10 of Cups: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

[TarotNewbie101]

I'm really confused by this card. I've seen people say this card is about dreams and wishes that don't necessarily, or rarely, come true. It's the idyllic picture of the white-picket fence ending, but it's largely fantasy...unachievable...an unrealistic standard.

 

Yet, I've seen people receive this card in terms that their desires do come true. A card to represent the future of the relationship (and they do get happily married!), it's the card for their spouse (they represent so much joy for them!), about goals realized (they found the community they were wishing for!) 

 

This question of mine sparked this post. So, what is this card? Is it unrealistic expectations or something deeply fulfilling and actually achievable? 

[Aeon418]

This card can symbolise getting everything you think will make you happy and emotionally satisfied. The flip side of this card is that it probably won't last. As soon as anyone gets what they want, they quickly realise it doesn't make them has happy as they imagined it would and soon start wanting something else instead.

 

 

[gregory]

Couldn't have said it better myself ! It's a bit of a "be careful what you wish for" card, too.

[Raggydoll]

For me it often represents a fleeting moment of gratitude and bliss that is shared with one’s family or loved ones. It’s not a season of life but rather a lovely culmination that will soon be replaced with something else. 
 

Water is a very fleeting and changeable element, and the ten is like the end station for the local bus - the bus won’t remain there for a very long time, it will soon be back on the road again. 

[Misterei]

On 5/29/2025 at 8:15 AM, TarotNewbie101 said:

I'm really confused by this card. I've seen people say this card is about dreams and wishes that don't necessarily, or rarely, come true. It's the idyllic picture of the white-picket fence ending, but it's largely fantasy...unachievable...an unrealistic standard....

I can't speak to what it was in your specific reading but some things I bear in mind with 10 cups:

numerologically 10 is a completion. SOmething is ending.

Healthwise, this is a healing card. Sometimes ending a relationship is healing or we heal after a relationship ends. Physically I see it as a benefic card.

Aspects. any tarot card is affected by other cards in the spread. The shadow side of 10 cups can show dreams that don't come true or a not so happy ending. I read this according to Card Yogas to know if I take a malefic aspect about 10 cups. Mostly this card is benefic as I read it, so generally I find it uplifts the other cards--but in a malefic reading--that shadow aspect applies.

Hope this helps!

[JoyousGirl]

22 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

It’s not a season of life but rather a lovely culmination that will soon be replaced with something else. 

 

Yes, totally agree with this. The rainbow in the RW suggests a wonderful moment of delight and joy and soul-filling, and then time, life and the rain shower moves on, the rainbow goes away. They go back to the house, cook dinner and do the dishes. The kids bicker over this or that, and you get stroppy with the hubby for leaving the toilet seat up. 

[Raggydoll]

2 hours ago, JoyousGirl said:

 

Yes, totally agree with this. The rainbow in the RW suggests a wonderful moment of delight and joy and soul-filling, and then time, life and the rain shower moves on, the rainbow goes away. They go back to the house, cook dinner and do the dishes. The kids bicker over this or that, and you get stroppy with the hubby for leaving the toilet seat up. 

Exactly!

[November]

Hello, this is what the 10 of Cups has meant for me throughout these years:

 

''Positive'' Meanings

General context

- A happy outcome

- Celebrating with your loved ones, especially during a meal

- Spending your time with your loved ones

Health context

Feeling better after the pain

Love context

Living happily with your partner, feeling happy with them, it's a mature love

 

''Negative'' Meanings

Love context

- The end of a relationship/ A relationship that has run its course 

- False hope/ wishful thinking about having a relationship with someone who doesn't want to

- Deceiving yourself about finding one day ''the right one''/''the soulmate'' and having ''the perfect relationship'' with them

- Being afraid of arguments because to you they will destroy the relationship

- Feeling like things won't never work out for you in love, feeling like as if you can't never be happy, as if something bad will surely happen in the end, thus the relationship cannot last

 

Love Advice

Don't let this person give you false hope about their intentions, they're not interested in you

 

Job Advice

- There's no perfect job, no perfect work environment, face up to reality 

- Don't focus on your job only, also your family matters in your life

 

General Advice

- Face up to reality, stop daydreaming and wearing rose-tinted glasses

- Choose the life you want without fearing to hurt your family and loved ones

- Don't be afraid to argue, you can always patch things up

- Surround yourself with loved ones, spend your time with those who love you, stay with them

 

You see it always depends on the context and the question of your reading, as well as if you read with reversals or not.

 

Anyway I hope this helps.

[TarotNewbie101]

15 hours ago, November said:

Hello, this is what the 10 of Cups has meant for me throughout these years:

 

''Positive'' Meanings

General context

- A happy outcome

- Celebrating with your loved ones, especially during a meal

- Spending your time with your loved ones

Health context

Feeling better after the pain

Love context

Living happily with your partner, feeling happy with them, it's a mature love

 

''Negative'' Meanings

Love context

- The end of a relationship/ A relationship that has run its course 

- False hope/ wishful thinking about having a relationship with someone who doesn't want to

- Deceiving yourself about finding one day ''the right one''/''the soulmate'' and having ''the perfect relationship'' with them

- Being afraid of arguments because to you they will destroy the relationship

- Feeling like things won't never work out for you in love, feeling like as if you can't never be happy, as if something bad will surely happen in the end, thus the relationship cannot last

 

Love Advice

Don't let this person give you false hope about their intentions, they're not interested in you

 

Job Advice

- There's no perfect job, no perfect work environment, face up to reality 

- Don't focus on your job only, also your family matters in your life

 

General Advice

- Face up to reality, stop daydreaming and wearing rose-tinted glasses

- Choose the life you want without fearing to hurt your family and loved ones

- Don't be afraid to argue, you can always patch things up

- Surround yourself with loved ones, spend your time with those who love you, stay with them

 

You see it always depends on the context and the question of your reading, as well as if you read with reversals or not.

