King of Cups
calm feeling · wise counsel · kindness · steadiness
Card art: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, for A. E. Waite. Public domain.
The suit of Cups
In a few words
- calm feeling
- wise counsel
- kindness
- steadiness
A king on a throne in a moving sea, unmoved. Feeling mastered, not suppressed; kindness with authority.
Upright
- Everything
- A king on a throne in a moving sea, unmoved. Feeling mastered, not suppressed; kindness with authority.
- Love
- A mature, steady, caring partner. Emotional safety; a man who listens.
- Work
- Lead with calm. Diplomacy, counsel, the steady hand in a storm.
- Money
- Balanced, generous, wise with money. Advice from an experienced elder.
- Myself
- You can feel deeply and still steer. That is maturity.
Fair man, man of business, law, or divinity; responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art; creative intelligence.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 198
Reversed
- Everything
- Feeling turned cold or manipulative. Moods hidden behind a calm face.
- Love
- Emotional distance, or a partner who controls quietly. Ask for honesty.
- Work
- A leader who withholds, or who uses charm to avoid the hard call.
- Money
- Financial advice with a hidden agenda. Or your own avoidance of a money truth.
- Myself
- Bottling everything. The sea does not stay calm by pretending.
Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal, pillage, considerable loss.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 198
The card, as Waite described it
He holds a short sceptre in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the Sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards.The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), p. 198
The plain-word meanings on this page were written for ShreeJyoti and are still under review.