Understanding the Tarot Court Study Group #5

Rhiannon

In the book (Understanding the Tarot Court by Greer & Little) they call this the Roles and Professions Exercise. It comes on the heels of a discussion of the court cards' roles in society. They discuss the different historical figures that have been associated with each card (there is a very nice chart) and they also discuss the feudal system.

The idea behind this is to rate each court card on how they would perform in the roles listed below. Would the court card be ideal, good, not so good or bad in each role?

parent
leader
mentor
artist/poet
child
philosopher
assistant
student
socialite
provider
lover
colleague
rival
advisor
organizer
friend

You can come up with roles of your own as well. Greer and Little suggest that you discard stereotypes while doing this exercise. A particular Page may make a great parent and a King may not. Picture how these people would fill those roles in your life and whether or not you'd like them in that position.

R :)

Link to index: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=32366
 

hyatt

Queen of Cups

I'm not sure what form I should use posting so I'll just give it a try....

Queen of cups from the tarot of the Hidden Folk

parent: Very good. An understanding parent that would be someone you could trust. I bet she wouldn't even read your diary!

leader: Not so great. She would be a good advisor. not a leader.

mentor: Excellent!

artist/poet: Excellent. All of her listening skills and quite contemplation would play off here. The pain that she holds inside would be great subject matter.

child: A quite, reserved child. Not too hard to raise.

philosopher: I think she already is one.

assistant: She might stare into space a little too much to be your assistant. She looks a little flakey in this deck.

student: Great student...esp. in psychology

socialite: She is better one on one than being the life of the party.

provider: No, but i bet she would marry well.

lover: Yes, a thoughtful lover

colleague: I think she is someone you would want to work with.

rival: A great rival, I wouldn't want to cross her. Even though she is so kind, i bet if she got really mad it would be ugly.

advisor: The best

organizer: Pretty good. Has attention to detail.

friend: Her best quality

FUN STUFF! I might do another card later!
 

astril

Hyatt, I love what you've done! This is a great study, and one that I could really benefit from. I have such a hard time with the court cards. I finally found a great deck to work with and one that I can put meaning to with all the cards, but the courts are very elusive for me still.....

Hope you post more, and if it's okay, i would like to contribute.

Blessings, Astril
 

Rhiannon

You're welcome to join us, astril! The other threads on this are numbered as "Tarot Court Card Study Group" and #1 - #5.

I'm sorry I have not been on the ball lately, last week was hellacious at work and I've not had much time at home either. I will be posting exercise #6, hopefully tomorrow morning. And I will get around to answering this one too.

Thanks for your patience guys!
R :)
 

Aleks

How do you guys do this? Wow. You just get a feeling from looking at the cards? I read about all of them, and I'm still having problems making connections. Man.......


Aleks
 

Rhiannon

Hi Aleks!

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I would sort of go with the "personalities" of the cards to see if they could be good at a particular role. For instance, the constant action and "go go go" attitude of the Knight of Wands might make him a great motivator and personal trainer, but he probably wouldn't be very happy as a desk jockey, sitting and typing all day.

Does that make sense?
R :)
 

hyatt

Queen of wands from The Tarot of the Hidden Folk

parent: Yikes! She would be one step ahead of you. You could never sneak out of the house!

leader: Excellent leader. Strong and persausive

mentor: Hmmmm.....I guess it depends on what you are wanting to be. She would not be your average mentor

artist/poet: A poet yes. Maybe an action painter like Pollack if she was a visual artist

child: A rebel child. A hard one to raise.

philosopher: I think she already is one.

assistant: She would try to take your job.

student: Average student...she likes to pave her own path so she might not be good at sitting and listening to lectures. She has her own strong opinions.

socialite: She is the fire of the party. The woman that everyone is waiting to see and waiting to see what she is wearing. A daring hottie!

provider: A good provider. She gets what she wants when she wants it.

lover: Va-Va Voom! Hold on baby she is the master and quite a seducer.

colleague: I don't think I would want to work with her...unless it provided me with some good gossip. But, she could get things done.

rival: Yikes no way! I wouldn't want her to be my rival....I guess that means she would be a great rival. But you always hear"Don't play with fire"

advisor: Not as good as the Queen of Cups. She could even have a hidden agenda when advising.

organizer: She might just deal that out to a servant.

friend: She would be fun to go to the nightclubs with. She's a party friend.

Oh, I wish I still had my scanner! I would love to show you guys this sassy card. The queen sits with fire all around her. She is nude on her thrown. Her red hair comes to her chest. She has on incredible crazy jewelery. A huge choker necklace that goes between her breast and has a gold chains that go around them. She has golden cuff jewelery that covers her entire calfs as well as some on her arms. She is a wild one!

edit: When i copied and pasted i must not have scrolled up, there was a bit of the queen of cups at the beginning.
 

Aleks

Knight of Wands

Knight of Wands


parent ~

As a parent he would be sooo fun and cool. He'd be very passionate about his kids. But, he'd also be the dad cussing out the umpire at a little league game. Also, count on him to remember things. He's not that kind of dad who writes things down or enters them in his palm pilot. But...he's the dad hat will wake up and tell ya he wants to go to six flags or Disney for the day cause he just feels like it.

leader~

He would be a great rallier, or motivator....but...unless all the followers were just like him...not many would follow. He lacks the ability to plan, and if things don't go his way...he'll snap

mentor~

He would be a fun person to be trained by...but don't expect him to show up exactly on time. You can't really schedule him, and he would probably have his own ideas of how to train you, and what you should be doing / learning. By the book isn't in his vocabulary, and he thinks the old approaches are warn out, and out dated. But...he'd be a stand up comedian, and what ever you learned would be done in a hands on fun way, and not by the book.

artist/poet~

yup. Totally. He's creative, and charming. Could be a great poet or singer or writer.

child~

He was probably Denis the Menus. Good kid...but curiosity would always get the better of him. Probably had to make sure all matches and lighters were put away.

philosopher~

Sure he has tons of ideas. Just ask him !!!


assistant~

He could be a great assistant...if he thought that's where he should be. But, I think this Knight feels like he's a leader, or shot caller, but needs to get burned a few times before he'll use caution. Plus he's not always politically correct when he gets upset.

student~

Great creative student. But....he doesn't know how to measure twice, and only cut once. He likes to dive into projects without a plan.

socialite~

Yes he could be. He is very charming and knows the right things to say when he wants to. And....some millionaires are made by acting on impulse, and making quick, gut decisions.

provider ~

It would depend on what he is passionate about. If he passionate about being a provider...then yes. But...if he's passionate about self destructive things....then forget about it.

lover~

Ya baby !! Ya !! He's got the Mo Jo. He's the hot exciting stud that buys you a gift cause he felt like it. Or...you run off for a weekend together to your favorite place out of the blue. Then, he makes sure all the sensual stuff you need is all there baby !!! He doesn't forget the whipped cream, champagne, strawberries, and chocolate !!! He's up for anything !!

colleague~

Great, fun, nice guy. But...planners will find him unorthodox, and unorganized. But, baby let him have the floor for an awesome presentation, or a motivation meeting !!

rival~

Well....if he feels passionate about sinking his teeth into your neck...he'll do it. If he doesn't like you...it wont take much for him to want to deliver an a$$ kicking. And...he would rather nip it in the bud then....then let it drag on and eat him up inside. But deep down I think he'd rather settle things over a pint !!

advisor~

It depends on the advice you need. If you need to stand up for yourself, and quit letting people walk all over you, or if you plan everything to death and you need to cut lose...he's the go to guy on how to be foot lose, and fancy free. He's out of the box, and doesn't stay between the lines cause he doesn't think they are your friend !!

organizer~

Nope. No way. The would over whelm him, and he'd call a bunch of friends for a quick bungi jump to relieve the stress.

friend~

Yes. Great friend. You feel down...and he'll think of a fun activity to get your mind off it. Cause dude....who wants to be down? A wild night will cure all !!!


