MINOR ARCANA

King of Cups Tarot Meanings

The King of Cups is the air of water, he is both in touch with his emotions but can also rise above them in order to make clear and logical decisions. Is an emotionally powered authority figure and makes the perfect diplomat.

With the King of Cups, there is the ability to see all sides of a situation and to understand the feelings and emotions that are fuelling them. It shows a mastery level of observation and an ability to have compassion and still be able to think logistically to come to the best conclusion.

King of Cups Tarot Meanings Balanced Emotion

King of Cups Upright Meanings

In the upright position, the King of Cups is the ultimate moderator. He has the ability to play both sides and see the reasoning of all things. Some of the key meanings of the King of Cups are:

Sensitive
Open-minded
Diplomatic
Calm
Observant

If you think about a king, think about all the properties he would need in order to be a fair and efficient ruler. Those are the qualities that the King of Cups possess. He’s the perfect compromiser and can find solutions that can defuse even the most emotionally charged confrontations.

King of Cups Reversed Meanings

In the reversed position, the King of Cups has a short fuse, although he is open to pretty much everything, if you test him he will show his darker side. If the King of Cups feels like he has been wronged in some way, he’s not beneath taking immature actions in order to get revenge. Some of the main reversed meanings of the King of Cups are:

Volatility
Manipulative
Short-tempered
Immature
Unbalanced

The King of Cups is either your best friend or your worst enemy. Although he can be diplomatic when he wants to be, if he feels personally wronged or attacked, he has no problem throwing that diplomacy out of the window.

Reading King of Cups in a Tarot Spread

Often the King of Cups appears when we are faced with a situation that is sensitive or is tied in some way to our emotional wellbeing. It can be a card that calls for us to rise above our emotional reactions and find a way to view the situation with clarity and objectivity.

If you’re using the Rider Waite-Smith Tarot deck, pay close attention to the image on the card. The king sits on his stable thrown surrounded by choppy, unruly waves. He isn’t blind to the water, but he has created a place for himself where he is above it and has a sturdy pedestal on which to observe his surroundings with an air of calm.

King of Cups as An Invitation

As an invitation, the King of Cups offers us the gift of clarity and objectivity. He invites us to join him on his stone pedestal so that we can see things as they really are.

For King of Cups, this invitation could be the following:

An invitation to see both sides of an argument equally
An invitation to assess our emotional reaction to something and see if that is the best energy to move forward with
An invitation to find a place of calm in order to reestablish equilibrium
An invitation to simply observe

King of Cups as Sage Advice

King of Cups’ advice is always very levelling. It is a card that asks for us to be mindful of our natural impulses and find a way to remove ourselves from that space in order to gain a birds-eye view of everything.

Some advice King of Cups may offer is:

Be mindful when you are too emotionally close to something that needs an objective POV
Stay open-minded at all times to help with emotional and spiritual growth
Acting from a place of immaturity only invites more immaturity, take the high road where possible, even if it’s not as satisfying
Never speak from a place of high emotion as you may say something you later regret

King of Cups as a Lesson

Some of the lessons the King of Cups teaches us are that of diplomacy and knowing when to take a step back and see the bigger picture. This card is one that we will have to face many times in our life cycle, especially as adults.

Some lessons that King of Cups may offer you are:

A lesson in controlling our inner child and knowing when it is taking the lead and when we need to step into self-parent
A lesson in emotional reactions and how to manage them effectively
A lesson in identifying our own toxic behaviours or those of people around us,
A lesson in observation and how to master it for better wellbeing and problem solving

King of Cups as a Redirection

The King of Cups is a fairly gentle, yet authoritative redirection. He comes to us when we are being too impulsive, too emotional or too grounded. He shows us that there is a better way to handle our problems and approach our blockages.

As a redirection, King of Cups could symbolise a need to:

Step away from things that are getting an emotional rise out of you, so you can cool off and come back to it with clarity
Be more diplomatic in your judgement
Spend some time observing the situation instead of trying to run in and manage it
Be more patient and understanding to all sides of the story

Cups

The cups are the rulers of all the energy that sits in our heart centre. It refers to all the complex feelings, emotions and intuitive messages that we as humans have to manage.

The cups pop up in our Tarot readings to direct our attention to the emotional self. Often it will be referring to our heart’s desires. It can also indicate a need to really listen to ones intuition and trust in the feelings that come with those messages.

Water + Air

The cups are the suit of elemental water. It shares many of its properties such as emotion, intuition and compassion. The Kings however, all have their own elemental energy, this is the element of air.

This makes the King of Cups a dual energy card, meaning we have to interpret how the collaboration of the elements of water and air affect the situation our reading is refering to. Maybe it is here to show us how to rise above emotion, or maybe it’s offering an opportunity for breath when we feel like we’re drowning?

Kings

The Kings in the Tarot perform the same position as kings throughout history. The kings are leaders, dictators, rule makers and in times rule breakers.

When we get a king in our Tarot spread, we are being asked to look at strategies, to observe more intellectual viewpoints or think of solutions in a much more logical way. It is an energy of organised planning, just like the Kings would manage military strategy, the Kings manage the strategies of what is happening in our readings.