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The Thoth Tarot-Knight of Cups & The Night Sun Tarot-King of Cups:
In the Thoth Tarot, Kings are called Knights, who are armored Kings sitting astride their powerful "Spirit Force" steeds. The Knight of Cups is the fiery part of water, this may sound strange to the neophyte; However, the fiery part of water is the Power of Solution. Hence, The Knight of Cups is not unlike the fiery attack of rain or springs.
He rules the Zodiac from 21st degree of Aquarius to the 20th degree of Pisces.
The Armor, bright wings, and the leaping white charger, all represent the most active aspects of water. The crab represents the aggressive nature of water and it's regenerative state, as crabs individually regenerate by shedding their hard outer shell. The Crab is also the symbol for Cancer, therefore here it would be " a Cancer Moon" as the cup is the Divine Feminine Womb, also represented by the Moon.
The Knight of Cups totem is the Peacock, as the very nature of active water is it's brilliance. The Peacock is also the totem of the Peacock God Myths of which a greater amount of study is needed if you wish to understand the "Swirling Depths" of this card. The Night Sun Tarot places the upside down triangle symbol for water above the haloed King.
The fluorescence characteristics of the archetypal personality signified by this card are surprisingly passive, as dictated by the Zodiacal attribution. With the qualities of Venus, he is a graceful dilettante (a weak Jupiter). Passively amiable and quick to respond to attraction but the stimulation fades away as he is not very enduring. Emotionally triggered by outside influence, this personality has no real material depth of character. However, The Knight or King of Cups has an undeniable innocence and purity, that is hardly clouded by his ill dignified sensuality, idleness, and untruthful nature. In fact he is so superficial that it is hard to reach any depth in him. On the Night Sun Tarot depiction, the fluorescence character of this King is in the blues of water, all around him, the blue glass Graäl, and the shallowness of his nature is shown in the ankle depth pool at his feet. The five petal rose on the right of the throne and the lotus in the shallow pool, are both sacred flowers of the "All Mother" goddess. The golden octagon above the Night Sun King's head, is representative of the ultimate balance of the male-"Will to Force" and the Female- "Will to Form".
Freddy Silva in his book[ Legacy of the Gods] called:
The octagon is a significant geometric shape and symbol throughout human history...
(The octagon) "represents the ultimate balance between material and invisible forces, the fixed male and mutable female; total balance between material and spiritual, heart and mind: the fully aware, 'christed' human. It is both the inhalation and the exhalation of the breath of creation... the octagon symbolizes the ultimate aim of esoteric traditions. Notable, enlightened figures throughout history such as Mohammed, Merlin, the archangel Michael and Jesus have been characterized by either the octagon or its numerical value 8, and the infinity symbol; in gematria the name Jesus carries the value of 888."
-Freddy Silva, Legacy of the Gods
There is great difficulty in rightly mating water with Fire, as the swift violent nature of fire (as shown by the Knight or King of Wands) ill suits a character that is naturally as placid as water. It is a rare persona indeed that has mastered the balance, such as a Christ or Buddha, so most often we find the personality mismanaging his or her affairs and unless good fortune attend them, their career and life is littered with a trail of failure and disaster. In the small ego, there can be a mental "civil war", and this can lead to depressions, and/or schizophrenia. The abuse of stimulants, alcohol, and narcotics is not uncommon with such a personality. Fire represents Will and Passion, while water denotes Unconscious emotion, often they do not agree, so to escape the internal argument, the self-conscious will often "self medicate". However, here is deeply spiritual or occult nature, especially if this Knight'King is of a Scorpio Natal or Rising sign. Here, then is the Sir Lancelot of Legend, the Lightning Lord, who is created by the Lady of the Lake.
As always the case, the surrounding cards will help the Reader decide the positive or ill dignified nature of this card and often within the Reading is recommended the nature of correcting the unwanted behavior of his ill dignity. All in all, a very fun bubbly, bright person to be around---as long as you show attraction, to stimulate his attention. The people whose personality archetype is that of the King of Cups, get bored easily, as if they become a languid pool of water. Outside stimulation, is necessary to get that water/consciousness to flow. These are very poetic, and artistic Venusian types.
As stated: The Thoth-KNIGHT OF CUPS (King of cups in other decks)
The Knight or King of Cups rules the zodiac from 21 degrees Aquarius to 20 degrees Pisces making him the Specific Fire (lightning) in the World of Primal water. Water is the substance used to represent the unconscious mental world and the Knight of Cups is a personification of the specific motivational force that activates the currents of the unconscious... something we call e-motion.
The Crab rising from the Graäl- Cup carried by the Thoth Knight symbolizes the sign of Cancer (Cardinal Water) which ruled by the Moon directs the flow of the tides.
