Kings are associated with control, mastery, discipline and resolve.  Cups represent emotions, love, pleasures in life; matters pertaining to the unconscious, intuition and the inner planes, and the element of water.  The King of Cups is both a romantic, loving person who does not let his emotions lead him down the wrong path.  He has enough life experience to know that while he desires love and pleasure in life sometimes that can lead to unhealthy choices. 

The Wheel of Change Knight of Cups reminds me of Bleeding Gums Murphy from The Simpsons - a down on his luck jazz musician who is happy as long as he has his saxophone (well as happy as he can be).  This saxophonists stands on a corner outside a store window decorating with Christmas finery.  There is a small red kettle next to him.  He is warmly dressed and seems to be oblivious to the snow that decorates his clothes and the landscape.  A sign that says "Help the Homeless" leans against his legs.  It looks like he is using his musical ability to help others and benefits those less fortunate.  He has a generous and giving spirit that connects beautifully with the holiday sentiment.

The Motherpeace Shaman of Cups shows a man standing before a large cauldron set over a flame.  He holds a pitcher which pours water into the cauldron.  Behind him are walls decorated with sea life and fauna.  He wears a red and blue striped gown but his face is white.  It almost seems as if he is wearing a mask.  The floor beneath his feet is the same color as the ocean.  It looks as if he is standing on the water itself.

From both cards I gets a sense of reaching out to connect to the world despite factors that would normally distance us from it.  The cold weather and snow on the Wheel of Change card would certainly deter a less determined individual.  The saxophonist puts his heart and soul into his music and in return he gets donations to help others (hopefully).  I can almost feel him getting so lost in his music that he doesn't feel the cold, doesn't see the people who walk past and ignore his lyrical plea for generosity.  His heart and soul is focused on those who are moved by his music, swayed by his sounds, to be generous to those less fortunate.  At the same time there is calculation in his moves - by posing in front of a Christmas display with sign and cauldron and playing his music, this Knight of Cups knows he is more likely to find generous donors.  After all guilt can be a powerful emotion.

The Shaman of Cups is a slightly more austere figure - a bit more distant and less approachable.  That doesn't mean he does not care for his people with all his heart, it means that he realizes sometimes he has to be separate from them in order to completely his responsibilities to them.  The mask is a protective device meant to help him shield his true emotions from his followers.  Even if he feels their pain and anguish, showing it would serve no useful purpose.  His mission is to help them heal and guide them through the pain and suffering in which they are enmeshed.

Both these cards combine elements of intellect and emotions.  These men are both at home in the more traditionally feminine sphere of emotions and intuition.  However they approach it from a different direction.  They use their intellectual skills to calculate how best to help people work through emotional issues or to tap into that energy and use it for the greater good.  This Shaman/Knight is the master of his emotions not the victim of them.  He is able to distance himself from the emotional maelstrom in which humans often find themselves in order to serve as their guide through this confusion and pain.

I have often found it interesting that this card is sometimes described as the counselor or therapist.  I have had training in counseling and psychology and even worked as a counselor with "at-risk youth".  Ultimately I moved away from this because I never mastered the ability to distance myself from their pain and suffering.  I became enraged at those who caused it and as a result I might have been able to empathize with these kids but was never really effective at helping them see past it and work through it.  Maybe that a skill I need to learn how to master, especially if I want to become an effective Tarot reader.  I don't necessarily thing it's essential for Tarot readers to be counselors to their clients but that is the route I would take.  If I don't want to find myself in a similar position of getting swamped by the emotional pain and suffering of others, I'll have to learn how to take a more beneficial approach.