Cancer in the court cards: The King of Cups

King of Cups (trimmed):

© Sharman-Burke/Caselli Tarot

Different traditions have different astrological correspondences when it comes to the Court Cards, but I follow the tradition of linking the cardinal signs with the Kings. That gives the King of Cups for Cancer, the cardinal Water sign.

Cardinality suggests taking the initiative - being self-motivated, as well as outgoing. The cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn – are all symbolic of being good at starting new things but the element of each helps to define the focus of that energy. In the element of water, Cancer initiates contact on an emotional level; it has the ability to take the first steps in campaigning, for instance. Because the Sun is at a standstill at the point in which it enters Cancer, on the solstice, the outgoing, active nature may have more of a reflective quality.

So why Cancer - why the crab - for the King of Cups? I often think that the King of Cups represents a bit of a contradiction between suit and position – we tend to think of the Kings as being responsible and making decisions, while the Cups are about emotions, dreams, fantasy, romance... Remembering that the Sun’s just been ‘standing still’ gives me a clue to a possibly more reflective, inward-focus for this King. He can symbolize wanting to be emotionally involved but at the same time feeling cautious about going too deep – a bit too Scorpionic, perhaps?! The King is often said to carry masculine energy, while the watery realm of the Cups are thought to carry feminine energy. So we have a King of Cups who might come across as quite ambivalent. What better creature to represent this ambivalence than the crab? At home in water, at home on land... but not belonging completely to one or the other. A foot in both camps, as it were...

King of Cups (trimmed):

© Shadowscapes Tarot

The King of Cups in the Shadowscapes appears to be growing out of a strand of kelp or some other type of seaweed. Turtles swim around him, while he faces a sea-horse in a ball of light. The turtles represent the ability to guide the way calmly through the ever-changing watery realm of emotions, while the sea-horse symbolizes Poseidon’s power. The exoskeleton of the sea-horse is spiny as well as delicate – the male protects its young, symbolizing the King’s role as protector. Patient, tolerant, compassionate.

Father of Cups (trimmed):

© Haindl Tarot

The Haindl Tarot gives us Odin to represent the Father, or King, of Cups. Hermann Haindl chose figures to represent a variety of ‘sacred expression’, to borrow Rachel Pollack’s phrase (Haindl Tarot: A Reader’s Handbook, US Games Systems Inc, 1999), from the Stone Age through to Christianity, symbolizing the beliefs of various cultures – the roots, the family, the community. The things that people believed would protect them, as the shell protects the crab. 

Odin is shown hanging upside-down in the card’s image, representing the myth in which he hung himself from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, for nine nights in order to gain the wisdom of the Runes. It’s the same story that’s often depicted in, or used as a basis for, The Hanged Man – but that’s another post in the making!

Beginner’s Guide to the Tarot created by Juliet Sharman-Burke, illustrated by Giovanni Caselli, published by Connections

Haindl Tarot, created by Hermann Haindl, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Shadowscapes Tarot created by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore, published by Llewellyn

Master of emotional detachment? Margarete Petersen’s Father of Cups

We’ve returned to yoga poses in Margarete Petersen’s Father of Cups – he looks rather like a Buddha, in fact. He doesn’t look particularly watery, but I suppose he’s ‘going with the flow’ in his meditative pose!  Plenty of blue surrounds him, though.

 

Father of Cups (trimmed): © Margarete Petersen

I can see, in the unmoving image, the idea of not working from the emotional base, yet being able to understand it and remaining detached.  Spiritual; detached compassion.  In other decks I often feel that the King of Cups doesn’t always look particularly comfortable, unlike the other Kings. Here, though, I can see this as being able to empathize but still remained detached – a quality every good therapeutic counsellor strives for.

 

Feelings ebb and flow -

Compassion, understanding, 
Loving detachment.


Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004

Cancer in the Druidcraft court cards

Different traditions have different astrological correspondences when it comes to the Court Cards, but I follow the tradition of linking Cancer – the cardinal Water sign - to the King of Cups.  The Cups tend to be associated with the element of Water, so it’s not surprising that one of the three Water signs would be tied in to the Cups courts.  

Cancer is also one of the cardinal signs of the zodiac. Cardinality suggests taking the initiative - being self-motivated, as well as outgoing. The cardinal signs – Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn – are all symbolic of being good at starting new things but the element of each helps to define the focus of that energy. In the element of water, Cancer initiates contact on an emotional level; it has the ability to take the first steps in campaigning, for instance.  Because the Sun is at a standstill at the point in which it enters Cancer, on the solstice, the outgoing, active nature may have more of a reflective quality.

Some decks, if they use any astrological correspondences at all, choose the Queens to be the cardinal figure, while others opt for the King.  The Druidcraft’s creators work with the Druid wheel of the year, rather than with astrology, so I’m looking at the cards, trying to see if I can make those associations myself – and I’ve come up with the King.

Druidcraft Tarot: King of Cups (detail)

So why Cancer - why the crab - for the King of Cups?  I often think that the King of Cups represents a bit of a contradiction between suit and position – we tend to think of the Kings as being responsible and making decisions, while the Cups are about emotions, dreams, fantasy, romance...  Remembering that the Sun’s just been ‘standing still’ gives me a clue to a possibly more reflective, inward-focus for this King.  He can symbolize wanting to be emotionally involved but at the same time feeling cautious about going too deep – a bit too Scorpionic, perhaps?!  The King is often said to carry masculine energy, while the watery realm of the Cups are thought to carry feminine energy. So we have a King of Cups who might come across as quite ambivalent.  What better creature to represent this ambivalence than the crab? At home in water, at home on land... but not belonging completely to one or the other. A foot in both camps, as it were... 

The King of Cups in the Druidcraft sits on land, by water – much like the crab. As the head of the Cups clan, he represents the protector of the beliefs of his culture – the things that people believed would protect them, as the shell protects the crab.  There’s a hint of the Chariot, another card associated with Cancer, here in his choice to place responsibility before his need for self-expression, choosing to focus his creativity on things that will benefit his community – perhaps of a spiritual or therapeutic nature, which allow him to draw on Cancerian qualities such as nurturing and compassion.

Druidcraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections