Court Cards
The Tarot royalty - 16 court cards, 4 of each suit. Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages.
Court Cards
Kings! Knights! Princes! Oh My!
adobe mission uses Pamela Coleman Smith’s deck (abbreviated RWS for Rider-Waite-Smith) for imagery card order and naming, and also references Aleister Crowley’s (Thoth) deck for astrological and other correspondences.
These two very popular decks (RWS and Thoth) have different terminology for the court cards which creates a lot correspondence confusion – especially for Kings and Knights. Thoth has Knights, Queens, Princes and Princesses and there is some disagreement about whether the Knights (on their horses in Thoth like all the Knights in RWS) should be associated with RWS Knights or Kings.
adobe mission references to Kings apply to RWS Kings and Thoth Knights. References to Knights apply to RWS Kings and Thoth Princes. References to Pages apply to RWS Pages and Thoth Princesses.
As Complex as Real People
The court cards can be quite tricky to learn and interpret when using Tarot for divination. Examples for how the elemental, modality, decan and I Ching correspondences relate to the court cards are below (one per court member).
For those who want to go deeper,
adobe mission HIGHLY recommends T. Susan Chang‘s books as well as the podcast Fortune’s Wheelhouse (ended in 2018) that she did with Mel Meleen. The title of this blurb is a Mel quote from episode 32 which has a great overview of the Court cards!
Kings
Fire of Their ElementKings are cardinal fire in nature.
- They represent the active/yang/fatherly aspects of their element.
- They rule 2 mutable and the preceding (shadow) fixed decan in the Chaldean Ruler system.
King of Swords (RWS)
Example
- "Fire of Air".
- Thoth/Crowley's Knight of Swords
- Rules Gemini decans 1 and 2 and Taurus decan 3 (shadow decan)
- Crowley associates the King of Swords to Hexagram 32 - Duration (Thunder over Wind)
- adobe mission also associates this cardinal air King with Libra (the cardinal air sign).
Knights
Air of Their ElementKnights are mutable air in nature.
- They represent the younger yang, mercurial aspects of their elements.
- They rule 2 fixed and the preceding (shadow) cardinal decan in the Chaldean Ruler system.
Knight of Pentacles (RWS)
Example
- "Air of Earth"
- Thoth Prince of Disks
- Rules Aries decans 1 and 2 and Pisces decan 3 (shadow decan)
- Crowley associates the Prince of Disks to Hexagram 53 - Development (Wind over Mountain)
- adobe mission also associates this mutable earth Knight to Virgo (the mutable earth sign).
Queens
Water of Their ElementQueens are fixed water in nature.
- They represent the receptive/yin/motherly aspects of their element.
- They rule 2 cardinal and the preceding (shadow) mutable decan in the Chaldean Ruler system.
Queen of Wands (RWS)
Example- "Water of Fire".
- Rules Aries decans 1 and 2 and Pisces decan 3 (shadow decan)
- Crowley associates the Queen of Wands to Hexagram 17 - Following (Lake over Thunder)
- adobe mission also associates this fixed fire Queen to Leo (the fixed fire sign)
Pages
Earth of Their ElementPages are earth in nature.
- They embody qualities of all four elements.
- They are each associated with a quarter of the zodiac which includes the fixed sign of their element and the signs before and after that sign.
Page of Cups (RWS)
Example- "Earth of Water"
- Thoth Princess of Cups
- Associated with the Fall (norther hemisphere) quadrant of the zodiac: Libra, Scorpio (fixed water), and Sagittarius.
- Crowley associates the Princess of Cups to Hexagram 41 - Decrease (Mountain over Lake)
Court Card Filter Grid
Individual pages for Tarot cards are still under construction / works in progress.
