Minor Arcana, Cups
Knight of Cups
invitation, proposal, approach, courtesy
Upright
A rider in a winged helmet moves slowly on a calm horse, holding a cup forward as an offer. The horse walks, and nothing about the approach is rushed. Waite reads arrival, advances, proposition and invitation.
Someone may come to you with a proposal, romantic or professional. Enjoy being asked, then look past the presentation. Ask what the offer involves, when it starts and what is expected of you. A graceful invitation deserves a clear and unhurried answer.
Reversed
Waite's reversal is blunt: trickery, swindling, duplicity and fraud. The polite stranger with the cup may be selling something that does not exist.
Be careful with any offer that rushes you or asks for money up front. Verify the person and the paperwork independently. A card cannot detect fraud, so if you suspect it, talk to your bank, a lawyer or the relevant consumer authority.
A card is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
In Waite's words
Upright: Arrival, approach—sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanour, invitation, incitement.
Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Part 3, on Wikisource. The meanings above are by Cast & Chart.
Card art by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.