Difference between Prince of Cups and Knight of Cups?

faerenheit

Is there a difference between these two cards? Like do they hold the same meaning but just represent men with different ages?

I'm asking because every time I google Prince of Cups, Knight of Cups comes up, and I just wanted some clarification since they're 2 separate cards in the Thoth deck.
 

Richard

Is there a difference between these two cards? Like do they hold the same meaning but just represent men with different ages?

I'm asking because every time I google Prince of Cups, Knight of Cups comes up, and I just wanted some clarification since they're 2 separate cards in the Thoth deck.
Oh, what a mess! That happens because people incorrectly identify Knights and Princes. That's because they incorrectly think that something called a King should be top dog, and Knights and Princes are lower on the totem pole. In the Thoth, here is the correct pecking order of the court cards:

Knight
Queen
Prince
Princess

There are significant differences between Knights and Princes, but I must practice my music now or it won't get done. I'll contribute more information tomorrow unless others cover this stuff before I get to it.
 

foolMoon

So naturally, I would have thought Knights are more powerful and authoritative than Princes from Thoth hierarchical order.
 

Teheuti

The Knight is consort of the Queen. The Prince and Princess are the children. You can liken the Knight to the brave adventurer (outsider) who comes along just in time to slay a dragon, heal the Fisher King's wound with the Grail, or answer the riddle of a Sphinx and so save the kingdom. As a reward he gets to marry the old King's daughter/wife and the Knight and Queen rule via the lineage of the Queen (why do you think Egyptians pharaohs married their sisters?). The Prince will grow up to be the Emperor of the land (see his magical title), but as an inherited role he doesn't have the fiery strength of the adventurous, conquering Knight who won the Queen through his deeds.

BTW, the influx of foreign DNA certain seems to have helped the otherwise inbred royalty that otherwise would begin to sicken.
 

Richard

The Knights are characterized primarily by the mutable signs of the zodiac, Princes by the fixed signs. Knights are Fire, Princes Air. Knights ride horses, Princes are in chariots. On the Tree of Life, Knights are at Chokmah, Princes at Tiphareth. The best source of info about the Thoth cards is Crowley's The Book of Thoth. A reliable online resource is Liber Θ.

It's too bad that the terminology gets confused. I was looking at the Prince of Swords in the Tarot Illuminati, trying to see the chariot or throne, and something didn't look right about the Prince's right leg. It took a while before I saw that it was a horse's leg. The Prince is riding a horse! WTF? The Illuminati is supposed to be Rider-Waite based. Originality is fine, but scrambling traditional titles is perversity (or misunderstanding), not originality.