What is Six of Cups advising?

Nostalgia, reunion, somebody from the past returning. Simple generosity, given without an eye on what comes back.

Also reconnecting with what you were like before you learned to be careful, which the tradition treats as retrieval rather than regression. Something was available to you once that is available again.

In an advice position it favours the uncalculated gesture: the message sent for no reason, the gift with no occasion, the kindness that gains you nothing. The card is old-fashioned about this and unembarrassed.

Stuck in the past. Idealising something that was not that good, which is the reversal's speciality and is nearly impossible to see from inside.

Memory edits. A period recalled as golden was usually mixed at the time, and the card reversed describes a comparison being run against a version that never existed.

Or, more positively, finally moving forward and leaving it behind. Both readings are common, and the surrounding cards decide which. The second is frequently a relief that has been years arriving.

Upright: nostalgia, innocence, memory, reunion, generosity

Reversed: stuck in the past, idealising, moving on, naivety

• What am I remembering more fondly than it deserves?
• What did I do freely as a child that I now do only if it pays?