Poll: What is your individual approach to interpreting the court cards?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	07 Oct 2004
In this poll, you can select more than one choice.

lunakasha	07 Oct 2004
I use several systems: the image itself (first), the rank + suit, general (book) meanings that I have internalized for that particular card and.....I think court cards usually represent an actual person, either the querent or someone else. I did not choose always because I think sometimes the card represents qualities that might be helpful for the querent to look at, but which may not actually represent the querent as a person. (if that makes any sense???) The tricky part, for me, is to determine whether the court card does in fact represent a)the querent, b)someone else or c)characteristics that the querent should be looking at or developing. Unless I get a very strong, "gut" feeling from looking at the card, I struggle with coming up with a definitive answer. :) Luna

Rusty Neon	07 Oct 2004
I use several methods. In answering the poll, I selected card imagery, Rank + Suit, and Etteilla meanings. For decks with expressive court cards (e.g., Tarot de Marseille and Thoth), the card image is very influential to the meaning that I assign to the card. For cards without expressive court cards (e.g., Rider-Waite), I would tend to favour Rank + Suit and Etteilla meanings. In the Etteilla approach, I use free-association from the Etteilla keywords. If the keyword is, say, Widowhood for the Queen of Swords, the card could mean separation, isolation, loneliness. Page of Swords = Spy, could mean keen observation. I tend to view the court cards as representing qualities and abstract concepts rather than actual persons.

smleite	08 Oct 2004
The card image, Rank and Suit (meaning for rank + meaning for suit), Number and Suit (number for rank + meaning for suit). Court cards sometimes represent an actual person (querent or others). As time goes by, the card image speaks more and more; numbers are also very eloquent. Silvia

SoulFlower	08 Oct 2004
I'm use the image of the card as a source of information. But I still look up meanings in books because I'm fairly new at the entire Tarot thing. I try to interpret the cards on the feelings that the image of a card gives me.

lark	08 Oct 2004
I let intuition bring in thoughts first from the card image. Have found the book The Tarot Court Cards by Kate Warwick-Smith very useful. Much of her approach is based on Qabalah. So I voted card image, books, other.

Emily	08 Oct 2004
I also use several methods:- The card image first Where the card is in a spread A good Tarot book and that the card might or might not be representing a person, either the person I'm reading for or someone they know or will get to meet.

maria42airam	08 Oct 2004
One of the options in the poll was "number and suit". But what number? I've seen multiple approaches to numbering the court cards. Personally, I use Page=11 and 1, Knight=14, Queen=12 and King=13. I do this because I associate the Kings with The Emperor (4), the Queens with The Empress (3), and the Knights with The Hierophant (5) [initiation, institution]. What numbers do you all set to the court cards?

Seed Crystal	08 Oct 2004
Anybody read Ursula K. LeGuin's _The Dispossessed_ ? Great book IMHO At one point a character explains ethics as a mode of perception and being intrinsically available to any sentient being. Other modes might be scientific; any intelligent being of any age can do science, approach something scientifically. Another mode might be artistic. Some people are VERY good at a particular mode of being, others might struggle with it; but all are capable of them. I see the court cards as modes of being.

Sulis	08 Oct 2004
Like everyone else I use several methods, mainly: Element and sub-element The card image Rank and suit Court cards sometimes represent an actual person. Love Sulis xx

RedMaple	08 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Seed Crystal Anybody read Ursula K. LeGuin's _The Dispossessed_ ? Great book IMHO At one point a character explains ethics as a mode of perception and being intrinsically available to any sentient being. Other modes might be scientific; any intelligent being of any age can do science, approach something scientifically. Another mode might be artistic. Some people are VERY good at a particular mode of being, others might struggle with it; but all are capable of them. I see the court cards as modes of being. Seed Crystal I love this idea for the Court Cards. I'm going to integrate it into my readiing of them. Thanks. RedMaple

dadsnook2000	08 Oct 2004
I agree with part of Lark's answer. I have tentatively adopted the system offered by Kate Warwick-Smith in her book The Tarot Court Cards. She attributes each of the court cards on archetypal patterns of relationship. I've used this system with great success. It requires a little study and understanding but it seems to really help dig into the reading when contending pressures from two or more people are at work. Dave.

firemaiden	08 Oct 2004
...the image... random thoughts... jokes and puns suggested by the image, free associations.

