Everything You Need to Know About the Five of Cups Tarot Card

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Oh, this is bad. Like really bad. Draw the blinds and put on your saddest emo playlist because it’s time for a good cry. This is really not how you saw this playing out, but something has gone horribly wrong, and now you’re dealing with the wreckage. When the Five of Cups appears in a tarot reading, it means it is time to feel the sadness, the pain, and the despair that hangs heavy in your heart. Whether it’s a relationship that ended before you really wanted it to, an unexpected layoff, or a door that closed sooner than you felt it should, this card points to that hollow emptiness that accompanies a great loss.

It’s painful to let go of what could have been: All of the memories you thought you would create, all of the achievements you fantasized about, all of the things you thought you would get to do that now won’t happen. This is incredibly disappointing, and now it’s time to mourn the loss of what could have been. And even though it’s painful right now, you will come out of this. You will heal, but it is going to hurt for a while.

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Five of Cups Keywords

Disappointment, loss, sadness, regret, trauma, rejection, despair, grief, mourning, moving forward after loss, seeing the bright side, recovery

Five of Cups Upright Meaning

Unfortunately, not everything can go as you'd hoped or planned. The pain of letting go of the future you'd dreamed of can be anywhere from mildly disappointing to wildly excruciating. And you know what? It’s okay to be sad, and the best way to recover from this situation is to feel all of the feelings. That way, you can move through them and eventually let them go. There will be more opportunities for you to start over, but maybe you’re not there yet. Maybe you don’t want to think about what’s next because you just aren’t ready to go there. That’s totally okay, because sometimes you just need to be sad, hurt, and upset as you mourn the loss for a while. Do whatever it is you need to do and let yourself feel whatever you’re feeling. Just know that there will be more life after this hardship. More possibilities await when you’re ready to acknowledge them.

Five of Cups Reversed Meaning

It’s crucial to give yourself enough time and space to feel grieve, but it’s also helpful to be aware of when you feel ready to start to pick up the pieces of your broken heart. If you stay focused on the what could have been, you lose sight of the what could be. If you are completely mired in sadness, it may be difficult to remember that there is more to life than this heaviness. This can be especially true when recovering from heartbreak after a breakup or the pain of losing a job, but it’s important to remember that you are NOT a failure. Yes, we all have regrets, but some situations just don’t work out for so many different reasons. There’s no sense in making everything feel worse than it already is by getting down on yourself and throwing a solo pity party. We all make mistakes; it’s part of the human experience, so stop harping on them. Know that you did the best you could given the circumstances, and forgive yourself for where you screwed up. Think of this as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and apply these lessons to your future endeavors.

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