Known in most decks as the suit of Cups, the element of Water is the discovery of emotional depth and emotional intelligence. The journey it describes is one of both choosing and becoming authentic in one’s identity, to realize the value of our place within ourselves and within our community.
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Ace of Water
The Ace of Water is the first form of emotion, especially love, and as such, it can be overwhelming, particularly after a period of depression. While it is frequently associated with self-love, compassion, and creativity, it is just as important to remember that it is the beginning of a path of emotional self-discovery. It is the moment of realizing value in the self, of establishing one’s identity as a unique individual. This is our moment of self-awareness, “I am that I am”, like an infant realizing that it is a separate entity from its parent.
Reversed: Alexithymia is the inability to identify one’s emotions. You know you are experiencing something, but it’s difficult to discern if it’s anger or love or even hunger. When the Ace is reversed, you may feel numb, blocked, or repressed, and you have difficulty finding ways to communicate how or what you feel. This may also indicate a state of dysphoria: you know that something is different or shifting about yourself, but you can’t quite put your finger on what. You just know that something is amiss. The pressure of other people’s concept of you causes stress and anxiety, but it also leaves you no room for self-discovery.
Astrology: The Water signs, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces – The three Water sisters can be regarded as the three transformative states of the element: Cancer is the shifting tides and the course of the river, cutting canyons through eons of patience. Scorpio is the storm, the humidity that builds just before serious weather, the power that clears away the debris to make room for new growth. Pisces follows up with gentle rain and the quiet existence of aquatic life, going with the flow in its element.
Two of Water
The beginning of individuation over objectification – realizing that other beings are complete in their own right and not just roles – is the first stage in building friendships and relationships. Being able to see both the differences and the commonalities between two entities is another dimension of this, and it lays the foundation for the building of our ultimate happiness through community and cooperation. We drink the same elixir from different cups.
Reversed: When we fail to see others as people instead of only as tools or a means to an end, we are denying both their personhood and our role in the larger community. This Two reversed can mean breaking up a relationship, losing a partnership, or rejecting support from your community. As a dimension of identity, it can also mean trusting someone else’s view of you over your own inner voice, trying to gain their approval despite your discomfort.
Astrology: Venus in Cancer – The keyword of this astrological combination is nurturing: Loving Venus welcomes in maternal Cancer, and together they collude to produce secure relationships and emotional connections. If given the choice between a night out or staying in, being comfortable at home will always win, especially with friendly company.
Three of Water
The more, the merrier! Celebration and community events are uplifting, inspiring spontaneity and creativity. The diversity and richness in the world is what brings joy and purpose even in the midst of inconvenience or disruption. Find happiness in moments that don’t always seem the most delightful, choosing to share both your joy and burdens with your community. The friendliness of the last phase grows into a sense of true camaraderie.
Reversed: It hurts to feel like an outsider in a crowd or left out of group events altogether. The sense of getting pushed out of the social circle – “three’s a crowd” or “the fifth wheel” – can lead to bitterness if the source is not honestly addressed. Things like turning one’s back on the community because of small trivial troubles or focusing on minor personal tragedies ultimately leads to letting other people down. Separation from your creative group often equals personal creative blockages and stymied aspirations.
Astrology: Mercury in Cancer – The intellectual Mercury enables emotional Cancer to communicate feelings and intuitive impressions more easily. This transit is associated with this stage in the Path because effective communication often requires more than two people to be completed. Even if the feelings are dark or troublesome, there is deep joy, comfort, and relief to be found when they are given a form outside of our heads. Talk through your worries to diminish their weight, and share your joys to lighten your spirit further.
Four of Water
Our hearts should never make decisions on their own any more than our minds should, but the process that Water uses to examine choices involves acknowledging that choices that seem to have equal weight or salience do not necessarily lead us to the same place. When the Four of Water shows up, we are facing a question not of “what is the best choice” (“best” is a very relative and subjective word) but rather “what do we want to do”? It is an invitation to turn in and reflect on what options serve our values the best. We seek true joy over momentary satisfaction. Remember that what happens next should be your choice.
Reversed: Nothing feels like the right answer, everything is boring and nothing sustains our attention or excitement for very long. We feel apathetic or disconnected, often because we have taken too long to ruminate over our options until they no longer have any personal meaning. We might find ourselves hyper-focusing on minutiae and details instead of weighing choices in context of the bigger picture, or alternately jumping to conclusions without due consideration.
