Ace of Cups: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

A hand holds an overflowing cup above water lilies as a dove descends.

Upright

receptivity · affection

An opening in feeling invites care, connection, or creative expression.

Reversed

closed feelings · emotional depletion

Feeling may be held back or poured out without renewal.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

Root of Water; no decan. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.