Moonbow*	09 Oct 2004
Reading some of the answers here, I think the way I approach them is the same. I voted, element and sub-element, card image, rank and suit and sometimes the actual person. With alot of emphasis on the card image.

tmgrl2	09 Oct 2004
The card as it appears in the spread. Sometimes, it is the sitter or someone in his/her life. Sometimes, something comes to me out of left field. Rank and suit, sometimes. Certainly, I have internalized information from AT and from books, but I go with what comes up on that day for that person for that spread. Sometimes, I whistle, shake my head and bit, look puzzled, ask a question or go "Aha!" (I never look worried when cards come up...so don't think that I do that....It scares the wits out of me when someone reads for me and up comes... Death, e.g. Then I hear, I don't want to scare you but....") Fortunately, the court cards for me are fun. They seem to have "changing" and wide-ranging personalities, depending on the reading. I love this about them. terri

WolfSpirit	09 Oct 2004
Things I think about: Rank & suit Card meanings (from my own notes) Element and sub element I do use card image as well, but that is normally something that just hits me before I have really thought about it. And they sometimes represent actual persons.

Pipistrelle	09 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Seed Crystal Anybody read Ursula K. LeGuin's _The Dispossessed_ ? Great book IMHO At one point a character explains ethics as a mode of perception and being intrinsically available to any sentient being. Other modes might be scientific; any intelligent being of any age can do science, approach something scientifically. Another mode might be artistic. Some people are VERY good at a particular mode of being, others might struggle with it; but all are capable of them. I see the court cards as modes of being. This is very interesting Seed Crystal. Would you mind elaborating on which modes of being you assign to which court cards? Do you assign them by suit or by rank? I've had to do an awful lot of thinking about the court cards lately and I think I've pretty much got a grip (as it were) on the Queens and the Knights, but the Pages (Knaves) and Kings are still eluding me slightly. :(

skytwig	09 Oct 2004
OK..... I confess..... I use them as modifiers..... I've been doing it virtually from the beginning, so I suspect that is how I used to read in other lifetimes. :) As such, they add to the next card, which is laid on top of the court card.... The court can then be a person or an aspect of the querent's personality/thinking/feeling.... some way that the querent is or needs to approach the 'main' card it is modifying. For instance, say I get a Qn of Swords in the Above card of the CC spread and the next card is Temperance. I would interpret that as 'harsh self judgement or harsh thinking' in the areas of Art or Balance or Creativity or New Ideas..... depending on what the other cards say, especially the Below and the Past card...... The Below card would be important because that would show the inner longing, beneath all that negative head stuff...... If I draw several court cards, I just keep laying them down until I get a non court card.... they all contribute to the reading... either as aspects of the self or people that are involved in whatever the noncourt card is....... Hope this is making sense. :) Does anyone else read this way? Just curious......

Seed Crystal	10 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Pipistrelle ... Would you mind elaborating on which modes of being you assign to which court cards? Do you assign them by suit or by rank? I've had to do an awful lot of thinking about the court cards lately and I think I've pretty much got a grip (as it were) on the Queens and the Knights, but the Pages (Knaves) and Kings are still eluding me slightly. :( I am not sure I will be able to articulate all this in one post... Most often, I see court cards as modes for the querent; they are approaches or options they might take. I use traditional card meanings but consider them as parts of the querent (or the issues or situation). I also use elements, symbols analysis, and what the querent (experienced in Tarot or not) sees in the card... But I use all those as modes of being... You can interpret any action or option through various modes. Taking reading Tarot as an activity. It is an expression of the Intuitive mode, of course. It can also be exercises in the Theraputic mode; or also a Student mode, if you are self-consciously studing Tarot, or symbolism, or history, using Tarot as a lens; it can be an exercise in the Artistic, if it affects other art one does, either Tarot art or something else. It can be Social, and Entertainment, and Religious, there's no limit, it's just a matter of the particular shifts of perspective which work for you, and the querent if any,... A whole reading can be shifted to be considered with the theme of any one card as "central" (regardless of where is came up). Like in a dream - we are EVERY character, we are the environment, we are any heros or villians; they are aspects of self, which can be used as a focus. These days I usually use the World Spirit deck, which has court cards of Seeker, Seer, Sage, and Sybil. (I order them that way because more often then not, I find external efforts at transformation preceed inner transformation). One of the reasons I like the WS deck is that its court cards seem more easily removed from the comfortable hierarchy of traditional court card roles. We are all Seekers; conscious and deidcated students. We are all Seers; we have have some awareness and knowledge of what we have sought and found. We are all Sages; we are capable of counscious external implementation of what we have sought, found, and begun to articulate. We are all Sybils; we are capable of deeper growth, beyond what we can articulate, we all can nurture the Seeker, Seer, and Sage within us. Combine this with the other meanings of the card (elements; trad meanings; particular images and symbols in your deck; any other means) and you have most of what I mean by court cards are modes of perception and being. Like any reading I consider that which opens up more perception and possibility more important than anything which reinforces old perceptions (and maybe biases or blinders). This make sense to you? Inspire anything you'd like to share? edited only to remove most annoying typos

