RiccardoLS
Apparently the gender reversal of the Manga Tarot may be a source of confusion, especially for what regards the Court Cards.
Actually I always thought the Court Cards are among the most difficult cards both to use and understand and to incorporate and design when creating a deck.
I may be wrong but I think that this difficulty is due in the greater part to the fact that the Court cards have been different thing in Tarot history and they now try to be all of these things at once.
In a way intent, image, structure and intuition all pull in different directions… and so many times we rely not on established – scholar – approach, but rather to our own house rules to work with them. Actually I see the same in Tarot authors… Sometimes it’s like they have very clear, vivid, idea for numerals and majors, and suddenly they try to blend court cards in, maybe without realizing that is a blind spot in their vision. This can be seen with structured decks, but it’s almost impossible to ignore in intuition decks (those decks that are created following a flow of consciousness, rather than a analytical map).
Anyway… Court Cards seen as King, Queen, Knight, Knave/Page are obviously a map of rulership.
We have he authority (King), the consort (Queen), the military (Knight), and the apprentice/servant (Page).
If we accept this structure, we must understand that we see each suit almost as a medieval kingdom. The numerals are common folk, and above them there is nobility. It’s almost like a cap, or a roof to the suit. The *key* concept in this approach is *rank*. These cards are above the numerals and rule them.
The second structure that evolved in Tarot around the Court Cards is the Family concept.
We have a father (King), a mother (Queen), and two sons. One is the older one, a mature man (physically if not in wisdom) and is the Knight. The second is the younger one, yet immature but with more potential (the Knave/page). The family can also be seen with a son and a daughter with the knave/page taking the female gender.
The *key* concept to the family approach is *who*. This is – I think – the most widely known and used approach for Courts. These cards mean people. They may relate to physical description, age, gender, or role…. But still they mean actual people in a spread.
The gender imbalance, however, makes this definitely not perfect. I can meet just one girl out of three men (well, actually that may reflect my life, now that I think of it! ^_^)? If you balance the gender it works better, but you cannot anymore apply *rank*. Well, you can if you assume that the King (male) is better than the Queen (female) and the Prince/Knight (male) is better than the Princess/Knave (female). Such an assumption, however, that is – most of the time – done without thinking about it, create a bias within a deck… a bias we should be careful not to thread on.
The third structure is esoteric, and I think was very useful to get early XIX century occultist out of the Court Cards trap. So now Court Cards are linked to elements. We have Fire on Fire, And Water of Fire, and Smoke on the Water (the original, by Deep Purple)…
This concept totally rewrites the Court Card concepts and makes you get back to a human figure trough the other side. It works… but I think you have to build the whole deck on those elemental rules. And you must read with powerful elemental associations.
Gender, for instance, is no more an issue. We are talking primal *essences* and *qualities*.
The downside is that most of the time we don’t use Tarot this way. And getting back to this only on the Courts creates a strain that is against the natural, harmonious flow that a reading could be.
The last evolution of Court Cards sees Courts as strategies and approaches. So the Knave/Page is “learning”, the Knight is “doing”, the Queen is “perceiving”, the King is “Controlling”.
We have two yin/receptive/female basics and tow yang/assertive/male basics. So perceiving may became sensing and feeling and listening, and understand… while controlling may be ruling, deciding, channeling, creating, expressing…
In my opinion (just personal taste) this is the structure that most often works best in modern cartomancy. It marks a true difference between numerals and courts. It can be blended in most spreads and positions. It expresses different part of the self. It is easy and intuitive.
Anyway, if we work the family courts, we may have dominance (it’s not a family I like when the father is more than the mother, but it’s still a family. A bit old-fashioned maybe). Here we can’t have a dominance.
It is all about complementary energies.
The vertical axis is about intensity. You have a “receptive from below” when it’s about learning. And a “receptive from above” when it’s about “perceiving”. And it’s the same for assertive.
The horizontal axis is about direction (in and out).
