Two of Cups and Three of Cups

A pair becoming a circle. The Two is the private bond; the Three is the shared toast, the friendship, the thing acknowledged by other people. The tradition reads the run as a relationship stepping into its wider world.

Associated with becoming public: introductions, celebrations, being treated as a unit by everyone else.

A partnership widening into a team. Frequently read at the point a two-person effort takes on others.

The Three is generous and slightly less intimate than the Two. The pair notices the gain and quietly notes what is given up for it.