The Knight of Cups (consider the source)

My Card of the Day is the Knight of Cups.

Excepting the instances in which a court card generally signifies someone I know, I despise courts as daily cards.  I am unsure how to proceed. Shall I look for this Knight, or be him? Avoid or emulate? And once those questions are answered, we must decide more specifically which aspects we are addressing.

Fire of Water, inspiration and action, sure thing! Does this mean I don't get to go back to bed?

I have historically found Banzaf & Theler's "Keywords" to be a very helpful source. It is especially useful when one has already spent one's daily allotment of espresso (or bourbon, or NSAIDs) attempting to decode Crowley's take on a particular card. Often, I understand what he's saying, I am just not sure what he means.



This morning I find myself still feeling very sick and with little patience for the thought of even opening the Book of Thoth to see what indictment the deck is issuing upon me today.  I went straight for Keywords, where this Knight is described as a call to "Apply all your strength to a goal that is close at hand."

All well and good here except for the part where I don't feel like I have a lot of strength right now and I have no idea what goal this might refer to.  How about, actually go to work, instead of staying home sick? Or drink a whole pot of coffee and scrub the ceilings and curse myself tomorrow when I find that my vague almost-pneumonia-ish feelings have clarified their intentions? Or deal with some new car paperwork?

Which goal? I ask.  Six of Swords.

This does not clarify, this merely confuses.  It only tells me that I need to be rational and clear and focused and detail oriented - all things that Dayquil really promotes.

So I paced and huffed and ate a piece of cheesecake and finally found myself staring down the big blue book of pomposity.

Fine, then, Crowley, what's the deal?

The deal is that fire and water don't like each other much, and there is more conflict than harmony.  (As a Scorpio who's found herself in a few too many relationships with Aries-types, I knew this already.) The deal is that our Knight "tends to mismanage all his affairs...his whole career will be an unbroken record of failure and disaster."

Isn't that cheerful?

I do tend to sort of hopelessly mismanage my affairs. I have the capacity to really fuck some shit up through inaction. There are some things that must be taken care of today (bank, new car paperwork) that if left unattended will cause me serious issues down the road.

At the same time, the 6 of Swords is about clarity, and objectivity. Just because some things really need to be addressed today, I suppose not all of them do, and it's totally possible to tend to the essentials while still taking some time for tea and rest. Right?