February 13, 2025 • 21 mins
Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-what court cards are within the tarot
-the four ranks
-elements and personalities
-additional correspondences
-thematic keywords to keep in mind
For more on Meg, check out 3amtarot.com, and order your copy of Finding the Fool through Bookshop.org or your favorite local bookstore.
Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website. And as a special thank you for CARD TALK listeners, click here to download a completely free, exclusive workbook for building your best personal tarot practice.
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CARD TALK is written, edited, and produced by Meg Jones Wall of 3am.tarot. Theme music created by PaulYudin.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
In this episode we are going tostart talking about the Minor
Arcana court cards, with agentle introduction to these 16
(00:32):
figures that tend to reallyconfuse people.
In our last episode I talked alittle bit more generally about
how to work with these cards aspersonality types, as a way of
engaging with community andlearning to navigate complex or
different or even difficultpersonalities in community
building and social engagement,but in this episode we're going
(00:53):
to back it up a little bit andjust look at more broadly what
these cards even actually are.
Now, everything I'm about toshare with you about the court
cards is really just my ownperspective and my own way of
working with these cards.
Court cards are fascinating andcomplicated and can be really
confusing, and there are a lotof different approaches to these
(01:13):
cards.
So what I'm going to share withyou is just my way of working
with these cards and I hope it'sreally helpful.
But if you disagree with me, ifyou feel strongly that a card
actually speaks to somethingelse or represents something
different.
That is more than okay.
The whole vibe, the whole dealof my work is that your
relationship with the cards getsto be your own, and I really
(01:35):
want to emphasize that.
When it comes to the courtcards, because these cards,
again, can just be reallyconfusing and challenging for
folks I want you to feel veryempowered to build unique
relationships with each of thesecards, and if that ultimately
means that the way you approachthis section of the tarot looks
very different than the way Iapproach this section of the
tarot, that's more than fine.
(01:55):
Do your thing, you're doinggreat.
Court cards are the 16archetypes of the minor arcana.
Just like the rest of the MinorArcana is divided into four
suits.
There are court cards for everyone of the suits and four
different ranks within the courtcards, so that means that we
get 16 cards total.
Each of the four Minor Arcanasuits has a page card, a knight
(02:17):
card, a queen card and a kingcard as part of their suit.
Now, just as a general note, Iwant to just let you know that
the rank names that I'm usinghere are, in general, the most
common ones.
They're borrowed from theRider-Waite-Smith deck, which is
arguably the most popular deckin existence, whether you're
using the classicRider-Waite-Smith deck or a deck
that follows the style of theRider-Waite-Smith.
(02:38):
If you were someone that isusing a Marseille style deck,
the pages might be named Valetor Nave, and if you're using a
Thoth style deck, the pages maybe known as Princess and the
Knights may be known as Princes.
Additionally, a lot of moderndecks completely rename this
section of the tarot to makethem a little bit more
accessible and easy tounderstand.
So, depending on which deck youare using or which style of
(03:01):
deck you want to be using, youmight need to refer to the
guidebook of your specific deckto identify which cards are
which.
But just for simplicity's sake,because it's the most common
framework for these cards andset of names for these cards, on
this podcast, as well as in allof my teachings and books and
resources and everywhere I talkabout the tarot, I use the
(03:22):
language of page knight, queenand king.
Every tarot deck is going to bea little bit different and has
its own imagery and set ofartistic style when it comes to
how they portray every one ofthe cards in the tarot deck.
Even decks that might not havepeople anywhere else might still
use imagery on the court cardsthat is human in nature or that
(03:42):
shows animals kind of doinghuman type things.
Court cards are really aboutembodied energy, or the way that
a specific kind of energymanifests itself in terms of
actions and feelings and sensesand thoughts and spiritual
energy.
And this kind of embodied workcan be confusing for a lot of
people, especially in tarotreadings, which I think is part
(04:04):
of the reason that these cardscan feel so complicated or hard
to connect with.
In our next episode I'm goingto talk more concretely about
how you can understand courtcards more specifically in your
personal tarot readings, but inthis episode I'm just going to
break down what these cards are,how they kind of shake out
within their respective suitsand some general things to know
about them.
As I explained earlier, each ofthe four minor arcana suits has
(04:31):
four different ranks of theircourt cards.
That means that we can dividethe court cards into two
different groupings.
We can sort them by suit orelement or we can sort them by
rank.
So first let's talk about eachof the four ranks and what kind
of energy they're generallygoing to represent.
Pages are often described as theyoungest member of their
respective court or family andbring a really curious or
seeking energy to the party.
(04:51):
Pages can represent thediscovery of an element or a new
aspect of an element, thebeginning of a journey, a choice
being made or an adventurebeing started.
I personally like to thinkabout pages as like an eager
kind of intern energy, aschildren or students, someone
who asks a lot of questions,someone who's willing to try
things out and someone who isn'tshy about testing the waters
(05:14):
and making new or unexpectedchoices.
