3 of Cups

Keywords & phrases

• Love and friendship
• Celebration of love
• Marriage
• Sisterhood
• Fun
• Socialising, networking
• Joy
• Abundance

First impressions

Surely one of the most joyful cards in all the Tarot. A card for letting your hair down and celebrating love and friendship.

What is happening in the card?

Three beautiful women on a blue sky day celebrate themselves, each other, their friendship and how good it feels to be alive sometimes. They are lost in the moment together, radiating warmth, positivity and joy. Cups raised aloft, they are surrounded by an abundance of fruit and other harvest goodies. They have flowers in their hair.

In this moment they have all they need. They have each other.

How can we relate to this card?

Who doesn’t love this card?!

This is the moment that you are lost in the music with your mates on the dance floor. It’s that lunch out with your girlfriends and you can’t remember the last time you laughed so much.

These are the people that you go to celebrate the wins and share the woes. The people who lift you up. Friendships that feed the soul and heal the heart.

If we don’t have these kinds of relationships, what do we have?

My personal experiences of this card

Where do I start?

When this card comes up for me I’m quite likely to take a quick pic of it with my phone and message it to a friend or a group. 

This card for me represents my wonderful girlfriends, my beautiful sister and nieces and, of course, my daughter and mother. The people who have ‘saved my life’ at one time or another.

My gratitude for these amazing creatures and the joy and support that they have brought me is boundless. They are quite simply Angels and I aspire to bring them the same joy and support.

The 3 of Cups nudges me to pick up the phone to plan a lunch or simply check-in. It also reminds me that I am supported and celebrated when I am feeling less than loving towards myself.

Events, situations & readings

In a relationship spread:
The 3 of Cups in a spread reminds you that friendship and community is the fountain where you can keep returning to fill your cup… and that you must go there with the intention to also fill the cups of others.

And so the love goes round, as does the world.

In a health and wellbeing spread:
The 3 of cups might also be a little nudge to slow down on the riotous group ‘socialising’ (you know who you are and what I’m talking about) and focus more on the one-to-one interactions or your relationship with yourself. This would be especially true if the card is in the reversal.

In a personal/spiritual development spread:
This card may also encourage you to forge a stronger connection and dialogue with your guides and higher self.

People & interaction with other cards

The list of ‘positive’ cards that would interact and vibe beautifully with the 3 of Cups, giving you cause to celebrate life, love, friendship and the women in your world, is long:

The Ace of Cups, The Star, the 2 of Cups, The Queens, The Princesses, The World, The Empress… to name a few.

When this card appears with the more ‘challenging’ characters of the Tarot you may want to pause to question if you need to pause and check-in with yourself or others to see who needs support and love. 

Questions, prompts & insights

Is there anyone in your life that you might want to reach out to right now?

Who needs some love and support? Who needs to be celebrated? Uplifted? Thanked?

What are you bringing to your friendship group or community?

Have you been overindulging ‘socially’? What are you doing to fill your own cup for health and wellbeing? 

Featured decks:
Main image from The Rider Waite Tarot.