What does Six of Cups mean in love?

An ex returning, a childhood connection, or affection with something uncomplicated in it.

The returning-ex reading is the one people come to this card for, and it needs handling honestly. The card describes contact from the past. It says nothing about whether that contact is good news, and the tradition is clear that the returning person is usually returning to a version of things that has stopped existing.

Reversed, a relationship living entirely on its own history: two people sustained by what they were rather than by what they are, which can run for years and is not unhappy so much as static.

As somebody's feelings, it reads as fond, warm and rooted in the past. Genuine affection, oriented backwards, which is a real answer and often not the one being hoped for.

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?