The King of Cups
Symbolism
A King wears a watery crown and sits on his throne on a square platform in the middle of a wavy ocean. He is strong and stable amongst all the ups and downs of the flowing waters. He holds his cup in one hand and a sceptre in the other. This king represents the masculine confidence of someone grounded and very aware of their emotional gifts and sensitivity.
One of his feet is reaching forward as if to show that he is ready to get up and express his feelings at any given point. In the background there is a ship showing his ability to navigate the stormy weather of the emotional world.
There is a whale breaching out of the ocean, representing his profound feelings and ability to dive into the depths of the subconscious.
Keywords
Upright: Mature, sensitive, compassionate, loving, empathic, emotional guide, deep, fun, healer, creatively artistic, affectionate, charming, psychic.
Reversed: Over-sensitive, fearful, nervous, anxiety, moody, pessimistic, repressed emotions, self-doubt, need for healing.
Upright meaning
This King is the masculine expression of our emotions and feelings. Sharing our mature sensitivity and emotional vulnerability is not something that is given much importance in our society. Neither is it a common practice to consciously hold space for emotional expression. This King represents all these qualities, but his maturity is harder to find in either women or men, especially men.
Connecting with this king helps us know what we want, and how to express our needs. He is a giver, like all male energy, and is a generous lover. He is not afraid of his sensitivity, and he is in touch with his watery subconscious. When we embody this King, we encourage others to tap into their feelings and deep sensitivity. The king is a skilled guide and healer.
This male energy holds space for emotions better than anything else. He can weather all storms, and will be stable like a rock in a tumultuous ocean. He encourages depth in relational exchanges, and has a way of bringing out hidden emotional stories to the surface. This is because he has no judgement, just love and empathy.
This King’s message is a beautiful one, asking us to connect with our feelings, our traumas, and our drama. He is that part of us that won’t get carried away, but instead, can handle our emotional swings. He knows how to keep us centred when a wave crashes on our heads. His compassion and maturity makes us to flow with change, and yet feel stable with every push and pull.
The work this king has done on himself has brought him a deeper level of self-acceptance and self-love. He knows how important it is to express his desires and feelings, and he knows how to create a ‘safe space’. It is his personal intimacy which makes him inspiring and safe to be around. His sensitivity comes with a psychic intuition, and his presence will bring an air of healing to every table he sits at.
Reversed meaning
The Shadow King of Cups has the same depth of emotion as his upright double, but he doesn’t deal with them in the same way. He will often get emotionally carried away, and his feelings are not just deep, but exaggerated. His ego is attached to his emotional state, and so he rises and falls with each big wave, feeling high one moment and low the next. Instability is his middle name.
There is a natural or taught suppression of feelings, with this reversed card, but suppression for this mature, emotional, male energy just doesn’t work at all. He won’t want to contain himself, but may have been taught to do so. This causes a volatile inner conflict, where there could be moody sulks one moment, and emotional outbursts the next. He can switch from tears of joy to sadness within a minute, and may demonstrate some bipolar tendencies. He often has an issue putting a filter on how he feels.
The emotional suppression and hiding from our sensitivity will be a childhood lesson and trauma. This king will have done some work on that, or else he would not have become king, but there is more healing needed. The more common emotions that need to surface will be shame, guilt, fear, and anger. This king will project these emotions on others, blaming the world for the way he feels, before taking ownership himself.
This shadow king in us does not have great boundaries, and we do not know how to hold space for our own emotions. The low self-esteem this king feels may well drown him. He doesn’t know how to love himself properly, and so he will attract people to care for him and feed him what he cannot feed himself. He will look for a mothering energy, and yet will attract others that do not love themselves either. These relationships will be flawed with emotional manipulation.
Finding an honest inner connection and working with our darker feelings will bring us the healing this king needs. His message is not solely negative because he still has an amazing capacity to dive deep, but he must learn to be kind to himself, practicing self-care and self-love.