Be the one you wanna be/ See how you want to be seen/ Feel the love of who you're with/ Even if you're all you need. The King of Cups is not a sociopath. But, like, they could be. In the most basic sense, the King of Cups is someone who doesn’t take their own advice. That’s not particularly special, and it’s not limited to this card. But the King of Cups goes above and beyond. They know exactly what to say to get you to the point of answering your own questions. And they’re silver-tongued when they finally tell you what to do. What they say is so unexpected and so useful that is pushes out any thought or criticism you might otherwise have had. They fill your body with the fluffiest of clouds; all you can do is relax inwards.
In and of itself, this is not an issue. But when the King of Cups does it, he’s also crafting an illusion. He’s speaking from lived experience. His life is polished and put together, but it wasn’t always, and he talks freely about that. He doesn’t pretend to be perfect. In many ways, she’s masquerading as the Queen of Swords— someone who’s been through it and come out the other side and is not going to bullshit you when you ask xir for something. But unlike the Queen of Swords, the King of Cups is actively working to hide the ways that he’s fallen from grace or power, or maybe never had it to begin with. There is a good psych meds metaphor that I am not going to use here but absolutely will tell you if you email me.
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You're in my blood like holy wine/ You taste so bitter and so sweet/ I / Could drink/ A case of you, darling/ And still I'd be on my feet/ I would still be on my feet. Once more into the void of quoting Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves: “The second is a harder kind of secret: one you keep from yourself. Every day, thousands of confessions are kept from their would-be confessors, none of these people knowing that their never-admitted secrets all boil down to the same three words: I am afraid.” I think of the King of Cups with a little box, something small and square and wooden and polished, that sits right behind their ribs. It’s in their body, so they know it’s there, but they’ve put it out of their and everybody else’s line of sight, so it’s easy to ignore. They’re too self-aware for involuntary repression. The King of Cups knows exactly what he doesn’t know, and continuously chooses to not know it. She knows that this isn’t sustainable, but she puts that knowledge in the box, too.
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Don't try to feed me/ ‘Cause I've been here before/ And I deserve a little more. Hey bud, you might be saying, you got some issues with this card? To which I say no! and blow a raspberry and hide my head under a pillow. There are a ton of wonderful things about the King of Cups. Them being able to listen to people that well and give that level of advice doesn’t only exist so they can hide better. If they want, the King of Cups can use their capacity for understanding to make the world better, brighter, and more whole. They can help so many people, individually but more often in large groups. Many organizers are Kings of Cups. They get people intuitively and have also studied them, and their depth of understanding is unparalleled in the tarot. The King of Cups always contains a bit of a warning, but it’s also an invitation to trust yourself with other people.
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My Best Self, Half Waif
A Case Of You, Joni Mitchell
Rain King, Counting Crows
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"They’re too self-aware for involuntary repression. The King of Cups knows exactly what he doesn’t know, and continuously chooses to not know it. She knows that this isn’t sustainable, but she puts that knowledge in the box, too." jamie truly, how dare you