King of Cups (Rider Waite Tarot)
First Impressions
It’s a strange card, this King of Cups. When I try to make sense of it from a logical standpoint, in terms of physics and such, I can’t. A king on a throne that sits on a concrete slab in the middle of the ocean. It lies pretty low in the water, too. Is it floating there, or is it an actual pillar in the water? Either way, it looks very precarious to me. If it’s floating, like a kingly and pretentious survivor of a shipwreck, then he is in imminent danger of foundering. The top of the slab is very low, in constant danger of being swamped and going under; and that’s even assuming that what looks like a chunk of concrete or stone can even float. Which is, of course, illogical. And if it’s the very top of a concrete block or pillar that rises out of the ocean, then it’s in danger of being submerged by the waves and quite possibly the rising tide.
Whatever the premise here, the King appears largely unconcerned by it. Or at least, he is too preoccupied by his own kingly concerns to notice his surroundings. His face is serious and unlike the rest of his Cups court family, he looks into the distance rather than at his suit emblem. Is he searching for the horizon - and rescue? Unlikely, but I suppose it’s possible. Although he doesn’t strike me as a small man, he seems lost inside his clothes. His crown is slightly oversized for his head, his blue robe seems big on him, and his gold and red cloak is voluminous as it drapes over the sides of his throne. He’s got a gold necklace of a fish around his neck and a large ring on his right hand. In my deck (the pocket Rider Waite) it’s the same colour as the flesh on his hand. He holds a cup in the hand with the ring; it’s nothing spectacular like his Queen’s, just a regular standard-issue golden goblet like the majority of the Cups suit. In the other hand he holds a sceptre that looks like a fancy candlestick or one of the High Priestess’ pillars; it is topped by a lily or lotus sort of motif. And look - carved into the arm of the throne is almost the same sceptre. His shoes are scaled. Maybe it’s meant to be chain mail, but it looks like fish scales to me.
The waves around him are blue and green and rolling. There’s a red ship in full sail behind him; if it’s rescue he’s looking for, he’s looking in the wrong direction. There’s also a large fish leaping. Waite calls it a dolphin, but it looks like a child’s rendition of a fish to me. And it’s smiling.
What do I think of this King? He doesn’t look happy. He looks serious, preoccupied. But then, I think the only king in this deck that looks truly happy is the King of Pentacles. I think his kingship doesn’t necessarily agree with him; like his clothes, it doesn’t fit him. He seems to fit in so well with his element, his surroundings, that I wonder if the masculine fire of kingship really blends well with the feminine water of Cups.
Creator’s Notes
Waite says:
Waite said:
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.
Others’ Interpretations
Waite sees this card as:
Waite said:
Divinatory Meanings: 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. Reversed: Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal, pillage, considerable loss.
Also, I like what wandking said about this card back in 2005:
Although I agree with croley and all those writers who adopted his astrological influences on most of the minors, on the court cards I go anouther direction: queens are cardinal (the true initiators) and kings are fixed. Knights are mutable and pages draw energy, like aces, from fire, earth air and water. here's my take on the ruler of a realm of emotions:
THE KING OF CUPS
Offering personification of extremes, The King of Cups presents his fiery masculine image within a watery feminine realm. An embodiment of contradiction, this king resembles water. He is placid on the surface, yet turbulent beneath his facade. Under the serene exterior, this king conceals ulterior motives. In a spread, this card represents other people or an aspect of your personality emerging. Often artistic and religious, the King of Cups might indicate a therapist or doctor in a reading. Advising you not to take anyone the king represents at face value, this conflicted king provides wise guidance. As a counselor, he respects the beliefs of others and listens to opinions, which conflict with personal views. Never critical of people, The King of Cups accepts the role of a fair-minded, understanding advocate. In response to his supportive nature, people attentively listen to the words of wisdom the king offers. […]
Symbolism and Attributes
Elementally the King of Cups is the Fiery part of Water. A real contradiction, and one indicated by his somewhat troubled and serious expression. The energetic and active masculine Fire of his kingship is in such conflict with his passive and sensitive feminine Water of his suit; the rough and rolling waves that surround him are a bit of a visual clue to that trouble - emotional turmoil. Two powerful and contrasting inner forces at work cause them to weaken one another.
Astrologically the King is ruled by Cancer, the Crab. Ruled by Water, and the Moon, Cancer is also linked to the Chariot in the Major Arcana. This sign is a nurturing one, but also self-protective and secretive. The vulnerable inner workings protected by an armored shell. The sideways link to the Chariot is interesting; I wonder if it represents all that the King of Cups has done, has fought for and won, to get him where he is now. Or if the Chariot is his altar ego, a sort of Walter Mitty personality. Whichever the case, he is very defensive of his feelings and thoughts, and all that he has accomplished.
As he sits on his throne in the middle of the ocean, the King of Cups’ face is serious and some might say even aloof. I think this is part of the Cancerian element; he is protective and slow to trust. There may be a lot going on under the surface, but he’s not letting on. His eyes are on some far horizon or distant shore that we can’t see. I don’t think this is a man who lives in the here and now, whose focus is on the more immediate concerns.
