MINOR ARCANA
Three of Cups Tarot Meanings
Moving into the Three of Cups is a time for celebration, we’re sharing in our victories, collaborating on the things that bring us joy, and connecting with people who spark our creativity and love for life. Traditionally, the Three of Cups would symbolise celebrations such as weddings, christenings, and birthdays, basically any event that sees you connect with the people that mean the most to you.
I always imaging the god Dyonisus whenever I see the Three of Cups, he loved a drink and a party, but the frivolities could easily tip into overindulgence and take on a sinister edge. The same can be said for the Three of Cups in its reversed and upright positions.
Three of Cups Upright Meanings
In the upright position, the Three of Cups is a sign that there is something worth celebrating and it can be a tiny thing or something life-changing like a birth or a wedding. It is an energy that invites us to connect with others or with other energies and see how things progress. Some of the key meanings of the Three of Cups are:
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Celebration
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Victory
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Sharing
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Socialising
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Collaboration
The Threes in the tarot often symbolise a collaboration in some way and with the Three of Cups, it is a collaboration within the realm of emotion, intuition, and feeling. This collaboration can be with other people, or it could be internal, combining different or opposing energies to reach a goal.
Three of Cups Reversed Meanings
In the reversed position, the Three of Cups can take on a more sinister feeling, whether that’s with overindulgence or hoarding. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Three of Cups are:
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Creative block
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Ill feeling
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Cancellations
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Hoarding
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Overindulgence
When the Three of Cups is reversed it can often suggest a block in the heart chakra, meaning that the flow of energy from the heart centre is moving as it should. This can not only leave us feeling stuck, but it can also start to build and transform into something that works against you or your goals. Unblocking the heart chakra can be a great way of overcoming this card in reverse.
Reading Three of Cups in a Tarot Spread
It’s hard to not feel lifted by the appearance of the Three of Cups, it’s such an energetic card with so much happiness and optimism packed into it. It’s best to start looking at this card as if there is a win on the horizon, a glimmer of happiness and light. It may not be something big though, as it is only a Three and doesn’t hold as much oomf as a Six for example.
Pay close attention to the question being asked as well as the messages from the surrounding cards to figure out if there’s something to celebrate or if there is a need for some emotional collaboration.
Three of Cups as An Invitation
As an invitation, the Three of Cups invites us to celebrate, celebrate is one of the major keywords for this card. We are invited to really open up and allow ourselves to let loose and give ourselves some space to just enjoy the fruits of life.
For Three of Cups, this invitation could be the following:
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An invitation to take some time to just enjoy the little things
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An invitation to collaborate with someone on a project you feel emotionally connected to
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An invitation to socialise, especially if you’ve been working long hours
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An invitation to check yourself when you are overindulging a little too much
Three of Cups as Sage Advice
The Three of Cups comes in to offer advice that will help you to find a balance between work and play. It reminds us that we all need to carve out some space to just let loose and enjoy what life has to offer.
Some advice Three of Cups may offer is:
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All work and no play really does make you miserable
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If we never celebrate our small victories, we’ll never see how far we’ve come
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When faced with creative block take a step back and give yourself a rest from it all
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Sharing is caring
Three of Cups as a Lesson
Some of the lessons that the Three of Cups swoops down to offer us are when to take a break and how to create that work-life balance we all strive for. It can also be a lesson in self-control and knowing when to stop.
Some lessons that Three of Cups may offer you are:
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A lesson in taking responsibility for ourselves and checking if we are taking things a little too far
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A lesson in jealousy and what to do when it raises its ugly head
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A lesson in opening up and sharing more of yourself with others
Three of Cups as a Redirection
When the Three of Cups pops up to redirect us, it is often telling us to chill, take a step back and find a way to enjoy ourselves a bit more. It’s a card that can often come up if we’ve been experiencing a lot of sword or pentacle energy recently. It’s a lifting of the spirit that can help us to refill our cup and continue on feeling refreshed and motivated.
As a redirection, Three of Cups could symbolise a need to:
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Take some time off, whether it’s a holiday or just a day of doing what brings you joy
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Collaboration may be the answer, especially if you’ve been keeping your cards close to your chest
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Open up to others and share your joy, happiness or even the things that are bringing you down
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Stop trying to do everything yourself, seek help from others to lighten the load
Cups
The Cups rule our emotional and intuitive parts of ourselves. With the Three of Cups, we are adding an additional cup to that harmonious Two of Cups, knocking things out of balance slightly.
The cups are vessels, this means that even though harmony has been disrupted, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The more the merrier as the saying goes. This is why the Three of Cups so often refers to celebration, community and collaboration of hearts and minds.
Water
The element of water perfectly compliments the cups suit because it is fluid, it is not linear. Things don’t always follow a pattern or even make logical sense, it just is what it is.
Think about all the times you’ve had an unexpected emotional reaction to something, think about how it has left you confused as to where that emotion has come from. Sometimes our emotions come from parts of the self we’re not aware of and therefore they are hard to control, just like water.
Threes
The number three refers to collaboration and growth. When we think of community and collaboration, like we tend to when faced with the Three of Cups, we are gifted the ability to grow as an individual and as a group.
Within the realm of Cups, we are looking at the properties of the number three within the world of emotion and intuition. This is why we get the meanings of community, because we are stronger as a group then we are alone. More resilient and able to weather larger storms.
