"Conquered And Converted All The Same..."

Whereas other Princes are conscripted to either ride off into battle or stay home and guard the homeland, the Prince of Cups is a seeker and explorer, and also something of a bard. He may brandish a loving cup instead of a weapon, but the strangers he encounters are conquered and converted all the same, won over by his unique and charismatic vision and the sincerity of his crusade.

I was similarly ensnared by this song by performance artist Taylor Mac, "The Palace of the End." It depicts an unlikely epic romance between real-life unlikely romance novelists Lynne Cheney and Saddam Hussein -- by virtue of Mac's incredible talent for storytelling, nothing about this song seems even the faintest bit unlikely by the end:

Art allows us to do, say, and feel things that seem to have no place in people's everyday lives, to channel the emotional truths that slumber beneath the surface of our culture. In this way, the Prince of Cups (as well as Taylor Mac) is something of a diviner, unearthing thoughts and feelings from the unconscious and turning them loose on the world, presenting them as a challenge to the way we're used to seeing and thinking about things. We think we're being entertained, but we're also being transformed.

On a more practical level, consider this card an appeal to your creative side. Whereas the Princess of Cups nakedly broadcasts her feelings to the world as she discovers them, the Prince's approach is more calculated, more strategic. He crafts and fine-tunes every aspect of his message so that it will have maximum impact. This could mean that it's time to take a creative project (or any project you feel passionately about) more seriously and start looking for ways to bring it to the next level -- think about how you could emulate the Prince's approach as described above. When it comes to love and relationships, this card encourages you to cultivate an air of receptivity, suggesting that your boldly romantic overtures will be hard to defend against as long as they are genuinely meant and thoughtfully planned.

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Prince Of Cups