MeeWah	10 Oct 2004
Other system. Namely, how it hits me at time of appearance & its relationship to surrounding cards.

Pipistrelle	11 Oct 2004
Seed Crystal - thank you for taking the time to explain that. It sounds very interesting and I've added some comments you made to my own notes. Whenever I pulled a court card, I used to think "oh no", but now I'm enjoying delving deeper into their meanings each time. It's easy to think of them just as two-dimensional characters but they have a lot of depth and a lot of different interpretations - in the same way human beings aren't one thing or the other. In time, I hope I can have as insightful and instinctual reaction to the court cards as you :) Regards, Pip

kwaw	11 Oct 2004
Playing around with the old style square format horoscope, and linking the four suits with four directions rather than four elements, here is an alternative astrological set of attributes: The pips 2-10 of each suit gives a naturally dintinctive set of 36 cards which would seem to me would naturally be applied to the 36 decans [if indeed they were]. Why two to ten? Because technically speaking 'number' is plural and 'one' as such being singular is not a number. While many people nowadays are perhaps unfamiliar or unaware of this distinction it was commonly applied pre-1800s [nicholas of cusa makes heavy use of this distinction in his philophical/theological speculations]. Also, unlike the other pip cards, the aces are usually without a number, and are also distinguished from the others in that they may be considered as high or low. As to how they may have thought of corresponding these 36 cards to the decans we are all familiar with the elemental attributions; however another way may have been directional. Remembering that a square format horoscope was more commonly used than the round one we are more familiar with these days, I am picturing the 36 cards in a square [with the aces perhaps denoting the four cardinal points ascendant, mc, descendant and nadir]. Along each side would be one suit 2-10. The manner in which we choose to attribute the suits to the directions is debatable, but for example lets say wands is easterly, therefore they are laid down the eastern [left side] of the square and correspond to the 9 decans Pisces to Taurus; and so on with the rest. As for the court cards: Draw a square. Mark four points, marking the middle of each line of the square. Using these as marking the corners draw another square inside the other. Draw two diagonal lines, corner to corner of the outer square. Use the points where the diagonals cross the midpoints of the second square as the corners of another inner square. You now have a square shape with sixteen internal triangular segments. This is the basis for the square format horoscope, in which the four central triangular segments are usually blanked out to form an inner square to contain four items of information, name, date, time and place of birth. The central point event, the birth or child, infers the Mother; therefore I am imagining the four Queens in the central triangular segments; kings in cardinal segments, knights in fixed and pages in mutable. As I said Wands east [the ace of wands with its trunk like wand resting on the ground and sprouting suggestive of spring, aries, cardinal east], swords west [autumn, the dying sun [scythe, bladed weapon] the cutting of the harvest]; Cups North Cancer; Pentacles South Capricorn. The knight of swords in scorpio/8th house provides a nice fit [death sometime being represented in armour on a horse bearing a sword], not so sure about the rest though. Kwaw

