Five of Cups and Six of Cups

Grief and memory, in the order the tradition puts them. The Five is the cloaked figure over three spilled cups, not yet turned to see the two still standing. The Six is the past made warm and safe: flowers, children, a remembered garden. Together they read as loss and the consolation of looking backwards, which the deck treats as both necessary and a place to get stuck.

Associated with mourning a relationship while remembering it selectively. The pair is kind about this and does not pretend the memory is false.

Dwelling on a role or a period that has gone. Read for people comparing current work to a better remembered version of an earlier job.

The two upright cups behind the Five are the whole instruction. The Six is where you rest, not where you live.