MINOR ARCANA

Knight of Cups Tarot Meanings

The Knight of Cups is all about passion and emotion and how the two work together. It is the fire of the element of water, the bravery, and the confidence of being able to lay yourself open to the world and accept whatever may come your way.

The Knight of Cups is about owning your vulnerability and not being afraid of it. He can be impulsive in matters of the heart but also knows that in order to make his dreams come true, action needs to be taken to move things along.

Knight of Cups Upright Meanings

In the upright position, the Knight of Cups symbolises our hopes, desires, and deep motivations. It is a card that represents what drives us on the deepest levels. Some of the key meanings of the Knight of Cups are:

Fantasy
Desire
Dreams
Romantic
Driven

Think about those times where you’ve felt really excited about something, maybe you’re waiting for a delivery of something you’ve been wanting for a long time, or maybe you’re finally ticking a place of your travel bucket list. It’s this fiery, joyous feeling that the Knight of Cups represents.

Knight of Cups Reversed Meanings

In the reversed position, the Knight of Cups can hint that we’re getting a little too much of that fiery energy of the knight overpower the gentle water energy of the cups. It’s like watching a pan boiling over and needing to turn down the heat. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Knight of Cups are:

Non-committal
Moodiness
Jealous
Rose-tinted glasses

In the reversed position the Knight of Cups gets a little too much, that fire that the Knight brings to the table can enhance the emotions we see in the cups suit to a point where rationality goes out the window. We become unable to gain a clear head because we are so driven by impulse and emotional decision-making.

Reading Knight of Cups in a Tarot Spread

The Knight of Cups is the next level up from the Page of Cups, we’ve moved past the childlike wonderment of the Page and now we’re into the hormone-driven energy of a teen. We’re more prone to irrational behaviour and action, we are driven by what we feel and how passionately we feel it.

When we get the Knight of Cups in a spread it’s always worth imagining a pan of boiling water. On a low heat, the water is manageable, but if we turn it all the way up to eleven we may be faced with something we don’t have the ability to handle, we might even get hurt or do something that goes against our character.

Knight of Cups as An Invitation

If the Knight of Cups shows up as an invitation then we may be invited to think about the things we feel a deep and passionate connection with. That could be a person, a project or a goal you have. We are invited to look at our dreams and fantasy and decide if that’s how they should stay or whether we can take action to make them a reality.

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

An invitation to indulge in fantasy, but know when it’s time to come back to the real world
An invitation to analyse your dreams to find a deeper subconscious meaning
An invitation to assess behaviour to see if you’re acting irrationally or rationally
An invitation to follow the impulsive drive within you

Knight of Cups as Sage Advice

The Knight of Cups can be an exciting card to get as we’re encouraged to chase our dreams, however, it can also be a warning not to indulge fantasies that are either impossible or that we have no desire to make a reality.

Some advice Knight of Cups may offer is:

Don’t get so lost in your dreams that you forget to live in the present reality
If you want something bad enough, you need to be ready to commit to getting it
Sometimes a deep and passionate drive to achieve can become overwhelming and cause us to lose sight of what we are aiming for, make sure to stay grounded on your journey

Knight of Cups as a Lesson

The Knight of Cups is a lesson in managing our emotional impulses and knowing when and when not to act from a place of intense emotion. There are times when we have to trust our intuition and jump, but there are also times when emotion can appear as logic and cause us to start down the wrong path.

Some lessons that Knight of Cups may offer you are:

A lesson in managing emotional impulses and actions
A lesson in fantastical thinking and how to manage your expectations
A lesson in following your intuitive messages
A lesson in commitment, when to commit and when to let go

Knight of Cups as a Redirection

The Knight of Cups can appear as a redirection when we are repressing our intuition or choosing to ignore the deep primal instincts we are presented with.

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

Follow an impulse to see where it leads you, instead of overthinking it and never following up
Stop seeing things through rose-tinted glasses and start to face up to the reality of a situation
Follow your dreams, especially if you have a strong gut feeling that is the right path to take
Power through, commit and give it your all

Cups

The Cups refer to our emotional and compassionate selves. They direct us towards matters of the heart so we can fully understand the complexities of what it means to feel.

The cups are the vessels for our emotional outpouring. If they are depleted we can find it hard to allow emotion to flow seamlessly. It can cause blockages which build and build until they eventually burst and cause serious issues. These issues can be both internal and external.

Knight of Cups Tarot Meanings - Elemental

Water + Fire

The Cups are the suit of water. All cups have the elemental energy of water within them, however Knights are also elemental fire. This means they are a dual energy card and we have to decide if these two elements are complimenting or conflicting with each other.

If we think of this literally, we might conjure the image of a boiling kettle or pan. The water is heated up by the energy of the fire. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on how this now boiling water is used and how carefully it is handled. The same applies to the Knight of Cups.

Knights

Knights, both in the Tarot and throughout history, are soldiers. These characters are ready and willing to fight and die for what they believe in. Each Knight in the Tarot is ready to fight for something different and this is decided by its suit.

In the cups, the Knight of Cups is ready to die for things like love, community, acceptance, compassion, empathy. It is often a figure that is linked to popular characters such as Romeo or the stereotypical lothario, ready to sweep people off their feet with his confident passion.