Four of Cups Tarot Meaning: Upright and Reversed

What does the Four of Cups tarot card mean upright and reversed? We explore its symbolism, interpretation in love and career, and what it reveals about feelings, advice, and yes and no answers. 

Four of Cups Keywords Upright and Reversed 

• Upright: Reflection, meditation, re-evaluation, a period of passivity, and contemplation.
• Reversed: Missed opportunity, boredom, frustration, detachment. 

Description and Symbolism of the Four of Cups 

The Four of Cups tarot card depicts a young man sitting alone under a tree, and he appears to be deep in thought. In fact, he looks miles away contemplating something and he is so engrossed in his thoughts he does not appear to notice that a cup is being presented to him by an outstretched arm. In the picture, there are three more cups at his feet which symbolize the world and its abundance of distractions, and yet he pays scant attention to these. This card reflects that he is detaching from the material realm and society in order to look deeper within for the answers. 

The card is trying to demonstrate that often external influences are red herrings that can distract us from our goals and perhaps even make us lose touch with who we are. Often, we need some isolation to get in touch with our true spiritual nature. The card suggests the young man has no urgency about him, he is willing to sit and is patient to wait for the answers to come to him. However, he is missing something, as he fails to notice the opportunity presented by the outstretched hand. 

Upright Four of Cups Meaning 

This tarot card could indicate a state of dissatisfaction with your life. Perhaps you are bored, uninspired, and somehow waiting for a shift in your own energy or something to happen. This can indicate a mild state of depression where you are particularly unmotivated, not engaging with your normal activities or finding your routines particularly inspiring or satisfying. You could feel really jaded, flat and stale, and you are wondering when a sense of excitement will return to your life. 

Four of Cups suggests that you need time away from people and your normal routines so that you can reflect and reevaluate your situation. It may even come about when you are thinking of having a “life audit” as they say. You need to find your truth, and often you need to distance yourself from peer pressure and the rat race in order to do that.

Love Meaning Upright Four of Cups 

This tarot card indicates that you may need a period of solitude, or to be a loner for a phase. This doesn’t suggest that there are no romantic opportunities, but rather that you are shunning them in favor of time alone. This may represent a period when you enjoy your own company, or where you feel that a commitment would actually be too draining at a time when you need to harness all your energy to reassess and reimagine your own life. 

This card certainly suggests that entering a commitment may not be a good thing. You don’t actually know your needs right now as you are at a crossroads or junction in life. What you are currently experiencing is becoming less satisfying, and yet you don’t quite know what is next, and therefore you don’t want to be tied into any relationship expectations. 

If you’re feeling like you just haven’t found the right person, don’t panic. You are simply working on finding yourself, and the right person will appear once you’ve done that. 

If you’re in a committed or stable relationship, this card suggests that you may come across as aloof and your partner may feel you are spending more time up in your head, preferring to pursue interests by yourself, or finding time to perhaps read, meditate, and do things which may seem a little bit out of character. This is certainly a time when you need to push the boundaries of your relationship so that you can have more space, and while your intention is not to isolate yourself from your partner or shut them out, you still need to spend time in your inner world understanding where to go next. 

Career Meaning Upright Four of Cups 

Four of Cups can indicate a shift towards a new career. This card may represent a time in your life where you feel you are stifled, bored, and unfulfilled in your career. Perhaps the people you work with no longer stimulate you, and the work itself is also dull, routine, and boring. You may be spending more time daydreaming, and it’s likely that you’re not highly productive right now. 

So this isn’t a great time for deadlines, study, and very purposeful work, because you just don’t have the necessary determination or mental focus to do it. 

This is a cue to stop and think about how you could change your career, and you may need a little bit of time off in order to do that. Even if you are looking for a job, it may be too soon to make a decision and jump into something new. You may still need more time to review opportunities, so don’t feel rushed. 

Sometimes material and monetary goals seem less important, and you may devote spare time you have to spiritual awareness goals rather than chasing a buck.

