The Four of Cups is one of the most important cards of the Minor Arcana.
Below you will learn everything about its meaning both in the upright and reversed position.
In addition to the general interpretation, the topics of love, health, career, finances and destiny are also explained in detail.
The Four of Cups Keywords
Upright: Apathetic, Immersed, Self-viewing, Ignorant
Reversed: Compassionate, Active, Connected, Optimist
The Four of Cups Tarot Card Description
The Four of Cups Tarot card shows a man sitting deeply absorbed under a tree. He crossed his legs and his gaze is directed inward, just like meditating.
He sits under a tree that gives him shade and protects him from rain. The man is strongly reminiscent of the images of the Buddha, who also found enlightenment in the open air under a tree.
The clothing is simple and pragmatic so that he is neither too hot nor too cold during his contemplation. The trousers are blue and symbolize his mental abilities, his shirt is red and stands for his vitality and the green vest testifies his connection with nature.
The man is so absorbed that he does not notice the chalice, which is offered before his eyes.
A hand from the clouds, as we already know it from the Ace of Cups, offers him the cup, which is supposed to quench the man’s thirst for knowledge and insight.
The hand symbolizes the heavenly power and creation, which manifests itself in the earthly world and lets us participate in the divine happening. But the man spurns the heavenly offer and does not seize the opportunity for himself to attain new insights.
There are already three cups in front of him on the ground. None of which he has touched or perceived. The man lets the things almost apathetically happen around him and misses thereby the chance to extend his consciousness.
Upright Four of Cups Tarot Card Meaning
The Four of Cups reveals a phase of withdrawal and introspection. Through a temporary retreat from our everyday life, we try to find out new insights about ourselves and our further goals in life.
Self-view here means trusting our inner voice, which reveals how we can lead a fulfilled and happy life. However, this involves confronting the sides of ourselves that cause a lot of suffering and pain, such as greed, hatred and hostility.
Be careful if you are only concerned with yourself and lose contact with the outside world. Stay in contact with your environment, and you will be able to fathom your innermost self.
Another aspect of the Tarot card of the Four of Cups is the ignorance of opportunities that life offers us. Often in the course of our lives, we are given opportunities to realign our destiny and experience an improvement in our situation.
However, if we are too busy with ourselves and our problems, like the man in the picture, we will neither recognize the appropriate opportunities nor have the courage to seize them.
Ignorance of change in life can also come from consciously holding on to the current status quo because it gives us a perceived sense of security.
Dare to step out of your comfort zone, recognize and take advantage of the opportunities that can change your life for the better.
You will outgrow yourself and increasingly realize how many opportunities life offers you to become a happier and more content person.
The Four of Cups Tarot card reveals a great apathy that paralyzes us and thus delays our progress in life.
Opportunities to advance professionally or privately and develop yourself are pushed back according to the saying: “Better tomorrow but not today…”.
However, our life is in constant motion and every opportunity that reveals itself to us is only available for a certain period of time. If we miss the right time to seize it, the opportunity will disappear.
Live your life actively and do not wait for the perfect moment, but create it yourself by using the opportunities presented to you in the here and now and growing from them. Thus you plant the seed for still following chances, which will enrich your life.
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Upright Four of Cups Tarot Love Meaning
Single
As a single, the Four of Cups Tarot card reveals to you that you don’t have your head clear enough to enter into a new relationship at the moment.
Perhaps you are still hanging on to a past partnership that is still taking up a lot of your attention and concentration.
Take the time to reflect on your past experiences from previous relationships.
Your gut feeling will tell you when it is time again to confide in a new person and dare a relationship with him.
Furthermore, the Four of Cups reminds you to reconsider your own behavior when looking for a partner.
You may be too hasty with your desire to enter into a firm commitment, even before mutual trust has been established between you and your potential partner.
Another reason why you have difficulties finding a new partner could be that you are too ignorant of your partner’s wishes and needs.
During the first meeting, try to listen actively and form a concrete, inner picture concerning the thoughts and feelings of your date.
Relationship
In a relationship, the Four of Cups card shows that one partner is too busy with themselves right now, causing coexistence to come to a standstill.
As soon as one part of the relationship withdraws completely and does not perceive or refuse the offered help of the partner, the partnership threatens to fail in the long run.
If you can’t get out of your head right now, at least try to talk to your partner about it so that he doesn’t relate your behavior to himself but can support you.
If your partner is the one who withdraws, ask your friends for help to establish communication with him again.
Another aspect of the Four of Cups is an increasing apathy in the partnership. This means that each of you is only busy with his own issues and you are hardly present as a couple or spend time together.
