May 1 - 3, 2012: Knight of Cups
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THE LORD OF THE WAVES AND THE WATERS;
THE KING OF THE HOSTS OF THE SEA
*The Knight of Cups – King of Undines & Nymphs *
*FIRE of WATER *Meditation pattern: Place 7 of Swords, 8 of Cups, and 9 of Cups side-by-side, with the Knight of Cups above them. Below the two Cups, place Atu XVIII, The Moon.
Traditional Description: A beautiful, winged, youthful warrior with flying hair, riding upon a white horse (not winged). His general equipment resembles that of the Knight of Wands, but upon his helmet, cuirass, and buskins is a peacock with opened wings. He holds a cup in his hand, bearing the sigil of his scale (Yod); from it issues a crab. Beneath his horse’s feet is the sea.
YOD of HEH (FIRE of WATER). He is the enormous force and power of Water itself. In consciousness, Yod in Water is the creative impulse especially in poetry, music, and other inspired artistic creation. However, the fiery impulse of Yod is “watered down” in Cups. He has not his usual virile energy. There is passivity, which, however, is also a receptivity, so that his creative impulse takes on a quality of true inspiration. Briatic consciousness has made itself genuinely receptive to the Will-impulse inaugurated in Atziluth. This Knight, therefore, represents that inner receptiveness which the spiritual consciousness bears toward Divine Will: the recognition that we are vehicles of True Will, conforming ourselves to its requirements. True manifestation of Will in the lower worlds is in our responsiveness, conformity, and obedience to what is received.
He rules the heavens from 20° Aquarius to 20° Pisces (thus including the greater part of Pegasus). His two watery decanates are called INDOLENCE and HAPPINESS. Pisces (Qoph), the Corporeal Consciousness, governs the structured, nurtured building of our bodies, cell by cell. Yod in Water/Briah is the form-giving consequence of the original creative impulse; and Qoph is the Path whereby the fiery Will-force, manifest as Desire (Netzach), is permitted to establish its imprint on the patterns of our physical bodies (Malkuth). In these two Pisces decanates, ruled by Saturn and Jupiter, we see the interplay of opposites: the time of scarcity, stillness, and broodiness that establishes the conditions for creativity; after which there is the full, rich, happy, bountiful fulfillment of it.
The Saturn decanate of Pisces, called INDOLENCE, means laziness, inactivity, stagnation, depression, stillness – even soullessness, loss of heart, and exhaustion. In both creative and mystical processes, it is the “Dark Night of the Soul” that occurs when a new stage gestates and appears not yet. Will and enthusiasm are impeded. The Jupiter decanate following this is called HAPPINESS. As soulless as was the other, so is this a soul-enrichment. Pleasure, happiness, enjoyment, contentment are all of the product of the fulfillment of the creative impulse.
The Knight must be realized as a positive expression of life, Will, and creation. This need is emphasized, in contrast, by his shadow-aspect, the final, or lunar, decanate of Aquarius, called FUTILITY. Futility is always the danger of his passivity, if his heart is not centered on affirmatively receiving, nurturing, and expressing the Divine Spark. Energy is lost altogether, diffused, uncertain, unstable, vacillating. It lacks the singular vision, keenness, and certainty of Will. Our comfort is in recognizing that this is not the actual expression of this Knight… when he is truly being himself!
In divination, the character is graceful, artistic, poetic, soul enriching, soft, indolent, passive-receptive, but enthusiastic if roused; a calm exterior with passionate, and even violent, buried emotions and creative impulses. Pleasure, happiness, enjoyment, contentment. If ill-dignified, he is sensual, idle, lazy, stagnant, brooding, and untruthful; subject to periods of depression and melancholy, loss of heart, exhaustion, and feelings of futility.
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