Queen (or Kings) of Cups Examples?

[qos]

Does anyone have any examples of positive portrayals of the mature Cups archetype in popular or classical storytelling? As most of you know, my relationship with Water has been ambivalent, and due to some recent input I'm working more consciously on changing that.

Unfortunately -- with all due respect to my friends here who identify with that archetype -- the examples that leap to mind where Water people are concerned tend to be negative. My sister's Water aspects drive me nuts, as have Michael's. When I think of characters, the person who comes to mind first is Medea: a sorceress so overwhelmed with jealousy and helplessness that murder is the only thing she can come up with to "fix" her situation.

So far, the best positive examples I can come up with are Sally Owens from Practical Magic (Sandra Bullock's character in the movie version) -- who seems to have a strong balance of Earth, and the traditional version of Guinevere. (Although I prefer the Queen of Wands version in Parke Godwin's Beloved Exile.)

Attractive Kings of Cups are even harder for me to come up with, although there are probably plenty of Knights I could name. . .

Ideas?

(P.S.: Don't bother mentioning Morgaine in Mists of Avalon. I can't stand her!)

Comments

[wyldlingspirit.livejournal.com]

Correct me if I'm wrong (I just woke up and haven't had tea yet) but isn't Mary Magdalene a Queen of Cups?

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

*blush

*mumble

Yes. . .

*headdesk

[haggispatrol.livejournal.com]

I'll email you. Can't write it here.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to it. . .

[wyldlingspirit.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about this, if it's permitted for me to know.

[haggispatrol.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to say, lass, that you're not. I wish you were! If it were up to me I'd tell you, but this is oathbound stuff and you're not one of the ones with whom I have permission to share it.

[wyldlingspirit.livejournal.com]

I defer to you, deartháir mór. *snuggle*

[haggispatrol.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[queenofhalves]

have you read chalice by robin mckinley? it's not her best book by far, but it's well-suited to this purpose.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

It's been on my "possible reads" list, but I'll move it up. Thanks!

[margoeve.livejournal.com]

I usually see cards as actual people in history rather than people from fiction, so bear with me. I had to think about this a bit and this is going to sound silly as heck but John Lennon seems almost the quintessential King of Cups. I mean, "All You Need is Love," "Imagine," etc etc etc. He;d have all those love in's... Did you ever see the "Give Peace a Chance" video? Totally King of Cups.

I tend to identify with cups AND swords myself - it's an interesting balance of wit and creativity. Logic and emotion.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Lennon is a great insight! Thank you!

Cups and swords would be an interesting balance to live with -- but potentially very powerful.

[margoeve.livejournal.com]

Of course, there's always that Jesus guy too.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

True. . . but I tend to see him as one of the more balanced/rounded types. I see him as having a lot of earth, especially.

[rin-x-x.livejournal.com]

I've always kind of associated Dionysos with the King of Cups card.

Hmm. I don't really tend to put fictional characters to court cards... but that certainly seems like an interesting exercise now.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Dionysos always reads like fire and earth to me -- but he's so complex it's not surprising that there are many different kinds of energy in him.

[rin-x-x.livejournal.com]

I think it may be because when I did a reading on a festival day of his way back in um... 07 (I //think//), and in the "God" slot came up that card. It wasn't until I read the description of the card as deeply emotional... I'm not exactly sure if I would agree with it //now//, but its kind of a gut reaction that I guess goes against most of the traditional tarot. Lol. I would have to agree that I can see him in the fire and in the earth...

I guess I should think about this more before responding. Lol.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

I think that a lot of deities -- and most people -- have more than one elemental attribution. And "deeply emotional" is the primary characteristic I associate with Cups.