Question on Knight's rank in deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Nov 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

elementlove	19 Nov 2003
I have a question that some of you may have an answer to: I read that the Knight, instead of the King, at least in the Mersailles deck, is the highest ranking court card. Is this correct? If numbers are assigned for cabalistic interpretations the values would be: page=11; queen=12; king=13 and knight=14 I have done some readings using this arrangement and they seem to be more correct than the traditional ranking. If so, it may have numerological implications for card interpretation. Anyone wants to comment??

Rusty Neon	19 Nov 2003
Quote: Originally posted by elementlove I have a question that some of you may have an answer to: I read that the Knight, instead of the King, at least in the Mersailles deck, is the highest ranking court card. Is this correct? In most of the French language tarot literature on the Tarot de Marseille, the order of rank is Page (lowest), Knight, Queen and King (highest). However, some authors prefer to show the card in the order: Page. Queen, King and Knight, in order based on increasing energy (but without necessarily taking away from the King having the highest civil rank). Author Corrine Morel's explanation is that the Knight is about movement, and that a role of the Knight is to transmit energy, and act as transition, between the 14 cards of one suit and the 14 cards of the next suit. Thus, in terms of energies in a given suit, it runs from Ace to Ten, then from Page to Knight.

elementlove	19 Nov 2003
Thanks for your illuminating answer Rusty Neon. Elementlove.

Nevada	19 Nov 2003
In Thoth, the court cards are Princess (lowest), Prince, Queen and Knight (highest). Nevada

Rusty Neon	19 Nov 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Nevada34 In Thoth, the court cards are Princess (lowest), Prince, Queen and Knight (highest). Elementlove's question seemed to have been about the Tarot de Marseille and the sometimes-seen TdM ordering of Page, Queen, King, Knight, so that's what I tried to respond to. (Note in that sometimes-seen TdM ordering, the Knight is placed immediately after the King, with the Queen being second lowest and not between the Knight and King.) But Nevada's right about there being a Princess (lowest), Prince, Queen, Knight (highest) ordering for the Thoth and Golden Dawn court cards. On the subject of that ordering, there have been quite a few threads, most recently being: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12692&highlight=knight+king Those Thoth court card names and ordering are derived from Golden Dawn. Interestingly, to spice things up a bit, the Golden Dawn curriculum sometimes alternatively called that Prince (second lowest) an "Emperor", though he remained second lowest, and alternatively called that Knight (highest) a "King", while he retained his knightly character and knight-on-horse card imagery.

The Question on Knight's rank in deck thread was originally posted on 19 Nov 2003 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.