How to Read Tarot Cards: Part 3 - The Court Cards of the Minor Arcana

© Copyright 2011 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

In Part 1 of this series on how to read tarot cards, you learned about the major arcana of the tarot deck and the story it tells of the journey we all take through life. The pip cards of the minor arcana, which focus on the more mundane aspects of daily life, were introduced in Part 2. Now we are ready to tackle the last 16 cards of the minor arcana, namely the court cards.

**Note: Throughout this series, I am using the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck since it is the deck upon which most 78-card tarot decks are based.

I observed in Part 2 that the minor arcana is very similar to the traditional deck of playing cards, with its four suits numbered ace through 10. However, where there are only Jacks, Queens and Kings in a card playing deck, the tarot deck includes, in addition to these three cards, a fourth one, namely Pages.

Court cards in a tarot spread typically represent actual people, either you or someone else. In Tarot Plain and Simple, Anthony Louis provides some additional meanings of the court cards, including:

• Aspects of your (or another person’s) character and personality
• The roles you (and other people) play
• Qualities you (or others) need to cultivate to handle a situation
• When reversed, shadow aspects of yourself or people who are opposing you in some way. (Louis, pg. 247).

**Note: I'll have more to say about reversals in Part 4.

Think about the makeup of a medieval court, and you’ll have a fairly good idea of what these cards represent. Also keep in mind the tarot suits as you consider the court cards, as each of them will carry out their respective roles in the unique manner typical of the suit in question.

In medieval times, pages were young boys, from seven to 14 years old, who assisted higher-ranking members of the court such as squires (i.e. apprentice knights) by cleaning, performing menial tasks, and carrying messages, all the while undergoing intensive training in order to advance in rank.

In the tarot deck, pages have have an energy that is similar to the Aces and the Fool, representing the birth of something new. This could be in the form of a child, adolescent, or teenager, or a new aspect of character or personality that is just coming into being. And because pages in a medieval court served as messengers, tarot pages have traditionally represented the receipt of some kind of message or information that is needed in order to move forward.

• Page of Wands - An optimistic, outgoing child; starting a new career; receiving news about a job opportunity or the beginning of a new project; new energy, optimism, and enthusiasm coming to the fore.
• Page of Swords - A studious, thoughtful, or quick-witted child; keen intellect, decisiveness, analysis and other new ways of thinking coming to the fore; important message or document that should be carefully considered.
• Page of Cups - A sensitive or emotional child; opening to emotional expression for the first time; intuition, psychic ability coming to the fore; a new stage of emotional development; ready to begin a relationship.

• Page of Pentacles - A practical, down-to-earth child; a new opportunity to make money or news about one; beginning to establish a strong foundation; start of an educational program or apprenticeship.

Knights in a medieval court were the defenders of the realm, marching off to battle those forces that would threaten the kingdom. In fulfilling their duties as "elite warriors," they swore to uphold such ideals as faith, loyalty, courage, and honor.

In the tarot deck, knights are always on the move, taking action to accomplish their goals. They are full of energy and enthusiasm for the task at hand and, as a result, can be impatient to see results. They can also represent young adults from 20 to around 40 years old, as well as travelling or going on a journey.

**Note: All of the knights are galloping or moving forward on horses except for one. Tell me which one it is in the Comments section below.

• Knights of Wands - Eagerness and optimism in the pursuit of one’s goals; someone who has the ability to take quick and decisive action; eager to start a new job or project; travel required to get a job done.
• Knights of Swords - Rushing headlong towards one’s goals; intense mental activity expended to accomplish a goal; a quick-witted, smart, or clever young person; possible travel by air; in problem solving, logic and analysis work better than reliance on the emotions.
• Knight of Cups - A romantic, sensitive, or emotional young person; pursuing a romantic relationship; relying on intuition and gut feelings to accomplish one’s goals; follow your bliss; doing what you love or are passionate about; a journey by sea.
• Knight of Pentacles – Steady and methodical progress toward a goal; patient and steadfast in the pursuit of one’s goals; a young person who is practical, industrious, dependable, and thorough; a hard worker; a business trip is possible; a road trip.

Both women and men ruled in medieval times (e.g. Queen Elizabeth), so I tend to look at queens and kings as having mastered the element of their respective suits and expressing that mastery in distinctly feminine and masculine ways.

Queens are therefore either mature women (40+ years old) who express the power and authority of their suit in feminine ways, such as caring, nurturing, gentleness, and compassion. But they can also represent men who are capable of exemplifying these traditionally feminine characteristics.

• Queen of Wands - A confident women in either business or affairs of the hearth; a compassionate leader; an assertive woman who knows how to get the job done; a mature woman who has a positive, optimistic outlook on life.
• Queen of Swords - A sharp-witted, smart, often sarcastic woman; a mature woman who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is; a fair judge of character; a woman with a career in education, journalism, science, or technology.
• Queen of Cups - A sensitive, caring, nurturing woman; an intuitive, perceptive, or psychic woman; a mature person who has learned to listen to and trust his/her intuition; mothers, counselors, nurses, and social workers.
• Queen of Pentacles - A mature, wealthy woman; a successful business woman; a nurturing, loving mother; all of these women are organized, responsible, practical, and often conservative in their dealings with others.

**Note: The Queen of Swords is often portrayed as a bitter, lonely woman, I suspect, because of the traditionally negative interpretation of the suit of Swords. I've played that negativity down a bit in my description of her, relying more on the air/mental qualities of the suit and the feminine mastery of them.

Where queens are typically nurturing, compassionate, and introspective, kings are active, outgoing, ambitious, and competitive. They typically represent mature men who have mastered the qualities that typify their respective suits, or women who exemplify these masculine qualities.

• King of Wands – The CEO of a company; a mature man who is at the top of his career; an entrepreneur; a devoted husband and father; someone who is passionate about his/her work or career; a born leader.

• King of Swords – A mature man with a strong mind and keen intellect (e.g., Steven Hawking); a judge; an impartial, fair man; someone capable of providing sound business or legal advice; making decisions based on logic and facts instead of emotions or intuition.

• King of Cups – A sensitive, intuitive, and compassionate man (e.g., Wayne Dyer); someone who has mastered and is in control of his/her emotions; a mature man who is a good listener and easy to talk to; a doctor, counselor, or social worker; someone in the helping professions.

• King of Pentacles – A shrewd, wealthy business man; someone who is very knowledgeable in financial matters; real estate moguls (e.g., Donald Trump) and successful stock brokers; an outdoors man or someone who loves nature.

Remember that even though the court cards depict men and women, each card can represent either gender. Women have masculine aspects to their personalities just as men are capable of expressing feminine qualities. You’ll learn how to determine which gender is represented by a court card in a tarot spread as you interact with the person for whom you are doing a tarot reading. I’ll have more to say about this in Part 4.

References: 

Louis, A. (1999). Tarot Plain and Simple. St. Paul: Llewellyn

The Medieval Page. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 30, 2011 
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_%28servant%29

Knight. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved December 30, 2011 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight

Now that you have a basic understanding of the 78 cards in the tarot deck, it’s time to start reinforcing and expanding on that understanding by learning how to read the cards in a tarot spread.

The most basic tarot spread consists of one card, and you’ll learn how powerful this seemingly simple spread is in Part 4 of this series on how to read tarot cards.

Then, in Part 5, I'll introduce you to an extremely flexible tarot spread, consisting of a mere four cards, that will have you giving accurate and comprehensive readings in no time.