Health Meaning Upright Four of Cups 

This represents the necessity for rest and recuperation. It is certainly a time where you need to experience peace. It may be an awesome time for nature bathing, going on a camping trip, or doing something where you really get away from it all. It’s a stop-the-world-I-want-to-get-off kind of feeling that you need in order to replenish yourself. 

Spiritual Meaning Upright Four of Cups 

This card warns that you should not fall into self-pity. There is a slight tendency to beat up on yourself or even feel sorry for yourself. While that’s okay in a sense, you shouldn’t lose sight of all the positives in your life. Don’t take the beauty and the gifts you have for granted. 

This can sometimes indicate a preoccupation with what you don’t have and comparing yourself to others. You may be so busy worrying about what you don’t have that you are missing the opportunities that you do have, which would be perfect and unique for you. It is very important to understand your own unique journey and not compare yourself to others. Everyone has their unique gifts, opportunities, and challenges, and comparison can only cause, as Confucius said, discontent. 

Feelings or Actions Related to the Upright Four of Cups 

This upright tarot card can indicate a period of disappointment or disenchantment with either your career or relationships. This will propel you to seek time alone so that you can perhaps grieve, reflect on a situation, or get some space in order to understand what exactly you have to do next. 

It’s likely that you have grown up and grown out of certain attachments, activities, or even a career, and now you’re ready for something different. However, there is a little bit of reticence about how to take the next step. This often indicates that there are opportunities to make change, but you simply can’t muster the necessary energy or confidence to make them. You really have to gather yourself after a period of peace and tranquility. 

This tarot card is not an immediate call to action. It is a call to understand and address feelings of being stuck, dissatisfied, unhappy, or unfulfilled, and then to take time to understand what exactly needs to change about your life. There should be no knee-jerk jumping into new things just for the sake of starting a new phase. 

Reversed Four of Cups Meaning

What the reversed Four of Cups is telling you is that a golden opportunity awaits, but it may not fall in your lap. You have to do some hard work in order to manifest this opportunity. This card says get out there and make it happen. 

This doesn’t necessarily indicate good luck or karma, but it does indicate that those who seek will find. Go out there and look for what you want, and you will find it. In many cases, it may have been sitting right under your nose, but without a little bit of gumption, you may not have uncovered it. 

This card serves to remind you that sometimes you are too focused on the wrong issues, and it’s distracting you from what could be an important route forward. Make sure that you’re not blinded by self-pity, self-doubt, or frustration. Make sure that you are alert to the possibilities that are there and ready to go out and grab them with determination. 

Love Meaning Reversed Four of Cups 

This reversed position can suggest caution and self-restraint in love. In both new and existing relationships, you may be closing up, not wanting to talk about your feelings, or are perhaps scared to say what you really feel. It may be that you are in a relationship and you feel the person you’re with doesn’t understand you and won’t be receptive to the things you have to say. It may also be that you’re dating someone who’s a little bit cool and aloof and who shows a lack of empathy. This reminds you that in relationships there should be a forum for expressing feelings and being open-hearted and sincere, and if there isn’t, you have to find a way to make that happen. 

Career Meaning Reversed Four of Cups 

The restlessness and self-doubt that arise when drawing this card are a cue to action. What this suggests is that you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. In some cases, you may have persisted in a certain direction for so long that, although unsatisfying, it’s very comfortable. You have to realise that in order to achieve more, inject excitement into your life, or get where you want to be in your career, at some point you are going to have to take a risk and force yourself to break the routine and try something new. 

Health Meaning Reversed Four of Cups 

This warns against getting caught in a cycle of negative thoughts. Sometimes it can be rather consoling to indulge in self-pity and become isolated. While in the short term this may be necessary in order to fully address all of your emotions, you must resist getting stuck in this state. Recognize where you are becoming too passive, too self-indulgent, and too isolated, and work to get yourself on the road again. Don’t force yourself to do it quickly. It’s quite okay to take baby steps on the route to better mental and physical health. 

This card warns against hoping for an overnight turnaround. Things are going to improve, but you must be systematic and methodical about it. 

