Four of Cups Tarot Card Meaning

Four of Cups upright

A young man sits under a tree staring at three cups on the grass, while a hand from a cloud offers him a fourth. Waite says he is weary of what he has and finds no comfort even in the new gift — weariness, disgust and imaginary vexations. Take a moment, then look again: an opportunity is being held out.

Four of Cups reversed

Waite reversed gives novelty, presage, new instruction and new relations. Curiosity comes back — say yes to something fresh.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is Four of Cups a yes or no?

Upright: Leans no. No — your heart is not in it right now. Reconsider once the mood lifts.

Reversed: Reversed, Four of Cups reads as a soft yes: new interest, novelty, new relationships.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the Four of Cups card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Young man seated under a tree — Waite: discontent with his surroundings
• Three cups on the grass — what he already has
• A fourth cup offered from a cloud — Waite: like a fairy gift — an offer not yet taken

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations; satiety; blended pleasure.

Reversed: novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.