Try to become active together again by creating new opportunities to get closer again, such as through a hobby, fixed couple times, or a vacation together.
Do you want to know how your love life is developing? Draw your Love Tarot Card now for free!
Upright Four of Cups Health Meaning
For your health the Four of Cups means that you are circling around yourself a lot. Circling thoughts can quickly lead to a depressive mood or sleep disorders.
To secure your mental health, you should get support from friends or professional healers.
In addition, the Four of Cups encourages you to listen to yourself more to detect signs of illness at an early stage.
A good body feeling will let you know in time if something is wrong. Therefore it is important to take time once a day to observe your inner processes, for example, through meditation or yoga.
Do you want to know how your health situation is developing? Draw your Health Tarot Card now for free!
Upright Four of Cups Career Meaning
For your profession, the Four of Cups means that you are too busy with yourself right now and what you are still missing in life. You overlook promising career opportunities that are opening up right in front of you.
Rather, focus on your resources and the world outside so that you can seize the next opportunity that comes your way.
Another possible interpretation of the Four of Cups is an increasing lack of drive at work. Such apathy is usually a result of great demotivation and disappointment.
To prevent this lack of drive from harming your private life, you should look for new professional perspectives that are more in line with your passions.
Do you want to know how your professional situation develops? Draw your Career Tarot Card now for free!
Upright Four of Cups Finances/Money Meaning
The Four of Cups shows that you are currently very engrossed in your finances and neglect other important areas of life.
If you are preoccupied with money all day, you will miss many beautiful things that happen around you right now.
Rather take a fixed time during the day or week, where you deal intensively with your finances and have the rest of your free time for other things.
Furthermore, the Four of Cups warns you not to ignore financial problems. Debts do not simply disappear overnight but become more crushing with each passing day. Face your liabilities and work actively to pay off your debts.
Do you want to know how your financial situation is developing? Draw your Finance/Money Tarot Card now for free!
Upright Four of Cups Destiny Meaning
For your destiny, the Four of Cups means that you revolve too much around yourself. As a result, you miss the life around you and the opportunities it offers you.
Wake up from your apathy and drink from the offered Chalice of Life and create your everyday life again with vigor and creativity.
Do you want to know what your destiny has in store for you? Draw your Destiny Tarot Card now for free!
Upright Four of Cups Personality
The Four of Cups stands for someone who is very busy with himself. The person revolves a lot around himself and tries to figure out his own secrets and problems.
Likewise, this can mean an ignorant personality. He has very ingrained thought patterns and ignores, against better knowledge, influences from the outside, which could help him on his way.
Upright Four of Cups Tarot Past/Future
Past
Upright
In the past few days, you have been downright apathetic. You were indifferent to everything around you.
Pay attention and participate more in life again. Looking into the past can be a good starting point for introspection. Recognize your past mistakes and learn from them.
Future
Upcoming challenges will occupy you in such a way that you can focus all your concentration only on these things.
Your future offers you many possibilities. But if you consciously ignore them, some doors will close forever.
Upright Four of Cups Tarot Card – Yes or No
At the moment, you have enough to do with yourself. Therefore, it is difficult for you to look at your question from all the necessary angles.
You are far too absorbed in your own affairs and can hardly direct your focus on anything else, so the Four of Cups suggests a no answer.
Reversed Four of Cups Tarot Card Meaning
The Four of Cups Reversed symbolizes a period of optimism and drive. Now is the time to seize opportunities that arise in your professional or personal life.
By walking through life with an optimistic attitude, you will realize how many opportunities for personal development are open to you.
At the same time, you have enough self-confidence and self-efficacy to master the challenges associated with the opportunities.
By taking advantage of the opportunities available to you in your professional and personal life, you will lay the foundation for more positive moments and further strengthen your optimism about your destiny.
Another meaning of the reversed Four of Cups is your deep compassion towards your environment.
Empathy and compassion develop as we first learn to love and accept ourselves. Self-compassion is often a lifelong process that is supported by self-reflection and meditation.
The realization that our well-being largely depends on the state of our environment allows us to experience deep compassion for all beings on this earth.
As we, through our compassion, begin to make lasting changes in our lives for the benefit of all living beings, we will at the same time feel a deep sense of connection and fulfillment that cannot be created through material things.
The Four of Cups Reversed Tarot card symbolizes that we must become active ourselves and not get lost in the flow of life.
By choosing to live your life consciously and actively, you will find ways and means to realize your goals and ideas all by yourself.
You will gratefully accept offered chalices that allow you to approach your goals and use them to move forward.
By connecting with your environment and actively shaping it, new paths and doors will open for you.
