Ace of Cups in the 5-Card Spread with the Rider Waite Tarot

Ace of Cups as second card : Challenge / Obstacle
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

In contrast, the Ace of Cups highlights emotional closure, a refusal to receive or express love, or a blockage in the heart’s momentum. The consultant may be afraid to open up, to show vulnerability, or may be carrying an old wound that prevents them from welcoming what is sweet and true.

There may also be an unconscious refusal to feel, a tendency to shut off emotions, or to avoid deep connections.

Sometimes this card indicates a relationship that could have begun but remained superficial or was not recognised in time.

It may also be a case of excessive emotional expectations, idealisation of love, or emotional dependence that blocks the flow of the heart.

The Ace of Cups in opposition shows that the source is there, but something is holding it back, disturbing it, or diverting it. It is therefore essential to return to the body, to breathing, to accepting emotions as they are, without judgement. This blockage does not require effort: it requires gentle surrender, sincere listening, and permission to feel.

Ace of Cups as third card : Advice
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

As advice, the Ace of Cups invites you to open your heart and fully embrace whatever is seeking to emerge within you, whether it be love, renewed peace, inspired creativity or a renewed connection. It is about receiving rather than seeking, letting whatever wants to nourish you flow freely.

The advice is to reconnect with your inner source, your sensitivity, your intuition. You may be experiencing a subtle moment of grace, but for it to blossom, you must surrender to it without fear.

This card also advises you to welcome love in all its forms: an encounter, forgiveness, care, a gesture of tenderness, a deep intuition. Now is the time to let yourself be touched, to listen to your heart rather than your mind, and to cultivate beauty in your daily life.

The Ace of Cups tells you: don’t be afraid to love, to create, to cry, to receive. This is not a weakness — it is a gentle, fertile, immense power.

Ace of Cups as fourth card : Outcome
in the Rider Waite Smith 5-Card spread

In the outcome position, the Ace of Cups heralds a complete and genuine opening of the heart, emotional renewal, or gentle and profound emotional fulfilment.

This result can manifest itself in a harmonious relationship, a reconnection with oneself, liberating forgiveness, or even a nourishing artistic or spiritual creation.

This card announces that peace is returning, that love is flowing, and that the heart is opening up to a new dimension.

It can indicate a happy beginning: of a relationship, a commitment, or a stage of inner healing.

This is not a spectacular achievement, but an intimate, subtle, essential victory. What is born here is fragile but pure, and if welcomed, can become the source of a major transformation.

The outcome is therefore deeply positive, especially if the person seeking guidance knows how to welcome what life offers with humility and sensitivity. It is a return to love in all its forms.