gender symbolism in tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

emily2otters	15 Apr 2002
there have been times lately when the gender symbolism of specific cards has thrown me off track in a reading... this happens especially often with court cards. for example, recently i turned up the king of cups in a spread. i automatically assumed that it referred to my boyfriend or some other man in my life, but later on i realized that it stood for me! the card was advising me to bring more creativity to my career/practical life. had i drawn the queen instead, i would have known it referred to me, but wouldn't have gotten the same message that the king conveyed. the gender confusion has started to really frustrate me. i'm envisioning a set of two decks, one with all female images and one with all male images. a person could even take the court cards from BOTH decks and shuffle them all together, doubling the possible combinations for gender/significance. i know that many readers feel that male/female symbolism is integral to the tarot system, and can't be so lightly tossed away. what do you think?

Umbrae	15 Apr 2002
Tough question. Sometimes (and most of the time), court cards represent people. Sometimes, they represent actions regardless of gender. So now, the real question comes into play…how to tell the difference. ‘Oft times the spread will clue you in. Some spreads are very people specific. Some are event specific. Had a reading the other day were the sitter was asking about relationships. Most of the reading came back pointing towards her job. Here is a real key I tend to harp on a bit. Card meanings. We can get so hung up on book learned meanings, and spend so much time trying to ‘figure out’ what it means, we lose focus on what the inner-self is telling us. If we can stop thinking and start listening, when the card flips we are told (person or action), but fail to hear because ego tries to keep us ‘clever’ and correct. We lose so much of our lives by not listening to the right things. Oops, I’m pontificating again, sorry.

zorya	15 Apr 2002
[quote]Originally posted by Umbrae Here is a real key I tend to harp on a bit. Card meanings. We can get so hung up on book learned meanings, and spend so much time trying to ‘figure out’ what it means, we lose focus on what the inner-self is telling us. If we can stop thinking and start listening, when the card flips we are told (person or action), but fail to hear because ego tries to keep us ‘clever’ and correct. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ glad you brought this up umbrae, i think it's important to study and learn the book meanings, so that you then can "let them go" and allow your intuition to speak to you. there seems to be a real emphasis on book interpretations on this forum, it's made me reluctant to respond to any of the threads asking for help interpreting spreads. :OL zorya

Umbrae	15 Apr 2002
Zorya You stated what I failed to state...(and did it well). to study and learn the book meanings, so that you then can "let them go" and allow your intuition to speak to you. I have often found that what a spread looks like, on paper, and what a spread looks like when it is correctly read, are two different things. Thank you again, Zorya for clarifying what I failed to communicate…

emily2otters	16 Apr 2002
i am very much in agreement that our intuition is what's important in a reading, and that card interpretation ought to be personal and contextual. but my question for you all is this: how essential is it that certain cards depict male or female figures? does the emperor need to be a man to communicate all that the emperor stands for? does a king need to be a man? does a queen need to be a woman? if a deck of tarot was entirely female or entirely male, would you be glad to be rid of the distraction, or would you feel handicapped without the extra layer of symbolism we get from gender?

meatbox666	16 Apr 2002
Jesus Mary Joseph.............................this is hard court cards are people...................unless they fall in the position of the spread that is relative to how a person/family/ friends think...then they are not read a people..in my opinion.....I also feel that when one is talking about a relationship...and say he /she is a boyfriend..then a page.....moreoverly the page of cups should come up....and the type of boyfriend he is will be the surrounding cards..so if your boyfriend..page of cups is experiencing money issurs,,then pentacles will surround him....ya dig??? A husband or wife.......queen of Cups/King of Cups............and the type wether they suck or not...........will beindicated by the surrounding cards...... oh but like the court cards representpeople......and uh............yea,thats all I have to say

Original Destiny	16 Apr 2002
I too am sometimes confused with the traits of a card...mostly I can get the overall feel of the reading...say It feels like a people spread...but when i get stuck...when there arn't any clues then I rely on my crystal pendulum...I suspend the pendulum over the card in question and ask...Is this ...a man.?..a woman?..etc.. It works for me...I keep a pendulum with my working decks at all times :TFOOL

meatbox666	16 Apr 2002
My goodness....i have neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr in my life workedwith a pendulum.......how does it work...i readabout it longggggggggg while ago, but forget.........and i neverr thought to use a pendulum with the tarot deck.............Wow!!

The gender symbolism in tarot thread was originally posted on 15 Apr 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.