Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

The waters are beneath, and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana.

About the Deck

Pivotal and canonical, this deck defined a new pattern that would be followed up to the present.

Provenance

Designed by A.E. Waite and Illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. England, 1911.

Meaning of Ace of Cups from the Rider Waite Smith Tarot Deck

Upright

House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof.

Reversed

House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.

According to Many Schools of Thought

Papus's Divinatory Meanings

Commencement of a love affair.

A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings

Upright

Inflexible will, unalterable law.

Reversed

Unexpected change of position.

Mme. Le Normand's Divinatory Meanings

The inquirer, if male.

S. L. MacGregor Mathers's Divinatory Meanings

Upright

Feasting, Banquet, Good Cheer

Reversed

Change, Novelty, Metamorphosis, Inconstancy.

P.R.S. Foli's Divinatory Meanings

Upright

A love letter, good news

Reversed

a removal or a visit from a friend.

Mme. Le Marchand's Divinatory Meanings

signifies ardent love; eternal fidelity