Minor Arcana · Cups

King of Cups

The sea, kept at the level of the shore.

Upright · Reversed

Keywords: composure, feeling governed well
Upright: Mature command of one's own weather. Not suppression — a long practice of not being run by it.
Reversed: Composure that has become distance; or a calm surface over an ungoverned depth.

In a three-card spread

In the Past position: Read as what is still exerting force — not what happened, but the part of it still pushing on the present.
In the Present position: Read as what is currently available, and where you actually stand. The spread usually turns on this card.
In the Future position: Read as tendency: where this leans if nothing changes. A statement about the present phrased as a direction — never a claim about what will happen.

III

Its suit · Its rank

Its suit

Cups · Element: Water

Cups govern feeling and relationship: what flows, what is received, what spills. Their question is what you feel, not what you should do. Cups trouble is usually distortion — taking wanting for having, or avoidance for peace.

Its rank

King

The King is the suit mastered outwardly: sets the rule, carries the responsibility, applies the suit's force to others without damage. Mature, and for that reason liable to rigidity.

King of Cups

Upright · Reversed

In a three-card spread

Its suit · Its rank

Cups · Element: Water

King

The same rank in the other suits

King of Cups

Upright · Reversed

In a three-card spread

Its suit · Its rank

Cups · Element: Water

King

The same rank in the other suits