The Court Cards

Think of them as a group of four families. Take the page, knight, queen, and king from each suit (any deck is fine) and set them out on a table. You can lay them down in rows (see below) or maybe just put each in its own area—the Wands court cards off to one side, the Cups somewhere on the bottom, and so on. If you really feel fanciful, you might take four large sheets of paper and draw a crude house on each, big enough to set the court cards from a single suit inside the drawing. Now, using the kings and queens as parents and the knights and pages as children, consider what kind of families they might be. Which parents seem to have a good marriage? Which ones lead their separate lives or have affairs (and with what sort of people)? What are the kids like? Do they listen to their parents? If you think of all the pages as students, how studious are they, and what do they care about? If the knights are teenagers, or in college, what are their priorities (the Knight of Wands might love parties, the Knight of Pentacles might study all the time)?

If you want to try an advanced stage of this exercise, take four more sheets of paper, and for each suit, draw a kind of ideal setting—a city, the beach, mountain climbing, whatever you think.

Then try switching some around. Let’s say you drew a peaceful lake for the Cups. Suppose the Cups family left and the Swords people showed up. How would they experience that quiet, watery scene?

Permutations

Possibly the most interesting thing about the court cards is that there are sixteen of them. If four is meaningful and powerful, what of four times four? Since we do not go all the way to ten, we are not in the realm of Pythagorean ideas, or of the Tree of Life, with its ten sephiroth. But we are in the realm of the four worlds, and the four elements, and the four directions, and the four-letter Tetragrammaton, and all the other fours we have talked about. And each one gets magnified by the fact that there are four court cards in four suits.

Without trying to claim a deliberately esoteric origin for the court cards, it’s worth remembering that regular playing cards only had three per suit: the page (or knave, valet, or jack), the queen, and the king. Tarot enthusiasts who believe that the Tarot deck predated playing cards sometimes like to imagine that the knight rode off on a quest when regular playing cards were published. Since it now seems much more likely that Tarot cards came after the introduction of playing cards into Europe, we might say that the knights rode into the deck. Maybe they came bringing the powerful imagery of four times four.

Here are the sixteen cards as a diagram:

Page of Wands	Knight of Wands	Queen of Wands	King of Wands
Page of Cups	Knight of Cups	Queen of Cups	King of Cups
Page of Swords	Knight of Swords	Queen of Swords	King of Swords
Page of Pentacles	Knight of Pentacles	Queen of Pentacles	King of Pentacles

The usual way to consider these is horizontally—all the characters, page, knight, queen, and king, from each suit. But what of vertically? All the pages go together, all the knights, and so on. And we can go further. One of the early Kabbalist masters, Abraham Abulafia, developed a meditation system based on “permutating” the letters in the sacred names of God. If we permutate the arrangement above, we allow new relationships to develop. Consider—if we go along the diagonals, beginning with the pages, we get:

Page of Wands	Knight of Cups	Queen of Swords	King of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles	Knight of Swords	Queen of Cups	King of Wands

This leaves an interesting pattern:

	Knight of Wands	Queen of Wands
Page of Cups			King of Cups
Page of Swords			King of Swords
	Knight of Pentacles	Queen of Pentacles

By following a simple zig-zag pattern, we can get:

Page of Cups

Knight of Wands

Queen of Pentacles

King of Swords

Leaving:

Page of Swords

Knight of Pentacles

Queen of Wands

King of Cups

Altogether, we get:

Page of Wands	Knight of Cups	Queen of Swords	King of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles	Knight of Swords	Queen of Cups	King of Wands
Page of Cups	Knight of Wands	Queen of Pentacles	King of Swords
Page of Swords	Knight of Pentacles	Queen of Wands	King of Cups

You can keep doing this, following the same formula (diagonals, zig-zagging for the third line, what’s left for the fourth), and get a whole series of permutations. There should be sixteen possible arrangements.

If we ask what the point of this exercise is, it’s to discover different relationships. How might the Page of Wands serve the Knight of Cups? What kind of couple would the Queen of Pentacles and the King of Swords make? If we think of knights as dedicated to the service of the lady—a medieval ideal known as courtly love—what kind of dedication might the Queen of Wands receive from the Knight of Pentacles? By playing with different arrangements, we discover the strengths and limitations of each card, each character in its suit. We realize that while all pages share what we might call pageness, this translates very differently in each suit. As you get to know the court cards more closely—more intimately?—you might want to explore the permutations and see what the different combinations reveal to you. The simplest way to rearrange the cards would be to shuffle the four pages and lay them out in a vertical line, then shuffle the knights and set them in order next to the pages, and on to the queens and kings.

Notice that we can see them as characters, as people. Knight is a role, and Cups is an element. But when we combine them to get Knight of Cups, we move towards a sense of a person. This has been the contemporary approach, pushed by the idea that when they appear in a reading, they represent an actual person in the querent’s life. The Major cards signify spiritual qualities and life challenges, the numbered Minor cards situations and experiences, but the court cards show us individual people.

If Court Cards Are People, Who Are They?

It used to be that they were always someone else—not the querent but someone who will affect the querent—a husband or wife, a boss, a friend, maybe even a mysterious stranger. This certainly is a valuable way to consider them and should not be overlooked. But how are we supposed to know just what person is being represented? To some extent, reading the court cards in this way requires more of the psychic or intuitive approach than the other cards. We can say that the Star symbolizes hopefulness, or that the Five of Wands indicates a competitive atmosphere, but how are we to know just who the King of Cups might be?

One way to approach this question is through character traits of both the role and the suit—in this case, king and Cups. We might say that the king indicates a person of authority, while Cups suggests—among other things—drinking. Thus the King of Cups could be a boss who gets drunk at lunchtime! There are, of course, many qualities to Cups beside alcohol, and we will look at more subtle interpretations of the King, as well as the other fifteen cards.

To get away from the requirement to identify every court card as a person, modern readers often look at them as aspects of the querent. If the King of Cups appears in your reading, it means that you yourself have been experiencing that card in some way (or may need to, depending on the position in the reading). Tarotist and author Mary Greer says that they always represent an aspect of the querent, even when they also indicate another person. That is, the Queen of Wands may be your mother, but she also is you. This is because we draw to ourselves people who reflect truths about us. To put it another way, what we see in other people comes from who we ourselves are. In other words, you see your mother as the Queen of Wands because you have that quality in yourself. For someone else, such as your mother’s boss, your mother might be more the Knight of Pentacles.

Some readers prefer not to try and figure out the riddle of just who a court card might symbolize in the querent’s life. Either they avoid such identifications altogether and only talk about the card symbolically, or else they ask the querent what he or she thinks the card looks like. If the Knight of Wands appears on the table, the reader might ask, “How would you describe this person? What does he seem to be doing?” or else, “When you look at this picture, does anyone come into your mind?”

This approach makes a lot of sense and can save a lot of time and guessing games. If the querent responds, “Oh my God! This is Uncle Charlie at that picnic—” and bursts out crying, this is probably much more significant than if you as the reader flounder about with phrases like “This is someone active and energetic,” or worse, try to come up with a magical picture in your head of just who it might be and why he or she is important (a knight does not have to be a man, nor a queen a woman—more about gender and the court cards in a moment).

One problem with asking the querent who he or she sees in the card is that it may seem like “cheating.” You’re the Tarot reader, you’re supposed to know these things. Readers who prefer to work this way will usually inform the querent ahead of time with a statement like, “My readings are interactive. I may ask you what you see in the picture.” Once I was visiting friends in Oxford, and they very kindly offered to book readings for me during my stay (they themselves read professionally). All the readings went very well until the end of the day, when a woman came who clearly had a magical/psychic idea of what a Tarot reader was supposed to do. When I asked her what a certain scene suggested to her, she got uncomfortable, and when I then asked her how she saw a court card—the Knight of Wands—she jumped up and announced it was unfair, she was “doing all the work.” I promptly offered her her money back, and she stormed off. The funny thing was, such fiery impulsive action was really a very Knight of Wands thing to do, thereby demonstrating Mary Greer’s point.

Significators

The identification of the court cards with individual people was spurred by the idea that we should begin a reading by choosing a “significator” for the querent, a card to represent the person having the reading. Unlike the other cards, which come out of the usual random shuffle, the significator is a conscious choice of the reader. That is, you come to me for a reading, and I choose a single card to symbolize you. This idea comes from Waite, though it may not have originated with him.

I used to use significators, because that was what I learned to do, but I mostly have abandoned the practice. However, it is worth looking at the process for what it tells us about the court cards. Waite’s directions begin with age. He says we should choose a knight for a man forty years or older and a king for a man or boy under that age. If this strikes you as odd that the knight is older than the king, it has to do with Golden Dawn changes, which we will discuss in a moment. Waite then says that we choose a queen for a woman over forty and a page for a young woman or girl.

When I was using significators, I developed my own system for ages. A page for me represented a child of either sex, a knight a young person of either sex, a queen a mature woman, and a king a mature man. This just seemed to make more sense to me.

