Three of Cups upright
The Three of Cups is the card of shared joy. After the bond between two in the Two of Cups, you widen your exchanges and make them more public. It shows joy, celebration and, above all, sharing the wonder of being alive. A crisis has passed, or a piece of work has produced good results, and you can celebrate it. The three figures are so intertwined that you can no longer tell whose arm belongs to whom: what you live with others, you truly share, in good times and in bad.
In your situation, the card speaks of conviviality and good understanding. It can point to an alliance, a gathering, a party, a moment of welcome and good times together. It has particular importance for women's circles and gatherings, but it also holds for friendships between men, mixed friendships and friendly working relationships. You may attend a show, a recital or a performance, perform, or celebrate a stroke of luck or a success, such as a promotion or the completion of a project. You receive help and support from people at your level, or you benefit from shared advice and information. The harvest symbols in the image announce a fruitful and abundant period, in which a piece of work is brought to completion or problems are solved. It evokes the conclusion of a matter in abundance, perfection and cheerfulness, a happy outcome, victory, fulfillment, comfort and healing. The cups overflow from a single lotus flower: this is love reaching its goal in abundant joy, and it is the basis of fertility. The card is associated with Mercury in Cancer, a very receptive sign: speech and will come down upon what is most sensitive.
Your strengths
You are sociable and welcoming: the card names conviviality, hospitality, kindness, generosity and cheerfulness. You know how to share what you live and support others, and you receive their support in return. The qualities of love that the card puts forward are gladness, benevolence and liberality. In a love reading, the card says that love is mutual and that what has begun comes true.
What holds you back
- You can fall into excess of physical pleasures and sensual enjoyment, and leave deeper values aside.
- You enjoy good times easily, but you can rely too much on the good things in life when they call for a little caution, even when you appreciate them.
- You may find it hard to read what the card asks: it calls for a fine interpretation, because more obscure ideas are mixed in.
What helps
- Celebrating successes with the people close to you and sharing what you live.
- Accepting help and advice from your circle, and looking for collaboration.
Friendships
You widen your ties: women's circles, friendships between men, mixed friendships. You receive support from people on your level and share advice and information with them. You share your experiences with them, in good times and in bad.
Creativity
Success is indicated above all in the arts: literature, poetry, singing, music and dance.
Three of Cups reversed
The upright Three of Cups speaks of a widening circle: friendships, meetings, celebrations, and support among loved ones and among peers. Reversed, it touches the same area, your ties with friends and with the group, but the shared joy is missing or damaged.
You may have less time than usual for your friends and for going out, often because of other commitments. Your life may move so fast that little room is left for company. That leaves a nostalgia mixed with sadness: you miss the company and good times that are shrinking. When your friends are only unavailable for a while, there is not necessarily reason to read the card as upright.
You may also have enjoyed social life too much and be tired of making the same round. You may be disappointed in your companions or colleagues, or find the usual pleasures empty and unsatisfying. You may have cut back your excesses and stopped seeing the old crowd. The people or networks that supported you may have withdrawn.
The card can say you are losing a happiness. Very often it indicates that something hoped for has not come about. It can signal the failure of a friendship, the disappointment of finding that friends did not support you when you needed them, or the breakup of a group of friends. It can also show that you are shut out of a circle or closed group and feel left aside. Instead of being surrounded by people who celebrate your wins, you may find yourself with people who are jealous of your successes or who do not share your values or goals. When an understanding in a group or a couple is not going well, this card often appears reversed.
The sense of celebration can also degrade. Shared joy turns into an excess of sensual pleasures, where deeper values take second place. The card can point to too much food and drink. You may also play when there is work to be done. If you project this onto others, you may see them as carefree people having fun while you prepare.
If you are trying to bring a project to a good end, obstacles or a lack of cooperation may remain around you.
On the spiritual and magical level, the card refers to the triple Goddess (maiden, mother, crone). It suggests making offerings to the elemental spirits to keep good relations with the forces of nature. It may also indicate that you are gathering energy for magical work.
