Court cards in different positions

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Jenny-Li	07 May 2002
Hi! The court cards are generally interpreted either as people, or as personal characteristics of some sort, but they may refer to events and situations as well. Which it is is generally something that is up to the intuitive part of reading. But I was thinking about this: in a Celtic Cross, for example, do you think there are positions in the spread in which court cards are more or less likely to be something else than people? And if you think so - why? I probably have some opinion in this matter myself, I just wanted to throw out the question right away...! Light and Love! Jenny :)

Geenius at Wrok	07 May 2002
I can think of one obvious answer, but it's what mathematicians call a "degenerate solution": In the seventh position, the one that relates specifically to you, whatever court card appears there will always refer to a person, won't it? :) I tend always to interpret court cards as representing personality traits—or, by extension, a person possessing those traits. I never interpret the King of Pentacles, for example, as simply "a pale, dark-haired man." If you do interpret court cards that way, I'd say that none of the various positions (except, of course, the seventh) would force you to interpret them one way or the other.

emily2otters	07 May 2002
i'm currently struggling mightily with the court cards, for precisely this reason. i'm coming to believe that placement in a spread is really the *only* way to tell which of the many different classes of meanings applies. i don't use the celtic cross very often, so i can't give you examples from that spread, but if a court card showed up in an "inner motivations" kind of position, i would assume it was referring to my own personality traits or traits i wanted to acquire. if it showed up in an "outer influences" kind of position, i would assume it was another person. when court cards appear as the "outcome" of a spread, i think of it as some area of my personality where i'm likely to experience growth (or blockage, depending on the card). i don't use the events-type of interpretation; that's just way too much to keep track of. :)

The Court cards in different positions thread was originally posted on 07 May 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.