Getting to Know the Tarot Court

What rank of the tarot court are you today? Are you a Page, Knight, Queen or King?

The Court Carts are notoriously a sticking point for a lot of tarot learners. Do they represent the querent? Someone else in their life? An action to take? 

And while we don't dive into all the details, we get started with a solid foundation: what their ranks mean, and how their elements or suits influence that. 

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

What tarot court card rank would you give yourself today? Would you be a page, a knight, a queen, or a king? Hi there, and welcome to Beyond the Shuffle, a podcast where we explore this wild ride of the human experience through the lens of tarot. I'm Adrienne Amari, your host, guide, and eternal page of swords. So settle in, open your mind, and let's go beyond the shuffle. The court cards have a reputation of being a sticking point in the tarot. A lot of people get confused, they don't know what they mean, they don't know who they represent. Are they someone new coming into the Queerant's life? Do they represent an element of ourselves? So let's start at the beginning. Because before we can even figure out what they mean in context of a reading, we have to know who they are. It's also important to keep in mind that all of the court cards have both positive and negative traits, even if you never read reversals. Because just like humans, there are good things and there are bad things, and sometimes we can lean into the not so positive element of our personality. And remember that the ranks represent a progression through mastery, the mastery of the element of the suit. And that's not to say that people who are further along in life can't be a page, or that people who are younger can't be a queen or king, nor do pages and queens only represent women where knights and kings only represent men, because we have to remember that these are energies we all ebb and flow through. So don't get super caught up in the rank and the duality of the court cards. Yes, there are certain techniques where you would lean more into this, but just for day-to-day readings and to really understand them, we don't need that right now. So let's start with the pages. The pages are beginner energy. They are just starting out, they're just figuring out how to really utilize and master the element of their suit. They are quite an open energy because they're curious and it's like the whole world is laid out before them. So what can they do to dive in? They're the novices, they have that spark of an idea, they're ready to kind of see where it takes them, but they're not really sure how to get there or where it's all going to lead just yet. On the not so positive side, pages can be quite immature. They might have the spark or the idea, but it might be hard for them to really jump right in. They can easily fall into overwhelm because they don't have the mastery of their suit. Now, if we take that rank and pair it with the suits, we get four distinct personalities. All a little young, all a little bit naive, but there's most definitely a purity there. And I think one of the fun ways to look at the pages is think about them as kids on the first day of school. The page of wands is the one who would be outside running around at recess, maybe a little boisterous, but wanting to play and have fun. The page of cups is a gentle energy. Maybe they're a little bit shy, but they want to connect and make friends. Maybe they like to draw pictures or sing songs. They have a wild imagination in the best of ways. The Page of Swords is a curious page. They're chatty and they ask all sorts of questions, sometimes without stopping to even listen to the answer. Their mouth can run away with them sometimes, and they can be a little bit cautious because there's a bit of anxious energy behind them. And the Page of Pentacles comes in ready to sit down and learn. They're prepared, they're a good student, they're diligent, they're ready to put in the work. But they love tactile experiences. They like actually doing. So staring at a chalkboard for eight hours a day, probably not their cup of tea. And maybe I am totally dating myself by saying chalkboard in that sentence. But to elaborate on this exercise, I want you to take a minute and if you need to pause, pause. But think of what those pages would be like on their first day of school. And even better, I want you to repeat this process for different first days. Let's think the first day of kindergarten, the first day of high school, the first day of university, the first day at a new job. So you can see that again and again we become the page. And sometimes when a page pops up in a reading, it's just because we need to embrace that new beginning. We need to embrace a beginner's energy. We need to go back to being that child who is just ready to jump into the world of their suit. And when it's coming up in a more negative position, well, there's an immaturity there. The page of cups could be an immature partner, someone who doesn't want to deal with their emotions. They can represent being moody because if you think of an immaturity of the water suit, we get moodiness, we get repression, we get emotional overwhelm. If we look at it for the swords, we get overthinking, going down the rabbit hole, being paranoid, talking and not giving anyone else a chance to speak. And I think it's worth mentioning that tarot is a cycle. So we experience these cards again and again in different ways and on different levels. So just because you might have been a page of cups when you started your first day of school, maybe when you start your new job 20, 30 years later, you're a page of pentacles. And it isn't saying that you haven't learned or that you're immature or you have inexperience, but we all start new things. We all have to jump into the unknown from time to time, and that's just part of life. Okay, so we have our sweet, gentle, for the most part, pages. Let's move into our knights. Now, the knights are action-based. They are the ones who want to go and they want to do. You'll notice all of them are on horseback, most of them are moving except for the page of pentacles, which we'll talk about in a minute. They are driven, they have