There is a dual meaning presented by the crab as it is also a ancient symbol for the Goddess Isis, Stella Maris, the Star of the Sea. The peacock, shown bottom left of the Thoth Card, is often attributed to Chokma, the symbol of Wisdom on the Qabalistic Tree of Life.
The Tarot-Knights/Kings and 2's: As before stated, the Upper Supernal Triangle can be compared to the Garden of Eden From here, the male and female polarities of energy balance against each other, evolving into ever increasing density of equilibrium as they develop towards the lowest Sephira, Malkuth, on the Tree of Life.
In Qabalistic Tarot, the number Two symbolizes the union and balance of opposites that underlies all material existence.
Because this equilibrium of opposites begins in Chokmah, which is represented by the Thoth Tarot Knights or Tarot Kings. This second Sephiroth is also called the Sephiroth of "Perfect Harmony". While Kether is that which is the "Root" of impetus: Chokmah/Knights/Kings, are the impetus for all manifestation. The Harmonic Union of opposites supplies that action as the coupling of Chokmah-Wisdom and Binah-Understanding. Binah is Saturn, and Chokmah is the sphere of the Zodiac.
Ultimately Kether, the first Sephiroth, is "sexless" for the idea of a dual nature is not formed yet, it is however the " whirling force" that begins motion; the Great Shout that is "I Will Be", which is now called the "Big Bang". Therefore, Chokmah, who is "Will to Force", is the idea of Maleness (Electric) and Binah, who is "Will to Form", is the idea of Femaleness (Magnetic), that formed in the frequencies of the Great Shout and the mating of the Three (Supernal Triangle of Kether, Chokmah and Binah) "whirls the Electromagnetic Spectrum" into form. Therefore, the Thoth Knights represent the Archetypal Yod (Divine Masculine) Male Force, while the Binah-Queens, represent the Archetypal Divine Female, the Divine Heh; However, they are never separated and begin all creation as Yod Heh.....
Once again our sensual ideas of sexuality do not apply on this Higher Scale of Communion. Here Maleness is the vital outpouring of electrical energy that is organized, limited or formalized by the magnetic qualities of Female. Thus Yod is male and Heh is female, and the resulting offspring is Vau of the Divine Name, Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh, that is attributed to the six lower Sephiroth in which Tiphareth (Beauty) is central. Therefore, Fabio Listrani, places an octagon halo above his Night Sun court card figures.
As you may note, there are many interchangeable symbols in the Qaballah that may make it seem more complicated than it is. The essential key is that the Vital outpouring Energy (Knights), which in intercourse with an organizing force (Queens), produces something else. For example, red combined with blue, creates purple by the motion of the mixer (Kether). Therefore, opposites joined in balanced harmony, produce something greater than the parents. This is not possible if exactly the same united with exactly the same, you would only get ... exactly the same!
Therefore the Qabalistic Tree of Life originated in the opposition of Chokmah and Binah. However this is not static, any more than male- female union on earth is static, there is a constant back and forth motion of growth and movement as the "undercurrent" of the Whirling Force of Kether-e-motion, personified in the Knight of Swords. This "undercurrent" insures that when a change occurs in one Sephiroth, there is a natural balancing response in its opposite ( often shown as the figure eight). Therefore there is a continual exchange that could be compared to breathing, as the inhale/exhale action that powers Life.
On the Tree of Life, the Uppermost Sephira is Kether, Eheieh ("I Will Be..."), which sets the pattern for all below it. Like an electrical switch that is off, Kether is all potential, while Chokmah is the electrical switch in the On position, the "Will to Force". Thus Chokmah/Knight/King, is function while Kether is potential. Kether is a "no-thing" while Chokmah is a form of the whirling force that is Kether, and called Force. Therefore, Crowley, made his Kings, into Battle Kings or Knights, as they are Switched on and forceful, rather than sitting on a their royal ass on a throne anchored to earth. However, the natural gentle nature of this effervescing personality archetype, is what Fabio Listrani chose to depict in his artistic interpretation of this card.
Chokmah, the intelligence that rules the Kings/Knights and 2's of Tarot, is the State of Self, where we, begin as Force and Binah is the State of Self, that organizes Force into Form,i.e. into being, from a Divine State of Meditation. The dreamed is unaware of the dreamer as we dream ourselves "inside out" (we are infinite inward and limited outward), an ultimate fact of our Earthly existence. Thus, you are the Master and the Masterpiece, the Transmitter and the Transmitted. Ideally our identity should flow back and forth from Transmitter and Transmitted by being the "corporate manager" and\or a Mercury-"messenger of the gods" (Magus), in charge of both the transmitting intelligence and the receiving intelligence. Once again, you can see that your only savior, is an awakened subjective inner self saving the active-objective outer self from the delusion forced on it by " outward reflection".
