Ten of Cups: tarot card meaning

In A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), the Ten of Cups upright means: 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.

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, 1910

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.

Waite's additional meanings: For a male Querent, a good marriage and one beyond his expectations.

Reversed

Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.

Waite's additional meanings, reversed: Sorrow; also a serious quarrel.

In one line

Contentment of the whole heart: home, love, friendship. (Esbat's own summary of Waite's meaning and picture.)

Where it sits in the deck

The Ten of Cups is the tenth card of the suit of Cups, one of the 56 Minor Arcana. The other Tens: Ten of Wands, Ten of Swords, Ten 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 Ten 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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