Spiritual Meaning Reversed Four of Cups 

This causes you to wake up and smell the coffee. You might be thinking too small and you might have become too inward-focused. It’s time to expand your perception of what is possible. Often, your own limiting beliefs are what’s holding you back, and before you can really succeed and step out of the present mental prison you’re in, you have to think bigger. Understand that sometimes you are your own worst enemy by cultivating negative and self-limiting beliefs. 

Feelings and Actions Related to the Reversed Four of Cups 

Understand that you need change, and also understand that you need to make that change happen and that may entail some risks. It’s time to open your heart, and although you should not operate under an abundance of caution, you should go forward slowly and systematically and not take unnecessary risks. 

It’s time to challenge your mindsets and move out of comfort zones, but you don’t have to do it quickly – do it gently, and you will be successful. As soon as you start being positive, you will realize that there were always more opportunities than you realized, but you just hadn’t taken that first step. 

Past, Present and Future Positions for Four of Cups 

Past

You may have recently felt disconnected from people, opportunities, or even from your own goals. There was likely a sense of apathy or disillusionment, where life felt repetitive or uninspiring. You may have been questioning what truly mattered to you. An important opportunity may have been overlooked because your focus was elsewhere, or because you simply were not ready. 

Present

You could be feeling emotionally flat, uncertain, or disengaged, even if things appear pretty OK on the surface. There is a strong need to pause, reassess, and reconnect with your inner truth. Something meaningful may be within reach, but it requires awareness and confidence to grab it.

Future

This tarot card suggests that after reflection, you will be given another chance to choose differently. Opportunities will reappear, but the outcome depends on whether you remain stuck in past paradigms or decide to open your heart and take action. 

Four of Cups — YES or NO Answer 

Upright Position: NO 

You may not be fully alert, ready, or able to see what’s being offered. There is often apathy, indecision, or a feeling of “not right now,” making this card lean clearly toward No. The answer may change later, but at present the energy is not there to carry a YES to a successful conclusion. 

Reversed: YES (with effort) 

This leans toward YES, but you have to add “E” for effort. It indicates awakening, renewed zest, and a willingness to re-engage after a period of stagnation. Opportunities may not fall into your lap, you may need to take the bull by the horns and actively choose to do things differently. 

Advice and Message of the Four of Cups 

This card often appears when you are beginning to struggle. Things in your life are grinding along, and whilst things are okay, they’re not especially good. You may be feeling that your career, your love life, and everything has just plateaued, and nothing is really happening. You may also be feeling less sociable. 

This card is a cue to arrange some time alone to reevaluate, reflect, and have some downtime. During this time, however, you shouldn’t become passive. You should start thinking about the possibilities that lie ahead and how you can reshape your life. 

Four of Cups is all about feeling like you’re at a dead end, but at the same time slowly beginning to turn things around by first having some space, then brainstorming opportunities, and then moving slowly forward. This is a card of opportunity, but it’s an opportunity that is slowly going to dawn on you rather than come as an immediate flash or something sudden. 

Summary 

When you see this card, it indicates that you are in a period where you’re undergoing some changes internally, and often the first manifestation will be dissatisfaction with where you are. However, you can also be more sensitive and defensive, which is why the card depicts someone sitting alone. This indicates that you are less engaged with social opportunities, you’re enjoying your own company, and you’re needing that time to understand what you want.

Four of Cups indicates that the power is in your hands. Advice and the influence of others can be useless, and it’s important to shut out distractions in the short term so you can connect with what is really important. This may be a vital time to meditate, undergo self-hypnosis, or learn to get into a state of total relaxation so you can connect with your inner truth and find a path that will help you move forward in a more authentic way. 

The card also warns you not to be despondent, because there are opportunities, but you’ve been so caught up in your routines and the rat race that you haven’t been able to see them. Often, a period of aloofness and detachment is important so that you have the mental, physical, and emotional space to recognize where these opportunities are, what is a good match, so you can slowly start to move in those directions and make things happen in your life once more.