Waite then goes on to use hair and skin tone for the suits—Wands very fair people with “yellow or auburn” hair and blue eyes, Cups light brown or “dull fair hair” and gray or blue eyes, Swords hazel or gray eyes and dark brown hair and “dull complexion,” and Pentacles very dark brown or black hair, dark eyes, and “sallow or swarthy complexions.” Now, if you think about this, it really just works for the range of people in England, Waite’s own country. In Sweden, most people would be Wands, in Morocco there would be many Pentacles, and people in Tanzania or Vietnam would not be included at all. Still, many readers, who may not even use significators, will use these physical types and ages as a way to try to identify a court card in a reading. In other words, if the Queen of Wands comes up, they might say, “This is an older woman who is significant to you now. She probably has blond hair and blue eyes.” Hopefully, they also will use the psychological qualities of the card as well as the physical, and perhaps the spiritual meaning, as suggested by the element and some of those other aspects of the number four. We will look at these in a moment.

Before I simply stopped using significators, I developed my own more direct and, yes, interactive method. I would tell people, “We’re having a special today. You can be a page, a knight, a queen, or a king. Which do you prefer?” Most men would choose king or knight, most women queen, but not always, and I’ve seen a middle-aged man choose page. After the person had chosen, I would lay out the four cards of that level and say, “Which of these do you most see as yourself?” or even “Which one calls to you?”

A more systematic way that people choose a significator is through astrological sign, and this too allows us to glimpse another level of meaning, whether we decide to apply it to significators or not. There are twelve signs and four elements, which gives us three signs for each element. Now, of course, there are sixteen court cards, not twelve, so the Golden Dawn set aside the pages as representing the element itself, rather than a particular sign (this is similar to setting aside the four aces as the elemental root in order to have thirty-six cards for the thirty-six decans—see the numbered Minor Arcana cards). With the pages set aside, the knight, queen, and king of each suit become the three signs of that element. The reader can then ask the querent that classic line from singles bars, “What’s your sign?” If the person says, for example, “Leo,” then she or he becomes the Queen of Wands. We will list the astrological sign for each court card as we go through them (though, again, the choices are complicated, because the Golden Dawn changed the titles of the cards so that we have to make some adjustments of our own).

Movie Stars, Fairy Tales, Superheroes, and Noble Worthies

Some people get a personal sense of the court cards by imagining them in different settings. They may associate them with their favorite movie or pop stars, or celebrities. To do this, you first need a sense of what each card represents, but once you have that general idea, you can bring it to life by saying, for example, that the Queen of Cups is Marilyn Monroe, or the King of Pentacles is Donald Trump. If the four knights were the Beatles, which ones would they be? (My vote goes to John as the Knight of Wands for his fiery creativity and passion, Paul as the Knight of Cups for emotional appeal, George as the Knight of Swords for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, and Ringo as the Knight of Pentacles for his earthiness.) If you prefer opera, you could do the same sort of thing with the great stars—pages as mezzo-sopranos, knights as tenors, queens as sopranos, and kings as baritones. Or you could do characters from your favorite movies or operas. There have, in fact, been decks published where the artist used traditional figures for the court cards but with the faces of classic movie stars.

You can do the same with books and fairy tales. If the Knight of Wands was a character in a favorite story, who would he be? From the other direction, if you think of a character you love, what court card would symbolize him or her? Tarot enthusiasts often take a particular novel (or movie or TV show) and assign characters. Anything with four distinct groups works especially well. Take, for example, The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien describes four “races”: the hobbits, elves, humans, and dwarves. Let’s say we make the hobbits Wands, the elves Cups, the humans Swords, and the dwarves Pentacles. Now see if you can work out for each group who the page, knight, queen, and king would be. What might it tell you about the King of Swords if you imagine him as Aragorn?

The figures do not have to match the actual title. That is, Aragorn is, in fact, a king, but you could make Frodo the king of hobbits if you think he acts out that role. Sometimes we can do this exercise better if we change the card titles to something that fits the theme (changing the titles of the court cards has become a modern tradition—see below). Comic books often seem to work on an archetypal level, and as a result they can match up nicely with Tarot imagery. For an exercise, I decided to see if I could match the court cards and suits to classic superhero figures. The kings become heroes, the queens partners, the knights enemies, and the pages—of course—sidekicks. One nice side effect here is that “hero” and “partner” are not gender specific, so the hero can be a woman or the partner a man.

Wands: Action, Power, Optimism

Hero—Superman; Partner—Lois Lane; Enemy—Luthor; Sidekick—Jimmy Olsen

Cups: Love, Gentleness

Hero—Wonder Woman (according to the story, she was sent by Aphrodite, “ruler” of Cups, to combat war and hate); Partner—her boyfriend Steve, or maybe her mother, the Queen of the Amazons; Enemy—Ares, the god of war; Sidekick—Wonder Girl

Swords: Battle, Powerful Mind, Discipline

Hero—Batman; Partner—Catwoman; Enemy—Joker; Sidekick—Robin

Pentacles (As Magic Rather Than Earthiness)

Hero—Dr. Strange, “Master of the Mystic Arts”; Partner—his lover, Clea, or his teacher, the Ancient One; Enemy—The Dread Dormammu (yes, that’s really his name); Sidekick—Wong, his faithful servant and a magician in his own right

Do you see how well this works? On a higher cultural level, you could do the same kind of thing with, say, the novels of Jane Austen, or mythological epics such as the Iliad or the Mahabharata. Catholic saints are another possibility, as are the orishas of West African and African-American religions, and in fact at least one deck has appeared using each of these traditions. It may seem disrespectful to use saints or gods as Tarot court cards, but not if we truly respect the Tarot itself as a spiritual teaching. To see the Queen of Cups as Oshun, orisha of rivers and love, can give the queen much greater meaning than simply a medieval ruler or consort.

If this seems like a modern game, the practice actually goes back to the very beginning of cards in Europe, if not necessarily Tarot cards. Paul Huson, in Mystical Origins of the Tarot, describes how Renaissance people assigned historical and mythological characters to the court cards. Because these were done for non-Tarot decks, there are no characters for the knights.

The idea for naming the court cards seems to have come from a popular concept in the decades before playing cards migrated from the Mamluks of Egypt to Europe. In a poem called Les Voeux du Paon, “The Vows of the Peacock,” the poet Jacques de Longuyon described Nine Worthies, a collection of heroic figures from different times and places in the legendary past. Huson tells us that likenesses of these figures appeared all over Europe, and some found their way onto playing cards, with a few additions to make up the twelve cards (without the knights). The kings were Caesar, Charlemagne, David, and Alexander, to honor the four major empires known to Europeans, the Hebrew, the Greek, the Roman, and the Holy Roman Empire (see the Emperor card). The queens bore the names Rachel, Judith, Pallas, and Argine (unfamiliar names will be explained with the individual cards). The pages (valets in the French) were Roland, La Hire, Ogier, and Lancelot.

Wands

Page—Roland; Queen—Rachel; King—Caesar

Cups

Page—La Hire; Queen—Judith; King—Charlemagne

Swords

Page—Ogier; Queen—Pallas; King—David

Pentacles (Coins)

Page—Lancelot; Queen—Argine; King—Alexander

While these historical associations are interesting and can suggest some interesting ideas—the Queen of Swords as Pallas, another name for the goddess Athena, can inspire various ways to get closer to what that card can mean for us—they seem to follow a random method of association. With the Swords, for example, the Page is European, the Queen is Greek, and the King is Hebrew. One interesting historical note, and a personal one. While the French playing cards assigned the Queen of Cups to Judith, the Golden Dawn saw the same biblical figure as the Queen of Swords, a much clearer connection, since biblical Judith is best known for cutting off the head of Nebuchadnezzar’s general Holofernes (to be fair, she first got him drunk—a Cups connection). And the personal—in the past, when I’ve used a significator for myself, I’ve chosen the Queen of Wands, which, it turns out, the French named as Rachel. Just to add another twist, I used to say that I aspired to become the Queen of Cups, and the French name for that card is Judith, which happens to be the name of my older sister.

Elements

As with the suits for the numbered cards, the most common, and useful, association we can make is with the four elements. The fact that we have four court cards as well as four suits allows us to create a double system. We have seen how the standard association for the suits runs this way: Wands-fire, Cups-water, Swords-air, Pentacles-earth. There are many variations, but this is the most common.

Now here is a parallel list for the court titles: Wands-kings, Cups-queens, Swords-knights, Pentacles-pages. Each court card then becomes two elements; the Queen of Swords, for example, becomes water of air, the Page of Pentacles earth of earth. Since charts work so nicely with the sixteen (4 x 4) court cards, here is one for this system:

	Wands	Cups	Swords	Pentacles
King	fire/fire	fire/water	fire/air	fire/earth
Queen	water/fire	water/water	water/air	water/earth
Knight	air/fire	air/water	air/air	air/earth
Page	earth/fire	earth/water	earth/air	earth/earth

The first thing we might notice is that there are four “perfect” cards: King of Wands (fire of fire), Queen of Cups (water of water), Knight of Swords (air of air), and Page of Pentacles (earth of earth). This line goes down the diagonal from top left to bottom right. This was the first step in the “permutations” described above. If we go from bottom left to top right (the second step), we get a nice symmetrical pattern: Page of Wands (earth of fire), Knight of Cups (air of water), Queen of Swords (water of air), and King of Pentacles (fire of earth). Notice, by the way, how these two lines run king, queen, knight, page, and page, knight, queen, king.