momentum, they are intense about their element. And while they have more mastery than a page, they haven't fully grasped it all quite yet. So with the knights, there is a little bit of a struggle because they are out there trying to prove themselves. I always think of the knights as the ones who want to become the kings. So think of that teenager or that young adult who is growing up trying hard to prove themselves, to step into their own being, to realize their ambitions. So, with that, there can be a stubbornness to a lot of the knights as well. They can be rash or impulsive, and sometimes they think they know more than they actually do. When a knight comes up, it's time to take action and get a move on. The Knight of Wands is bravely chasing his passions, his dreams, his ambitions, his desires. He is going to get there, come hell or high water. As long as he can stay focused. His folly can be too much fire. So while he has a lot of charm and he has a lot of fiery ambition, as we all know, if fire isn't funneled, it burns everywhere and goes nowhere all at the same time. So, in that same vein, the Knight of Wands can get frustrated easily, especially if things aren't moving quickly. In a love reading, he's passionate and fun and filled with adventure, but he might not be willing to commit or might not be there for a long time. Our Knight of Cups is the heart-led knight. I always call him the lover boy of the tarot because I see him as the knight who would love the cheesy dates, ringing flowers, singing with a boombox outside your window. But he is the one who takes action on his feelings and his emotions. He can be very diplomatic and he's encouraged to make heart-led choices. He's a little more careful than the Knight of Swords and the Knight of Wands. You can see his horse is moving but not quickly. He likes connecting with people. He likes more of the artistic, gentle things of life. And he can be quite idealistic, which is a blessing and a curse. The Knight of Swords is arguably moving the fastest. His horse is flying, even the clouds can't keep up with them. And he, of course, is the knight of the mind. His thoughts are racing, he loves to solve problems, he's quick thinking. He is driven to act, to make choices, to take action. And sometimes that comes without thinking things all the way through. He can have a little bit of verbal diarrhea from time to time. He can also charge forward with blinders on. Then we have our Knight of Pentacles, who is stereotypically the stationary knight. He's not moving, and that's okay because the Knight of Pentacles is one step at a time. He's methodical, he sees the big picture, and he wants to be the king of pentacles. He wants to plant the seeds and really grow a strong, stable, solid foundation for himself. So he's not going to rush because he wants to do it right. He might not be as flashy as a knight of the others, but he is dependable and loyal. He can also be really slow moving, so you might not feel like you make progress with this knight. It might feel like things are at a standstill, and he can be prone to laziness because we can only work so hard. But he has big goals and he has every intention of achieving them one step one day at a time. And then we move into the queens. Now, the queens are the internal mastery of their suit. They are receptive, intuitive, they know their worth. They don't have to scream and shout it from the rooftops like the knights want to try doing. They understand and utilize their element on a soul level. They're nurturing and they have emotional intelligence. On the flip side, that can also be overbearing. It can also lead to overgiving or overdoing, trying to nurture too much and not taking care of the self. We have the Queen of Wands who does what she wants when she wants because she wants to. She is unapologetic in her pursuit for her passions and desires. She's fiery, creative. Maybe she likes fashion. She's a social butterfly. The Queen of Wands always reminds me of my Grammy. It's through living in her own passion and radiance that she inspires others to do the same and helps nurture that within other people. The Queen of Wands is so confident that in a reversed or a shadow position, she loses that confidence and that spark. And that can turn into jealousy, cattiness, or being too pushy. Because again, we have to remember that all the court cards are human and they therefore are flawed. Now, in our Queen of Cups, we get the nurturing, the caring, the intuitive queen. She's the queen that loves to sit in the flow. She loves to take care of others, and she realizes that by doing so, she also has to take care of herself. But she can sometimes be overbearing because we can care too much, we can give too much, and can lose a sense of herself. With our Queen of Swords, we get the queen of the mind. She has mastered the mental realm. She is in control of her thoughts and not overwhelmed by them. She is sharp and decisive, and she takes absolutely no BS whatsoever because she's been through a lot and she doesn't have time or energy for that anymore. She's intelligent and eloquent, but a lot of people see her as cold. She tends to build walls around herself because of the journey she's been on to be who she is. She can also be quite controlling, very self-critical, and mean, especially with her words, if she wants to be. And our Queen of Pentacles, who always makes me think of my mom. She is grounded, she's practical, she is so much more than competent. She's good at creating a comfortable and beautiful space. She can handle her money and she has an amazing work ethic. She knows her value and worth, and she knows when to treat herself. When she's not in such a great position, she can overwork. She can just keep doing and just keep going because sometimes it's easier for her to do it than to have somebody else mess it up. And because she's a pentacle, she can sometimes place too much emphasis on material goods. So even though she understands the value of luxury, it can turn into feeling like a necessity. And honestly, when it comes up like that, it's usually a reflection of our own self-worth. And then we have our kings, the external mastery of the suit. They are the leaders, the providers, the authorities of their element. They take the wisdom of the queen and apply it to the outside world for management, for making things happen. So they have some of that night energy, that movement, that doing, that action, but in a much more solid, knowing, understanding, and grounded way. So the King of Wands, even though he has that fiery spirit, he's a visionary, he has big ideas, he knows how to get people to work together. He has the same charm that we might see in the page, the knight, and the queen. And he knows how to balance his ambition and desire with the responsibilities and obligations of the real world. He's a king after all, and he has to take care of the kingdom. He's not afraid to be bold. And while he can yield so much power, that can turn easily into anger. It can boil over into frustration, especially when things aren't moving at all. He can be quite hot-tempered. Now, with our King of Cups, he would be the master of the emotional realm. He is calm, cool, and collected under pressure. He is a natural healer, a natural supporter, but he realizes that it's not his job to do somebody else's healing work for them. He is emotionally wise, but in a shadow position, he can be emotionally manipulative. Instead of that kindness and compassion that we see, that turns the other way. Then we have the King of Swords who rules the mental realm. He loves logic and reason and things to make rational sense. He has a strong sense of integrity and morality and makes what he feels are honest choices based on those two important factors. He's a problem solver and quite good with his words. He's not afraid to say what he needs to say. But he can come across as harsh. He can be cynical and ruthless even. And those words that were once so eloquent can sting like a thousand cuts. And then we have the King of Pentacles, the King who has built a solid life for himself and he's worked hard to get there. He's a smart businessman, good with his money, practical, down to earth, grounded, reasonable, willing to show you the ropes, but not going to do the work for you. He is willing to partake in the luxuries of life because just like the queen, he hasn't worked hard for nothing, but he is generous with his resources. Now when he's in not such a good position, that can indicate materialism, greed, trying to keep up with the Joneses. He can be controlling when it comes to money. Stern, possessive, and sometimes even it can indicate gambling addictions. So as you can see, when we look at the court cards through their ranks and then see them as well-rounded personalities and archetypes, it really helps us understand them at a core level. And like I said before, you have been all of these court cards. Even if you're sitting there thinking, well, Adrian, no, I've never been rich like the King of Pentacles, but you have had success. You have stepped into a role where you've reached the top of something and felt good and proud and worked hard for it. We've all said things and then instantly regretted it, but it was like we couldn't control our mouth from what it was saying, just like the Knight of Swords can do. We've felt in our element, in the act of creation, pursuing a dream or being around others, just like the Queen of Wands. And if you're someone who loves to dress for the style that you enjoy, that's Queen of Wands energy right there. We've all been beginners time and time again. And while we've been all of these people, we also know all of these people too. When I teach court cards, whether it's in the tarot lab or in a workshop or a practice lab, I always suggest as seeing them as someone. And of course, most of us are made up of many different court cards at any point in time. But when we see them as a character or an identity, it's easier to understand how they work within the reading. It's easier to figure out, is this somebody or is this the personality, the identity that the queerant should step into? Is this just representing where the queerant is in their life right now? Because you can be 85 years old and still be a page. You can also be 25 years old and be stepping into the role of a king. Because we go through these cycles and we learn the lessons, and next time around, we level it up. So maybe the king that we were 10, 15, 20 years ago is different from the king that we step into today, but it's still that same embodiment of the energy. Now, of course, this episode isn't a complete deep dive into each of their personalities, and maybe sometime in the future we'll go into them one by one. But for now, I hope that's a great overview to give you more of a foundation and understanding of who the court cards are or who they can be. If you'd like to hear more about the pages, especially in comparison to the aces, make sure you check out the episode that is Aces and Pages Oh My, because that's what we went over in that one. And if learning more about Tarot and really increasing your skills is something that you're interested in, come join us in the Tarot Lab. The Tarot Lab is all about experimenting with the cards to find your way of reading and your voice because we're all different and we all connect in different ways. It's not about me telling you that you're right or wrong, but it is about using the underlying foundation of the tarot, connecting it to your life and increasing your skills so you're confident, fluent, and you're getting messages from the cards that actually help. And I'm really excited to announce that the tarot lab now has its own domain. So you can find information at thetarot.com. If you're looking to get a reading with me, you can always book online at adrianamari.com and make sure you're following me on Instagram, Adrian Amari Tarot, because I talk tarot all the time. If you ever have any questions or any topics that you would love to hear on the podcast, please feel free to reach out at beyondtheShuffle at adrianamari.com. And what I really want you to do this week is consider what energy or what court card are you in right now, and who do you most want to be? So think on that for a bit. You can always reach out to me with your answer. And remember that new episodes come out every single Wednesday. So until next time, stay curious, stay open, and enjoy experiencing all the personalities that the tarot has to offer.