Reversed Four of Cups Tarot Love Meaning
Single
The Four of Cups Reversed encourages you as a single person to actively seek a partner for life now. Long waiting or postponing are out of place.
You already have a concrete idea of your dream partner in your head, now is the right moment to make it come true.
Get to know different people and listen to your intuition, which will reveal a good fit in terms of love.
Many opportunities for flirting and getting to know each other will arise by going out into the world and actively participating in it, like through honorary positions in clubs or meetings with friends.
The Four of Cups Reversed encourages you to find new love with an optimistic attitude.
If you have great confidence that your destiny holds the Great Love for you, an aura of positive confidence and energy will surround you, which in turn will make you appear very attractive and lovable to those around you.
Relationship
In a partnership, the Four of Cups Reversed reveals reason for optimism. Especially if the relationship has had to endure many stressful tests recently, the partnership will emerge stronger from them.
Both partners have done their part to overcome the recent challenges and have grown from them. The resulting confidence and optimism regarding the future together will deeply connect you as a couple and make your future plans succeed.
The Four of Cups Reversed also represents an active revival of your partnership. Your partnership will have a stable foundation when both partners fill the relationship with life and consciously shape it.
Renew your partnership by taking more time for your partner, supporting his plans and showing appreciation and affection regularly.
Reversed Four of Cups Health Meaning
The Four of Cups Reversed encourages you to take care of your health. There are many
areas where you can take simple steps to improve your well-being.
It is best to develop daily routines for more exercise or better nutrition. By making these small changes in your daily routine, you will be doing something good for your health in the long run.
Furthermore, the Four of Cups Reversed stands for an optimistic attitude towards your health. Hope and confidence help you to live a happy life even in the face of a serious illness.
Furthermore, an optimistic attitude can activate your self-healing powers and accelerate your recovery process.
Reversed Four of Cups Career Meaning
The Four of Cups Reversed symbolizes a deep attachment to your work. Your activity fills you up completely and is rather a kind of vocation for you. Working from inner motivation usually makes the work fly by.
In addition, the quality of your work has a positive effect on the working atmosphere, since the entire company benefits from highly motivated employees.
The Four of Cups Reversed stands for more compassion in your workplace. Instead of just minding your own business, you should already know how your colleagues are doing. Offer help and support when someone has a problem.
In this way, you not only strengthen the feeling of togetherness in your team, but you can also build on the support of your colleagues in the event of your own difficulties.
Reversed Four of Cups Finances/Money Meaning
In financial matters, the Four of Cups Reversed encourages you to express compassion towards your fellow man. That can be done, for example, by donating to charities.
Perhaps you can also help someone in your circle of acquaintances or family financially. In any case, your compassion in the form of a gift will give others and also yourself a deep satisfaction.
Moreover, the Four of Cups Reversed stands for an imminent improvement of your finances. You can look optimistically into the future, as existing mountains of debt will be paid off in the foreseeable future or new sources of income will open up.
Reversed Four of Cups Destiny Meaning
The Four of Cups Reversed means for your destiny that you connect with your environment. You actively participate in the events around you and help your fellow men.
Thus you will receive a lot of gratitude and can always count on the support of the people around you when you need help.
Reversed Four of Cups Personality
In the reversed position, the Four of Cups reveals an optimistic personality. For such a person, life consists of challenges and opportunities rather than problems.
Moreover, such a character shows deep compassion for the people around him. He feels an inner connection with everyone and knows that his happiness depends on how his environment is doing at the moment.
Reversed Four of Cups Tarot Past/Future
Past
You still feel strongly connected to people from your past. Maybe it is time to revive these old relationships.
Something that happened to someone close to you a long time ago triggers deep compassion in you. You cannot undo some things, but you can learn from them.
Future
Your optimism will soon open new paths for you. Consider upcoming challenges as chances to develop yourself further.
A phase of new strength announces itself to you. Use this energy to participate in life again and enjoy it to the fullest.
Reversed Four of Cups Tarot Card – Yes or No
There is a great drive in you regarding your question. You want to finally become active in this matter and not wait until a new opportunity arises. A yes answer therefore, gives you great optimism about the opportunities involved.
The Cups Tarot Card Meanings
- Ace of Cups Meaning
- Two of Cups Meaning
- Three of Cups Meaning
- Four of Cups Meaning READING NOW
- Five of Cups Meaning
- Six of Cups Meaning
- Seven of Cups Meaning
- Eight of Cups Meaning
- Nine of Cups Meaning
- Ten of Cups Meaning
- Page of Cups Meaning
- Knight of Cups Meaning
- Queen of Cups Meaning
- King of Cups Meaning