Getting back to the Court Cards seen as a whole, I think the main source of confusion is that we try to intuitively incorporate all of these approaches into a single melting pot, and they clash. So… in order not to have them create dissonance, we try to juggle concepts and – yes – skedaddle ^_^
******
And here we are on the Manga Tarot
Again, please not that everyone will read Court Cards the way he wants and prefers.
I’m just talking from a designer point of view, and nothing I’m saying is more than just my opinion.
The Manga Tarot is built around three concepts… two that are evident to the cards and a third that is hidden below.
The first two are element/color and glyph/season. Both divisions are in four parts. The element sorts of support the substance of a card, while the glyph express its mood. Sping is hope, winter is memory, etc… and so – interacting these two elements you may add nuances to the cards and relate them to each other and to a wider map of experiences. This way – I thought – it would have been possible to relate each card not just to a meaning, but to many different meanings depending on what’s asked to that card (so any card may answer who, when, where, what, why, etc…)
The third concept is about the flowing of seasons. If You arrange the cards in order and you write down the corresponding seasons, you will see they make a pattern… and the pattern is circular.
The Court Cards are the expression of this pattern.
We have each of the Court Cards with each Season glyph.
Then the Prince of Chalices is also the Prince of Summer, while the Queen of Chalices is the Queen of Spring.
The team may then be rearranged:
The Court of Spring is then done by Queen of Chalices, Prince of Pentacles, King of Wands, and Princess of Swords.
In another way, it’s not the Season that define the Court Card.
It may be the other way round: the card that define the seasons.
So Spring is the time that is *rules* and *understood* by Chalices (Queen).
I know (well, at least I hope) that the Courts of the Manga Tarot may be read as any other Court Cards. While the booklet and the ordering of the cards in a never shuffled deck suggest that the Queen ranks the King (I actually prefer the yin above the yang, as it express dynamism, while the yang above the yin is just stability: so Queen above the King)… one can just do as he please.
I hope anyway that there may be more… different layers… different questions… and different answers, for those who may need them.
Sorry if I just given hints… and no answers, just a bit more of confusion.
But Tarot is a personal thing. It doesn’t matter what’s in a deck, unless it is within the persona journey of the user.
All the best,
ric
Actually I always thought the Court Cards are among the most difficult cards both to use and understand and to incorporate and design when creating a deck.
I may be wrong but I think that this difficulty is due in the greater part to the fact that the Court cards have been different thing in Tarot history and they now try to be all of these things at once.
In a way intent, image, structure and intuition all pull in different directions… and so many times we rely not on established – scholar – approach, but rather to our own house rules to work with them. Actually I see the same in Tarot authors… Sometimes it’s like they have very clear, vivid, idea for numerals and majors, and suddenly they try to blend court cards in, maybe without realizing that is a blind spot in their vision. This can be seen with structured decks, but it’s almost impossible to ignore in intuition decks (those decks that are created following a flow of consciousness, rather than a analytical map).
Anyway… Court Cards seen as King, Queen, Knight, Knave/Page are obviously a map of rulership.
We have he authority (King), the consort (Queen), the military (Knight), and the apprentice/servant (Page).
If we accept this structure, we must understand that we see each suit almost as a medieval kingdom. The numerals are common folk, and above them there is nobility. It’s almost like a cap, or a roof to the suit. The *key* concept in this approach is *rank*. These cards are above the numerals and rule them.
The second structure that evolved in Tarot around the Court Cards is the Family concept.
We have a father (King), a mother (Queen), and two sons. One is the older one, a mature man (physically if not in wisdom) and is the Knight. The second is the younger one, yet immature but with more potential (the Knave/page). The family can also be seen with a son and a daughter with the knave/page taking the female gender.
The *key* concept to the family approach is *who*. This is – I think – the most widely known and used approach for Courts. These cards mean people. They may relate to physical description, age, gender, or role…. But still they mean actual people in a spread.
The gender imbalance, however, makes this definitely not perfect. I can meet just one girl out of three men (well, actually that may reflect my life, now that I think of it! ^_^)? If you balance the gender it works better, but you cannot anymore apply *rank*. Well, you can if you assume that the King (male) is better than the Queen (female) and the Prince/Knight (male) is better than the Princess/Knave (female). Such an assumption, however, that is – most of the time – done without thinking about it, create a bias within a deck… a bias we should be careful not to thread on.