Aleks
 

Aleks

Knight of Swords

Knight of Swords


parent~

He means well. But, he usually is bluntly honest, and that can make his kids not feel close to him or frightened of him. He's more of a working dad. He's a problem solver or a trouble shooter. His job always needs him. Soo...he's not home much.

leader~

Yes. People look to him as a problem solver, and as someone who can take the heat. He's the one they send in when the stuff hits the fan. Cause in a clutch....his quick mind will save the day.

mentor~

Good mentor if you like absolute honesty. You'd have to have thick skin to work for him or be trained by him. He knows exactly what you're doing wrong, and will be quick to point it out. But, he does it because he wants you to learn, and do well. If you don't want to learn and do well....you'll irritate the crap out of him, and then you better be ready for the verbal abuse that he feels you deserve. Cause he has no qualms about it.

artist/poet~

This Knight has a brilliant mind, but it is better for business, doing cross words puzzles, and playing jeopardy. Unless he was doing a rap battle of words....then he would be the bizomb !!

child~

He was an honest child. If he did something out of order...he told the truth about it because he would feel being dishonest abut the act is far worse than the act itself. Besides....he knew he would live threw the spanking or grounding he knew he deserved. He would logically accept the punishment. Otherwise, he liked to read a lot. If he played pretend...he would have been the warrior who saved the world at the last minute. He probably also liked video games. The really tough figure it out ones, and he wouldn't even need the cheat books.

philosopher~

He likes philosophy dealing with truth and logic.

assistant~

He'd be great. You could count on him to get the job done. A catastrophe wouldn't make him flinch. Damage Control is his middle name.

student~

He was an excellent student. Loved to learn things. Although he probably knew more than the teacher a lot of the time.

socialite~

Ya. He could hang with the snobs. He's way more witty than most of them, and they love to hate him.

provider~

Yup. He's a provider. He's the get the job done kind of guy.

lover~

If you like telling him what to do and how to do it perfectly he would be most comfortable with that. He's a really sharp guy...but the icky love stuff is really difficult for him.

colleague~

Great colleague. Might not get his sense of humor sometimes. But...if he thinks you're stupid...he'll tell ya. Because it's his way or it just doesn't make sense. It's the most logical explanation / way.

rival~

This guy is like Emenem doing a rap battle. Don't even go there. He's the really witty guy that you're afraid to talk to cause he blows your mind. In a battle of words he'll slice ya, dice ya, and feed you to the lions. You don't want to be in his hot seat.

advisor~

Great advisor. He has an answer for everything, and can solve any problem in a logical way. But, you better do what he says, cause otherwise...you just wasted his time.

organizer~

Yes he's organized. But a change in his day will not make him skip a beat. He wont flinch or bat an eye lash cause it's all under control with plan B, C, and D.

friend~

Very good friend. Honest, and dependable. Just really opionated. May hurt your feelsings with harsh words, but will feel so terrible about it.


Aleks
 

hyatt

Knave of Wands (Hidden Folk Tarot)

In this card, the Knave a yound man charms a fire with two wooden flutes. He is sitting in front of the fire and mushrooms are surrounding him.

parent~

He is in his own world. I think that he would love a child but he is aborbed in his own life too much to be a devoted father.

leader~

A good leader. His captivation with ideas would rub off on others. He can easily be mesmerized by life and this would be his strong point. He is a bit of a romantic and idealist.

mentor~

A pretty good mentor. Especially if you went one on one with him. If you went on a mission with him you could learn alot.

artist/poet~

By the way he is lookinh into the fire and playing the flutes he would be a great at both. My husband is a musician and I also see this card as him.

child~

A good child. One that played outside most days. Likes adventure and probably had many scrapped knees. He probably had an active imagination and played by himself. But also in this school yard he was the leader.

philosopher~

An excellent philosopher. He has learned much from the way he lives.

assistant~

He would shine as an assisistant. He would take care of bussiness for you. No job would be too dirty or too heavy for him.

student~

A good student. Sharp and inquisitive.

socialite~

A good guy to hang out at a pub with. An open minded person who could be a lot of fun. Probably would not enjoy stuffy parties where you have to dress up and act a certain way. But he could do it if you twisted his arm...it's in his blood.

provider~

A great provider.

lover~

A great lover. A romantic guy that is a real knight in bed!

colleague~

Good to work with. You could count on him to get his share done and not be a slacker.

rival~

Ouch! i wouldn't want to be up against him!

advisor~

His many life experiences would make him a good advisor. He would be impartial and fair. Also he would be open minded and see many angles.

organizer~

Certainly. A good knight needs to be a good organizer. He would always be prepared.

friend~

A great friend that would always be there for you. He would be someone that would die for you. An honest friend and a loyal friend.