Symbolism on the Page and Knight of Pentacles

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Trogon	17 Jan 2003
Okay... some of you probably already know all about this... ;) But I was studying the Pentacles in the Rider-Waite deck today and had a little bit of an epiphany. I've always understood that the gardens which appear in many of the RWS cards generally stand for, among other things, the conscious mind as well as fertility, hence fertility of thought. Correct? Now I had noticed the cultivated fields in the Page (lower right part of the card) and Knight of Pentacles (all across the card behind the Knight) before, but today it just dawned on me that these fields are ! They are broken, plowed and ready to be planted but nothing grows in them as yet. Both of these cards (see the attachment to this message and the next) show the person contemplating, studying a pentacle. The Page, I believe, is generally accepted (at least in the few books I have) as representing things along the line of learning, studying, etc. Hence... the prepared, but unplanted fields in both of these cards would represent a mind which is ready to accept new ideas and new knowledge... taking those ideas and knowledge, processing it and allowing it to grow. What thoughts do you all have on these cards? :D

Trogon	17 Jan 2003
Here is the Knight of Pentacles from the RWS deck;

Karenwhe	18 Jan 2003
In regards with the Page I totally agree in regards with the Knight I would have to think about it. I don't see the full connection to the Knight. I went back to my notes when I compared all court cards and didn't find anything in my notes. I think you raised something very interesting, I shall go back to think about this. Thank you for sharing that, interesting thing you have noticed.

Aoife	18 Jan 2003
Thank you so much for the insight, Trogon. Wonderful synchronicity! It helped so much in an important part of a recent reading I did for myself - Your Readings "fear of finding my inner self" - if you're interested. Eve

Trogon	18 Jan 2003
Aoife, glad I could be of assistance. I have read and posted a brief reply to your other thread... I had neglected to include in my original posting, that while the Page stands some distance from this field... the Knight sits his horse right at the edge of the field. Another thing which I hadn't really picked up on before, but read in "Seventyeight Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollack, is that the Knight (according to Ms. Pollack) does not actually look at the Pentacle he holds, but rather is looking past it. However, I'm not positive if I fully agree with this statement. There are some differences between the Page and Knight as regards this symbol; The Page doesn't actually hold the Pentacle... rather it floats just beyond her/his reach. The Knight is actually holding his Pentacle. I do feel that the Page is in a deeper contemplation of the Pentacle, while the Knight appears more casual about it. Just a little more fuel on the fire... })

tarotbear	18 Jan 2003
The knight sits on his horse in heavy tack in the middle of a plowed field. The horse is standing, not plowing or moving. In my interpretations of the Knights as changes in the life of the Querent, this knight says a change is coming ( the field is plowed and ready for planting) but the horse standing still says this change, although begun, is barely in the beginning stages and will be a slow, long time in coming.

WolfSpirit	19 Jan 2003
The page of pentacles pops up a lot of times in my readings recently. He is not exactly the most dramatic of cards :D but he shows himself so often that i just had to give him some extra thought (if I don't give a card proper attention they just keep popping up until i do, nasty buggers ;)) Page of pentacles can be learning, but there is also the pentacle element: so it will not be learning for the spiritual, more for something practical and you should not expect quick results: pentacles are down-to-earth and a bit slow... Pages are about beginnings...hence the ploughed field, the field is ready to grow something in. The page does not hold the pentacle firmly yet as he is at the moment still studying it, maybe thinking about the best approach to bring the field to fruition. I think knights are a step further in the process and also more assertive than pages, so that could be why the knight is holding the pentacle firmly in his hand. In my own readings, i think the page is telling me i should keep both feet on the ground, study everything before taking a step and take more care of practical matters and not expect quick results. To me, pentacles also represent the world around us, our natural environment. So I think the card can also tell you to study and enjoy nature and draw inspiration from it: in nature change is slow but it is always changing and never blocked. So even every little change you make every day will finally have result.

The Symbolism on the Page and Knight of Pentacles thread was originally posted on 17 Jan 2003 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.