Your Guide to the Seven of Cups Tarot Card - Its Meaning, Symbolism, and More

Learn everything you need to know and more about the Seven of Cups tarot card!

A drawer with tarot cards and crystals.

Are you facing turmoil or confusion, and therefore having trouble deciding where to go from here? Or maybe you’re content with your life but are looking for some source of inspiration. If either of these scenarios sound like you, we have the perfect solution for you: tarot card readings.

You may be asking yourself: How will tarot cards help me?! Well, the answer is simple. While tarot cards will not fully solve all your life problems, they do provide you with a sense of direction. Essentially, it gives you a starting point to explore your inner thoughts and feelings regarding the situations and events occurring to you personally.

The Seven of Cups tarot card is the perfect example of this. This tarot card is heavily based on the ideals of opportunity, choices, and beliefs. Part of the same family as the Eight of Cups and Nine of Cups tarot cards, the Seven of Cups card allows the tarot reader to better understand the decisions which face them.

If tarot reading has peaked your interest, read on to learn about:

  • Tarot card readings (what it is, how to do it, benefits, and tarot spreads)
  • The Seven of Cups tarot card (its symbolism, upright meaning, and reversed meaning)

What is Tarot Card Reading?

An individual holding a tarot card.
Tarot card reading is used by many to help them possess a greater understanding of their thoughts. Image courtesy of KTNV.

Tarot card reading is often a misunderstood artform. Many people assume tarot card reading is similar to fortune telling in terms of being given a prediction about the future. And while tarot card reading can inform us of the future, it's not in the way many people think.

Rather tarot card reading is all about gaining insight to our inner, and often hidden, thoughts, feelings, intuition, beliefs, etc. In doing so, not only are we able to make decisions, and therefore inform and influence our future, we are also able to better understand our past and present.

Essentially, tarot is a way to make sense of where you’ve been, where you’re at, and where you’re going. This can be applied to many different areas of your life, such as your relationships, career, passions, hobbies, interests, motivations, etc.

What Can You Learn from Tarot Card Readings?

As stated previously, tarot can inform you about your otherwise hidden thoughts and intuitions. It does so through reading spreads, such as the three-card or five-card spread. The meanings of the tarot cards you select can then be applied to your life.

Therefore, you may learn how you should approach a certain situation, go about a relationship, communicate with your partner, etc.

Benefits of Tarot Card Readings

Tarot card reading has many benefits. For instance, it can help you:

  • Think more clearly
  • Make decisions
  • Obtain greater peace
  • Feel more connected to your inner self and the world that surrounds you
  • Improve your relationships
  • Develop a new hobby
  • Find inspiration or motivation

How to Perform a Tarot Card Reading?

Performing a tarot card reading is relatively simple. There are just a few steps you must follow, however many of them are open to your own personal interpretation.

The most important part of a tarot card reading is to make sure you are fully immersed in the activity. This is likely to yield the best results. Because of this, it is important that you prepare for the reading in a way that is likely to make you feel at ease with yourself and your surroundings.

Therefore, first you should make sure to relax by changing into comfy clothes, maybe perform some meditation, and light a few candles. Once that is done, you are ready to begin the tarot card reading process.

This starts by shuffling the cards. Take your time in doing so in order to truly reflect on the moment and your inner state. Once the cards are shuffled, think of a question, situation, event, or conflict in which you would like some direction in. Then, select the amount of cards you’d like to use in your reading. The most common selection is a three-card spread.

Once you have selected the cards, observe the cards, their imagery, and reflect on that. After doing so, if you do not already know, look up the meanings of the cards and interpret them in your own manner. This is where you can determine how and where these cards can apply to your question you asked at the beginning of the reading.

Popular Tarot Card Reading Spreads

When performing a tarot card reading, oftentimes people select more than one card. When this happens, the cards selected are part of what’s called a tarot card spread. These tarot card spreads are usually made up of either three or five cards.

Three-Card Spreads

A three-card tarot spread is exactly what it sounds like: When one selects three cards from a deck. Some of the most common of these include the:

  • Past, Present, Future
  • Mind, Body, Spirit
  • Strengths, Weaknesses, Advice
  • Situation, Obstacle, Advice

Five-Card Spreads

A five-card tarot spread contains five cards that the reader selects. Popular five-card spreads are as follows:

  • Your Part, Their Part, Outside Forces, What You Gained, What You Learned
  • Qualities That Make You Wonderful, Qualities That Make You Proud, What You Contribute Towards Others, Negative Thoughts/Behavior, Positive Thoughts/Behavior
  • Love, Family, Career, Positives, Negatives

The Seven of Cups Tarot Card

The Seven of Cups tarot card.
The Seven of Cups tarot card often represents different things to each individual who pulls the card. Image courtesy of Pinterest.

The Seven of Cups tarot card can offer you a wealth of helpful advice. Based on your current situation, the question you asked prior to your reading, or events happening presently in your life, the Seven of Cups may present you with several different potential paths of resolution.

The Seven of Cups Tarot Card Symbolism

The imagery on the card, which includes an individual surrounded by bowls holding different objects, is significant to the symbolism of the Seven of Cups. Essentially, the varying objects in the bowls represent gifts.

Some of the gifts are desirable, while the others are horrifying. This symbolizes the need to be cautious regarding wishes and hopes as they may not always live up to your expectations. This imagery relates heavily to the meaning of the Seven of Cups.

The Seven of Cups Tarot Card Meaning

The Seven of Cups tarot card meaning is not a simple one. In fact, it can often mean many different things based on the situations you find yourself in. Read on to learn more about these meanings.

The Card’s Upright Meaning

If you pull the Seven of Cups card upright, it may mean one, or possibly all, of a variety of things. For instance, potentially you may be faced with a number of opportunities however you are struggling to select the one that is right for you. In this case, the Seven of Cups is offering a cautionary tale to thoroughly evaluate every option in order to avoid undesired events.

The Seven of Cups may also be trying to tell you to begin passionately working towards what you wish to achieve, rather than simply dreaming of what you want to happen.

Similarly, this tarot card could also be reminding you to stay focused and dedicated to the goal you have been working towards rather than be continuously distracted by new opportunities.  

The Card’s Reversed Meaning

In terms of its reversed meaning, the Seven of Cups tarot card is informing you of something slightly different than its upright meaning.

Like the upright meaning, the reversed Seven of Cups is focusing on a variety of opportunities you may be presented with. However, unique to the reversed meaning, the Seven of Cups card is advising you to decide on the opportunities based on your own aspirations and ideals rather than others.

Instead of providing a cautionary tale of false illusion, the reversed Seven of Cups focuses on internal evaluation of goals, thoughts, and feelings in order to decide the path forward.

The Conclusion of the Seven of Cups Tarot Card

As evident by its meanings, imagery, and symbolism, the Seven of Cups tarot card is an extremely complex one. However, its complexity is what makes the card such a powerful force in uncovering your inner thoughts.

The Seven of Cups tarot card forces you to think about things you may subconsciously avoid or fear. Therefore, by bringing these thoughts to light, you are then able to base your decisions off of these uncovered insights. For this reason, the Seven of Cups is an extremely interesting and must-experience tarot card.

Elyse Endres

Elyse is a marketer, writer, and lover of dogs, dance, and reading. She resides in Columbus, Ohio.
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