Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
King of Cups
Chayah in Briah
- Suit
- cups
- Rank
- King
- World
- Briah
- Soul level
- Chayah
- Position
- Down 1
Chayah, living essence
Chayah is life at its root, the Chokmah level. Kings are home in Atziluth and work down in the other three worlds.
Upright
Flowing. Essence that gives life to what it makes: a mature identity whose being is generative. The King works one world down into creation, and what comes from him comes from a settled centre, whatever the sea is doing.
Misdirected. Guarding so closely that nothing flows, or flooding others with his own weather.
Reversed
Blocked. The essence cannot generate, and nothing gives life to what is made.
Flooded. Generating without restraint, giving life to what should not have it.
The image
A king sits on a throne that floats on a rough sea, a cup in one hand and a sceptre in the other. A fish leaps beside him and a ship sails behind. A fish pendant hangs at his neck. The water moves, and he does not.
Learn how to read King of Cups in a spread
This page shows you what King of Cups means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