The third structure is esoteric, and I think was very useful to get early XIX century occultist out of the Court Cards trap. So now Court Cards are linked to elements. We have Fire on Fire, And Water of Fire, and Smoke on the Water (the original, by Deep Purple)…
This concept totally rewrites the Court Card concepts and makes you get back to a human figure trough the other side. It works… but I think you have to build the whole deck on those elemental rules. And you must read with powerful elemental associations.
Gender, for instance, is no more an issue. We are talking primal *essences* and *qualities*.
The downside is that most of the time we don’t use Tarot this way. And getting back to this only on the Courts creates a strain that is against the natural, harmonious flow that a reading could be.
The last evolution of Court Cards sees Courts as strategies and approaches. So the Knave/Page is “learning”, the Knight is “doing”, the Queen is “perceiving”, the King is “Controlling”.
We have two yin/receptive/female basics and tow yang/assertive/male basics. So perceiving may became sensing and feeling and listening, and understand… while controlling may be ruling, deciding, channeling, creating, expressing…
In my opinion (just personal taste) this is the structure that most often works best in modern cartomancy. It marks a true difference between numerals and courts. It can be blended in most spreads and positions. It expresses different part of the self. It is easy and intuitive.
Anyway, if we work the family courts, we may have dominance (it’s not a family I like when the father is more than the mother, but it’s still a family. A bit old-fashioned maybe). Here we can’t have a dominance.
It is all about complementary energies.
The vertical axis is about intensity. You have a “receptive from below” when it’s about learning. And a “receptive from above” when it’s about “perceiving”. And it’s the same for assertive.
The horizontal axis is about direction (in and out).
Getting back to the Court Cards seen as a whole, I think the main source of confusion is that we try to intuitively incorporate all of these approaches into a single melting pot, and they clash. So… in order not to have them create dissonance, we try to juggle concepts and – yes – skedaddle ^_^
******
And here we are on the Manga Tarot
Again, please not that everyone will read Court Cards the way he wants and prefers.
I’m just talking from a designer point of view, and nothing I’m saying is more than just my opinion.
The Manga Tarot is built around three concepts… two that are evident to the cards and a third that is hidden below.
The first two are element/color and glyph/season. Both divisions are in four parts. The element sorts of support the substance of a card, while the glyph express its mood. Sping is hope, winter is memory, etc… and so – interacting these two elements you may add nuances to the cards and relate them to each other and to a wider map of experiences. This way – I thought – it would have been possible to relate each card not just to a meaning, but to many different meanings depending on what’s asked to that card (so any card may answer who, when, where, what, why, etc…)
The third concept is about the flowing of seasons. If You arrange the cards in order and you write down the corresponding seasons, you will see they make a pattern… and the pattern is circular.
The Court Cards are the expression of this pattern.
We have each of the Court Cards with each Season glyph.
Then the Prince of Chalices is also the Prince of Summer, while the Queen of Chalices is the Queen of Spring.
The team may then be rearranged:
The Court of Spring is then done by Queen of Chalices, Prince of Pentacles, King of Wands, and Princess of Swords.
In another way, it’s not the Season that define the Court Card.
It may be the other way round: the card that define the seasons.
So Spring is the time that is *rules* and *understood* by Chalices (Queen).
I know (well, at least I hope) that the Courts of the Manga Tarot may be read as any other Court Cards. While the booklet and the ordering of the cards in a never shuffled deck suggest that the Queen ranks the King (I actually prefer the yin above the yang, as it express dynamism, while the yang above the yin is just stability: so Queen above the King)… one can just do as he please.
I hope anyway that there may be more… different layers… different questions… and different answers, for those who may need them.
Sorry if I just given hints… and no answers, just a bit more of confusion.
But Tarot is a personal thing. It doesn’t matter what’s in a deck, unless it is within the persona journey of the user.
All the best,
ric