How do we use this idea in readings or even contemplation of the court cards? For one thing, it helps us get beyond a completely subjective understanding of the cards, on the level of “I really like the Knight of Wands—he seems carefree and happy, the way I feel on vacation. I hate the Queen of Swords—she frowns too much, like me when I have to go back to the office.” Now, as the old saying goes, not that there’s anything wrong with that. These kinds of responses can tell us a great deal and help us to respond strongly to the cards. But they are limited—usually they apply to a particular deck (the frowning Queen of Swords is in the Rider, for example), the reader and the querent may react very differently to the same picture, and some cards might not trigger any associations at all.

By contrast, if the Page of Pentacles comes up in a reading, and you know that this card equals earth of earth, you can talk about a strong sense of earthiness, concern with nature, or work and money. When the King of Cups appears, you might consider that fire of water can produce either a tension—fire and water are the basic opposites—or a powerful joining of energies. The other cards, and your own feeling for the reading, as well as dialog with the querent, should indicate whether the card reveals tension or harmony.

Name Changes

Since the double element originated (as far as I know) with the Golden Dawn, we need to look at how they changed the names of the court cards. Their sequence runs:

Golden Dawn: Knight Queen Prince Princess

The knight has not actually moved over from where it was, it has replaced the king, which is why Waite describes the knight as a man over forty in terms of choosing a significator, and then, since he has no prince in his more traditional deck, is left with the clumsy device of describing the king as a young male. To my mind, the proper equivalency between the Golden Dawn titles and the standard modern titles should run:

Conventional Tarots: King Queen Knight Page

Golden Dawn: Knight Queen Prince Princess (Please note that in the modern version of the Golden Dawn deck used here, the designer changed the name of the card from Knight to King in order to align the deck with the more standard name for this card.)

One thing we might notice here is that the movement runs from the king down rather than the page up. We saw the same issue with the numbered cards, except in a way it’s the opposite. That is, with ten through ace, we begin in the created physical world, Malkuth on the Tree of Life, and climb back up the tree to the first and pure state of existence, the ace, in Kether. However, as I understand the Golden Dawn system, the princess/page is the created world, the element of earth, and therefore the equivalent of the ten. The Golden Dawn knight—king in regular decks—is fire, the direct emanation from the highest level, and so the movement runs like this:

Golden Dawn: Regular:	fire	water	air	earth
	knight	queen	prince	princess
	king	queen	knight	page

As readers of this book will no doubt realize, I am far from an expert on the Golden Dawn (very far), but I greatly admire two aspects of their work. The first is the vast yet tight web they created of so many strands of knowledge, the second their ability to mythologize the Tarot, as seen in the beautiful titles they give the Minor cards (I also admire the seriousness of their magical practice, but that’s another issue). These two qualities come together in a myth of the court cards, as it once was explained to me. The version given here is my understanding, and all mistakes are my own.

The knight (fire) moves into the world from the higher levels and encounters the queen (water). He enters her service and then marries her, becoming, in effect, her king. From their union come the prince (air) and the princess (earth). One thing I like about this is that it invokes the ancient idea that the goddess/queen is eternal and unchanging, and that the king is her consort.

This story is really an evocation of the creation as shown in the Tetragrammaton, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. We’ve already looked at this, so I will just summarize it here, with its relation to the court cards. Yod and the first Heh are fire and water, the purest principles. When they join together, they produce the more complex second level: their children, Vav, the element of air, and the second Heh, earth. The knight joins the queen and from their union come the prince and the princess. Or again, in conventional titles, the king and the queen join together and produce the knight and the page. The prince/knight is mind, consciousness, and the element of air, while the princess/page is physical existence, earth.

Here is my own suggestion of how we might view this movement in elemental, but also mythic, terms. Light, which I suggest as the element for the Major Arcana, sends forth a spark of fire into the waters. The waters, in fact, are older than creation, but they do not really exist until the fire enters them. This is what the Zohar calls a “mystery,” not explainable in rational, exoteric terms. However, we can compare it to the idea in quantum physics that particles exist in all possible states until they are observed—at which point they become “real.”

When the fire and water unite, genuine creation begins, first with the stirrings of air, and then the fully formed reality of earth. Thus, we might link the court cards to the Major Arcana by saying that out of the Major Arcana comes the king, who enters the queen, and out of her emerges the knight and the page. And maybe we can take it a step further, mythologizing the relationship between the Major and Minor cards through the court cards by saying that the entire Minor Arcana lies dormant, asleep in a way, within those uncreated waters—the “darkness on the face of the deep,” as Genesis says. When the light—the Major Arcana—sends forth its spark of fire, the waters are awakened, and through the union of fire and water emerges not just the knight and the page, but the four suits as well.

If all this seems a bit confusing, don’t worry; it’s not essential to understanding the court cards and working with them in readings. For myself, I find the mythic dimensions of Tarot valuable, if not essential, for they give levels of meaning that can underlie the more conventional ways we understand them.

Court Cards on the Tree of Life

The Golden Dawn places the court cards on the Tree of Life in an interesting way. The king (or knight in their system) goes in Hokhmah, sephirah two, which means Wisdom, described by Kabbalists as the father principle (see above, on numbers, for more on the individual sephiroth). The queen goes in Binah, sephirah three, the Great Mother. The card we usually call the knight, which they call the prince, occupies sephirah six, Tipheret, or Beauty, while the page, their princess, goes in Malkuth (Kingdom), sephirah ten, the physical world.

Aligning this image with my own Tarot creation myth above, we might say that the Major Arcana as a whole dwells in Kether, sephirah one, understood as the crown of undifferentiated light. Readers who have followed all this carefully might object that in Tarot tradition the cards of the Major Arcana go on the twenty-two pathways that run between the sephiroth. And of course this is true, but one of the glories of myth is that different ways of seeing things can co-exist at once. Imagine that you are standing in a great open plain. Whichever way you look you see a Tree of Life, vast and beautiful. In one direction, the twenty-two pathways light up, and you recognize the complexities and wonder of the Major Arcana trump cards. In another, the ten sephiroth shine brilliantly to reveal the Minor cards. And in still another, Kether blazes with the collected light of the entire Major Arcana, while in Hokhmah the king looks lovingly at his queen, whose waters give birth to the knight in Tipheret and the page in Malkuth. Why try to decide which version is the true and correct Tree of Life? Why not accept all of them as true?

And now—to make all this just a little more complicated—remember that there is not just one movement from king to queen to knight to page, there are four of them. Four times four. Above, with the suits, we looked at the four Kabbalistic worlds:

Atzilut (Emanation)—Fire

Beriah (Creation)—Water

Yetsirah (Formation)—Air

Assiyah (Action)—Earth

So the process of fire-water-air-earth gets repeated in each world, each element, each suit. There is a fire version of the process, a water version, and so on.

In some ways, the idea of the four worlds works better with the four groups of court cards than the four sets of ace through ten. This is because the Minor cards, at least in modern decks, show very specific kinds of situations, and usually those do not especially match the Kabbalistic world. If you think of Atzilut, the world of pure Emanation, closest to the divine, and then set Ace through Ten of Wands next to it, the cards don’t match the concept.

The court cards, however, remain somewhat abstract (except maybe in those decks with movie-star faces). They show us people but not really individual personalities. We play games to make them more accessible—compare them to characters in books, to Uncle Charlie, to psychological traits (adventurous, cautious, arrogant, loving, etc.), but when you really look at them, especially across several decks, they possess almost no individuality. Yes, we give them fortune-telling meanings or label them as personality types. But when you come down to it, the King of Cups is not your drunken boss, or at least not just your drunken boss. He’s the ruler of the power of water. Put another way, the King of Cups does not represent your drunken boss—your drunken boss represents the King of Cups.

A Progression of Qualities

We began this survey of the court cards listing them as page, knight, queen, and king. Along the way, we’ve shifted to king, queen, knight, and page (with a Golden Dawn sidetrack into alternative names). What is the difference? Kabbalistically, it’s similar to whether or not we go from ace to ten or ten to ace. If we begin with fire, the king, and progress to earth, the page, we follow the movement of energy from the spark of creation to physical matter. If we begin with earth, the page, and go to fire, the king, there is a sense of returning, or finding the spiritual source and origin.

I would like to suggest a different way to view the movement from page to knight to queen to king, one based on the development of mastery in the suit and its element. The pages are youthful and fresh, though they do not have to be physically young. They represent a beginning state and have an excitement about them. If at the age of sixty you take up sailing, then you are a page (of Cups, for the water, or Swords, for the wind). The knight takes you to a level where it is time to act on your knowledge and experiences. Knights have a job to do—they go on quests, they fight battles and serve justice. Where the page can simply look at something, the knight needs to respond. The knights are still, in a sense, young and vigorous.

The queens and kings are both masters of the element but with a difference due to their relative social roles in the European period that saw the rise of Tarot. Kings were the ones who were in charge and had the responsibility to govern. This does not make the queens inferior—and remember, in my approach to Tarot, a queen card can indicate a man and a king a woman. The queen is, in fact, the true master, the figure who most appreciates the quality of the suit.

Consider the Queen and King of Swords in the Rider deck.

above: Rider Queen of Swords & King of Swords

The Queen’s sword points straight up, like the Ace and the sword of Justice. This shows the purity and absolute integrity of her thinking. By contrast, the sword of the King tilts slightly to his right (our left), for the need to make decisions and possibly enforce them. Notice also the single bird in the Queen and the two birds in the King. Some say that the King’s pair signifies his position on the Tree of Life, in sephirah two, Hokhmah/Wisdom. But then the Queen should have three birds for her place in Binah, sephirah three. To me, the single bird in the Queen is another symbol of intellectual purity, the two in the King another reference to decision-making.

The queens are masters, the kings are rulers. Both are necessary, and in fact they complement each other.

I followed this developmental approach when I designed the equivalent of court cards for the Shining Tribe Tarot. Called vision cards, these run place (page), knower (knight), gift (queen), speaker (king). On the next page is a “diagonal” sample of the vision cards.

The place shows us a place we create or go to in order to experience the quality of the suit. As with the pages, we have no need to do anything more than learn about the element. The knowers show us reaching a stage where we come to a powerful understanding of the suit and its truths. In practice, I have found the knowers more powerful than the knights (but then, it’s my deck). The Knight of Cups in the Rider looks deeply into his cup of dreams, or mystery. By contrast, the Knower of Rivers has entered into the cave of inner truth and emerged with what I call “radical self-knowledge.”

When we experience the place and come to know the element, we receive a gift from the spirit world. This is not a fantasy. Just about anyone who has committed her- or himself to some creative or spiritual path will receive help or spurs at some point, usually in the form of a remarkable coincidence. The gift does not come just for us, but rather to bring us to the level of speaker, where we are required to communicate or share the quality of the suit. The Speaker of Birds (see below) was inspired by a chair I saw in the Royal Ontario Museum. There, of course, the legs were together, so that the person would sit in the bird’s lap. After I drew it (with the legs apart in a classical African dance posture) and named it Speaker of Birds, I read that in parts of Africa, the kings would sit on chairs with a bird worked into the back so that the king would speak with the authority of the goddess. The ancient Egyptians did something similar, with the throne shaped as the goddess Isis so that the pharaoh would sit in her lap and rule with her support.

above: Shining Tribe Place of Trees, Knower of Rivers, Gift of Birds & Speaker of Stones

A Further Note on Names

The Golden Dawn and the Shining Tribe Tarot have not been the only ones to change the names of the court cards. In modern times it’s become quite common, possibly because the court cards are harder to interpret and people want to come up with something more suggestive or simply less feudal. Without going into too many examples, we can cite two early decks in this trend: the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless and Ken Knudson, which gives us child, sage, woman, and man, and the Motherpeace deck of Vicki Noble and Karen Vogel, with daughter, son, priestess, and shaman.

Another interesting example, from the 1980s, is the Haindl Tarot, a deck for which I was privileged to write the book. Hermann Haindl made each set of court cards gods and goddesses from particular cultures, but he also made them a family. The titles, in descending order like the Golden Dawn approach, are mother, father, daughter, son. For Haindl there are two levels of divinity: the oldest, who are the creators and are often remote, and the younger generation, who are more accessible and involved with humanity. This is similar to the Kabbalist idea of the difference between the letters Yod and (the first) Heh, and then the next “generation,” the Vav and (second) Heh. For Haindl, however, the female energy is older, more primal, and so he begins the progression with mother and then goes on to father, daughter, and son.

Looking historically, we should realize that at least one card has borne different names over time. This is the page. That term itself seems modern, apparently originating with Waite as a translation of the French valet. In playing cards, the more common English term was knave, from which we get the jack of modern decks. Is there a difference between these words? I think of a page as younger than a knave or a valet, and while I may be wrong about medieval classes, it seems to me that pages were part of the nobility, while valets were servants. Knave, by the way, did not originally mean a scoundrel, but a servant. Calling the youngest card a page gives us more of a sense of a cohesive group, a family, and with a clear progression, from page to knight and then queen and king.

Some people find an imbalance in the fact that pages, like knights, are masculine figures. The Golden Dawn addressed this by changing the two to princess and prince, and Waite, in his instructions on choosing a significator, describes the page as a younger female. We also should realize that some of the early Italian decks did show a girl or young woman for this card, with the title Fantesca, feminine of Fante, which according to an Italian-English dictionary means “foot soldier.” Perhaps there is a connection to infant, a word which literally means “unable to speak.” The pages are non-infants but often appear as children, for example in the first known deck, the Visconti-Sforza.

above: Visconti Knave of Wands & Knave of Cups

Rider Court Card Themes and “Ruling” Trumps

For the numbered cards above, I gave my own personal sense of what the themes in the Minor Arcana pictures seemed to be. For the court cards I will do something simpler. A few years ago, I decided to see if I could come up with short theme titles for the Rider court cards. Here is my current version:

Wands

Page—Eagerness

Knight—Adventure

Queen—Love of life

King—Confidence/arrogance

Cups

Page—Imagination

Knight—Dreams/introspection

Queen—Dedication

King—Channeled creativity

Swords

Page—Caution

Knight—Courage

Queen—Wisdom/sorrow

King—Authority

Pentacles

Page—Study

Knight—Work

Queen—Nature

King—Wealth

And finally, we can identify a card in each suit with one of the first four numbered cards in the Major Arcana. I call these the trumps’ “representatives” in daily life. Here is my own list:

Magician—King of Wands

High Priestess—Queen of Cups

Empress—Queen of Pentacles

Emperor—King of Swords

Notice that the sequence of the suits seems slightly off, at least from the way we’ve been looking at them. Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles is meant to align with the elemental order of fire, water, air, and earth, which in turn goes with Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh and the rhythm of male/female, male/female. The beginning trumps simply do not follow this pattern. Instead they run male/female, female/male, as if the polarity becomes reversed in the play of nature and mind. Or maybe we could describe the trump sequence as male, female/female, male, with the Magician and Emperor standing guard, in a sense, around the dynamic play of archetypal energy between the High Priestess and Empress.

And remember as well that Wands-Cups-Swords-Pentacles is by no means a universally accepted order.

Now that we have seen the background of the court cards, and several overall ways to look at them, we will meet these people cards one at a time.

Page of Wands

Page of Wands from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Fire

Sephirah: Malkuth (Kingdom), sephirah ten in Atzilut (Emanation)

Golden Dawn Title: Princess of Wands, Princess of the Shining Flame, Rose of the Palace of Fire

Elemental Combination: Earth of Fire

Astrological Sign: add?

Rider Physical Quality: A girl or young woman with light hair and blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Eagerness

Renaissance Character: Roland

Shining Tribe Title: Place of Trees

From the Golden Dawn point of view, earth of fire would mean what fiery Wands energy brings into the world, what it produces. If we look at it developmentally, however, as the youngest figure in the court of Wands, we can see it as eager, excited, a card of beginnings. I see the Page of Wands as the first of the court cards (from my developmental approach, the page is the first of each suit, and Wands is the first suit), so that it shares qualities with the Fool and the Ace of Wands.

In the Rider deck, he seems to declare his readiness to do something. The Marseille is older and tougher looking, but the (older) Visconti shows a rather sweet-looking child. The Golden Dawn version we have here, a modern interpretation, shows a young woman warrior for the princess. The Place of Trees is the simplest of the place cards, the idea of a garden or a place to enjoy life, especially with others.

Roland was a popular heroic figure of medieval poetry, the nephew of Charlemagne, and hero of an epic called Orlando Furioso, which is Roland Insane. He begins as Orlando Innamorato, Roland in love, but goes mad with passion. Some saw an alternative character for the Valet of Batons, that of Hector, hero of Troy. People in the Middle Ages saw Hector as chivalrous and noble, especially compared to self-centered Achilles, the hero of the Iliad.

A Tarot tradition calls the pages messengers. What might the message of fire be? Maybe to enjoy life, to take chances, to begin something. Some people see this card as a “faithful lover.”

Readings—Freshness, enthusiasm, a willingness to begin something. Exciting news, possibly a faithful lover, or even someone “mad” with love, losing all sense through passion. Alternatively, noble and selfless. From the Golden Dawn point of view, something real that comes out of fiery energy.

Reversed—Uncertainty, hesitancy, caution (especially with the Fool reversed). It may be an unfaithful lover (especially with the Seven of Swords, at least in the Rider version).

