✳ Pearl Arcana Draw cards
King of Cups

A 78-card digital tarot drawn in the tones of nacre and dancheong.

King of Cups

Emotional mastery, calm authority, diplomacy, balance of heart and head, wise counsel.

Keywords · Upright

  • emotional mastery
  • calm authority
  • diplomacy
  • balance of heart and head
  • wise counsel

Keywords · Reversed

  • repressed emotion
  • coldness
  • manipulation
  • moodiness in power
  • emotional volatility

Repressed emotion, coldness, manipulation, moodiness in power, emotional volatility.

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How this deck reads it

Seated on a stone throne carved with waves, holding a golden cup in one hand and a scepter in the other, the figure forms an image in which emotion and control balance in the same place. Water surges beneath the throne and a fish leaps in the foam, evidence that the floor of the emotion he holds down is still alive and moving. The pearl beads behind his head draw the material of pearl itself into symbolic ornament, showing that authority is completed by sheen. The composition, in which the weight of stone and the movement of water coexist in one frame, explains this figure's character in its stead.

Artwork

A bearded king sits on a throne floating on the water, holding a cup and a sceptre, and behind him are fish and a boat. A large nacre-coloured halo surrounds his head.

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