Three of Cups
The three of cups in the tarot's Minor Arcana: three maidens in a garden raising their cups as if pledging one another. A. E. Waite read it as plenty, happy endings, victory and healing.
Meaning
Waite's description of the picture: "Maidens in a garden-ground with cups uplifted, as if pledging one another."
What does the Three of Cups mean?
Waite's meanings are "the conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection and merriment; happy issue, victory, fulfilment, solace, healing"; reversed, "expedition, dispatch, achievement, end. It signifies also the side of excess in physical enjoyment, and the pleasures of the senses". His list of additional meanings adds "unexpected advancement for a military man", and reversed, "consolation, cure, end of the business".
In older decks
Italian packs call the suit coppe, cups; the British Museum's catalogue of 1876 lists it among the suit marks of the earliest cards. Papus reads it as "The love is mutual."
Read next
- Next in Tarot cardsFour of CupsThe four of cups in the tarot's Minor Arcana: a young man under a tree, discontented with three cups, as a hand from a cloud offers a fourth. A. E. Waite read it as weariness, disgust and aversion.
- The same shape in Andean and Inca symbolsTumi (ceremonial knife)A ceremonial knife with a half-moon blade from the north coast of ancient Peru. The gold tumis of the Sicán (Lambayeque) culture carry a god on the handle, often identified as Naylamp, the dynasty’s mythical founder. The Tumi de Oro was declared a pre-Columbian symbol of Peru in 1981.
See also
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant.
Sources
- The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by A. E. Waite, William Rider & Son, London, 1910 (the sacred-texts.com transcription, on the Internet Archive), The Lesser Arcana; Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana
- The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, Chapman & Hall, London, 1896, translated by A. P. Morton (scan on the Internet Archive), The Divining Tarot, second lesson: the minor arcana
- A Descriptive Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum, by W. H. Willshire, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1876 (scan on the Internet Archive), General history: the marks of the suits
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves, letters and numbers or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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