Knight of Cups
„the lord of the deep and guardian of the subconsciousness“
symbols: inner awareness, facing our dark parts, insight into something hidden
expression: Fire through Briah
element: water
The kraken represents an unrecognized or unknown intelligence and insight into the deep. He would be the male and or active force, which protects the passive principle, being the origin of awareness. On the left, we can recognize the symbol of the dark tower, associated with Orion, origin or Boaz, the left pillar. On the top of the tower sits a crown. In a kabbalistic context, as lord of the great sea, he is the guardian of Binah, or even one of the kings of Edom.
With his various arms, he represents an all-embracing force of control, but also preservation. We may look into the symbol of the orphic egg, which is protected and separated. Just like our cells, (organs, our brain, earth, dimensions, the universe) or any of our systems of order, we are encapsulated and isolated from each other. There’s a veil between each other, and a separation from the more complex systems or hierarchies.
The Knight of Cups represents the strict guardian, which we must pass, to recognize other states of being and a wider spectrum of the whole.
He is the dark aspect within ourselves, who will guard our feelings and inner depths, with a shield from the outer world. He protects the conscious mind, by transferring harmful experiences into the subconsciousness. This guardian keeps us unaware of too complex details of our daily lives.
He sentinels all these ugly secrets and behaviors, which are not socially accepted. He is the preserver of unresolved karma, memories, and topics, we have to deal with, at a certain point. As such, he becomes the keeper of all the aspects we are not able to deal with yet – this sea, which awaits us, is a deep and cloudy one. Some topics are not regarded as “dark”, because they are trivially bad, but just because we are not obviously aware of them right now. To dive into this nameless sea can be dangerous. To investigate the first layers can easily lead to depressions, addictions, outbursts of anger, sorrow, and nameless fear. In some spiritual traditions, it is advised to deal with these issues first. We may take our time, take a deep breath and dive deeper, but slowly and steady and never too fast. If this process happens too quickly, we could get lost into the confusing tides of our own self.
What has been revealed, can never be hidden again – we must be aware of that fact, when passing the guardian and meeting the Queen of Cups, researching these deep currents within ourselves. To awaken the sleeping kraken can be life-changing and shifts the tides of power completely, whether this journey refers to our own daily life or even occult practices (compare to the Cthulhu mythos). There is hope and a way forward, from this deep state of mind. This hope is represented by the tree, symbolizing the right pillar, the future or the pillar of Jachin. The kraken is touching a single young leaf which indicates that the tree will eventually flourish after such an experience.
