Six of Cups

Memory, innocence and simple kindness. A gift given without calculation, an old friend, the feeling of home. Let the past warm you.

nostalgia · childhood · kindness · innocence

Living in the past, or idealising it. Stuck in old patterns from childhood. Or ready to leave an old home and grow up into a new one.

stuck in the past · idealising · leaving home · old patterns

In a stone courtyard beside a wooden house, a boy in an indigo robe printed with waves offers a small girl a red lacquer cup filled with white flowers. She sits on the stone steps in a vermilion robe patterned with white blossoms, a red ribbon in her hair, and reaches for it with both hands. Other red cups of white flowers stand on the steps and paving around them. A flowering tree climbs the wall, and a pale moon hangs above the roofs.

In Rider–Waite–Smith tarot the Six of Cups shows a boy handing a girl a cup of white flowers in an old courtyard, more cups of flowers around them. It is read as nostalgia, childhood and innocent kindness. The gift asks nothing back. The card warms with memory, and asks only that the past be visited, not lived in.

Tenderness, an old flame, a sweet and uncomplicated affection. Or a bond rooted in shared history.

Returning to old skills or old contacts, generous help, work with children. Be kind, and remember what first drew you here.

Get in touch with someone from your past who was kind to you, or do something small for a child or a friend with no expectation of return.

Yes

Kindness and good memory surround the question; the card leans gently yes.

What small kindness from your childhood still stays with you?