MINOR ARCANA

Seven of Cups Tarot Meanings

The Seven of Cups symbolises the obstacles within the internal world, whether it’s a distraction, fantastical perspectives or being intuitively pulled in many different directions, it’s all about feeling like we can’t make a clear decision.

The cloud in the imagery says it all, when we’re not sure what we really want it can affect all other areas of our lives. From how we act or behave, to the plans we put into place. We need emotional clarity in order to have overall clarity.

Seven of Cups Upright Meanings

In the upright position, the Seven of Cups shows inner conflict. It’s a card that requests we leave ourselves open to intuitive messages and allowing ourselves to go with the flow. Some of the key meanings of the Seven of Cups are:

Disorganisation
Self-indulgence
Fantasy
Refocus
Inner conflict

A good way of seeing the upright meanings of the Seven of Cups is to think of the question ‘What’s next?’. We’re coming from the comfort zone of the Six of Cups and that period of rest and recuperation, but what now? That’s where the Seven of Cups comes into play, to help us figure out our heart’s desire, our next step on our journey.

Seven of Cups Reversed Meanings

In the reversed position, the Seven of Cups can symbolise the results of clouded feelings and act without connecting with the inner world. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Seven of Cups are:

Bad decisions
Procrastination
Diversions
Trapped
Insecurity

A rocky internal foundation can be catastrophic. If we act from a place of pure and uncontrolled emotion then we can often find ourselves acting irrationally and completely out of character. Then once that emotion has passed, we’re left to pick up the pieces. The Seven of Cups reversed warns us in advance to help us take a step back and recollect ourselves.

Reading Seven of Cups in a Tarot Spread

When the Seven of Cups comes up in a spread, a good place to start is with the keywords ‘confusion’. The way to distinguish it from other forms of confusion in the tarot, turn it inwards and direct it in the realm of emotion and intuition. Unlike confusion within the swords suit, which is mental confusion, overthinking or trying to think of too many things at once, the confusion we see in the cups suit is about confusing emotions clouding our judgement.

Seven of Cups as An Invitation

The Seven of Cups comes in to invite us to take a step out of ourselves. We are invited to take a birds-eye view of all our wants, desires, intuitive messages and sort through them in our own time, calmly and with intention.

For Seven of Cups, this invitation could be the following:

An invitation to think about what it is you really want
An invitation to assess what is driving your decision making
An invitation to decide what you’d like to manifest
An invitation to think more rationally

Seven of Cups as Sage Advice

As an advice card, the Seven of Cups offers us wisdom about our internal world. It helps to show us our true colours and encourages us to be mindful and present at all times.

Some advice Seven of Cups may offer is:

When faced with procrastination analyse what fear may be the root cause
It takes great strength to be critical about our own impulsive actions and behaviours. Always hold yourself accountable for acting over emotionally towards a situation.
To prevent inner conflict, make sure to carve out time for deep inner work

Seven of Cups as a Lesson

The Seven of Cups can teach us a lot about ourselves, especially who we are when we’re not thinking straight. If we also take it up on its offer to figure out what we truly want, then we can also learn about our deepest desires and what we truly need to be happy.

Some lessons that Seven of Cups may offer you are:

A lesson in finding out what we need to be truly happy in life
A lesson in what we are afraid of
A lesson in fantastical thinking, when to dream big and when we need to be more realistic
A lesson in breaking down the causes of procrastination

Seven of Cups as a Redirection

The Seven of Cups often acts as a sort of crossroads for us on our journey. It is a pausing point where we are asked to choose a direction and sometimes that may the completely opposite way than the route we thought we wanted to take.

As a redirection, Seven of Cups could symbolise a need to:

Be more organised and get your priorities in order
Refocus on something new as the current focus is not leading you in the right direction
Avoid diversions and distractions
Be mindful of self-indulgence and know when you’ve gone too far and need to take a few steps back

Cups

The cups rule our realm of emotion, intuition and emotional connection. Often they refer to the love we have for the self or the love/compassion we have for others.

The cups can represent our hearts desires, our dreams and fantasies. All of which we see perfectly represented in the Seven of Cups. Although it can be fun to disappear completely into these parts of the self, it can also cause us to lose our grasp on reality and cause further issues mentally, emotionally and with others.

Water

The cups correspond with the element of water. This is because of their relation to our emotional realms. The properties of water mirror that of the cups, looking at how and why we feel, our emotional reactions and importantly our ability for compassion and empathy.

The element of water is the giver of life, it nourishes not just us, but the world around us. If we don’t have water we will die of thirst, our organs lose the ability to function and do their job. If the world gets no water, nothing is able to grow and the ground becomes infertile. The same applies for the cups and our emotional abilities.

Sevens

The number seven within numerology is seen as a deeply spiritual number. We often see the number seven as ‘lucky’ helping to connect the spiritual and unknown world with the physical world.

With the Seven of Cups, we come across a spiritual freedom that can cause issues within the real world. If we get carried away with our dreams and fantasies we find it hard to focus on what is directly in front of us. We lose the ability to be fully present and this can make it difficult to make decisions or prioritise properly.