for you! Let me know in the comments section below if you have anything else to add or any questions.

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