I do quite a few love-based or relationship-based readings and recently I've had a couple of readings in which the Six of Cups appears as the card that connects the two parties in the romantic relationship. I've been interpreting this to mean there's strong affection between the two, maybe more of a platonic love, but I don't know if there's something I'm missing. What does everyone else think? Has the Six of Cups ever shown up for you in this context?

@Bronwyn, I think sometimes this could mean a past life (if you believe in this) or a karmic connection. 

@FindYourSovereignty I love this interpretation. Will keep this in mind going forward.

Hello! I think another possibility is the two parties know each other very well in any aspect, there are no secrets and both can always meet each other's needs. Maybe a flipside of this is it's all too much predictable. 

1 hour ago, November said:

Hello! I think another possibility is the two parties know each other very well in any aspect, there are no secrets and both can always meet each other's needs. Maybe a flipside of this is it's all too much predictable. 

 

This reminds me of my bff and her husband who met on an online dating app, but grew up in the same town. They had attended the same schools, ate at the same restaurants, shopped the same stores. It connected them in a unique way like they had known each other forever. 

It could be a couple who have known each other for a long term (not just a destiny / soulmate thing). Like people who grew up in the same street or went to the same school. It can be someone from the past or maybe reconnecting with an ex to try again. In my social circle, a couple reunited at a college reunion. They were only friends in college but went to a union and then married. A huge part of that relationship was that they had known each for years. This card has a safety and a stability to it, like a comfortable choice of someone because you know them, rather than taking a risk dating and meeting some hideous choices and new people you have no history with. Having a familiar past automatically gives you something in common you can relate to.

When this card comes up, it often indicates a satisfying and familiar bond, but it can also signify an idealization of that kind of bond, or wishing that the relationship could be what it was once before.  There is an element of looking back, and of reliance on what is known.  Sometimes that can lead one person in a couple to overlook how their partner has grown and changed, basically taking them for granted, and this card can be a reminder that the past is past and not to let it get in the way of seeing with "fresh eyes" the other person as they are today.

 

 

Edited June 17, 20251 yr by geoxena

In considering the 6 of Cups as the energy between a couple, I'd consider it to mean that the energy was not predominantly sexual. That it was a healthy,  well-rounded energy that included shared interests and activities they had in common.  If there is  a sexual relationship it wouldn't be the main focus of the relationship, it would just be a healthy, reasonable part of their lives. Their energy as a couple would be very positive and I'd expect they would continue in that relationship for a very long time. 

Edited June 19Jun 19 by Grizabella

If the upright 6 of Cups appears to describe a couple who have known each other for a long time, or are connected by a shared past, that meaning should be fairly obvious.

However, if it appears for a couple who have only just met and have no known 'past' connection, the card may well indicate a high level of trust between the two. The kind of trust we had as children, when interacting with people we knew well.

Reversed—the card can mean misplaced trust? Or being overly trusting of strangers? I would be wary of a reversed 6 of Cups, when applying it to a relationship, unless the rest of the spread indicates some other factor is in play.

Edited 59 minutes ago59 min by Chariot