With pages, I tend to thinkabout what questions they're
asking, what they want to knowor discover or experience, and
what they're hoping to feel orfind.
The next rank up in experiencelevel is the Knights, and these
figures are a little bit olderand have a little bit more life
experience than the pages, whichmeans that sometimes they're
(05:35):
described as the teenagers orapprentices of their respective
court or family.
Knights can representexperimentation with an element
or learning to wield an elementwith more confidence, or
sometimes seeking to prove theself through the use of an
element.
I like to think about knightskind of as thrill seekers,
people who want to really thinkoutside the box, but above all,
(05:56):
they want to make a name forthemselves by doing something
really bold or innovative ordifferent or distinctive.
Knights want to be visible, andso with knights, I think about
how they want to make adifference, what horizon line
they're looking towards or whatis really capturing their
attention.
With knights, it's about whatfeels exciting or engaging to
them specifically.
Now the last ranks are thequeens and the kings, and both
(06:20):
queens and kings represent kindof excellence or experience or
mastery of an element.
This is confidence within anelement or a deep and ongoing
relationship with an element.
There's a lot of differentlanguage around these cards and
some of it's going to feelbetter for you than others is.
So try to be particularlyopen-minded when it comes to
queens and kings, because thesecards tend to get really
(06:42):
gendered and sometimes thelanguage can be kind of
confusing around it.
Now, some decks reallydistinguish between putting
either queens or kings higher inrank than the other, but I
personally prefer to think ofthem as being on equal footing
or on equal levels of authorityand just bringing a different
focus or set of experience orskill to that authority.
(07:02):
Both queens and kings are veryconfident and very purposeful
and bring a lot of wisdom andknowledge and experience to the
party.
Queens, specifically, are oftenreferred to as being more
focused on relationships orinternal matters, more emotional
or artistic or empathetic, and,in contrast, kings are often
described as being more outwardor instructive, being focused on
(07:25):
external matters and logic.
In general, I see queens asserving as kind of teachers and
mentors, people who areinterested in protecting and
nurturing and nourishing,whereas I think of Kings as
being a little bit more removedfrom individual relationships
and a bit more thinking aboutthe whole right.
So this is going to be someonethat is making decisions that
(07:47):
are going to affect the manyversus trying to safeguard the
few.
But again, both are reallynecessary and I don't think one
is necessarily higher rankedthan the other.
But again, that's just how Iapproach these cards.
Yours might be really different.
Now.
You will find one of each ofthese ranked cards in every one
of the four suits, which meansthat, for example, there is a
page of wands, a knight of wands, a queen of wands and a king of
(08:10):
wands, but there's also a pageof wands, a page of swords, a
page of cups and a page ofpentacles.
That means that each rank isgoing to have certain things in
common, like every page is goingto have an element of curiosity
right, but they'll alsointeract with their element in a
unique way.
So even though, for example,all pages are pretty driven by
(08:30):
curiosity and exploration, thepage of wands is going to have a
different flavor than the pageof pentacles, because the page
of wands is associated with theelement of fire, whereas the
page of pentacles is associatedwith the element of earth.
That makes these court cardsreally fun to work with, as they
really do feel like distinctivepersonalities and very
different from one another, evenif their rank is the same.
(08:53):
Now, because every card has botha rank and an element or a suit
, that means that we end up witheach suit having common traits
when it comes to theirpersonalities, and I don't want
to spend a lot of time talkingabout this, because I think this
is a place where your personalexperience of being a human
being, of being in relationshipwith other people, and of
(09:14):
building characters andrelationships with these cards
themselves, is a really powerfulelement of this process.
I don't want to put too much inyour head when it comes to what
these cards can be like, butessentially, when we're thinking
about each court separately or,if you prefer, each family
separately, you can really thinkabout what personality traits
(09:35):
they might have in common andhow those personality traits
might intersect with theiroverall rank and how their rank
is going to impact the way theyshow up in the world.
Now I highly recommend goingback, if you haven't listened
already, and listening to theepisodes that I recorded on the
minor arcana, because therewe're going to talk about each
element more in depth.
(09:55):
But I want you to think abouthow those elements might
translate to personality types.
What would it mean to have afiery personality?
What would it mean to have alot of air in your personality?
What would it mean to have alot of water in your personality
?
And what would it mean to havea lot of earth in your
personality?
Now, if you're familiar withastrology, these things might
have special meaning for you,but even if they don't, I want
(10:17):
you to start thinking about theelements as having their own
unique personality traits andthen thinking about what it
means for that particularelements personality traits to
intersect with each of the fourranks.
This is really going to helpyou start to let these cards
come to life in very specificand unique ways.
I do want to also explain thatsome people have additional
(10:40):
correspondences for each ofthese ranks.
