The deck · Cups · Water

Ten of Cups, from the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck

Ten of Cups

ContentmentReposeHuman loveFriendship

Upright

Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent's interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.

Reversed

Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

The picture

Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstacy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §2

Older readings

For a male Querent, a good marriage and one beyond his expectations. Reversed: Sorrow; also a serious quarrel.

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Part III §4. Waite collected these and says they often disagree with the main meanings.

Waite wrote in 1911 and some of his meanings show it. Tarot is a tradition of reflection, not a prediction, and no card decides anything for you.