Gendron courts

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Keslynn	02 Jun 2002
Hi all. I wasn't sure if this would fit better on the Decks board or what, but anyway... I've looked through the LWB for the Gendron tarot a couple of times just to get a sense for what the artist was trying to accomplish, etc. I noticed that the Princess seems to correspond with the RWS Knight rather than the Page as I would have expected. Likewise, the Prince seems to correspond with the Page rather than the Knight. However, the King and Queen seem to remain the same. The pictures on the cards seem to reflect this interpretation of the Prince and Princess. Has anyone else noticed this? Also, perhaps there should be more care in basic tarot instruction to not assume that the Prince is automatically the Knight? That might be silly though because the Gendron deck might be the only one to switch it up like that. Any thoughts? :) Kes

Diana	02 Jun 2002
edited

Zhritza	02 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Keslynn I noticed that the Princess seems to correspond with the RWS Knight rather than the Page as I would have expected. Likewise, the Prince seems to correspond with the Page rather than the Knight. However, the King and Queen seem to remain the same. [...] Also, perhaps there should be more care in basic tarot instruction to not assume that the Prince is automatically the Knight? I've seen the Princess-as-Knight, Prince-as-Page dynamic in a few decks. The Thoth is essentially this way... well, sort of. In the Thoth there are no Kings -- they are replaced by Knights -- but the Knights seem pretty similar to Kings in the divinatory meanings I've seen, even though (and I'm paraphrasing what another member here said) Crowley apparently wanted the Knight/King to be like a wandering male figure who woos the stable female figure (the Queen) and becomes her consort; that "wandering" aspect is more concurrent with most Knights in tarot than it is with Kings. My Norse Tarot by Clive Barrett has the Princesses corresponding to the RWS Knights, and the Princes to the Pages, like in the Gendron. So, maybe modern tarot artists just decide to go with Crowley instead of Waite and Smith on this matter when they make that choice. I agree completely that basic tarot instruction usually does not give enough explanation of the variances in court cards that occur in the myriad of decks out there. The general tarot books I've read (keep in mind that, unlike many people here, I've only read a few) seem to assume that all standard 78-card decks are structured like the RWS...

Ravenswing	08 Jun 2002
the lwb for the gendron has the court order: queen, king, princess, prince. guess this might be a goddess viewpoint extended to the courts. different, but it seems to work. LVX steve

HudsonGray	30 Aug 2002
A full layout of the suits & majors can be seen over at this site: http://phoenixskye.topcities.com/gendron.htm That sure helps when seeing them laid side by side, you can get a better feel for the flow that way. Thing is, the King shouldn't have a falcon ON HIS SHOULDER, that's for parrots, not birds of prey. Even if you pad the shoulder area, the talons can rip you up & the bird can take one of your eyes out. I bet the artist didn't research falconry enough! Birds of prey are carried on a leather gloved 'fist' for a really good reason.

The Gendron courts thread was originally posted on 02 Jun 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.