Margarete Petersen Study Group: King of Cups

firemaiden

Margarete Petersen : King of Cups

We've talked about it, we've posted different threads around the boards with translations of the book. Eventually I would love to call them all home to one place.
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DESCRIPTION: Vater der Kelche - Father of Cups
link to the image

A meditating man floats in the center of the card. He seems to be levitating. His eyes are closed, streams of yellow and orange light emanate from the center of his open palms and stream around his body suggesting the flowing of energy between, and around all the chakras. About him is a white light and a mixture of colors that suggest a light and flowing aura. The white light and colors of the aura flow towards the top of the card, eventually merging with flame like colors, and the fiery clouds of twighlight (or sunset). The shape and swirling of the auras and energies moving towards the top of the card finish in what looks like the tale of a diving whale!

The right side of the card shows what appears to be the front of a grey or white horse, galopping furiously along the seashore at twighlight, and part of a kite, (or flag, or parachute thing). (note: I have seen such galopping white horses on the seashore in La Camargue, Southern France)

The bottom of the portion of the frame is the refracted image of a lotus blossom, something that ressembles a giant squid, and more flowing water, perhaps a marsh.

Very atmospheric, this card. Without a doubt there is more to see here.



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firemaiden

King of Cups: attempted translation

painfully translated from Margarete Petersen's German

Without losing myself, I adjust to all the movements of the water. Sunken deep in a state of awakeness, I enter the space left by the outflowing stream of my inner monologue. I am able to tame my never ending thirst. I ride my horse without reins. Through silence, I understand the multi-faceted singing and speech of Water. I swim through the river of forgetting. My body's wisdom reminds me of the separation between Logos and Eros. I feel one-ness as I build my crystal landscapes. I ate from the fruit of knowledge, and the canvass of my organism releases images.

From neuroses grow roses. I swam through the labyrinth of the learned, and gently disturbed the crustacean at the seashore. Tenderness flowed through my channels (durch meine Bahnen???). I became participating, accepting, appreciating / perceiving (wahrnehmenden?) and giving.

My wife, the flowing one, let me know, that beneath the surface of the water, are hidden depths, caves and gorges. On her shimmering mother of pearl, I slid to the ground.


Now we need someone to translate the translation!!
 

Hedera

Thank you for posting this, Firemaiden! And for getting me to buy the deck in the first place, ofcourse.... :D

I have to admit that the court cards in this deck are of the more challenging kind - and that her descriptions of especially the court cards are rather poetic, but not always very helpful.

I think your description is pretty evocative, though, Firemaiden!

There seems to be a great sense of calmness and quiet in this card. Calmness, perhaps, in spite of the more restless and changeable things in life (the squid below - I think they change colour when they're scared or something). Having done all that running around like a galloping horse through the foam of the surf, the Father of Cups can now sit quietly and let his emotions flow through him.

'From neuroses grow roses' - I like that!
 

firemaiden

I agree, Hedera, the poetry may not be especially helpful. But I think we need to interpret it somehow.

Perhaps all those "I" statements might be turned into recommendations?
 

jmd

What a wonderful description given for this card. I get the sense that here is someone who sought to enter the card - with certain preformed views also present.

For example, and though most of us tend to associate Cups with the element of Water, this is not directly inherent in the card. As I have at times mentioned in other threads, the elements are not obviously associated with the suits. One deck, following a different tradition, clearly connects Cups with the element of Air (I mention this just as an example from the Spanish Esoterico Tarot).

Still, having made the elemental correlation, here is a description from someone who obviously enters the card and reports of her deeply sensed experience of this King of Cups: King, as master of the element, and thus accutely aware of its flowing nature and its inner connections to other cards which have previously determined to also have some Water associations - in the case of the text, VII the Chariot and XVIII the Moon.

Given firemaiden's request for some sommentary, here is a quick one, flowing within her translated text...
  • 'Without losing myself' for unlike the person whom the element overwhelms, the King maintains his Ego/I (I am using the term 'Ego' to refer to the inner 'I', not in its more common popular sense of 'egotism' = focussed upon one's self), 'I adjust to all the movements of the water', for adjusting oneself to what occurs and flows is certainly what is called for, and the sign of mastery. It recalls the dance of Strength whereby the jaws of the Lion are but loosened open.

    'Sunken deep in a state of awakeness' - again, the sinking is very much into an intense awareness of the element, without which, the overwhelming drowning state may instead be felt - but then, the King would no more be, and the card transformed to another; 'I enter the space left by the outflowing stream of my inner monologue' - the enter deeply into a meditative state, and observe the stream of consciousness as it flows by, observing but not being cought by its current, observing the flow of emotions by not entering its overwhelming tides, is again a sign of the Mastery of a King with regards to its element.

    'I am able to tame my never ending thirst', that my thirst is forever fulfilled by its very being, for its flow is allowed to flow without taking my being in its wake - without the rider being overwhelmed by his horse.

    'I ride my horse without reins', for my control is not forced, but through allowing the flow to find its home. 'Through silence' - for only through silence will sound resound, 'I understand the multi-faceted singing and speech of Water', that evermoving ocean of depths, of droplets from clear blue sky precipitating, of the caress of rocks to the tempest's of falls smoothing touch.

    'I swim through the river of forgetting', for it is only in forgetting that I may discver myself anew in the wheel of rebirths. 'My body's wisdom reminds me of the separation between Logos and Eros', as my body's wisdom recalls its Divine origins and intelligence, united in its manifestation for the opposing forces of dry heat and cold moisture, and reconciled in the Redeemer's act of Love's sacrifice...

    'I feel one-ness as I build my crystal landscapes. I ate from the fruit of knowledge, and the canvass of my organism releases images' - ahh the deepening of this state from which began the journey presented by this King of Cups!

    'From neuroses grow roses', if but others would recognise that the apparent madness of depths dived into is for the discovery of pearls, which, from their retrieval, may blossom forth as they grow afresh; 'I swam through the labyrinth of the learned, and gently disturbed the crustacean at the seashore', as the labyrinthine threads of those who have sown before is allowed to flow by and be recognised. Again here as earlier, another card which also recalls Watery elementals is recalled.

    'Tenderness flowed through my channels', for that which I observed, I observed flowing within my very being, and thus, 'I became participating, accepting, appreciating / perceiving (wahrnehmenden?) and giving'.

    'My wife', my Queen, 'the flowing one, let me know, that beneath the surface of the water, are hidden depths, caves and gorges. On her shimmering mother of pearl, I slid to the ground, I came to the Earth once more!
 

firemaiden

Jean-Michel: Merci
 

Michellehihi

Ok here am I, 13 years after! Reviving this thread!
What I did for this card is contemplate it and journal on it before looking at the LWB (I am lucky to have all the definitions in English!). And this way, I really got into the card and understood it personally.
Here were my thoughts on it:
I am calm and profoundly at peace. I feel I have given all that I had for my loved ones. I can say that I have accomplished my mission. I am totally receptive to the here and now, and to my inner self also.
Although I am surrounded by a limited space I feel completely free because I inhabit intensely my space. I am delighted to experience life at a slow pace. A horse passes by, I hear him and I smile. I am content. I am him, he is me. We are one. There is no division.
I am fulfilled, all my needs are met. I remain in awe before the Creation.