Ace of Cups tarot card from the Simply Tarot deck

Ace of Cups Tarot Card Meaning

The Emotional One
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Emotion • Connection • Openness

The Ace of Cups shows you have a strong initial attraction or affinity with someone or something triggering happiness and excitement. It could indicate the possibility of a romantic involvement or new friendship, or the desire for a relationship.

The Ace of Cups can be a happy or sad card and tends to represent the Subject’s emotional response to a situation rather than an actual event. This is a highly emotional card and whatever the Subject is feeling, they are feeling it intensely. This level of emotion can drive people to do things they wouldn’t normally and, so, it is important for the Subject to think carefully about what they want to achieve before they act on it or say anything. It is important to look at the cards chosen alongside the Ace to determine the particular circumstance.

In its more negative forms, the Ace can show where the Subject is feeling lonely and wanting some form of companionship. In its more positive forms it can represent real affinity with someone or something, and those overwhelming first flushes of attraction and love.
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Love & Relationships

The heart begins opening again after a long emotional winter. Affection flows more freely here, bringing vulnerability, tenderness and the possibility of genuine emotional renewal. Some connections enter quietly and still manage to change everything.
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Material Life

Emotional renewal begins softening the harsher edges of survival. Stability grows more naturally when the heart is no longer completely closed against support, intimacy or care from others. Even practical life becomes easier to carry when loneliness loosens its grip.
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Notes from the Artist

One large Cup sits nestled in a small tree which is nourished by the water it sits in. Water is the element of the suit of Cups. Energy from the branches around the Cup which is blooming with flowers and leaves suggests promise and growth; being nurtured by droplets from the tiny star (representing the Universe) above suggests an upsurge of emotions and the pleasure at the possibility of a loving relationship. Water is flowing from the Cup back to water at the base of the tree, which sends gentle ripples out and around.

From the archive

The Original Artwork, Reimagined

Before Ace of Cups became part of the Simply Tarot collection you see today, it was drawn and painted by hand for the original 2011 Tarot House Deck. The style has evolved, but the meaning and character of the card remain at its heart.

Original hand-painted Ace of Cups tarot card by Patricia House from the 2011 Tarot House Deck
2011 Original 2011 artwork Ace of Cups Hand-painted by Patricia House
One large Cup sits nestled in a tree of leaves and pink blooms. Its base in the water below. Water flows from the Cup back into the water, and drips fall from a tiny star above the tree.
Today Ace of Cups reimagined The current Simply Tarot artwork

The original first edition

Buy the Original 2011 Deck

The card shown above is part of the original 78-card Tarot House Deck. Every image was drawn and painted by Patricia House before the deck was professionally printed by Cartamundi in the UK. A limited number from the original print run are still available.

  • 78-card first-edition deck
  • Two tarot-spread cards
  • Short meanings leaflet
  • Brocade drawstring bag

£25.99

Shop Now Read how the deck was created

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