Astrology: Moon in Cancer – Cancer sits with its planetary patron, the Moon, which brings about the best and the worst of this sign. One can be intensely sensitive to the slightest variations in their environment, and likewise overly sensitive to innocuous or even helpful communication. More importantly, Cancer’s key value of agency comes into focus more than any other virtue: crabs will scuttle away and retract into their hard shells if directly approached (violating personal boundaries), but they will sidle up to something tasty and delightful if allowed to do so in their own time (exercising their own agency).
Five of Water
After we have made a selection in the previous phase, we are questioning its validity. Did the results live up to our expectations, or were we projecting our expectations in ways inconsistent with reality? We have a sense of loss, regret, disappointment, like buyers’ remorse, and our eye turns to the past to see if there’s a way to undo what has been done. The anxiety is temporary and only a brief upset, but this does not diminish its poignancy. We are at the center of the Path and can either stop and lament the past or examine the consequences of our choices as we move forward.
Reversed: Seemingly out of nowhere, your connection to someone is gone – and the severance came from your side. Some part of you knows that this was a toxic relationship, that it was not going to serve either party in the long run, and it is better to interrupt the relationship now while acceptance and forgiveness are still possible. The choice might’ve been shocking or difficult to reconcile, but it was the right one. We are capable of adapting to whatever comes next.
Astrology: Mars in Scorpio – The nearly magical intuition of Scorpio is directed towards the dimensions of conflict and strategy presented by Mars. If there is a problem lurking in the shadows, especially around an event or choice that requires our cooperation, it will be found in short order. Whichever way our choice went, we give ourselves time to examine and reconsider. We are not so much doubting ourselves as performing additional due diligence to validate our position, something that’s often only possible after all the cards are on the table.
Six of Water
After the questioning and disappointment of the Five of Water, our thoughts turn to examine what could have been instead, imagining the simpler time before our decisions led us seemingly astray. We are gripped with nostalgia, childhood innocence, and even naivete that we might somehow invent a better future in the shape of an idealized past. We may even enjoy reunion with friends of our past and childhoods. This is an important phase in the Path of Water because it informs our emotions about what kind of future we would like to live in.
Reversed: One can be so focused on the past that they do not see the present unfolding before them, rejecting the opportunity to learn from mistakes. These are the lies we tell ourselves that bring us back to unhealthy dynamics: “this time will be different” and “they’ve changed” and “I’ll do better.” Clinging to those unrealistic expectations and goals only cause more heartache, especially when there’s already clear evidence of their prior failings. When that toxic friend or ex-relationship pops up, be on guard to define and defend healthy boundaries, and do not be afraid to lose them altogether if they violate those boundaries.
Astrology: Sun in Scorpio – Scorpio has a unique property that no other sign possesses: it actually has three avatars instead of one. There is the Grey Lizard, a pathetic martyr who bemoans their difficult roles despite being the ones who facilitated it. Then there’s the famous Red Scorpion, the stinger that lashes out and hurts others before anyone can come close enough to engage. Finally, there’s the Golden Eagle that soars above the troubles and remains untouchable – unless they themselves choose to land and get involved. The beginning of the second half of the Path of Water reminds us that our emotions are tools that must be studied and mastered in order to be used for our greatest good; otherwise, they can easily cause massive damage to ourselves and others.
Seven of Water
Upon reflecting on the possibilities of the future with the context of the past in Six of Water, we are now faced with even more options than before, but some of them are even less practical or viable than before. Some choices are pure illusion, or perhaps the presentation of a choice is an illusion at all. Now is the moment to examine all options and consider them with equal candor: which are illusory and based on wishful thinking versus reality and concrete evidence? Are we entertaining fantasy and unfettered imagination, or are we truly thinking outside the box? We need a creative solution, but it’s not going to come easily.
Reversed: It may well be that all options are illusory, that none of the apparent paths are viable in any way. Someone else might be using diversionary tactics to sway our perspective, to steer us away from paths of action that they might find unfavorable to them. It can be tempting to default to the option that appears to have the highest promise of return, but know that it will also be the option with the highest cost and the highest risk – and the deck is already stacked against you.
Astrology: Venus in Scorpio – Both Venus and Scorpio are emotion-driven and passionate, but they express these virtues in very different ways. The complexity of interaction between these to astrological elements creates the air of uncertainty that can either be mysterious and exciting or else dangerous and beguiling.
