Nine of Cups: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Nine of Cups upright means: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made. Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

The picture

“A goodly personage has feasted to his heart's content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.” A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1910

Upright

Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.

Waite's additional meanings: Of good augury for military men.

Reversed

Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: Good business.

In one line

Concord and contentment: satisfaction for the one who asks. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Nine of Cups is the ninth card of the suit of Cups, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Nines: Nine of Wands, Nine of Swords, Nine of Pentacles.

In Esbat

Esbat deals a card of the day, face down until you turn it, and holds all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. The Nine of Cups can be shared as a picture. All 78 tarot card meanings.

Sources

Meanings and picture descriptions: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), public domain, checked against the Wikisource transcription. Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, 1910, public domain. Like the app, this page records what the book says; it does not promise outcomes.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

Esbat: Tarot & Book of Shadows, on Google Play

A card of the day, face down until you turn it, and all 78 cards in the 1910 pictures with Waite's meanings, upright and reversed. For Android.

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Keep reading

• Eight of Cups: tarot card meaning: Eight of Cups tarot card meaning, upright and reversed, in A. E. Waite's own words (1910), with the original 1910 picture.
• Ten of Cups: tarot card meaning: Ten of Cups tarot card meaning, upright and reversed, in A. E. Waite's own words (1910), with the original 1910 picture.
• Tarot card meanings: all 78 cards: All 78 tarot card meanings, upright and reversed, in A. E. Waite's own words (1910), with Pamela Colman Smith's original pictures.