Knight of Wands

Knight of Wands from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Fire

Sephirah: Tipheret (Beauty), sephirah six in Atzilut (Emanation)

Golden Dawn Title: Prince of Wands, Prince of the Chariot of Fire

Elemental Combination: Air of Fire

Astrological Sign: Sagittarius

Rider Physical Quality: A boy or young man with light hair and blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Adventure

Shining Tribe Title: Knower of Trees

What is the essential quality of a knight? It is to leave and return. To go on a quest and then bring back a power, a quality. This is the story that some have suggested around the idea that there are no knights in playing cards. The knight left, but in the Tarot he returns.

So what does the Knight of Wands seek, and what does he discover, and what does he bring back? I would say he seeks adventure above all, an outlet for his fiery energy. If you wanted to identify him as someone in your life, look for the person who is dashing, curious, energetic. He might be ungrounded, have a temper, or simply be impatient with whatever is dull and repetitious. And consider as well that the Knight of Wands might be you, those qualities at work in your life at this time.

There can be a danger of burnout with this knight, for he is air of fire, a recipe for brushfires. In the Rider, the horse rears up as if he too can hardly contain himself. Those old enough to remember classic television may recall the Lone Ranger on Silver rearing up in just that way. The Knight of Wands can be just that sort of individual hero, not wanting to belong to any group but eager to right wrongs—as long as it’s not boring.

In the Rider, the Page, Knight, and King all have salamanders—fire lizards—on their tunics, but only the King’s salamanders all have their tails in their mouths, which is to say they are complete. Almost all the Knight’s are open, for he has much to experience before he can think of settling down. The Shining Tribe image has a different kind of openness. She spreads her arms beyond the card, as if open to all life.

Readings—Adventure, daring, someone energetic and forceful. As a person, he can be very charming, confident. This can be a card of travel.

Reversed—Possible delays and interruptions. Over-confidence, as if the knight falls off his horse because he’s just not ready for everything he’s trying to do. Charm can wear thin.

Queen of Wands

Queen of Wands from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Fire

Sephirah: Binah (Understanding), sephirah three in Atzilut (Emanation)

Golden Dawn Title: Queen of Wands, Queen of the Thrones of Flame

Elemental Combination: Water of Fire

Astrological Sign: Leo (though some say Aries)

Rider Physical Quality: Older woman with light hair and blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Love of life

Renaissance Character: Rachel or Penthisilea

Shining Tribe Title: Gift of Trees

With the idea of water of fire, we might expect a conflict. In most versions, however, this Queen is confident, strong, happy. In the Rider she holds a simple sunflower, as if plucked from the Sun card’s garden. The lions on her throne indicate her connection to Leo. In the Golden Dawn image shown here, the leopard behind her evokes that prehistoric link (going back at least eight thousand years) of fierce goddesses and large cats, especially leopards and lions (see Strength). Despite this Queen’s calm and confidence, she can be a powerful warrior. The essential quality of the queen is mastery, and she is the master of fire, the feminine part of complete confidence. Wands are sexual energy, and in the Rider she is famously the most sexual of the queens, for she sits with her legs apart.

The Renaissance identified her as Rachel, wife of Jacob, who was devoted to her husband and her children but also could be unscrupulous. In Jewish Kabbalah, Rachel dwells in Malkuth and Jacob in Tipheret. On Shabbat, she rises to meet him, face to face (an important Kabbalist theme) and they make love—the union (in Hebrew, yihud) of the male and female aspects of the divine. The Renaissance identified her alternatively as Penthisilea, a queen of the Amazons, giving the card a hidden warrior quality.

Readings—She is confident, life-giving, generous, but sometimes fierce. She can be passionate sexually but impatient with a partner who shows weakness or hesitation. A love of life, a time of ease.

Reversed—Generous and good in a crisis, she can become impatient with situations that go on too long. She needs to be around people and in situations that embrace life, and can have trouble understanding limitations.

King of Wands

King of Wands from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Fire

Sephirah: Hokhmah (Wisdom), sephirah two in Atzilut (Emanation)

Golden Dawn Title: Knight of Wands, Lord of the Flame and the Lightning, King of the Spirits of Fire

Elemental Combination: Fire of Fire

Astrological Sign: Aries (some say Leo)

Rider Physical Quality: Older man with light hair and blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Confidence, arrogance

Renaissance Character: Caesar, Emperor of Rome

Shining Tribe Title: Speaker of Trees

Just as the queens are mastery and appreciation, the kings are rulers. As the fiery part of each suit, they may seem to dominate the other three, but they can only rule effectively with the queen as partner, the knight as agent, and the page as fresh possibilities. This King, in the elemental world of fire—fire of fire, as the Golden Dawn says—can exude great confidence that can slide into arrogance around people not as powerful or self-assured as he.

While his power seems unified, his role may carry a contradiction. That is, it is the nature of kings to sit on their thrones and be available for governing, laws, and petitioners seeking his help. It is the nature of fire to move, to seek freedom and reject whatever would hold it down. Notice in the Rider image he seems to sit upright rather than lean back on his throne, as if he would like to leave and seek adventure, new experience. He may envy the knight’s ability to ride off and look for adventure, or the queen’s to enjoy her good life.

Caesar was the model of the emperor, the general who took charge of Rome and had himself crowned its ruler. However, he offended the senate by trying to grab all power, and a group of conspirators killed him. The King of Wands may need to show some caution and respect to those he considers beneath him.

On a more fundamental level, we can identify him as the Magician’s “representative,” or the link between the Magician’s primal yang and the world of the court cards.

Readings—A very confident figure, may be a woman as well as a man, for king is a role, not a matter of biology. He may be impatient with those who act or think too slowly, who cannot keep up with him, or face his tendency to take charge. He has no guile, however, or ill will, just a powerful energy.

Reversed—Tested or in any way confined, he may react angrily. Conversely, difficult circumstances may cause him to doubt himself, producing something of a crisis for this supremely confident character.

Page of Cups

Page of Cups from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Water

Sephirah: Malkuth (Kingdom), sephirah ten in Beriah (Creation)

Golden Dawn Title: Princess of Cups, Princess of the Waters, and Lotus of the Palace of the Floods

Elemental Combination: Earth of Water

Rider Physical Quality: A girl or young woman with light brown hair and gray or blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Imagination

Renaissance Character: La Hire (supporter of Joan of Arc) or Paris of Troy

Shining Tribe Title: Place of Rivers

Earth of water makes this card one not very given to movement, at least physically. The image of “still waters run deep” may come to mind, and in fact, the Shining Tribe pictures someone sitting by a deep pool of water, as if in quiet meditation. When we look at the Rider image, we see a young page holding up the cup in what strikes me as a posture of fascination. All the way back to Etteila, this card has carried meanings of “meditation…contemplation.”

Something remarkable happens in Smith’s image. A fish emerges from the cup, the only cup in the deck where something comes forth besides water. Because his role does not require him to do anything—not ride anywhere, as the knight, or master the element, as the queen, or be in charge, like the king—he can see what most of us would miss, the true products of the imagination.

La Hire—Etienne de Vignoles—was a friend and supporter of Joan of Arc, and by legend the person who invented the French (now also English and American) suit signs. Because of La Hire, this card is the Jack of Hearts in a modern poker deck. The alternative figure, Paris of Troy, is probably the most famous seducer in mythology, luring Helen to leave her husband and thereby starting the Trojan War. Paris gives the card a quality of devotion to love but without principle.

Readings—Quiet, meditation, an interest in spiritual or imaginative subjects without any need to do anything with them. Pages can be messengers, and the Page of Cups may bring messages from the subconscious, including psychic information. May be a student of the occult or mythology. Possibly seduction, beauty.

Reversed—Troubled by things that come from the imagination or the subconscious. Seduction without principle.

Knight of Cups

Knight of Cups from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Water

Sephirah: Tipheret (Beauty), sephirah six in Beriah (Creation)

Golden Dawn Title: Prince of Cups, Prince of the Chariot of the Waters

Elemental Combination: Air of Water

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Rider Physical Quality: A young man with light brown hair and gray or blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Dreams/introspection

Shining Tribe Title: Knower of Rivers

This card is an interesting one to show up in relationship readings. One of the hallmarks of the knight is romance. In the courtly love tradition, the knight dedicates his strength, selflessly, to the service and adoration of the lady. And Cups is a romantic suit. Yet even more, Cups represents a dreaminess and a desire to look inwards, a fascination with the self. Thus the card carries a conflict, drawn to love and service but desiring to pursue his own fascinations. Put it next to the Hermit, and the inward quality becomes stronger—next to the Lovers or the Two of Cups, and the romance takes over.

The knights ride out and return. What does the Knight of Cups seek on his quest? Where does he go? What does he bring back, and will it be for others or for himself? He may pursue spiritual beauty or the wonders of fantasy but have trouble doing anything with his discoveries. Some of the old fortuneteller meanings for this card speak of treachery or fraud.