Eight of Water
When there seems to be no good choices, the only reasonable choice is to make none at all. If we leave a situation behind before what we believe should be the final outcome, we feel that the time and energy we put into it was wasted. But, if we’ve reached this point, we must also recognize that the results will not be worth that investment. The separation still stings, but we have learned something from the experience and can move on with a growing wisdom of what we do and do not value. Yes, there is disappointment and sadness, but it is wiser to move on than to double-down on a circumstance that is not going to yield positive results.
Reversed: When someone tells you who they are, make a note of it, but when someone shows you who they are, believe them. When Eight is reversed, we are tempted to hang on a little longer, to see if the nasty reveal is the actual truth or if it was just one bad day (or week, or month, or year). This is the epitome of the dead-end job, of aimless busywork and pointless routine distracting us from real life. We want to quit when the situation demands more effort because everything feels hopeless anyway. Escapism, even if it’s unhealthy, is at least predictable.
Astrology: Saturn in Pisces – Strict and serious Saturn entertains the fluid and dreamlike Pisces with a strange and powerful affection: What are our actual goals? What do we want to accomplish? What do we feel is our top priority in life? The dynamic between these two astrological forces is about finding the best way to achieve those goals, no matter how lofty, rather than poking holes in ideas. Moving forward might mean trimming away parts that don’t work, but in the end, it’s all about reaching those goals more easily.
Nine of Water
Now that something of your worth has been discovered through the loss of dross and chaff, you are presented with the kernel of truth about your identity and values. This is the moment to pause and examine your hard work, to appreciate the journey thus far. You are finding your emotional strength, self-confidence, and self-reliance. Engage in healthy self-care and comfort, and rest in an earned satisfaction with self.
Reversed: Even after demonstrations of something’s often unseemly intentions, we reject the wisdom discovered in favor of selfishness and materialism; in this moment, the self-interest of Nine is flipped from “care” to “indulgence”. Self-serving patterns devolve into laziness, indolence, and a refusal to grow. Often, we find ourselves dissatisfied with the result, even though it was exactly what we asked for.
Astrology: Jupiter in Pisces – If Pisces in Saturn helps determine support for material goals, Jupiter does the same for personal goals. There is still a paternal, loving energy here, but it’s the “fun self-care” dad energy instead of the “serious let’s-do-taxes” dad energy. Pisces lesson in Jupiter is to make sure that your self-care is actually beneficial to you and not merely self-indulgent. Drink plenty of water, eat a decent meal, and get plenty of rest!
Ten of Water
The process of self-discovery and critical examination have led you to a point where your individuation of self and others at the beginning of your journey culminates in reunion and realization of a whole synergistic community. The Ten of Water brings harmony, happiness in marriage, contentment in relationships, and satisfaction with what you’ve accomplished. It is not the end of the journey, but it is a significant milestone. Everything comes together to work out beautifully, even in ways you were not expecting.
Reversed: Instead of reveling in contentment and joy, the pattern of selfishness in the Reversed cards leads to dissatisfaction at home, loveless relationships, and eventually divorce and broken homes. The Path of Water’s wisdom of individuation and compassionate acceptance has missed, and in its stead, we realize that the values we thought were shared were actually our own projections, that the situation has become self-serving and even exploitative.
Astrology: Mars in Pisces – “Love is a verb.” This combo, though seemingly disparate, creates a powerful potential for visiting acts of compassion onto the material world. Mars’ active energy is directed by Pisces’ charitable soul, making social injustices the favored battleground. But, be conscious that injustices mean that something has gone wrong, and it’s easy for Mars to flare up into rage and fury when the nature of those injustices come to mind. Use this energy to put things to right, and trust the universe to visit the dharmic or karmic consequences on the offenders in its own time.
Page of Water
As an individual, the Page of Water is an emotional young person, often an artist with deep passions. They may show up as a messenger delivering news related to creative endeavors, especially those that occur with unforeseen synchronicity.
As a step the Path of Water, the Page represents our initial awareness of our emotional independence. We begin by understanding that we have both the freedom of choice and the responsibility of facing the consequences of those choices. Social constructs provide a structure within which we negotiate effective communication, but they should never condemn us to deny our authenticity, so long as we do not visit harm on others.
Reversed: The Page Reversed would sooner splash in puddles and make waves than spend a moment in self-reflection. They are emotionally immature with more ideas than actions. There is a distinct creative block, having these grand ideas without a course of action, because creativity means to create, not just to imagine. The Page Reversed may also speak and act without considering others, such as being “brutally honest” under the guise of being helpful, and “tough” instead of compassionate.
