Three of Cups

The image

Three young women stand in a ring in a garden or field, each lifting a cup high above her head as if in a toast or a dance. Their gowns are of different colours, and they wear garlands in their hair. At their feet lie the fruits of harvest: a gourd or pumpkin, grapes and other produce. The sky is a clear blue. Their faces are partly turned toward one another, and the raised arms and interlinked bodies give the image a rhythm close to classical pictures of the Three Graces.

History

In the Tarot de Marseille the Three of Cups shows two cups below and one above, framed by twining foliage, with no figures. Smith's dancing maidens of 1909 are new, though the motif of three women in a ring is one of the oldest in European art — the Graces of Greek and Roman tradition, often shown dancing in a circle. Waite's description calls them maidens in a garden-ground with cups uplifted, as if pledging one another. Smith's long experience of theatre, pageant and costume is often seen in the card's sense of choreography.

Symbolism

The Golden Dawn called this card the Lord of Abundance and gave it Mercury in Cancer, in Binah, the sefirah of understanding and the great mother. Crowley titled it Abundance as well. Three in the minor arcana often represents a first flowering (see number 3), and in the watery suit the fruit is emotional: love that has grown into a shared life. Mercury in Cancer combines communication with the domestic sign — conversation, news and messages among friends and family. The harvest at their feet links joy to gratitude for plenty.

In a reading

Readers often read it as a party, a wedding, a naming ceremony or a reunion. With the Four of Wands the celebration is doubled; with the Empress it may mark happy family news. Next to the Seven of Cups or the Devil it may warn of excess. In a question about a group project it shows warm co-operation, and in a past position it can recall a circle of friends whose support still matters.

Some readers point out that the three women share the work of the harvest as well as its pleasures, and use the card to speak of mutual support among friends, colleagues or family. Its warmth is communal rather than private: the joy grows because it is held in common, and no single figure stands out from the circle.

In the Golden Dawn's reading, Binah's motherly quality adds a note of nourishment to the scene; the card is as much about being sustained by others as about festivity.