In his book, Waite identifies the Knight of Swords as Sir Galahad, the knight who finds the Holy Grail. But if the Cup is in fact the Grail, then maybe the Knight of Water is the Grail Knight. There is another Grail Knight, Perceval, who disastrously does not speak when the Grail appears before him, and so prevents the healing of the Fisher King. The self-absorption of the Knight of Cups may identify him as Perceval. In the Shining Tribe Knower of Rivers, the figure emerges from his dark cave with renewed sense of purpose and power.

Notice, by the way, the Rider Knight’s odd resemblance to Death, below.

Is the Knight a harbinger of great change?

Readings—Romantic, dreamy, caught up in fantasies, slow moving. Air of water could indicate the mind moving over the unconscious, stirring up deep feelings. He (or she) may be a devoted lover but also may become caught up in his own feelings. He can become in love with love.

Reversed—Something may stir him to action, or else that inner conflict may become stronger. He may be called on to speak up in some difficult situation or even to make an ethical choice.

Queen of Cups

Queen of Cups from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Water

Sephirah: Binah (Understanding), sephirah three in Beriah (Creation)

Golden Dawn Title: Queen of Cups, Queen of the Thrones of the Waters

Elemental Combination: Water of Water

Astrological Sign: Cancer

Rider Physical Quality: Older woman with light brown hair and gray or blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Dedication

Renaissance Character: Judith

Shining Tribe Title: Gift of Rivers

Water of water; as one of the four “pure” elemental cards, the Queen of Cups carries a special power. She is much closer to the High Priestess than the impatient King of Wands is to the Magician, for the Queen of Cups is intense and deeply committed to her path, which we might call the creative path of love. Waite says of her that “she sees but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream.” In the Rider picture, she stares intently at her elaborate cup, which may be her own creation. It stands out in the deck as unique, the only one decorated and the only one covered. Some have compared it to the vessel that holds the “host,” the sacred wafers, or “bread,” that turns into the body of Christ in the Catholic mass. With the winged figures on either side, it recalls the Ark of the Covenant from the temple in ancient Israel, which was guarded by two seraphim. The Ark was the dwelling place of the Shekinah, the female presence of the divine. Notice, by the way, how the Queen from the Visconti holds a similar cup, though without the winged figures.

The Rider Queen of Cups has long been one of my favorite cards. Her throne rests on dry land, compared to that of the King, but water swirls all around her and even seems to merge into her dress, so that we can say she blends intense feeling with manifestation. I find the intensity of her gaze symbolic of a strong will, though I know that some Rider devotees find her scowling. In the Shining Tribe deck, the gift of the Gift of Rivers is love. Two streams meet and merge into one, and where they join we see the Holy Grail in the form of a simple bowl.

The Renaissance designation of this Queen as Judith will surprise those who know the Golden Dawn Tarot or the Thoth Tarot of Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris (based on the Golden Dawn ideas). There we see Judith as the Queen of Swords, holding up the head of Holofernes. Why would the Renaissance link her to Cups? Possibly because she first gets General Holofernes drunk, with a hint that she seduces him, so that he will pass out and not see what she is about to do to him. Since the Queen of Cups fully embodies the feminine element of water, this interpretation suggests a misogynist distrust of women’s wiles. A more positive view comes from the description of Judith in the biblical book named for her, as a woman of “good heart.” In playing cards, remember, she becomes the Queen of Hearts.

As an image of the Shekinah, the Queen of Cups can be invoked magically for healing and protection. Set her on an altar, light candles around her, or use your own methods to bring her energy alive.

Readings—Intensity, dedication, love, someone who blends feeling with action. She may represent a creative artist or creativity itself. She also can indicate love, both romantic and love of family. Healing and a sense of protection in some difficult situation.

Reversed—The unity of vision and action can become ruptured so that she either gets lost in her inner worlds or acts without genuine emotion. One tradition sees her as someone not to be trusted, possibly a connection to the idea of that seductive woman who will cut off a man’s … head.

above Rider Queen & King of Cups

above Marseille Queen & King of Cups

King of Cups

King of Cups from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Water

Sephirah: Hokhmah (Wisdom), sephirah two in Beriah (Creation)

Golden Dawn Title: Knight of Cups, Lord of the Waves and the Waters, King of the Hosts of the Sea

Elemental Combination: Fire of Water

Astrological Sign: Pisces

Rider Physical Quality: Older man with light brown hair and gray or blue eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Channeled creativity

Renaissance Character: Charlemagne

Shining Tribe Title: Speaker of Rivers

If you set the Queen and King of Cups next to each other, in both the Marseille and Rider decks, you will notice that this married couple look away from each other (see page 415). They show two people who go their separate ways, who possibly have other lovers. The posture and glance of the Marseille King in particular strikes me as having a roving eye and seductive energy. Does this seem a trivial way to interpret the grand figures of the Tarot courts? If gossip was the only way we approached them, it would greatly limit us, but if we want to understand them as people, we should consider the human qualities they suggest to us.

We can consider the Queen and King from an elemental viewpoint. Being water of water, the Queen becomes self-sufficient, not needing a partner. The King’s fire of water, on the other hand, pushes him to look for accomplishments beyond the Cups realm of the heart. As King, he must rule (or, in modern terms, seek success and establishment in the outer world), where society does not measure value in terms of love or relationship. The King of Cups sometimes strikes me as a very creative, sensitive person, a dreamer like the knight, who has channeled all that sensitivity into business or professional life—say, a poet who becomes a successful lawyer.

In the Rider, his throne floats on the sea, yet the water never touches his feet. Compare this to the Queen, who sits on land and yet allows the water to flow into her dress. The King of Cups may indicate suppressed emotion, someone with deep levels of feeling who does not show this side to others lest it overwhelm him (or her). Charlemagne was a great warrior, but he also championed learning and the arts. Like King Arthur, he was expected to return in the future—in his case, to battle the Antichrist in Armageddon, a possible reference to his having beaten the Muslim invasion of Europe when it tried to cross from Spain into France.

The Shining Tribe Speaker of Rivers is a teacher and a storyteller, the great fish followed literally by the “school” of devotees.

Readings—Fire of water suggests alchemical power to transform or channel emotional energy. The King suggests someone successful, maybe with deep emotions or creative impulses that he tends to hide. This may be a card of achievement in the arts. It may indicate someone with a drinking problem who usually covers it up. Sexual affairs are possible.

Reversed—One tradition sees the King of Cups as corrupt, who misuses power, and we might find this in the reversed card. The upside-down King can indicate the emotions coming out more, with anger or tears revealing long-hidden feelings. There may be blocked creativity or frustration.

Page of Swords

Page of Swords from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Air

Sephirah: Malkuth (Kingdom), sephirah ten in Yetsirah (Formation)

Golden Dawn Title: Princess of Swords, Princess of the Rushing Winds, Lotus of the Palace of Air

Elemental Combination: Earth of Air

Rider Physical Quality: A girl or young woman with dark brown hair and hazel or gray eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Caution, wariness

Renaissance Character: Ogier

Shining Tribe Title: Place of Birds

Earth of air suggests bringing ideas down to earth, and yet in many modern decks, based on the Rider, we see the Page on a hilltop, looking as if the wind might take him into the clouds at any moment. Clearly, the air part is stronger than the earth. He looks back over his shoulder, as does the Marseille figure, though there we see the Knave/Valet/Fante standing among grass. When we see the Marseille card, and even the very feminine Visconti, both with their swords, we may remember that fante means “foot soldier.” The knights, of course, will be on horseback. Notice, by the way, the elaborate feathered hats worn by the Visconti Page and Knight, seemingly anticipating the Golden Dawn equation of Swords=Air by some 450 years (and the Shining Tribe suit of Birds by 550).

In my view of the court cards as developmental, the pages represent students, or beginners, who do not need to take action but simply appreciate the element and the suit. The Rider Page of Swords is lighter than the other Swords court cards, freer-looking, and yet he looks cautious, even wary, as he holds the heavy sword with one hand and looks back over his shoulder. The sword, remember, is an instrument of battle, and the Page may be someone preparing for a fight. If we switch directions a moment and consider that movement from king down to page, there may be a quality of post-traumatic stress here, the idea of looking nervously back, defensive, long after the danger has ended. By contrast, the Shining Tribe shows the Place of Birds as a literal bird’s-eye view. A labyrinth stretches subtly over several mountains, and the only way to see this literal big picture is to get distance, to see as the birds do.

Ogier first battled Charlemagne, then became one of his twelve paladins. Thus he can symbolize the possibility of reconciliation. Ogier’s birth was attended by the fairy enchantress Morgan le Fay, who later took him to live in Avalon (with King Arthur), from where he will return when France needs him. This story brings magic into the Swords theme of intellect.

Readings—Caution, wariness, looking backward, perhaps nervously. The other cards can indicate whether caution is justified. Magic, possibly an apprentice, a student of ideas, bringing ideas down to earth.

Reversed—Learning to relax, to trust people. Alternatively, the exact opposite, becoming more anxious, more aggressive. This is a quality of reversed cards, that they may let go of the quality of the card or heighten it. Again, the other cards, along with the reader’s intuition and the querent’s own reaction to the picture, can give a sense of which way it goes.

