Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
Four of Cups
Chesed in Briah
- Suit
- cups
- Rank
- Four
- World
- Briah
- Station
- Chesed
- Verb
- I create
Chesed, what is given
Chesed is mercy: the faculty of expansion, and of being given to. The Four asks whether what has been formed can now receive something more.
Upright
Flowing. Generosity offered to the self. The question is whether identity has room to take it in. In the world of creation, a self that makes things also has to be able to receive them, and the card shows someone who is occupied with what is already held.
Misdirected. Contemplating what is already held and refusing what is offered, or taking all and giving nothing.
Reversed
Blocked. The gift is refused and the self cannot take it in.
Flooded. Taking everything offered, with no limit.
The image
A young man sits under a tree with his arms and legs crossed, looking at three cups on the ground in front of him. From a cloud at the side, a hand offers a fourth cup. He does not seem to see it.
Learn how to read Four of Cups in a spread
This page shows you what Four of Cups means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