From One "I" all identity becomes, so in actuality, we do not exist as separates from imagination, any more than fish can exist separate from the Ocean. As Self-Awareness of "I AM", we declare existence by stating "I AM ME" (Force and Form) becoming a Psyche/Soul combination of Fiery Father (Electric Force) and Watery Mother, (Magnetic Form). Each of us a "self-vision" of the Divine, given the freedom to preform as our own imagined identity. Therefore we set about defining that invisible principle of existence as a manifestation of self-identity called "Me". Thus living manifestation is a simple three word definition called, "I AM ME" of which we, who are the inheritors of the Divine Creative Mind (Imagination/Womb Mind/Cup), hold total freedom to define. Since I AM Not, is impossible, for what ever you define as not being you, simply states, that it is you, as you use the Force of Psyche to imagine it as a form before you can deny it, making "what is not" into form and/or "what is". Never forget, that you must identify something to deny it exists. Much like an Ocean that builds a fish of itself and denies it exists after it becomes a self! Therefore it behooves us imaginative creators to understand that " I am happy" creates happiness, while "I am not Sad" creates only sadness. Time to rethink your psyche power over the dream of you!
Since dimensions are descriptions of spatial terms, our life dream has specific dimensions, as that is our best frame of reference. The Tree of Life is how the Qabalah describes these dimensional frames of reference as being a downward flowing evolution of Chokmah through various levels of Self Dream called Sephiroth.
To make this simple, we are first willfully-dreaming our own existence (Eheieh), and that we are all collectively bubbles of Psyche (Souls) and/or Vessels (cups) in the metaphorical effervescent Ocean of The Divine Collective Unconscious. You could say we are what is known as God-looking into a sparkling mirror created by Dark and Light energy and realizing an image.
This process of Macrocosmic dreaming towards a more condensed and sensual dream self, Microcosmic image, is a state of Self-Awareness called the "fall", but it really is a "down sizing" the Ocean of The Divine Collective Unconscious into individual fractal components (Souls), copies of the larger whole that cause us to measure and/or give dimension to our self concepts to become more sensual and interactive, all of which is necessary for evolutionary discernment of identity. The many copies, as individuals, will interact as each "goes its own way", while the Whole Self is stable and has only "one way", the I AM. Since many identities of I AM are a type of fragmentation of the Collective, we lose Whole-sight of our own Divinity and must "reclaim" all the data we left behind on our "downward" journey into Sensual-Self-Dreaming. One could say that in manifestation, Malkuth, we are to become a Lucid Soul, rather than a "sleeping one".
The goal here is to get the inner dreamer and the dreamed image to cooperate with each other and thus the dreamed-Self than begins to get control over its life happenstances as "Will to Force" (consciousness) and "Will to Form" (Imagination/unconsciousness) work in sympathy with each other. This is a truly extraordinary experience and is the making of a Magic Being where the Union of Dreamer and Dream has no veils between them. Hence, we can have anything at all, but often require very little as we no longer experience the " wanton need" or "hole" that is in the center of the disconnected and/or divided mind. One Loves, without need as both Lover and Beloved operate the body as One Psyche; One creates without fear or need of result. One wants nothing at all because one becomes I AM Me rather than "I seek Me". Once one discerns what does matter and what does not ("No-Thing Matters"), One goes about the Great Work of "As above, so below", a place where the "me's" are not separate, but a collective of effervescence in the Ocean of the Divine Mind.
The 2's of Chokmah:
The Four 2's of Tarot symbolize the Power created by the union of the King and Queen that initiates force. Those forces are the Prince and Princess, that are not yet brought into action. The 2's thus imply the initiation and fecundation of a thing.
When thrown and well defined, the Knight/King card often represents:
- A fair man of business, law, or divinity who is responsible and disposed to oblige the Querent.
- A person of good nature, often mature, and is compassionate, merciful but doesn't let his/her kindly feelings control them or carry them away on some jaunt of emotional excess.
- Currents run deep in this person, who has considerable inner strength but works this strength through gentleness rather than overt acts of will.
- The Knight of Cups represents a quality of irresistible force underlying a calm surface.
In a more esoteric meaning;
- The Querent is listening to their own conscience and trusting to their impulses while being guided by their instincts and intuition.
- This is the Spirit of Water, that establishes emotions of love and relationships in a gentle and sensitive way.
- The Knight of Cups often represents the Querent who is a counselor, priest, or a psychologist.
- A creative and imaginative spiritual counselor.
When ill defined,
- There is a tendency to not be enduring when the person acts in swift passionate attacks, likened to springs and rains which are the power of solution.
- There is a certain passive amiability that lacks material depth in his character---quick to respond to attraction that results in a type of shallowness.
Thank you for your interest, comments and supportive donations. May you live long and prosper!