Knight of Swords

Knight of Swords from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Air

Sephirah: Tipheret (Beauty), sephirah six in Yetsirah (Formation)

Golden Dawn Title: Prince of Swords, Prince of the Chariots of the Winds

Elemental Combination: Air of Air

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Rider Physical Quality: A young man with dark brown hair and hazel or gray eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Courage

Shining Tribe Title: Knower of Birds

In the approach of elemental combinations, each suit has a perfect, or unified, card. For Swords it’s the knight, whom we might think of as dwelling in the high places of the mind, moving swiftly as only air can, quick-thinking, lofty. If the knights indeed ride off and return, then this knight might bring back great ideas and challenges to conventional thinking. Though most cards show a courageous knight on a rushing steed, few give any sense of the intellect or the high, pure air of ideas.

The Shining Tribe image allows this high realm to enter the human world. Based on a Chinese myth about a sage inventing writing by combining images falling from sky with the tracks of tortoises and birds, it concerns prophecy and divination. After I created it, I learned that the myth indeed involved oracles. The Chinese believed that writing was invented to set down the I Ching. In Tarot tradition, we might think of the Egyptian god Thoth—Hermes Trismegistus—inventor, supposedly, of both writing and Tarot.

Most commonly, the Knight of Swords depicts not intellect but courage. Just as he is “perfect” air of air, he also is the very model of a knight, for what, in fact, does a knight-errant do but fight battles? In the Rider, he sends his horse directly into a storm—the trees bend towards him, and even the horse seems to look back a bit nervously, as if to say, “Are you sure we should do this?”

The Knight of Swords fights fearlessly, but unless he serves higher causes, especially justice, his courage loses all meaning.

Readings—Courage, swiftness, daring. Battle can be suggested, and whoever takes up this sword needs to make sure he or she fights for justice. The intellect at a pure level, ideas and principles. A swift mind, brilliant.

Reversed—The danger of fighting for its own sake, for the thrill of battle. With all the Swords court cards, the reversed can tend towards corruption, and the knight can become aggressive, overbearing. More simply, he can take on a wild or reckless quality. He may be impatient with people who think more slowly than he does.

Queen of Swords

Queen of Swords from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Air

Sephirah: Binah (Understanding), sephirah three in Yetsirah (Formation)

Golden Dawn Title: Queen of Swords, Queen of the Thrones of Air

Elemental Combination: Water of Air

Astrological Sign: Libra

Rider Physical Quality: Older woman with dark brown hair and hazel or gray eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Wisdom, sorrow

Renaissance Character: Pallas (Athena)

Shining Tribe Title: Gift of Birds

Many people see this queen as a figure of sorrow, even a widow. In fact, the tassel hanging from her left hand in the Rider deck may represent a Victorian symbol of widowhood. Butterflies form her crown in Smith’s drawing. They can symbolize the transformation of the soul from matter to spirit, through the purity of mind. The Greek word psyche, which today means “the mind,” originally meant both “soul” and “butterfly.”

Staying with the Rider, she appears not happy—she may have seen a good deal of sorrow or pain in her life—but her head rises above the clouds as a symbol of her purity. Her open hand welcomes life and spirit, holding nothing back. She does not tilt the sword as if ready to fight but holds it straight up, like the swords on Justice and the Ace. She knows that without her commitment to truth, she has nothing. One bird flies above her, a further image of her pure mind.

What of other decks, other possibilities? The Golden Dawn image makes it gruesomely clear that they consider this card, not the Queen of Cups, to be Judith, the biblical heroine who beheaded Holofernes. This shows her as a woman of valor and courage but also daring. Another interpretation might see the head as ego and the queen like those Tibetan images of ferocious goddesses holding skulls.

The Renaissance association with Pallas suggests other possibilities. The name was a title of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, and protector of Athens. Athena famously sprang full-grown from the head of her father, Zeus, and as a result she can symbolize thought unattached to the physical. Pallas meant “virgin,” for Athena refused any sexual relationship. Instead, she befriended and protected heroes, such as Odysseus. Since Odysseus, in fact, was famous for using intelligence and even trickery rather than just brute force, we might imagine him as the King of this suit, and see the Queen and King not as a married couple, but rather as the goddess and her favorite mortal.

Readings—Possibly sorrow, even widowhood, or some other difficulty that can leave someone alone, yet wise. Commitment to truth, both in thought and speech. You may not always like what she says but you know she will not lie to you. Some people see her as the image of the intellectual or the writer. The sword becomes the pen (mightier, after all), and the raised hand is her openness to new ideas. As Pallas, she can be remote yet brave and extremely loyal to her friends.

Reversed—As with the other Swords court cards, reversed can slide towards corruption, that powerful mind and personality turned more towards manipulation and control. Another (happier) interpretation would see her as leaving her high, lonely place and becoming more involved in life, possibly in relationship.

King of Swords

King of Swords from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Air

Sephirah: Hokhmah (Wisdom), sephirah two in Yetsirah (Formation)

Golden Dawn Title: Knight of Swords, Lord of the Winds and Breezes, King of the Spirit of Air

Elemental Combination: Fire of Air

Astrological Sign: Gemini

Rider Physical Quality: Older man with dark brown hair and hazel or gray eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Authority

Renaissance Character: David

Shining Tribe Title: Speaker of Birds

The Renaissance choice of David for this card suggests some interesting possibilities. Many modern people see David primarily as the brave boy who craftily killed the giant Goliath with a stone whipped from a sling. This would seem to suggest the page more than the king. But David actually conveys more complex qualities. He was a great warrior, forming the nation of ancient Israel from what had been a tribal people. And he was a famous poet and harpist, supposed writer of the Psalms. Thus he brings together both aspects of the sword, battle and mind.

Interestingly, some modern decks identify this king with another Israelite: David’s son, Solomon. Thus the mind takes precedence, for Solomon was the archetype of the wise man, known in the Middle Ages as the greatest of all magicians, master of the spirits (sometimes called djinn, or genies, or demons), whom he commanded to build the temple where the Shekinah dwelt. And yet, just as with David and Goliath, the image of Solomon in modern times depends on a single story, when two women claimed the same baby, and Solomon craftily offered to divide the child in half, allowing the true mother to reveal herself. Thus, some contemporary decks will show the king holding a sword in one hand and an infant in the other.

This image symbolizes wisdom, for he knew just what to do, but it also invokes a vital quality of this king—that he exercises authority and must make decisions. He is really the very image of a king, and in the Rider deck, he seems to me the most comfortable in his role. The Wands King looks like he wants to abdicate, the Cups like he must suppress his water feelings, and the Pentacles King focuses primarily on his wealth. The King of Swords looks out at us with a sense of command. He is very much “the Emperor’s representative on Earth.”

The Shining Tribe Speaker of Birds also looks directly at us, body open with the power of art.

Readings—Someone in a position of authority, and more, who is comfortable making decisions, being in command. The French fortuneteller Etteila saw him as an attorney or judge, or in general someone from the professional classes, including doctor, senator, and “legal consultant.” Waite (and Mathers) follow Etteila’s lead here, with Waite going a step further, to “Whatever arises out of the idea of judgement…Power, command, authority.” As well as a person, the King of Swords can signify the very idea of a wise decision, especially for the common good.

Reversed—A powerful mind and personality serving itself rather than society. Corruption in high places. More benignly, someone uncomfortable with exercising authority.

Page of Pentacles

Page of Pentacles from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Earth

Sephirah: Malkuth (Kingdom), sephirah ten in Assiyah (Action)

Golden Dawn Title: Princess of Pentacles, Princess of the Echoing Hills, Rose of the Palace of Earth

Elemental Combination: Earth of Earth

Rider Physical Quality: A girl or young woman with very dark brown or black hair and dark eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Study

Renaissance Character: Lancelot

Shining Tribe Title: Place of Stones

This is the “perfect,” or unified, card of the suit, earth of earth, and so we might expect to see an image of someone grounded, possibly even slow or physically heavy, what esotericists call “dense.” The Shining Tribe version shows a stone circle in the form of a goddess, a picture of the Shekinah brought into the physical world. In the more traditional cards, however, we do not really see an emphasis on material reality. The Golden Dawn version we see here (a contemporary reworking) shows a kind of Amazon warrior, a reminder of that idea of the fante (or fantesca), the foot soldier. The Marseille figure holds up the coin and stares at it, as if uncertain what to do about it.

The Rider Page also looks at the pentacle, but with a much lighter attitude. He seems fascinated, rapt. I think of him as the model of a student, dedicated, caught up in his studies. If pages are messengers, what message would he bring us? Maybe he would tell us what he finds so wonderful in that lightly held pentacle.

