Having difficulty with the Court cards. Please Help!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

IDN	01 Oct 2004
Hi, Just wondering if anyone else is having trouble “getting there head around” the court cards and how they fit into the whole Tarot picture. I can associate major, significant events / concepts with all of the majors I can associate day-to-day aspects of life with the minors (2-10) I can relate to the Aces and there representation of the element as a whole. All of the above I can grasp and actually relate to. But when it come to the Court cards, I have problems- I seem to have a mental block on the concept. I have read lots of books, articles, etc- and can understand that concept- but just not “feel” or relate to the concept. Maybe I am over-complicating this in my head. For example, in a simple 3 card Past Present and Future spread, if for example the cards were: Past: Knight of pentacles Present: Temperance Future: Page of Wands I can easily see that the Present represents a time of calm, of balance, of unification, etc. But for the Past: Does this represent a state, Querent was a bit rash in terms of material gain / business decisions, etc. Or does it mean a person came into their life, represented by the Knight. Same for the Future: Does the Page represent someone specifically OR just represent (in the reading) the qualities / attributes / approach OF the Page. HELP!!!! Many thanks, Regards, Ian

maria42airam	01 Oct 2004
Depending on the position meaning in the spread, the court cards can refer to a specific person, or a "type" of person (persona) that you (or someone in your life) were/are/need to be, type of actions or approach that will help/hurt in a situation. For example, in one 3-card spread that I learned in the recent B&N class (thank you Don S.!) was (www.nodntap.net/test/daily_outlook_spread.shtml) it calls for an (1) Elemental Influence, (2) Daily Draw and (3) Person card. Quote: In the number #3 Position draw cards and stack them until you pull up a Court card. This is your Person card. It acts in two ways. Reflects the kind of personal traits you need to 'assume' for the day. The ones that will make your day easier, more productive, able to cope with people better, and so forth. Or people/persons you might have to look out for that day that might cause you stress, be antagonistic, cause you problems, etc.. Joan Bunnings online course has the following lesson on Court Cards, with exercises that are very helpful. She uses the RWS in her examples, but in the case of the Court Cards, I don't think it matters (in my limited experience) which deck you are using: Lesson 14 - Court Cards Exercises for Lesson 14 You don't mention the question for your PPF spread, so in your specific example, they could both mean individuals in the querent's life with temperence showing an attempt to balance life between them (i.e. a woman that just had a baby could show this scenario meaning that most of her attention had been on her husband but she is trying to balance her time equally between him and her new baby. In the long run, the baby will get most of the attention.) It could also be reflections of the querent themselves; after plugging along their entire life trying to make money and live everyone's expections, a man starts into his 50s and has a "mid-life crisis" (new red sports car, young woman, etc.)

maria42airam	01 Oct 2004
Here's another source that has more "technical" details: http://www.kenaz.com/notes/tarot_read_court.htm

IDN	01 Oct 2004
Many thanks for this info- Very useful. Thank You. Regards, Ian

blackadder	01 Oct 2004
I also have trouble reading court cards. In life I can easily pick up on body language, which helps to read a person. The court cards are different, they seem sterile and aloof. I find myself not really concentrating on the person but what they are doing, or the background on the card.

Pook	01 Oct 2004
I dont know if you have found the sticky at the top of the using tarot cards forum yet or not, but there are some really great existing links on the court cards there. Quote: originally posted by IDN But for the Past: Does this represent a state, Querent was a bit rash in terms of material gain / business decisions, etc. Or does it mean a person came into their life, represented by the Knight. Same for the Future: Does the Page represent someone specifically OR just represent (in the reading) the qualities / attributes / approach OF the Page Well thats the thing isn't it? The court cards can represent all of these things, depending on the question and where it falls in the spread. In the case of a PPF spread, I can only repeat that a lot depends on the question. Also, this is an important part of where intuition comes in.

Macavity	01 Oct 2004
I found that, in order to "get going", I needed to remember ONE unique word (call it a keyword) for each court. There are several authors (e.g. Kate Warwick-Smith) who have variations on this theme and give ideas for such words. But you can doubtless (better still) come up with your own. Once done, you can then build ideas on the basic theme (as a pyramid!) whenever a Court card appears. :D As you become more expert, you can "cut to the chase" (intuitive meaning) but the keyword remains a useful backup against complete idea-collapse! }) Macavity

Ace	01 Oct 2004
Well, this might help: start with the Kings: they are experts, persons in positions of authority. A King of Wands is a boss or business owner for instance. Queens are people around you, your peers or friends. Knights bring you messages. Pages send messages. A page of Wands, is sending out resumes. A Knight of Cups is bringing messages of love.

blackroseivy	02 Oct 2004
That *seems* simple, but really, what if the ways you stated of reading just don't fit the question or the reading? I find their qualities & somehow, instinctively fit them into something that always leads back to the querent. This is far from easy! I *hate* Court cards!

Little Baron	02 Oct 2004
I have been doing the exercises from Mary Greers 'Court Card' book which proved very useful with my Marseilles deck. Some of the exercises are in the general section under 'Court Card Study Group' or something to that effect. It might help to practice those exercises and also to see how others have worked through them with their decks. Good luck Yaboot

Ace	03 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by danubhe I find their qualities & somehow, instinctively fit them into something that always leads back to the querent. This is far from easy! That is absolutely the best way! I didn't mean that my suggestions ALWAYS work, I thought they might just be a good beginning place. I agree with you , Courts give me the flux!

The Having difficulty with the Court cards. Please Help! thread was originally posted on 01 Oct 2004 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.