What holds you back
- You have little time for your friends and you feel the loss of company and good times.
- You are tired of the people you spend time with or disappointed by them, and the usual pleasures seem empty.
- You feel shut out or left aside by a circle.
- You surround yourself with people who are jealous of your successes or who do not share your values.
- You play when there is work to do, or you go too far with food and drink.
- You are disappointed when friends did not support you, or when a group of friends falls apart.
What helps
- Looking at what explains the distance: lack of time because of other commitments, weariness, or disappointment in people.
- Ask yourself whether the people around you share your values and goals.
- Keep in mind that friends who are merely unavailable for a while do not mean the card should be read as upright.
What the card shows
In the classic tarot, the card shows three young women in a garden with their cups raised, as if toasting one another. They are so closely entwined that it is hard to tell whose arm belongs to whom. They are celebrating, the way people celebrate a harvest: a difficult period is over, or a piece of work has paid off. The harvest symbols in the picture speak of a time of fruitfulness and abundance, when work is brought to completion or a problem is solved. The three figures seem to pool their energy and high spirits, which gives the scene a sense of shared ritual.
The number three shows that the suit of Cups is fully understood in its value. The card expresses joy, celebration and, above all, sharing the wonder of life. The image shows experience being shared, in good times and in bad. After the two-person bond of the previous card, you widen your exchanges and make them more public. The card has taken on a special place for women's circles and gatherings; it can also point to a friendship between men, to mixed friendships, or to friendly working relationships. It stands for conviviality: an alliance, a party, a happy occasion, hospitality, good times. It also speaks of a matter brought to a close in abundance, perfection and gaiety, along with victory, fulfillment, comfort and healing. The success it suggests is mostly in the arts: literature, poetry, singing, music and dance. The emphasis falls on pleasure, satisfaction, grace, sharing in a group and mutual support.
Three corresponds to understanding: the idea is fertilized and the triangle is formed. The card has a stability that nothing can overturn, and a child can be born of it. Love reaches maturity here, far enough along the scale of the spheres for the colors of the tarot to be clearly distinguished. The card is linked with Mercury in Cancer. Mercury, will or word, descends upon the most receptive sign. This combination also opens up more mysterious ideas: the sphere of three is the great sea, which is sometimes the Moon and sometimes Saturn, and Mercury also guides the souls of the dead. The card therefore calls for a very subtle interpretation. The pomegranate is the fruit Persephone ate in the house of Pluto, which let him keep her in the underworld: the good things of life are to be savored, but it is wiser not to trust them entirely.
The words that describe the card are abundance, success, pleasure, sensuality, success that comes without effort, luck, love, gaiety, kindness and generosity. To these are added hospitality, eating and drinking together, dancing, new clothes and celebration. Another tradition reads in it a spiritual wealth born of balance between body and mind, and an irregular, intermittent abundance that comes from the union of two people.
Your strengths
You receive help and support from your peers, and you benefit from the advice and information people share. You share what you live through with others, in good times and bad. You succeed in the arts, and you celebrate your achievements and the completion of what you undertake.
What holds you back
- You may seek excess in physical pleasures and push deeper values aside.
- You may eat or drink too much and slip into codependency: the dancing can turn into a drinking binge.
- You may play when there is work to be done.
- You may watch what you hoped for slip away, be let down by friends who didn't support you when you needed them, or see a circle of friends fall apart.
- You may have less time for your friends, feel a bittersweet nostalgia for lost company, grow tired of making the rounds of outings, or find the usual pleasures empty.
- You may feel shut out of a circle. You may find yourself among people who envy your victories or who don't share your values and goals.
- You may see others as the grasshoppers having fun while you prepare for winter.
What helps
Sharing your experience with others, in happy moments and in hard ones. Celebrating what you have achieved and the things you have seen through to the end. Accepting the support of your peers and the advice you are given. Enjoying the good things of life without trusting them entirely.