The Renaissance character identifies him as one of the greatest heroes of chivalry, Lancelot (remember that these associations do not include the knights, so that heroic figures become the valets). Lancelot epitomized the highest ideals of both the warrior and courtly love—that is, until he fell and became the lover of his king’s wife, Guinevere. His dream had been to fulfill the Grail quest, but his surrender to temptation—to the body, to earth—gave that destiny over to his son, Galahad, whom Waite identified as the Knight of Swords, air of air.

There is another possibility here, that of the student of magic—the beginner in occult studies who follows the wonder of the pentacle.

Readings—A student or beginner in something, in magic or any other area of learning. Fascination with something, without the need to do anything except follow the wonder of it. This idea of study or apprenticeship goes all way back to Etteila, the eighteenth-century diviner. Alternatively, grounding, making something real and solid, earth of earth. Mathers says “household economy, management,” qualities that fit the element in a very mundane way.

Reversed—From Etteila on, the usual meanings speak of luxury, excess, and “prodigality,” as if giving in to earth’s sensual temptations. A student may have trouble with his studies or feel some outside pressure. Alternatively, it can mean relaxation after intense study or work.

Knight of Pentacles

Knight of Pentacles from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Earth

Sephirah: Tipheret (Beauty), sephirah six in Assiyah (Action)

Golden Dawn Title: Prince of Pentacles, Prince of the Chariot of Earth

Elemental Combination: Air of Earth

Astrological Sign: Taurus

Rider Physical Quality: A boy or young man with very dark brown or black hair and black eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Work

Shining Tribe Title: Knower of Stones

With all the Knights we have looked at their essential nature: to leave and return. Knights go on quests, they slay dragons (a kinetic activity if ever there was one), they return as heroes or with magic or wisdom. If we look at the Rider picture for this card, its most signal feature is the lack of any movement at all. The horse stands squarely on the grass. On the Golden Dawn Prince of Pentacles, the bull has one hoof raised but doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere fast. In the Shining Tribe Knower of Stones, the figure, inspired by a Native American rock painting in Texas, is filled with energy, so excited by what he knows that his hair stands straight up (“the ultimate bad hair day,” someone once called this card). And yet, he too is not going anywhere, his body literally embedded in the stone. In all these examples, air of earth becomes the knight’s movement literally brought down to earth.

For many, the Knight of Pentacles is the image of the dedicated worker, not ambitious or given to risk but willing to give all his attention to his duties. This does not necessarily describe someone’s personality or lifelong habits. If you face a challenge at work or some other practical area in life—gardening might be a good example—where you need to give it your full attention for a period of time, you might want to invoke the Knight of Pentacles. Whenever you think of something else you’d rather be doing, you can think of the knight solidly on his horse and stay focused on your task.

An alternative image comes to mind for this card—the Green Knight from the medieval story “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Without going into details, we can say that the green skin of the mysterious knight identifies him as a nature spirit. In the story, he allows Gawain to cut off his head and then calmly walks off with it tucked under his arm. This gives us the sense of someone without ego through his attachment to the natural world.

Readings—Hard-working, diligent, devoted to the task at hand, without need for outer rewards or glory. Cautious, not given to wildness or risk. Excited by what you know that is rock-solid, of the body rather than the mind. In the service of nature, without ego.

Reversed—As is often the case, the reversed can exaggerate any problems with the card or else go in a different direction. Inertia is one possibility, or allowing others to take advantage of you. But the reversed card also can indicate taking more chances or finding other interests.

Queen of Pentacles

Queen of Pentacles from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Earth

Sephirah: Binah (Understanding), sephirah three in Assiyah (Action)

Golden Dawn Title: Queen of Pentacles, Queen of the Thrones of Earth

Elemental Combination: Water of Earth

Astrological Sign: Capricorn

Rider Physical Quality: Older woman with very dark brown or black hair and black eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Nature

Renaissance Character: Argine or Argea

Shining Tribe Title: Gift of Stones

The Queen of Pentacles embodies the Empress as strongly as the King of Swords takes the role of the Emperor. The two cards occupy very different realms, each one self-sufficient. In the Queen of Pentacles we find a deep love of nature, a joy in whatever grows from the ground. As water of earth, she brings passionate love to the living world. In the Rider deck she sits in nature, with no buildings in sight, compared to the Pentacles King, whose palace stands behind him.

Waite liked this queen. He describes her as “summed up in the idea of greatness of soul” and “the serious cast of intelligence; she contemplates her symbol and may see worlds therein.”

In my own developmental view, the queen represents mastery of the suit/element. With Pentacles she is the master of nature, not in the sense of controlling it but in her deep and passionate attachment.

The Shining Tribe Gift of Stones shows two temples from the island country of Malta. Seen from above, the larger one, on the left, forms the outline of a goddess’s body. Known as Ggantija, or “female giant,” by the local people, the temple may be the world’s oldest building, dated at six thousand years. Everything in the picture is doubled—two temples, two spirals, two stick figures—so that the Gift becomes intense joining, with other people and with nature.

The obscure name Argine may have been an anagram of Regina (Latin for “queen”), a reference to various queens, including Marie de Médicis, who came to France from Italy and was so appalled at the wretched food that she imported chefs and taught the French how to cook. The love of good food is certainly part of the Queen of Pentacles. Others say the name is a variant of Argea, who was a queen of the fays, or fairies.

Readings—Love of nature, intense involvement with the physical world. Happiness, physical security, possibly wealth, though enjoyment is more central to the meaning. Someone who loves life and is self-sufficient, who prefers nature to cities, who may be a hermit, not because she (or he) dislikes people but just because she doesn’t really need them. Alternatively (from the Shining Tribe), someone who bonds powerfully with others but also with the earth.

Reversed—The essential connection to nature may be lost or threatened, and she can become irritable, aggressive. There may be too much pressure on a person. The hermit side of this queen can become exaggerated.

King of Pentacles

King of Pentacles from Golden Dawn, Marseille, Rider, Visconti & Shining Tribe

Element: Earth

Sephirah: Hokhmah (Wisdom), sephirah two in Assiyah (Action)

Golden Dawn Title: King of Pentacles, Lord of the Wild and Fertile Land, King of the Spirits of Earth

Elemental Combination: Fire of Earth

Astrological Sign: Virgo

Rider Physical Quality: An older man with very dark brown or black hair and black eyes

Rider Deck Theme: Wealth

Renaissance Character: Alexander the Great

Shining Tribe Title: Speaker of Stones

This King has truly brought his fire down to earth. He is successful, secure, with wealth and possibly honor, and he likes it that way. Unlike the Rider deck’s impatient King of Wands—fire of fire—he does not seem at all uncomfortable on his throne but leans back, fondly holding his golden pentacle. The Marseille figure also sits back relaxed, though he glances off to his left, as if he spots something of interest (a bit like the King of Cups). Even the Visconti King rests his hand on his coin in a similar posture. Notice, by the way, that in the Marseille card, the King wears a hat very similar to that of the Magician and the woman in Strength. Perhaps the Marseille King opens to a deeper level than in other decks.

The Shining Tribe image is the oldest in the deck, carved twenty thousand years ago on a mammoth tusk and uncovered in the twentieth century. Thus, it means to speak, or share, what is oldest and truest in a person’s experience. The artist created the image of a goddess from geometric forms, so that in this Speaker abstract concepts become real, grounded in physical experience.

Alexander the Great was the prototypical conqueror. Not only did he overcome all resistance in Egypt, Persia, and Asia Minor, he also ushered in an age of great learning and the world’s first truly cosmopolitan culture, the Hellenistic, which mixed Greek and Egyptian ideas and mythologies. Hermes Trismegistus and the Mystery cults, and thus Hermeticism itself, came from this world, so that we might think of the King of Pentacles as the patron of the entire Tarot. The French romances liked to describe Alexander as generous and benevolent, and indeed, there is nothing in the King of Pentacles to suggest that he hoards or keeps secret his wealth and success. If you seek to find a benefactor for a project or to win a grant, you might visualize the King of Pentacles entering your life. This is also a good card to receive if you are looking for a job, because he can mean a friendly boss.

Readings—Wealth, success, comfort, security. He may focus on material things but more with satisfaction and pride than selfishness or obsession. He can in fact be very generous. A good card in any reading that concerns looking for work or material support from someone. Grounding ideas in solid reality, speaking about what you know from your own experience.

Reversed—Worries about money or physical insecurity. Dissatisfaction, a feeling that what he has is not enough. Pressures from other people testing the boundaries of generosity. Possibly a turn from material concerns to more abstract or spiritual ideas.

A Reading Inspired by the Court Cards

Though this spread came out of the idea of considering the court cards as distinct families (see the very beginning of this section), it uses the entire deck and is done in the usual manner. I’ve posed the questions in the present tense, but for people who want to look back at their families when younger, you can do it in the past, changing “Who am I…” to “Who was I…” For simplicity’s sake, I have restricted the subjects to self, mother, and father, but of course you could easily add on brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc., depending on your family structure.

1. Who am I in my family?

2. What is my role?

3. Who is my mother?

4. What is her role?

5. Who is my father?

6. What is his role?

For a reading that utilizes the court cards as their own distinct group, see Court Card Confrontation on page 453.

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