Batons and the Courts (plus the Ace of Batons)

I was wanting to start up threads discussing the different Bâton Court cards. But I feel it can't be done if one doesn't have a good look first at the Bâtons themselves, and how they develop from the Valet through to the King, and also if one doesn't have a good look at the Ace of Bâtons as well.

The Ace of Bâtons is the basic Bâton. The one that gives form to all the others. It has just been cut from the tree. No hewing or carving has been done. It is still pure energy - as it represents the energy of nature - the extreme vitality of Life itself.

The Valet de Bâtons (in most of the well-known Marseilles decks), has a Bâton that still looks very much like the Bâton of the Ace. But here the hewing has begun - rather crudely, but there is a definite desire to put this Energy of the Bâtons to some practical use. The Valet, of course, doesn't use this power for himself - a Valet is at the service of this Energy for now. (A Valet is always at the service of someone or something else). One can see it in the way he holds the Bâton - he doesn't hold it as if it belonged to him. He knows that he does not yet have the ability to actually use the power, and realises that he has to tame it first. Personally, his humility moves me.

The Reyne de Bâtons, however, has had someone carve her Bâton in a very unusual manner. (I suppose she sent the Valet to take some lessons with the local carpenter.) It looks almost more like a weapon - a club or a bludgeon. I wouldn't like to be bonked on the head with that thing.

Now the King of Bâtons really has some skilled artisans working for him. One no longer even guesses the original form of the branch that was used. It has been sculpted, polished, fashioned to look like a sceptre truly worthy of a great ruler. It doesn't even look like wood anymore - perhaps it has been covered with some fine precious metal to make it shine. It reminds me somewhat of the sticks that one sees carried sometimes by some African Kings or Chiefs.

And the Chevalier de Bâtons - he carries the Ace of Bâtons. I suppose this implies that he has not lost sight of the original spark of Life, that he has been entrusted with its keep.

With the Bâton Court cards, I must say, I feel very safe. And when one of them comes up in a reading in a "positive" position, I normally give a sigh of relief and a happy little smile appears on my face.


(edited for grammar mistakes)

Thank you so much for this, Diana. I've printed it out and am studying carefully.

Eve

me too
Thank you Diana

The Batons courts are some of the most positive cards for me as well, especially the Cavalier.

Both the Roy and the Valet seem to me to be holding their Batons upside-down, with the thicker part at the bottom. And there's something very strange about the way the Valet holds his Baton. In my deck (Camoin 1998) it doesn't look like he's really holding it at all. Rather, the Baton is standing on the ground and the Valet is touching it lightly to keep it balanced upright.

I've noticed that the Roy is "de Baton," the Reyne is "de Baston," and the Cavalier et Valet are "Debaton." Is anyone here familiar with Old French? Is there any significance behind these variant spellings?

-Baneemy

Baneemy: In the olden days (a long long time ago), people didn't say "Bâton", they said "Baston". (The word "bastonnade" still exists which means to beat someone up with sticks.) The circonflexe (the little hat on the 'a') just indicates that an "s" has been removed in the word. It serves no other purpose, except to make school-childrens' lives more difficult. You will find it in many words, i.e. "forêt" (in the olden days they said "forest", "tempête" they used to say "tempest", etc. etc.)

As to the diverse spellings you may see on the different Marseilles decks, it is because before the Académie Française came into existence to regulate, with the rigidity of an army officer, the French language, usage, and spelling, people would spell words any old way they liked. There were no rules.

Interesting what you say about the Valet and the King holding the stick up-side-down. It is indeed very noticeable with the Valet. So I took out my old Tarot notes, and I found this: "The Valet's stick is up-side-down. The energy is reversed and blocked for the moment. An effort needs to be made to get this energy moving."

If, as I believe, all details in the Marseilles Tarot decks are there for a purpose, would the King's upside-down-stick then mean that the cycle is complete - that the energy has been released, tamed, used, and now dominated?

Diana, I never knew that about the circumflex. I always assumed it indicated some phonetic distinction too subtle for my Anglophone ears. You've just made French spelling much easier for me!

Okay, this is still pretty tentative, but let me take a shot at interpreting the differences in the four batons. There are two important distinctions: branch vs. sceptre, and upright vs. inverted.

King - inverted sceptre
Queen - upright sceptre
Cavalier - upright branch
Valet - inverted branch

As we move up the court ranks, the baton changes from a natural branch right off the tree, to a sculpted sceptre. This is the progression from raw, untamed energy to a more refined, controlled energy. When the baton is held upright, the energy is being actively used; when it is upside down, the energy is dormant.

The Valet can't put his energy to use because it is too unrefined; he can't control it properly. The King, on the other hand, finds his energy subdued because it is too refined, too controlled (for to control is also to constrain). The Cavalier and Queen are in between. They control their energy enough to give it direction, but not enough to constrain its power.

Another thought: Why are all the batons green, and what does that say about the traditional batons-fire association?

-Baneemy

What wonderful reflections and splendid thread!

