What they mean together
In the Five of Cups someone mourns what was spilled without seeing the two cups still standing behind them. The Six of Cups is exactly what remains: the good memories, the people who've always been there, what was good for you. Together they speak of a sadness that looks back. That past can be a shelter where you pull yourself together or a place where you get stuck, depending on how you use it.
In love
Missing someone and remembering mostly the good parts. Someone from before may come back, and it's worth asking whether what's returning is the relationship or just the nostalgia.
Career and money
Missing an old team or a previous job after a change that didn't work out. A former contact may help you get out of the rut.
An example
Your family has decided to sell the old summer house where you spent every summer as a kid, and you ask how to cope. The Five and Six of Cups come up. The sadness is real and makes sense: along with the house goes a place where you were very happy. But the Six reminds you that what you lived there isn't sold with the walls. Make one last visit, keep some small object and get your cousins together for a goodbye meal. A shared memory hurts less than one you carry alone.
By position in the spread
In the past
You lost something that was part of your story, a place, a friendship or a happy time. You still remember it with a mix of fondness and sadness.
In the present
You're looking back a lot. It can help you understand what was good for you, as long as you turn around now and then toward what you have today.
In the future
Something from the past will knock on your door again, a person or an old habit. It'll help you close a painful chapter if you welcome it without expecting everything to be the way it was.
If they come up reversed
With the Five of Cups reversed, the sadness starts to ease and the memory doesn't hurt as much. If the Six is the reversed one, you're clinging to an idealized version of the past that won't let you move forward. With both upside down, it's time to let go of nostalgia so you can live what's in front of you.
This week, call someone from your childhood who knew who you were before all this.
Frequently asked questions
Do the Five and Six of Cups mean my ex is coming back?
They can mean someone from the past reappears, or that you can't stop thinking about that person. Coming back doesn't guarantee it'll work, so ask yourself whether you miss them or the person you were back then.
Is it a yes or no answer?
It's more of a maybe that leans toward no. The Five holds things back and the Six softens the blow, so what you're asking about could happen in a different form or later on, but not the way you remember it.
To read them separately, here is the meaning of Five of Cups and of Six of Cups. And if they came up in a three card spread, look at the position each one landed in too.
Other combinations with these cards
Drew a different pair? Look it up in the combination finder.