deck: rider waite
next of the court cards are the kings. they are the most mature male figures among the court cards. if you want to know more about the queens, see this post. as my last post, I used the pictures of rider waite deck again because it’s the most widely used deck, and symbol-wise they’re the most straightforward & easier to interpret than other complicated decks.
the king cards in general have masculine, active, outwardly focused energy in harmony with the queen cards’ feminine energy. compared to how the majority of the queen cards were looking at the objects in their hands, king cards are all looking ahead(you could argue that king of pentacles in the rider waite deck doesn’t really look like he’s looking ahead, though, but in my opinion he’s just looking away). that’s what I mean by being outwardly focused.
the most forward here is of course, king of wands. he’s a true leader. others naturally follow when he takes up on something because they know he’s going to push his goals with momentum like nobody else. he has this natural charisma that draws people to him like that. very active and entrepreneurial energy here. he attracts attention to himself because of his confidence. the lizard next to his throne, which can also be seen in the queen of the wands card of rider waite deck, represents his passion and his spiritual power as well.
king of swords, well he’s a tough nut. you can tell by the blue clothes that cover his entire body that he’s a man of logic, rationality, and truth and nothing but the truth. his position almost reminds us of a justice card in the major arcana, which features a figure holding a sword and a scale in each hand. he is a left-brained kind of a guy, analytical, intellectual; he has his way with words, facts, and getting his idea across others.
king of pentacles, just like his queen of pentacles, is a really resourceful character. he knows how to support you, and he’s reliable, steady, someone who you can count on. because pentacles are earth energies, which comes from the ground, he’s the most stable influence among all the kings. he’s a hard worker who gets to his goals with dedication even if the process might be slow. and whatever he does, he’s in it 100%. he’s very committed. very responsible. you can take his word when he says something because he means it.
I tend to leave the court cards of the cups to the last, because they are the most emotional/intuitive influences among them all, and also because I’m personally fond of what cups represent. cups, sometimes called chalices in different decks, stand for water energy. joy, happiness, emotions, connections. king of the cups represents all of that. he’s calm, because he’s aware of his emotions and knows how to flow with them, as shown by his throne floating on waves. he really cares, and has the most loving fatherly energy among them all. he’s open-minded, very understanding and sympathetic. his knowledge that he has is not such hard, logical facts like that of the king of swords, but something that he knows from his heart. he understands things with his heart. he’s gentle, and very soothing. you want him around when you’re feeling emotionally volatile and need to be comforted. you can count on his support.
there are each different energies and personalities that these kings represent; and they all have different roles. for example, maybe you’d like to go for a moral advice to the king of swords, but he’s not going to be such a great comfort for you if you need a shoulder to cry on or some fatherly advice. he’s so fair and ethical, but could be seen as a bit inflexible. for that kind of advice you’d want to go for the king of cups. and that’s why each king represents different quality and takes part in different corner of energies.