 

Anyway I hope this helps.

It does help! I'm going to use this as a 10 of Cups checklist for me next times I get this card to understand its full meaning. Thanks :)

[Chariot]

I have never read the 10 of Cups upright as malefic in any way, but it depends on context AND the tarot artist's interpretation of the card.  Some, like the RWS depiction, show a scene that looks almost too good (or excited) to be true.  A dramatic gesture by the couple towards the rainbow, while children play nearby.

 

Other decks, like the Tarot Grand Luxe (Ciro Marchetti) show an indoor scene of domestic coziness ...a domestic (modern) couple cuddled up in front of a fireplace, with a sleeping cat nearby.  Another of my favourite decks, The Anna K Tarot, shows a domestic family with parents and children together in a peaceful scene on a porch.  In the background is a bit of a rainbow, but they're not looking at it, but only at each other in a peaceful, restful scene.

I would read the upright card in an everyday reading as 'everything is fine at home.'  No matter what else might be going on, your home life is secure just now. I would read the reversed in an everyday reading as 'things will go wrong at home ...such as an everyday domestic problem or quarrel within the family.  I had this reversed 10 of Cups appear for me not long ago, when our roof developed a small leak during a rainstorm ...not a disaster, but one that needed fixing ASAP.

The more momentous the issue, the more momentous these meanings become.  A reversed 10 of  Cups in a reading about the state of a marriage, for example, could indicate the marriage is on the rocks, or becoming acrimonious.

In some scenarios, especially with the RWS deck, the meaning might be that the domestic happiness is somewhat exaggerated and unrealistic ...but it doesn't usually mean the scenario is bad.  Just maybe a bit too good to be true and needs looked at from a more objective perspective, if possible.  Perhaps people are portraying themselves as happily married when, in fact, that's sugar-coating the situation a bit.  This kind of thing.  Or expecting perfection, when it doesn't really exist or will only exist for a moment or two.

As in all readings, context is key.  And also the artwork of a particular deck might be taken into account as well.  Especially when the depiction does deviate from the RWS deck to quite a degree ...as in the two decks I mentioned earlier. There is no sign of unrealistic domestic bliss in those two cards, although the depictions are of a particular moment, not necessarily a life overview.

[Ferrea]

14 minutes ago, Chariot said:

...
In some scenarios, especially with the RWS deck, the meaning might be that the domestic happiness is somewhat exaggerated and unrealistic ...but it doesn't usually mean the scenario is bad.  Just maybe a bit too good to be true and needs looked at from a more objective perspective, if possible.  Perhaps people are portraying themselves as happily married when, in fact, that's sugar-coating the situation a bit.  This kind of thing.  Or expecting perfection, when it doesn't really exist or will only exist for a moment or two.
...

 

Are you familiar with the concept of "stage cards"? I don’t know where I read about it, but apparently Pamela Colman Smith deliberately created the impression of a stage in some cards. The idea is that what’s going on in the scene has the potential to be more of a presentation, an enactment or pretence, rather than an authentic experience.

There are about a dozen of them (and there are some I'm not sure about). The 10 of Cups is one of them; the 10 of Pentacles is not. You can pretend to be a happy family, but as a family, you can’t fake being multigenerational and having a legacy.

It’s interesting to see which cards she designed that way and which she didn’t. 

 

P.S.: The 10 of Cups on the right in your post is from the DruidCraft Tarot.

 

[Chariot]

50 minutes ago, Ferrea said:

 

 

 

P.S.: The 10 of Cups on the right in your post is from the DruidCraft Tarot.

 

Yes!  I was just re-entering the site, hoping to make a change in my post ...which I'm too late to do.  I was also looking at the Anna K Tarot before making the post, and that's why I got mixed up.  Drat. Anyway, thanks for pointing it out.

[Chariot]

55 minutes ago, Ferrea said:

 

Are you familiar with the concept of "stage cards"? I don’t know where I read about it, but apparently Pamela Colman Smith deliberately created the impression of a stage in some cards. The idea is that what’s going on in the scene has the potential to be more of a presentation, an enactment or pretence, rather than an authentic experience.

There are about a dozen of them (and there are some I'm not sure about). The 10 of Cups is one of them; the 10 of Pentacles is not. You can pretend to be a happy family, but as a family, you can’t fake being multigenerational and having a legacy.

It’s interesting to see which cards she designed that way and which she didn’t. 

 

P.S.: The 10 of Cups on the right in your post is from the DruidCraft Tarot.

 

No, I'm not familiar with the term of 'stage cards.'  But it makes sense.  A staged card is a scene that actually depicts the card in action, OR is otherwise an image representing the meaning of the card.  Interesting.

Edited June 9 by Chariot