I get the impression somehow that this guy isn’t a big man; look how loosely his robe fits, and how big his crown looks on his head (notice too the rippling water in the golden brim of the crown). From this I think that his kingship literally doesn’t fit him. That he lets his mantle of rulership overcome him, that it is wearing
him, so to speak. He is in danger of being overwhelmed, subsumed by his role. Makes me think of the over-covered High Priestess, indicating that he is hiding inside his clothes, that he has something to hide, or at least is not open. He wears the blue of water, of emotions, intuition, reflection, sensitivity - all the Cups-oriented aspects. But the way his cloak is thrown over his shoulder, it is as if the blue is at risk of being covered by the red of will and purpose, and the golden yellow of intellect and reason. He is subjugating his native sensitivity, trying to mask it beneath the logical and purposeful exterior of a king. And not with any very great success. No wonder he looks unhappy. There is a golden fish on a necklace around his neck. The fish is a symbol of creativity, and also of spirituality. But notice how the King wears his fish as a token around his neck. We wonder if it’s an ornamentation, an affectation. Why? Because the real thing is frolicking in the waves in the background, unbeknownst to him. The one foot that is visible from underneath his robe appears to be scaled like a fish; his creativity and his unconscious nature, then, is still a part of him, for all that he tries to cover it up or repress it.
The fact that he wears a ring on the middle finger of his right hand signifies that he is concerned with externalizing, sending outward (right hand) the need for balance (the middle finger, the finger of Saturn, balance according to a website I'd found on the symbolism of rings). With the same hand he holds the cup of his suit, but he's the only one of his royal family that doesn't in fact look at it. It's as if he perceives it as emblematic, like a family crest or a symbol of his power, but he doesn't perceive it as something that's actually relevant to him personally. In fact I think he may even have forgotten it altogether. Rachel Pollack said in
Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom that:
Pollack said:
Cups symbolize the creative imagination and to achieve success he has had to discipline and even suppress his dreams.
Has he? From his expression I still have to wonder if he was ever in touch with his dreams and his creativity in the first place.
With the other hand he holds a sceptre - a phallic and masculine symbol as well as a symbol of his authority. But the best part is that is shaped like one of the pillars on the High Priestess card. It has the same curvature, the same lily-style design at the top. People such as Sandra Thompson say that it is in fact a lotus shape, and so relates to the Egyptian symbol of water as the origin of all life. The lotus can also represent such things as spirituality, love, and the striving of the soul from the unconscious to the conscious (as per the water lilies on the Page of Cups' tunic). But what about the pillar-type look of the sceptre? It's in the same relative position to the King of Cups as the white pillar Jachin is to the High Priestess. So the sceptre may be a representation in miniature of the Pillar of Mercy. So for all that he tries to suppress it and appear firm and purposeful and authoratative, the King of Cups is still a softie at heart, and merciful.
The sceptre is echoed in stone, carved into the arm of the throne. In the carved replica it looks less like a sceptre and more like a cup with a very long stem, like a fancy candlestick. But that's not the interesting part of the throne. What's really unique about it is how it floats on the rough water, as though it isn't made of stone. Despite the rough water it seems perfectly level. Notice how the water doesn't even wash over the low base or touch the King. So I think that he's not in touch with his emotions, with his intuition. Instead he holds himself aloof, distant, from them. But the ocean is still there, vast and choppy and unpredictable. Hard though he works to distance himself from it, it could rise and swamp him at any time.
Behind the King's throne a large fish (Waite calls it a dolphin) frolics, and ship passes in full sail. Both are emblems of water, of course, but more than that. The ship, being partially under the water suggests a merging of conscious and unconscious - how the intuition meets and sometimes crosses into the perceived world. It also represents commerce and brings business, money and visitors. So it's a symbol of the King of Cups' more material and kingly concerns in the here and now. But even so, for all his pretended sternness and will, he doesn't notice it. Nor does he notice the fish, which represents his creativity. It's there, just pushed to the background and ignored.
So if he ignores the spiritual and intuitive Cups side of his personality, and the practical commercial side of rulership, even the symbols of his authority, well what the heck
is he concentrating on in this card? I think he's just so conflicted, trying so hard to reconcile all the contradictory aspects of his role and his personality, that he can't really pay attention to any of them. No wonder he looks so unhappy.
My Interpretations
I used to see this card as representing a family man, a husband and father, a sensitive man. But now I'm not so sure. Now I view it almost as a man who doesn't know
what the hell he is. Poor man. He's sensitive, even intuitive. He could be a very caring man. But I think that part of his personality makes him uncomfortable, even embarrassed. So he tries to stifle it, push it away. But the mantle of leadership, the role of hard and determined ruler, bad-ass and decisive, doesn't fit him and fails to cover this side of him. So he's unhappy, conflicted, torn. Neither fish nor fowl, he doesn't know what he is any more. As a situation it could mean a similar conflict of interest.