kwaw	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by kwaw The knight of swords in scorpio/8th house provides a nice fit [death sometime being represented in armour on a horse bearing a sword] . Kwaw The Queens in the central position would reference the child and feminine divine. In Christian term perhaps Our Lady, Mother, Bride and Queen. The Queen of Swords is on the westerly side, next to the King of Swords in the position of the 7th house and Libra. Libra, an air sign, would designate her bride of the holy spirit; but also being in the West, the land of the dead, place of the Setting Sun [sun as symbol of the king, thus the death of the king], thus would also fit with the meaning of the Queen of Swords as 'widowhood'. Kwaw

tatsi	05 Dec 2004
Emily wrote: I also use several methods:- The card image first Where the card is in a spread A good Tarot book and that the card might or might not be representing a person, either the person I'm reading for or someone they know or will get to meet. Ditto. Rank and Suit (meaning for rank + meaning for suit) is another option in determining card's meaning. tatsi

Tarot Sparrow	05 Dec 2004
I use a combination of things, like meanings from the Tarot Basics, elements, rank/suit numbers and meanings, and (of course) the card image! I think the court cards can represent people in a lot of cases but don't have to. I don't think a court card HAS to represent a person, just as other cards in the majors and minors don't HAVE to represent the same things every time you read them--it's too restricting. I often read court cards as characteristics--soemthing the querent needs to acquire/improve upon, stop doing, etc. but occasionally I will think, this is a person. But like others I sometime have trouble knowing whether or not it does represent a person..

northsea	08 Dec 2004
I view the courts usually as specific people, or sometimes they may be a personality trait... of the querent or someone they know, but they're rarely a happening or occurrence. I get specific court card meanings from combining: -traditional Etteilla, Waite,... and Kaplan (US Games LWB) meanings with -Myers-Briggs personality types (and my favorite decks for images: Osho Zen, Old Path, Medieval Scapini, TdMarseille)

ihcoyc	09 Dec 2004
I guess I use a shotgun approach here, as usual. How the court card relates to other cards drawn. (Especially: what is he/she looking at? Which cards does he/she face?) Rank and suit, next. Kings and queens are usually people or groups of people who deal with the "business" of the suit. Knights and Valets can be; they can be messages, breaking developments, or students involved with the business of the suit. Then, I plug in some book meanings, mostly within the standard Etteila set: the Queen of Swords is "widowhood" literally or figuratively, the Valet of Coins is an apprentice, and so forth. Recently, I also use the semi-traditional historical/literary figures: King of Swords is King David; King of Batons is Julius Cæsar; King of Cups is Charlemagne; King of Coins is Alexander the Great and so forth --- these help me get some associations going as well.

Nina*	09 Dec 2004
I always use to look at the court cards first as: element and element (the suit they are in and which court card it is = fire/fire, fire/water etc.)... for me it seems to be the best way to remember, but it's always hard to figure out whether they are 'persons' or 'situations'......... I think....

maria42airam	11 Dec 2004
There is a Tarot Court Card Study group in the Study Groups/General forum. If anyone is interested in studying the Court cards at this time, it will be more interesting to have people with whom to discuss the lessons. Here is the index: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=32366

Ambyr_rain	23 Dec 2004
I now use several different methods to determine what the Court cards mean. Use to, it was just intuition, but I will always remember that when ever Someone would do a spread on me (or I would do one myself) the king of cups always came up, and I remember when I looked at it and it just screamed my ex boyfriend's name. Every time it came up it was refering to him. Now back then I didn't know that each court card meant people, or that they would even discribe the phisical attrabutes of people or even their astrological signs. I know now that King of cups discribes him perfectly from his looks to his pisces sign. I thought it might be a flook, but one of the last readings I did, one of the court cards came up about a friends BF. Never seen him before, but the card discribed him. I gave the discription to my friend and sure enough that was him... I am constintly amazed by Tarot.

WhiteRaven	23 Dec 2004
Zodiac attributions Element and sub-element The card image Etteilla meanings (pre-20th century) - (e.g., Queen of Swords = widowhood) Rank and Suit (meaning for rank + meaning for suit) Card meanings from tarot books, etc. Court cards sometimes represent an actual person (querent or others) Which equals a lot of "meshing"..

The Poll: What is your individual approach to interpreting the court cards? thread was originally posted on 07 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.