The Knight of Cups depicts a knight riding a white horse at a steady pace. Rather than charging ahead, he appears to be calm and collected, indicting that he is at ease with what he’s doing.
As tarot expert and creator of the Magical Self-Care Tarot Deck, Leah Vanderveldt, tells mindbodygreen, the Knights in tarot are related to the air element, while the suit of cups represents water. “So this air and water combo can be like bubbles in champagne or really good mineral water—it has the capacity to lift a situation with new energy,” she explains.
Not only do knights hone their skills by taking action, but they learn through trying new things, Vanderveldt notes, adding, “In the case of the Knight of Cups, you’re being called to move in a way that honors your feelings, emotions, intuition, and imagination, and develop your connection to these themes.”
Connecting air and water is to connect your movements and speech with your feelings, and that’s a powerful practice, according to Vanderveldt. As such, she says, this can be a great guide card for storytelling among community or through art. “You can make the spaces you enter better by honoring a commitment to grace, kindness, and presence that allows you to go with the flow,” she adds.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that, sometimes, the court cards represent another person in your life. More often though, Vanderveldt notes, they’re calling us to embody a certain aspect of ourselves.
