Wednesday, December 4, 2019



THE KNIGHT OF CUPS
Tarot de St. Croix - by Lisa de St. Croix
Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

How are you flowing with your feelings lately? Our feelings, our emotions, are very much like water. They can surge like a wild river forcing us to hang on for dear life to the rickety raft we call our sanity or gently bob along the sparkling surface, calmly and peacefully, on a lovely inner tube experience. They can cascade us over the edge like a roaring waterfall, get backed up like a stagnant pond, go deep underground and then resurface as an erupting geyser or gently bubble up as sweet, artesian springs. They are always in motion and ever changing.

In the Tarot the cards of the Knight of each suit represents us moving more into the mastery of the qualities of that suit.  In Cups it is all about our emotions, feelings, love for others and love for ourselves. This can be a dreamy state, a journey through the dark and troubled waters, or a heart-guided passage of spiritual awareness.  Whatever it is, it will change. You can count on that. The Knight has not yet achieved mastery but is definitely on a journey far and wide to discover it. There will be many detours, mistakes, and triumphs along the way as the search continues.

I love this Knight of Cups card. Our gallant knight is kneeling before an incoming flow of water pouring out of a cup that emerges from a dreamy looking and undefined background of the world beyond him.  He is kneeling, indicating to me that he is both honoring his emotions and also perhaps a little knocked down by them. He is allowing that which is flowing to him - not fighting or arguing or classifying. From this state of receiving the flow, he is accepting the next wave of mastery. We so often just do not honor our emotions. We tend to discount them, make a full-blown production out of them, blame them or project them on someone else, or drown them in a variety of addictions to numb out any trace of them. We can easily do this to others as well: “Gosh, aren’t you over that relationship yet?  Just let it go!?” or, “Gee, there is no need to get so emotional about this!” or “Wow – it’s no big deal - stop being such a drama queen!”  We are fully aware of how these kinds of heartless comments hurt us - even if we are aware people say them to avoid engaging in their own feelings – but why then do we continue to do it to ourselves?

We are not meant to suppress our feelings, to discount, avoid or even master them. We are meant to – well – FEEL them. They can be our greatest teacher, our higher awareness calling out to us to pay attention and notice what is important, to understand life is not all about being rational, linear, or provable.  We feel what we feel. And we know what we come to know.

Ultimately, we learn that all the images represented in the Tarot are an aspect of our own selves. We are the Knight. We are the vessel. We are the flow. The Knight of Cups is often referred to as The Grail Knight who is on a quest to find the Holy Grail. The watery realm of our emotions takes a life-time of navigation and is indeed a sacred quest. We come to learn that the Holy Grail has been within us all the time. We just needed to find it and have the courage to drink from it to be transcended by it.
Today I encourage you to drink deeply from the cup, the vessel of your emotions. Take them in, swirly them around as if tasting wine to savor its subtle or robust nature. If you need a good cry then put on a sad movie and go for it.  If you need to tell someone you love them, don’t wait any longer – let them know. Is your anger at yourself or someone else? Try seeking forgiveness in either case.  Lonely? Happy? Feeling antsy or bored? Follow the clues and seek the source of your feelings.  Maybe they don’t even belong to you!

Whatever course the Knight of Cups leads you through, know you are indeed the Holy Grail – a being of eternal love and light just feeling your way as you flow through the emotional realm of mastery.


…..Kathryn Ravenwood  12/4/2019





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