In terms of the 'traditional' elemental association, Bastons is certainly not universally accepted as representing any specific element - though it seems true that more books (especially in English) tend to favour a connection with Fire... a connection which, I suppose, and thought discussed in other threads, is always very worthy of re-visitation!

As for the Coins and their progressive increased complexity of representation, the Batons' increased craftsmanship is apparent in the courts. As a suit, it is also peculiar in that each also faces clearly to the right-hand side of the card (ie, their own left): even the Cavalier, who atypically faces the opposite direction to the direction of his horse (which also seems to be at rest and head-turning).

I also like Baneemy's analysis of upright vs downward 'held' Bastons, but wonder if there isn't, rather, a progressively increased and focussed control of the energy used by the person.

Thanks especially Diana for the wonderful opening and Baneemy for such commentary and reflections!

Baneemy: concerning the green Batons. Indeed, in the Camoin, they are all green, as in the Kris Hadar. In the Grimaud (and the Dodal) they are green for the Valet and the Ace, yellow for the Reyne and the Chevalier, and white for the Roy.

Your question as to how one would associate green with fire, well I'm not sure we can or even should. The element is already implied by the instrument (here, the Baton) and the colours allow us to go even further. I think one needs therefore to go beyond the element, and try and understand why the artist chose the colour for his particular Baton. What was he trying to convey? Green, for instance, in the Marseilles, is often associated with vitality and rebirth (as in nature). The colour of hope (one doesn't despair in the winter when the trees lose their leaves, because we know they will grow again). Green suggests growth. Batons themselves suggest growth and vitality.

As to your interesting comments on the up-side-down Baton of the King. I have added them to my notes, but I'm not sure I can go along (yet) with the idea that his energy is subdued. (But I will keep this in mind for future readings). I am more in line with jmd here. However, your word "control" and "constrain" remind me that the King has gained dominion over this energy. He can control it at will. He decides absolutely when to release it, and how much he will allow to be released. What do you think? Or am I just saying the same thing as you did with different words?

It's certainly natural to view the court ranks as a straightforward progression, but I think the iconography is trying to tell us that the Valet and the Roy have something in common that the Cavalier and Reyne don't. In terms of the nature of the baton, there is a linear progression from unrefined to refined; but in terms of the position of the baton, the pattern seems to be cyclical rather than linear. The baton begins pointing downward, goes through an intermediate stage of pointing upward, and then returns to its former state.

Here's another possible analysis: The downward-pointing batons of the Valet and Roy are touching the ground, signifying connectedness with a larger world and community The erect, free-standing batons of the Cavalier and Reyne signify individualism and autonomy. The progression through the court ranks can then be read as the standard mythic "hero's journey." The hero is called to leave his home, go out in the world, and accomplish some dangerous mission, after which he returns home bearing some boon. A familiar story may help illustrate this:

- The Valet is Prince Siddhartha living in the comfort of his palace.

- As the Cavalier, Siddhartha becomes dissatisfied with his life of
empty luxury and departs on a solitary, ascetic quest for truth.

- As the Reyne, he finds what he was looking for--enlightenment--and becomes Sakyamuni Buddha.

- As the Roy, he returns to his people, bringing a message of wisdom.

The progressive refinement of the baton shows the progressive refinement of the hero's soul. The changing position of the baton shows the hero leaving and then returning to his community. If Siddhartha had never left home, he never would have become enlightened--but if he had not returned home, his enlightenment would have benefitted no one but himself.

As for the greenness of the batons, I only pointed it out because it fits well with my own (rather nonstandard) elemental correspondences: Batons=Earth, Cups=Water, Swords=Air, Coins=Fire. Honestly, though, I don't know if the makers of the first Marseilles decks had any particular elemental correspondences in mind. My guess would be that that was a later development.

Originally, of course, the Batons came from the Arabic suit of polo-sticks, which in turn came from a Chinese suit representing strings of 100 coins. If you go back far enough, all the suit symbols originally represented different amounts of money. In a sense, then, it's just a happy coincidence that they turned out to be fairly decent symbols for the four elements as well.

-Baneemy

Interesting elemental attributions! Again showing that another is yet possible (apart form swords to Fire or Air, I have previously mentioned the Spanish Esoteric deck associating it with Water).

I also realise that Mamluk/Arabic influence shows early playing cards with polo sticks which may have been later mis-interpreted as staffs or wands. This belongs, very importantly, to Tarot's influences, for the earliest Tarot has already the suits as Clubs/Wands, rather than polo/hockey sticks.

With regards to seeing a Campbellian-type hero's journey in the depiction of the courts, this is, of course, a wonderful circular-like path of exploration: how can one make meaningful sense of the image(s) as sequentially presented, yet recognising them as a whole? As with any interpretation outside of the iconography, however, I tend to personally both value this sort of analysis, and yet also hold back, for though I enjoy Campbell (far more than, for example, Jung), I find seeking for the 'hero's journey' somewhat reductionist.

Even without the hero's journey, however, Baneemy brings important considerations - for the orientation of the Wand in the progression from Page to King does show altered positions. I must admit that I had tended to see the King's as being more held at its golden mean, rather then properly downward pointing.... I'll have to re-consider the sequence carefully again - so thankyou.