Astrology: Earth of Water – Water is held in the belly of the earth in the form of an ocean, a lake, a pond, or even a rain puddle. Though there may be mighty depths, the earth lends water its shape, providing stability and direction. Rivers flow to the sea transmitting ideas and inspirations, all of which are changed in subtle ways by the journey.
Knight of Water
If this figure occurs in a reading as a person, it may represent a romantic suitor, full of charm and a delight to the senses. Additionally, they may be an assistant for your creative endeavors, the sort of person who enables you to get things done. The Knight energy of initiation and movement meets emotional intelligence and empathy in a new and exciting way.
For the Path, the Knight suggests that it is time to act on your emotions and do something with the wisdom you’ve been gathering. Trust your instincts and take a chance. If you wait for your plan to be perfect before you begin, you will never start: what you have now is good enough, let’s get going!
Reversed: The Knight Reversed doesn’t appreciate not being the exclusive focus of your attention, and their demands on your time and energy are unrealistic. When they don’t get their way, they tend towards being sullen and moody. They will stand in the way of your creative vision if it isn’t done the way they want it – which defeats the purpose of your creative vision. They may even present themselves as a “knight in shining armor” who shows up to rescue or relieve you, only to later exact a steep emotional toll for the service. Armor has to be polished and maintained to remain shiny, but rarely by the wearer.
Astrology: Air of Water – Clouds carry the nourishment of water to the earth, and they show us where our ideas flow. Those fluffy, random shapes can signal directions we hadn’t imagined before, inspiring new ideas to expand on the old. The clouds remind us that water is the all-present element that makes all else possible, carrying the impact of our emotions – especially compassion – far beyond our immediate world.
Queen of Water
The Queen may present as an emotionally secure maternal figure, calm, intuitive, and reassuring. She is a guide, a shoulder to cry on, and a comfort. She supports your own strength as a compassionate friend or lover, willing to listen and often imparting practical wisdom.
To reach Queen-hood on the Path, allow yourself to be receptive to the needs and words of others, to listen with your heart and with your head. Observe how others react to the emotional revelations and actions you began as the Knight, and weigh the value of those reactions carefully. You are often your own best council when you sit with your intuition – and that works best when you are quiet and open.
Reversed: The Reversed Queen is emotionally insecure and prone to codependency and emotional manipulation. She is anxious, neurotic, and disturbed, but she is also resistant to receiving any kind of help. She presents herself as weak and fragile, demanding full-time attention from others. She can turn icy when denied her desires, and she can storm and rage when she feels her designs are thwarted. She will neither forget nor forgive and will carry a grudge to her dying breath.
Astrology: Water of Water – There are rivers that run at the bottom of the ocean, and there is a sharp line between warm and cold seas. Water can be fresh or it can be salty or it can be brackish, because the true nature of water is as a carrier of other elements. Pure “dihydrogen monoxide” is so uncomfortable by itself that it actively attracts other molecules and particles; water is defined best by what it holds and where it flows.
King of Water
The King arrives as an emotionally balanced gentleman, a supportive paternal figure who is able to help you find balance and control of your own creative energy. He is generous, kind, and displays compassionate emotional intelligence. He is fatherly without being overbearing or overprotective, often a teacher or professor.
This is the culmination of the Path of Water, bringing you to a place of peace and harmony with your emotional self. This is the milestone of healing from emotional wounds received in the past, learning and integrating the wisdom you’ve gained along the way for the benefit of yourself and those around you.
Reversed: The King Reversed is an abusive and emotionally manipulative man, one who does not respect consent and agency. He is volatile and moody, likely to be cruel but blame his victims for his tendencies. As a point on the Path, the King Reversed means that you have connected academically with the wounds and trauma of your past but are unwilling or unable to resolve them completely.
Astrology: Fire of Water – A delicate balance must be struck here: water extinguishes fire easily, but fire can dissipate water into steam. The true power of fire and water is to harness their interaction in order to create movement and ultimately momentum. Fire and water also make soup or tea, bringing out the best of both elements in the care of feeding of our bodies, and warm baths for soothing our souls.
Final Thoughts on the Path of Water
Water is simultaneously the most malleable and the powerful of all the elements. It enables life to exist at all, and it connects the organic and inorganic as surely as the material and the spiritual. Water is the substance of our birth, our joy, our sorrow, and our very existence.
Walking the Path of Water means embracing the full meaning of patience, the inexorable force that carves canyons and seas over millennia. It means acknowledging the vital presence of the seemingly mundane, and it means respecting that substances that are seemingly transparent can still harbor secrets and joys unseen.