Nostalgia in the Tarot: The Six of Cups and the Function of Longing

(Based on the representations found on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.)

Tarot confession: I’ve always dismissed the Six of Cups as a fluff card. There, I said it. The saccharine image of a hooded child stooping to present an even smaller, albeit older-looking, figure with a cup of flowers never struck me as particularly weighty. Childhood memories, old friends, remembrances of things past — I typically gave this card short shrift, assigning it a lower level of import in the Minor Arcana’s symbolic hierarchy. Now…