I swore I wasn’t going to do this. I wasn’t going to start a blog and then get distracted and skip several days.

Of course life got in the way of maintaining a normal posting schedule. Alas.

Anyway, I was going to post a deck interview, but I’m leaving spreads posts for Mondays. Instead, I’m going to talk a little bit about a card that has been STALKING me lately. It legit shows up in every reading and I’m like ARE YOU TELLING ME I’M DESTINED TO BE ALONE FOREVER WTF???

But no, it’s not ever that simple, is it?

Unlike my card analysis of The Devil, I want to talk about this card reversed. But that will require talking about the card when it is upright first for context. So here we go.

Let’s Party

The imagery of the three of cups is basically a toga party. Seriously! Three people are cheers-ing their chalices, donned in togas and robes, and surrounded by food and shit.

How can you not look at this card and think of a rocking good time with your bestest buds?

The Three of Cups isn’t only about partying, but that is definitely one layer of interpretation. Celebration and friendship are themes that many people ascribe to the card, for obvious reasons.

What’s In Your Cup?

The Cups as a suit are probably my favorite, because they deal with emotions, intuition, and creativity.

As a water sign, I dig it. Hard.

I am drawn to the suit of cups, and I like to think about what is filling the cups when I interpret the cards. In this card, I like to think that the ladies are filling each other’s cups with support, respect, camaraderie, collaboration, etc. All those positive happy emotions to build each other up.

Maybe they are celebrating for no good reason, or maybe they are celebrating the completion of a successful project, or maybe they are family celebrating together. That all can change depending on the reading and the context the card is found. But in general, I think of this card as being surrounded by people who are going to fill your emotional cup with warmth and goodness.

Spill One Out For Your Homies: The Three of Cups Reversed

So my problem is that this card keeps showing up reversed for me. As I mentioned in my analysis of The Devil, I often read reversals as though something is blocking what the card is about from happening.

Blocking friendship? Camaraderie? Community? Family? Celebration? Yuck.

I mean, if we consider that upright cups are literally cups that are full of support and friendship and love and those things–flipping the card would be the equivalent of flipping cups upside down so that they are spilling those things.

If upright this card is about fun and happiness and Queens Straightening Each Other’s Crowns or whatever, reversed it could be about people tearing each other down. It could be about going it alone instead of in a group. It could mean feelings of isolation or loneliness. Lost connections. A need to stop partying with your friends and focus on yourself.

Some of these are hard lessons to take in. Unless maybe you have a hangover, then the idea of time away from the social scene might seem welcome. I don’t know your life.

Am I Destined To Be Alone?

This card keeps popping up as I read for myself, and usually in the weirdest places. Never in a relationship or family reading. So I’ve struggled with interpreting it.

As I have thought about the Three of Cups so much lately, I’ve come to realize that maybe that’s what it was trying to say. I don’t need to be alone, exactly. It’s not about loneliness or shunning friends and family or avoiding parties and fun. I just need to be thoughtful. I need to think about myself, outside of the influence of others. I need to focus on projects that invoke my creativity, my emotions, my intuition.

And look–I’ve been pulled to do this *gestures wildly around at blog and tarot cards* more (even if I skipped some blogging days). This is about my self-growth, my intuition, my creativity.

I’m already doing it.

I just need to focus on this.

And the Three of Cups Reversed was trying to tell me to keep it up.

Thanks, friend. You’re filling my cup, after all.