Five of Cups in the 5-Card Spread with the Rider Waite Tarot

Five of Cups as second card : Challenge / Obstacle
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

In opposition, the Five of Cups reveals a fixation on loss, an inability to grieve, or a tendency to dwell on suffering instead of letting it go.

The consultant may be trapped in regret, guilt, or a form of emotional self-flagellation.

He or she may also refuse to look at what remains, preferring to ruminate on the past and replay scenarios instead of opening up new possibilities.

Sometimes, this card in opposition shows a blockage in the expression of grief: we pretend that everything is fine, we control ourselves, we numb ourselves. But the emotion, ignored, ends up weighing heavily in the invisible realm.

It can also indicate a negative projection onto the future, as if any attempt at reconstruction seems futile.

The message here is that unlived grief becomes a prison, while grief that has been fully experienced becomes a passage. It is about reconciling emotion with consciousness, recognising what has been lost while embracing what remains to be lived.

Five of Cups as third card : Advice
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

As advice, the Five of Cups invites you to fully embrace your pain, not to run away from what you are feeling, and to let the tears flow if they need to. It is time to face what is hurting you, what has been broken, lost, betrayed or abandoned, without judgement, with compassion for yourself. It is not by forcing yourself to feel better that healing will come, but by honouring your experiences, even the painful ones, that you will find peace.

This card also advises you to remember that all is not lost: there are two cups still standing behind the figure — but he must turn around to see them.

The advice is therefore to grieve sincerely, while remaining aware that life does not end there. Love will return in a different form. A relationship can be restored. A part of you can rebuild itself stronger.

The Five of Cups as advice tells you: don’t stay alone, seek support, talk, write, create — but let the emotion pass. It won’t destroy you: it will transform you.

Five of Cups as fourth card : Outcome
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

In the outcome position, the Five of Cups indicates that the current situation could lead to some form of emotional loss, grief to be endured, or a painful realisation.

This could be a break-up, a difficult truth to accept, or the recognition that a connection, dream or illusion must be left behind. This outcome is emotionally heavy, but it also opens up the possibility of transformation, if the consultant agrees not to remain stuck in their pain.

The Five of Cups, as an outcome, also speaks of a necessary emotional readjustment: what falls away is what was no longer right, even if it hurts. And what remains — the two upright cups — is the foundation on which to rebuild.

The result is therefore not a collapse, but a passage through a symbolic loss that can become a source of clarity, strength and emotional maturity. It heralds a time of mourning followed by renewal, provided that it is a conscious journey.