6 of Cups

open your heart

Six expands in a new cycle from the contraction of five like the cogs in a wheel + Cups deal with our inner life, including our emotions and relationships

And so the centered aspect of the Six of Cups allows us to open our hearts to another with the innocence of childhood and the desire to share, to be playful. Each of the sixes in Smith-Waite include the support of others in the dynamic of give and take, and there can be great satisfaction in giving, of being in service to others. This card is often read with a sense of nostalgia, of returning to something from our past — a memory, an ideal, a love, a dream, a friend – and reclaiming or reconciling it.

In resistance, we remain stuck in the past; old wounds resurface but are not allowed into the light. Some attribute childhood trauma to this card, noting the adult figure in S-W walking away, his back turned.

In excess, we may romanticize the past at the expense of the future. It’s time to move into a new cycle. Learn from the past, look to the future, but live in the moment.

Questions we may be prompted to ask when this card comes up include

• What or whom might you be ready to revisit? What could help you to open up?
• What are you nostalgic for? Why?
• What painful memories do you still carry? Are there child parts that should be heard in order to foster healing?

What else? There’s more depth to this card and you may have other insights. How has it come up for you?