Fish in tarot
The fish is one of the oldest Christian symbols, a secret sign of early believers, and in any tradition it belongs to water and so, in tarot, to the suit of Cups. A fish pokes its head out of the cup held by the Page of Cups, a surprising thought or feeling surfacing. Another leaps from the sea beside the King of Cups, who wears a fish-shaped amulet. In readings fish are the contents of the unconscious made visible: ideas, intuitions and emotions that rise when least expected.
Cards that show fish
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Page of Cups
Page of Cups: The fish in the cup
A small grey-blue fish rises from the cup and seems to look at the Page. Waite calls it 'the pictures of the mind taking form': a surprising feeling, intuition or creative idea emerging from the depths.
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Knight of Cups
Knight of Cups: The fish tunic
Over his armour he wears a tunic printed with red fish swimming among blue waves. It marks him clearly as a knight of water, carrying the suit's emotion and imagination on his body.
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King of Cups
King of Cups: The leaping fish
On the left a grey fish, which Waite calls a dolphin, leaps from the waves. It suggests the creative and emotional life beneath the surface, lively and free, which the King keeps in view.