Knight of Cups

Knight of Cups is one of the cards in “old school Tarot” that would represent a suitor; think love poems and mix tapes. I stay mostly within the camp that believes that court cards do not represent other people, but only aspects of ourselves (and I say mostly because of course there are exceptions, and Tarot could never be pinned down with “always” or “never”). Knights often reflect how we’re presenting in the world, or advise us on how we should. How should you approach this situation? How are you coming across? What are you single-mindedly in pursuit of?  These are questions the Knights can answer for us. Knight of Cups, being in the suit of emotion, wears their* heart on their sleeve. They show us what it’s like to be vulnerable and emotionally available with total confidence, trusting that it’s the most courageous thing to do. Knight of Cups prioritizes connection, leads with their intuition, and also moves with a lot of grace and balance. Think of how difficult it would be to ride a horse while holding a goblet full of your own feelings! You need to be really mindful so you don’t spill them everywhere. That’s why I don’t agree with interpretations of this Knight as melodramatic (although in reverse we might veer into that territory); you need to show a lot of restraint and maturity to move through the world and keep an open heart full. 

*again, court cards are beyond gender 

4 of Cups

Four of Cups is a card of emotional digestion. Much is said about the figure in this card refusing the cup that is being offered, and there are suggestions that he is being petulant and bratty. While that *can* be the case, it’s good to explore the reason behind that refusal. There are 3 cups on the ground, the contents of which we could infer that this character has already consumed. Perhaps this person is just really *full*, and they need to sit and wait on this new offering until they have the capacity for it, both literally and figuratively. It is not wise to binge on anything, right? Not only can you make yourself sick, but at some point you stop enjoying the whole experience. You become numb to the flavor of things. Even if you *want* to keep saying ‘Yes!’ and ‘More!’, eventually you have to concede that you just need a break. You have to allow what you’ve already taken in to process, digest, and absorb. Our hearts can be like sponges; holding so much they become heavy and can make our energy leaden and even depressed. We can misinterpret that for emptiness, when it is just the opposite. We can wonder what’s wrong with us that we have no *appetite* for life when it is just that we are full. This card tells us that it’s wise to give ourselves that time away from the ‘buffet of the heart’ so to speak, and allows us to trust that when our appetite returns, more will be waiting for us. 

Page of Cups

Pages in the Tarot invite us to get curious. Some decks have renamed them ‘students’, and they approach things with a beginner’s mind. They’re often referred to as youthful, which has nothing to do with age, but with their whole attitude towards life. I don’t believe Pages are naïve, but they are certainly not jaded. When we are working with Page energy, we are open to reimagining what is possible, and open to the reinvention of our experience. Page of Cups then, could be considered the ‘student of the heart’. We can sit with our feelings here with a non-judgmental curiosity about what they have to tell us. Cups are the suit of water, and I often imagine feelings rolling in and out like the tide. This Page wanders up and down the shoreline, delighted with the treasures the tide has brought in. Bits of memory, old hurts and resentments like fragments of shell and sea glass. This Page gathers them all up and marvels at the stories they have to tell. Page of Cups offers us so much healing, because they come to the heart without an agenda or preconceived ideas about what things mean. They allow us to metabolize old wounds so quickly because they can reframe through play and story, art and song. When this Page comes up in a reading it can indicate the need to process experiences creatively. It can also suggest that you take your inner child out to buy a set of Legos, or whatever it is that allows that tender emotional self to feel safe and nurtured.