Two of Cups Tarot Card Meaning & Interpretations

Two of Cups Tarot card meaning and interpretation

If you are a single person looking for that special someone then this is probably the card, who's appearance in any spread, will immediately send your hopes soaring with expectation. If you are not single, or not interested in dating, then it might be a confusing card to see. The 2 of Cups is the reciprocated love, or feelings, card. How you feel about someone is matched equally in how they feel about you. The type and quantity of those feelings is undefined by the 2 of Cups. It could be as simple as just liking someone, and enjoying their company, in a non-romantic way. They like you too and there is a balanced harmony between you both.

Tarot cards have traditionally included, between the illustrated 2 of Cups, the The Caduceus of Hermes (Mercury to the Romans). It is the staff of Heralds and is symbolic of messengers. The Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck continued with this tradition and the artist, Pamela C. Smith, added the extra detail of a lion's head to the caduceus. A.E Waite doesn't give any explanation to why this was included. The winged lion is the symbol of Venice, Italy also know as the City of Love and Romance which could be one possible explanation. If your attention and intuition are drawn to this winged lion it could be that the card is referring to a romantic setting or location and not necessarily to individuals. Another explanation is that the Lion represents Leo and therefore the element of Fire and this is the alchemical symbology of the fusion of water and fire. The element of Fire represents passion, energy and drive and the inclusion of this opposing element maybe symbolic of purpose and ambition as the driving forces pushing these two cups together.

It is worth comparing the RWS deck's 2 of Cups background scenery to the 10 Of Cups and noting how closely they match. The artist probably did this intentionally to illustrate the end goal of this union, if it is a romantic one. In the 10 of Cups the scene has changed slightly. The trees have grown, showing a significant passage of time, and a river can be seen running towards the house on the hill symbolising an endless supply of water and love. The Caduceus and lion have been replaced by a rainbow completing the transformation and cycle. The 2 of Cups is the starting point and a modern interpretation of the RWS card could be a couple going for a drink together on a first date. The inclusion of Hermes Caduceus, as a symbol of messengers, would have been more readily understood in earlier times when courtships would have been supervised and letter writing more common.

The 2 of Cups is a card of romantic interests, mutual respect and admiration, emotional sensitivity and diplomacy. The element of this card and suit is Water which relates to love and emotions. The aspects of the number 2 in numerology are diplomacy, harmony, balance, co-operation and sensitivity. The 2 of Cups includes symbology referencing a messenger and can point to communications of a sensitive, romantic or tactful nature.

THE PICTORIAL KEY TO THE TAROT

By Arthur Edward Waite (1911)

A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place. Divinatory Meanings: Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and--as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination--that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.