Knight of Cups - The Hopeful Romantic

Some might see the Knight of Cups is a hopeless romantic, and perhaps this is a fair enough impression, but without the personality of this Knight the world would be a cold and baren place.

 I've a great affinity for this Knight, because he is a romantic and no doubt, because I am an artist and he appeals to my creativity. However I don't see him as being hopeless. I don't see any one as being hopeless. I prefer to call those of us like this Knight hopeful romantics. The Knight of Cups is also seen as being spiritual, considering his high ideals and quest for the ideal spiritual, divine love. He is a worshiper of women and loves his mother.

 Here we see the embodied mythic hero Perseus, the poetic and senstive son of Zeus, surrounded by a romantic landscape of forest, green hills, admist field and stream. Everything is lush and full of life, as he moves along, traversing on his way, mounted on his majestic and beautiful white horse. Perseus was favoured by goddesses, ever step of his life journey. The water-deities and the Graeae, the three old crones who knew the secrets of the future.

  This card implies the romantic dimension of love or perhaps an artistic proposition. Pereus loves beauty and truth and is the defender of high ideals.

I identify strongly with this Knight of Cups, particulary at this time of the year, during the new beginnings of June, when everything is at the hieght of new blossoming life.

Living in the country, in rural Nova Scotia is a conduit to much romanitc beauty, making it easy to feel like a hopeful romantic, who gratefully aspires daily, to loving and living life to the fullest in beauty, truth and high ideals.

I think Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a fine example of a Knight of Cups.

Mine is the Month of Roses; yes and mine
The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights
And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,
The foliage of the valleys and the heights.
 
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82)

The Sun - Is The Sun Indifferent?

I can't remember when I last drew The Sun for my daily draw. It's uplifting, hopeful, positive, and a very promising card, on this gray overcast day here in Nova Scotia.

Recently I've been feeling inundated with the media hype about Donald Trump. I'm really so sick of seeing his foolish face, and all of his negative racist pronouncements.

This morning I heard some one say, good people need to speak out against this racism and injustice. I agree. I took this point to heart, though many of us might be think if we ignore Trump, he'll just go away. I'm tempted to think the same myself. Then I remembered, and reflected on what Eli Weiss said about indifference.

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death."         

                                               - Eli Weiss


The Sun is the antithesis of indifference. It's the life force, the power of consciousness to dispel darkness with affirming purpose, foresight, and a faith in the striving of the human spirit.

Ten of Swords - The Star of Bethlehem

I've been so busy since mid May and all through June. I've been feeling overwhelmed which gets me down. I've had little time to keep up with my blogs or for that matter, even getting the lawn mowed. So it is lovely to have three days to myself, be able get caught up some, and look forward , having more free time to come again soon.

When we reach  low points in life we need to reach within and find an inner strength to rise above. This is the message of the Ten of Swords. It looks like a dark card but we can turn things around, if we choose to do so. We can choose to lift our attention away from the problems we are so focused on, and onto the enormous things beyond which inspire, give us hope, strength to continue, and persevere. The sun is rising, amidst the darkness of the night.

The alignment of Venus and Jupiter on June 30th 2015 in combination with the full moon tomorrow makes for an interesting force of energy that I think inspires and renews the spirit.  Some scientists have conjectured that this alignment is what accounted for the The Star of Bethlehem. It occurs rarely, and this event will not be reviled again until 2023.

Venus and Aphrodite representing the goddess of love, and Jupiter the god Zeus, the inner father, embodies a sense of raw power, a force of nature, where hope, creativity and beauty are symbolized.

This celestial heavenly event in the skies is truly a thing of awesome beauty, and hasn't been seen since the time of Christ. That's a long time! One can't help but think that this rare occurrence is significant some how, and in someway. Perhaps like the Ten of Swords it represents the ending of a difficult situation to make room for a hopeful future to begin. It is up to us how that future will unfold and it is vital that we continue to be hopeful, and backing up our hope with action.

The Empress - Beauty and Bounty

Embracing the feminine is embodied in the Empress card. She is the epitome and symbol of motherhood, possesses the wisdom of nature, and she lives life with creative abundance, imagination and luxury. The Great Mother sets the standard for honouring and nurturing ourselves, imparting an understanding of living in our physical bodies and knowing that we are both creatures of the spirit, but also of the earth. She asks us to nourish life.

Embracing our light and dark instinctual nature is encountered in meeting the Empress. Our bodies are both valuable and precious which are worthy of being cared for as being part of nature, rooted and in natural life.

Without the Empress we cannot appreciate our physical selves, living in a purely intellectual world without being grounded in reality. She provides for us a connection to safety and a trust in life.

Knight of Cups - Love, Beauty, and Truth

Romanticism may seem foolish to a world that appears jaded and cynical in it's perspective, and some might possibly question, if such a thing even exists today. The Knight of Cups is seated on a elegant white horse, carries a golden cup much like the Holy Grail, and is crossing  a stream teaming with fish and life. As mentioned in previous posts, the Suit of Cups are connected with the emotion, relationships, friendship and romance. Also associated with the element of water, and the water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. The suit can also refer to those with an artistic temperament.

The Knight of Cups is an earnest, positive, persuasive, and an attractive individual, who is on a quest, perhaps a quest that is romantic or of a spiritual nature. The individual has a vision of what life should look like in the mind's eye, and in their heart of hearts.

 This card in the Minor Arcana, I am personally very fond and identify with, because this is a portrayal of an individual on a mission to find what it is he seeks in life. Some what of a heroic figure, he believes in holy love conjoined with earthly love, in beauty and in truth. Without this kind of individual, the world would be bleak, colourless, and full of despair.

Some can find many loves in life, either in a committed and meaningful relationship with another, or we find a passion for something that becomes our vocation, that gives us another purpose in life. The fish is a spiritual symbol.

I have always been a great admirer of Pre-Raphealite art work, because it is full of romanticism, and it tells a story. The painting entitled, The Lady of Shallot, by John William Waterhouse, though he was a Neo-Classic painter, he was influenced by many of the Pre-Raphealites, and romantic poets. His subject matter was often based on Mythology.

The story behind the painting depicts Lord Tennyson's poem, that is tragic, but beautiful, none the less. Loreena McKennit put Tennyson's poem to music.

Romanticism inspires the imagination and feeds the soul. Artists are often moved to produce great art because of romanticism, as it we longingly aspire to be transported to an ethereal and spiritual world. I believe the world needs to experience romanticism that deepens, nurtures the spirit, and this can be found not only in our imagination but in love, beauty and in truth. This is the message of the Knight of Cups.