Person or Situation?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 06 Sep 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kurai Yuko	06 Sep 2002
The Court Cards (princess/page, prince/knight, queen and king), depending on their place in the spread, can be seen as a situation or a person. But how to know if the Court Card in your spread is 'talking' about a person or a situation? I read in a person that they can be a person when combined with the Major Arcana cards The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant and The Justice. I even have a little table about what the different combinations means an all that stuff, but i still don't understand it. To have these cards combined, you have to have two cards in the same position, right? So, in a spread, if i get any Court Card and think that there's a possibility about this card being related to person, not to a situation, shall i take another card from my deck to find out or it's better to try to see only by the Court Card itself? I guess it's a bit confusing, but since i'm confused myself i don't think i can even explain it very clearly...sorry! Thanks for reading! - Yuko

Umbrae	07 Sep 2002
Lot’s of author’s who know little and write lots for lots of money make rules about majors and court cards – when they are people and when they are influences or events. The only way to determine this, is from looking at the rest of the spread, and about (4-6 years reading experience if you do not keep a journal); 2-24 months if you keep a journal.

Mojo	07 Sep 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Kurai Yuko I even have a little table about what the different combinations means an all that stuff, but i still don't understand it. Oh me, oh my.... please take a time out before you drive yourself mad! Kurai, it sounds like you're approaching Tarot from a purely left-brain point of view. Rationalizing court card meanings into tables of relationships is far too logical to apply to the Tarot. You need to engage the other half of the brain and let yourself feel the cards and react to them intuitively and emotionally. Court cards are one thing or another based on how they address the question that was asked how they weave into the story told by the cards surrounding them in the spread. For example, say you have a 3 card head/heart/sex spread and the cards are: 2 Swords / 5 Cups / Knight of Wands In this spread, I would give a behavioral value to the Knight. In the sex position, it points to wild streak, but fraught with carelessness. However, if the same cards were in a different order, say: Knight of Wands / 2 Swords / 5 Cups Then I would definitely get the feeling of the Knight as a relationship or at least a person of great interest to the querent. Not only does it occupy the thinking position in the spread, but look how it relates to the heart card. Closing off the heart to protect yourself combined with a court card in the head position is very likely to be referring to a person.

Mojo	07 Sep 2002
Hey Umbrae... that's my trademarked "BUNK" you're using there! Next time make sure you write it as: BUNK™

Umbrae	07 Sep 2002
Dearest Mojo; Never would I use your trademarked verbiage. You will note that my has an exclamation mark behind it! Any similarities to a Mojo ‘malarkey’ expression and an Umbrae ‘malarkey expression is purley coincidental and in no way should be construed by the reader as an endorsement by Mojo towards the content of Umbrae’s usual drivil. Thank you…

Kurai Yuko	07 Sep 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Mojo Oh me, oh my.... please take a time out before you drive yourself mad! Kurai, it sounds like you're approaching Tarot from a purely left-brain point of view. Rationalizing court card meanings into tables of relationships is far too logical to apply to the Tarot. You need to engage the other half of the brain and let yourself feel the cards and react to them intuitively and emotionally. Court cards are one thing or another based on how they address the question that was asked how they weave into the story told by the cards surrounding them in the spread. For example, say you have a 3 card head/heart/sex spread and the cards are: 2 Swords / 5 Cups / Knight of Wands In this spread, I would give a behavioral value to the Knight. In the sex position, it points to wild streak, but fraught with carelessness. However, if the same cards were in a different order, say: Knight of Wands / 2 Swords / 5 Cups Then I would definitely get the feeling of the Knight as a relationship or at least a person of great interest to the querent. Not only does it occupy the thinking position in the spread, but look how it relates to the heart card. Closing off the heart to protect yourself combined with a court card in the head position is very likely to be referring to a person. Yeah, i'm getting mad :) It's kinda confusing. I like reading books to see the different views of the Tarot, but i'll stop for a while. I'm getting all confused, because one author says one thing and another says other...*sigh* Anyway, thank you very much Mojo, your explanation helped me a lot! I'll try to approach Tarot more from a right-brain point of view ;)

kayne	07 Sep 2002
Personally, I pretty much always read court cards as aspects of the quarents personality... But that's just me. :)

Starfish	07 Sep 2002
Quote: Originally posted by kayne Personally, I pretty much always read court cards as aspects of the quarents personality... But that's just me. :) I'm with Kayne - I usually read the courts as aspects; only on occasion (and depending on the spread) do I interpret them to be people. :TMAGE Starfish

Fuzzmello	08 Sep 2002
You can use logic if you like. If you're reading for someone, ask them if the Court card could represent a person in the situation. If they think the card does represent a person, see if that interpretation makes sense in relation to the rest of the spread. If it doesn't, it's probably not a person. Generally, if Court cards are representing people in the situation, that meaning pops right out immediately. If it doesn't, I let the card's personality guide the response, according to the card's position in the spread. Fuzz

Jewel	12 Sep 2002
Kurai, have you checked out Thriteen's Tarot Basics here on Aeclectic? You might want to check out what Thirteen had to say about the court cards. These are card specific, not courts in general but I think they really help gain perspective.

Kitty	14 Sep 2002
I did a Celtic Cross spread for a female friend of mine about where her relationship was headed, as it has just encountered trouble. The near future was the 8 of Cups and the outcome was the King of Wands- really wasn't sure what to tell her. I'm okay with court cards until they are in a postion of outcome to a question- they just don't seem to fit. I agree with the others that court cards are something that take time and experience and trust in your intuition - can be frustrating in the meantime though!!

juice	18 Sep 2002
That's one of the reasons I'm reading about several decks and the author's interpretations. Not to find a single perfect meaning for each card to be used in all possible situations. I'm trying to get a feel for the multi-dimentional aspect of each card. This isn't quite the same thing as a humongous laundry list of possible vague associations. Practice, Practice, Practice.

The Person or Situation? thread was originally posted on 06 Sep 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.