What does Knight of Cups mean in love?

The classic suitor: a proposal, a romantic gesture, somebody arriving with real intent.

It is the most straightforwardly romantic card in the deck and the tradition attaches one consistent caveat to it. The gesture is genuine and the follow-through is unproven, and the two get conflated by everybody involved including the Knight.

Reversed, charm without substance behind it. That is not necessarily deception; more often it is somebody who means every word and has not considered what any of it would require. The card asks for actions over declarations, and it asks it gently.

As somebody's feelings, it is one of the warmest answers available: romantic, sincere and moving towards you. Whether it lasts is the question the card cannot answer and does not pretend to.

An offer made from the heart. Romance, an invitation, a creative proposal.

Follow what moves you. Grace and idealism in action, and the card genuinely means action: the Knight is moving, which distinguishes him from the Page's feeling that has not gone anywhere yet.

As a person he is warm, attentive and demonstrative. What he offers is real at the moment he offers it, and the tradition is careful to put it that way rather than more warmly.

Moodiness, unrealistic promises, somebody in love with being in love.

The last is the most precise. What is being enjoyed is the feeling rather than the person, and the person is interchangeable in a way that becomes apparent later.

Also read for feeling that never becomes action: the intention announced repeatedly and never enacted. Reversed, the horse stops and only the declaration remains.

Upright: romance, invitation, idealism, following the heart, charm

Reversed: moodiness, empty promises, unrealistic, inaction

• What am I being invited into?
• Where is my idealism useful, and where is it a way of avoiding specifics?