The Knight of Cups - Pure Intentions in the Tarot
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The Knight of Cups is a card about connecting to and pursuing your truest desires.
To give you a bit of context whilst you reflect on your own relationship to the card, here are a few key things to know about the Knight of Cups:
The Knight of Cups is often associated with Arthurian myth - particularly the Knights of the Round Table’s quest for the Holy Grail. In legend, the Holy Grail is a chalice with magical powers - in some versions of the myth it has extraordinary healing capabilities, in others, it grants eternal life. But it’s famously difficult to find. The Knight who ultimately finds the Grail (Percival or Galahad depending on which version of the legend you subscribe to) succeeds because he is pure of heart. And that’s where the myth’s intersection with this Tarot card really comes into play. Because of course, the suit of Cups is the suit of the heart.
The Knight of Cups offers a chance to reflect on your personal quests, and your reasons for pursuing them. Ask yourself: Do your pursuits speak to your truest self? Taking time to examine the purity of your own intentions can be a powerful way of reshaping your life and prioritising the things that really matter to you.
Something else worth noting in the card is that, in the Rider Waite Smith tarot, the Knight of Cups is the only card in the deck with a fully white background. Traditionally, this has been read as another symbol of purity, but I’m not personally a huge fan of the suggested connection between whiteness and purity. In fact, I’d like to put another spin on it - a fully white sky is often the result of dense fog. So whilst the Knight stands as a representation of pure intentions, the white sky might represent all the things that cloud and obscure our journey in to ourselves.
In your tarot journal, you’re asked to reflect on what this card means to you, now, in this moment, and what actions and thoughts it inspires in you. As you journal, pay attention to what you’re personally picking up in the card, but also consider what the key symbols and themes in the card might be telling you. How does the card jog your memory and remind you of your most genuine desires, and guide you back toward your quest for personal fulfillment? Meanwhile, what’s fogging up your view, and how might you go about clearing that fog?
This mini-tarot lesson was brought to you by me, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, founder of Pip Cards Tarot. I hope you gained a little context to help you continue reflecting on the card in your own way, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another mini-lesson.