Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Tag: Knight of Cups

  • Tarot Court Card | 2019 Theme

    Tarot Court Card | 2019 Theme

    Just a bit of Tarot Court Card fun to start us thinking about what we want for ourselves in 2019. I’ve done this for the past three years or so and it’s just a bit of fun, not rooted in any deep and meaningful ancient system. Just my own 🙂

    So, you might be working out your Major Arcana card for 2019 to give you a THEME for the coming year, as inspired by your personal year data.

    To find our what your personal year card is, take your day and month of birth and and add to 39 (ie 20+19, the incoming year).
    Here’s an example: mine!
       13
    +  8
      39
      60

    Since there is no Major Arcana card numbered 60 (hey, we’re not using Minchiates here, people!), these digits need to be further reduced by adding them together, giving us a total of 6.
    My theme for the year will be inspired by The Lovers *and I absolutely need to make better choices for myself!*
    But since my blog focuses on the Court Cards, I thought we’d have a little fun and extend the exercise further:
    Instead of adding up your digits, above, until they total 22 or under (ie the number of Major Arcana cards we have), total them up until they are 17 or less.
    I numbered the Page of Pentacles, the lowliest of the lowly, as 1.  But your numbers will not reduce to one, so I’ve also accorded him 17 (because he’s also VERY special, as well as being the lowliest of the lowly).
    So, if you add up to 17, then you are having a Page of Pents year 🙂
    Taking my example again, this means that my 6 – Lovers year – becomes further compounded by Court Card 6…. which is The Knight of Cups.  This year is going to be my Grail year, and my search will involve making better choices for myself!  *gives facebook some side-eye*
    Want to take it further?! Well, you will be able to when my self-published book on court cards comes out at the beginning of July (at the latest!).
    Have a try yourself and tell me who you end up with as your Court Card theme for the year!
    Page of Pents (1) or 17
    Page of Cups 2
    Page of Swords 3
    Page of Wands 4
    Knight of Pents 5
    Knight of Cups 6
    Knight of Swords 7
    Knight of Wands 8
    Queen of Pents 9
    Queen of Cups 10
    Queen of Swords 11
    Queen of Wands 12
    King of Pentacles 13
    King of Cups 14
    King of Swords 15

    King of Wands 16       

  • The Knight of Cups | Movie | Terrence Malick

    Well, it’s not every day that someone takes their inspiration for a film title from a Tarot card – especially a Court  Card.  And obviously, as a Tarot blog that focuses on court cards, I couldn’t let it pass.
    What do I think of the trailer?
    I have to say, the trailer contents look a bit more Knight of Wands – Someone who doesn’t like to hang around in the same old relationship. He’s constantly questing looking for New Stuff – new sexual experiences, new conquests.  
    Who is the Knight of Cups?
    The Knight of Cups is someone who is into romance and the idea of love, not the blood-and-guts hard work of a real relationship.  He’s on a quest to find the Holy Grail – in the case of this film – his Grail is the man that he should have been. 
    He stands and sings love songs (self-composed) beneath your window at 2am and then taps you for cash because he’s forgotten to fill his car up with fuel.
    He’s Orpheus who theatrically turns back to look at Euridice at the last moment, consigning her to Hades for eternity, but getting himself a ton of great material for songs in the process.  It’s all about him and how HE feels, not about you.
    But trailers can be misleading and so the main Christian Bale character might be a perfect Knight of Cups.
    I’m sure that I’ll watch it on Netflix.
    One of the review sites, Inquistr, illustrates their review with this guy:
    Whom we all know and love.
    US Games could do pretty well out of this movie if this guy becomes the image associated with the title!   
    What do you think of the Knight of Cups as a person?

  • Comparative Tarot | The Prince of Cups

    The first time I encountered the comparative method of looking at cards was via Valerie Sim’s deck, the Comparative Tarot.  The cards in this cleverly designed deck have not one image, but four different images of the same card.   It was one of the first decks that I bought and I still regard it fondly.

    Not familiar with the Comparative Method? Here’s the skinny:  You don’t just interpret ONE card, you interpret the others on the card too – each one adding depth and colour to the over all ‘character’. 

    So I thought we’d try it here with The Prince of Cups – just comparing three images – but you can do it with as many cards as takes your fancy.  Or you can fit onto your table top.  Or bedroom floor.

    I chose the Prince/Knight of Cups from the outrageously stunning Mary El deck by Marie White; the Prince of Cups from the Transformational Tarot by Arnell Ando and the Knight of Chalices from the Breugal Tarot by Guido Zibordi Marchesi.

    First of all, although one of these is a Prince, he DOES fill the Knight’s role in the deck.  He’s not a Thoth Knight

    click on image to enlarge.  I think.

    Arnell’s Prince (left hand card above) perfectly captures that romantic, self-absorbed feeling that comes with the Prince of Cups. It shows the youth Narcissus gazing ito his own reflection by the pool.  Poor old Narcissus was so wrapped up in himself that he drowned trying to embrace his own reflection.  I’ve had boyfriends like that.

    In the LWB Arnell explains that he represents the Artistic Idealist; someone who uses ‘creativity as a means to self-expression, but whose moods don’t always reflect his actions.’

    The Knight of the Mary El (central image) is also introspective, protectively clasping a grail that overflows with blood and from whose depths a lotus flower rises and blossoms.  This is the Grail Knight.  Marie White, creator of the Mary-El says: ‘Searching for matters of the heart; love, meaning in life. Compassion, experience and maturity is the key.’  If you don’t know the story of Percival, the Grail Knight here’s a 10 second summary:  In his naivity, Percival, a knight who is searching for the Holy Grail fails to recognise it the first time he encounters it and so he is compelled to set off on his quest again – older, wiser – and finds it.  And heals the Fisher King. The end.

    Our final Knight is the Breugal Knight (right hand image).  His horse steps confidently to the right of the card, but he is not looking in the same direction as his horse.  In fact, he looks as though he has a blindfold on.  Even with the blindfold, he is looking towards a distant village that lies beneath a fork of lightning.  He doesn’t hold a grail, but a tankard filled with flowers.

    Neither hand holds the horse’s reins. Either side of the horse we see a camp fire, crossed arrows and – bizzarely – an eye running to the left on a pair of little legs!

    We also have an eye in the armour of our Mary El Knight – in the centre of her chest.  And the Knight of the Transformational Tarot is gazing at his own reflection.  Sight is an important symbol of this card – one sees only himself, one sees only her Grail, one sees….nothing (with his eyes!)

    I think that the Breugal LWB perfectly encapsulates what’s going on here: ‘Where there is love, the eye follows’. 

    Using this Comparative Tarot method then, I would say that this Knight DOES have focus – but he doesn’t always focus it on what he SHOULD be focussed on, as far as the outside world is concerned.  As a result, he can seem dreamy and self-absorbed to other people and can display a level of cold-heartedness to that which is outwith his field of vision.

    For me he’s the guy who will spend weeks finely crafting you a love song, but never remembers to put the bins out at night.  Someone who will whisk you away for a romantic candle lit meal, but forget to organise his cash….or put fuel in the car 🙂

    What do YOU think of the Knight of Cups or the Comparative method?