So depending on where you arein your tarot journey, how much
experience you have with thetarot, you might find these
additional correspondenceshelpful.
I'm going to really quicklyjust share these correspondences
that I personally work with andI'm also going to include some
links to some additionalresources in the show notes that
(11:01):
go into these correspondencesand just kind of explain them
more deeply.
But I do want to emphasize notonly that working with these
correspondences in general isdeeply optional, but also that
there are other schools ofthought and other different
kinds of correspondences thatyou can use for each of these
ranks.
The TLDR is that if these don'tland for you or don't make sense
to you or don't feel necessaryor useful, you do not have to
(11:23):
use them.
So personally, I like to thinkabout all of the pages as being
inherently connected to theelement of earth, as well as to
the number two.
This combination adds a senseof depth, observation, patience
and really deliberate movementto these cards that I
particularly love.
I see all nights as inherentlyaligned with the element of fire
(11:44):
and the number three, whichgives these figures a spirit of
creativity and action,expression, passion, generosity
and quick movement.
I associate all of the queens,inherently with the element of
water, and the number four,which provides an extra spirit
of intuition, protective energy,leadership, purpose and just
(12:05):
lived, wise experience to all ofthese cards.
And finally, I put all of theKings into the same category as
the element of air and thenumber five, which offers them a
duality of experience and areal willingness to change, as
well as a sense of long-termthinking and authority and
responsibility.
Now, whether you like theseadditional particular
(12:26):
correspondences or not, acrossthe board, I find it personally
really helpful to think aboutthe court cards in general as
minor arcana archetypes, just asthe 22 trump cards that make up
the fool's journey are referredto as major arcana archetypes.
If thinking about the courtcards as people or personalities
really stresses you out orfeels confusing or inaccessible,
(12:48):
allowing them to be archetypesinstead might help them fit a
little bit more neatly into yourbrain or help you connect with
them a little bit more.
But considering these cards asarchetypes might still mean that
you can think about these cardsas people too.
It's nice to have options right, and court cards can really
serve as steps in a largerjourney representing aspects of
who you are, people who arecurrently in your life or may
(13:11):
eventually enter your life orstart to take up a bigger role
in your life, or can even serveas advice on what kinds of
energy or aspects of yourpersonality to embody or expand
in order to navigate aparticular question or situation
.
Again, we're going to talkabout how to use these cards in
readings more in the nextepisode, but in general, you can
(13:31):
really understand court cardsin a lot of different ways and
again, if just thinking aboutthese cards makes you feel
really stressed out, that'stotally okay.
I've got your back.
It's super common and you'renot behind or anything like that
.
Court cards can be messy.
I also just want to say ifyou're in the camp of court,
cards are too confusing and Ihate seeing them come up in my
(13:51):
readings or working with them.
That's often why a lot ofmodern decks rename them.
This kind of ranked courtsystem of experience and how
they serve the court at largecan feel really hard to access,
especially for those of us whoaren't super into history or
don't know a lot about feudalcourt systems, and so if you
find a particular rank reallyconfusing, I want to encourage
(14:14):
you to take some time to look upand research alternative names
for that rank in other decks.
Search alternative names forthat rank in other decks.
Finding those other names andkind of locking into different
frameworks can really help tounlock something in your brain
and might just help you reorienthow these cards relate to one
another as well as how you canrelate to those cards.
Finding the qualities that eachrank really seems to embody or
(14:37):
highlight or the function thatthey serve in their group can
also be really helpful.
It's also incredibly normal tohave some ranks feel easier for
you to connect with than others.
You might find that court cardsin one suit makes more sense to
you than the court cards inanother, that one element is
easier for you to engage with,that a certain kind of
correspondence feels easier foryou to understand.
(14:58):
All of this is super normal.
Everybody's brain is a littlebit different.
All of us process information alittle bit differently, and I
think that most people havecards across the board in the
whole deck not just in thissection of the tarot that feel
easier to understand than others.
So I want to just remind you toshow yourself some grace when
(15:18):
learning the tarot in general,but especially when starting to
engage with these court cards.
The last thing I want to offerin this episode is that I tend
to think about each rank asinviting us to think about
certain themes, and so I want tojust kind of rattle off a few
keywords for each rank to getyou started and give you
something to think about Again.
This is just how I connect withand understand each of these
(15:39):
ranks.
Your mileage may vary, yourexperience may vary, so when I
think about pages, I tend tothink about themes of curiosity,
discovery, exploration,questioning, connection, duality
, choice, relationships with theself, trying something
different, being open to a newidea or perspective or moving in
(16:01):
a new direction.
When I think about Knights, Itend to think about the themes
of adventure, risk, pursuit,change, progress, movement, ego,
excitement, relationships withothers, charisma, thinking
bigger and like reputation orvisibility.
When I think about the queens,I tend to look to themes of
(16:23):
empathy, intuition, communitycare, protection, boundaries for
the self and the many,stability, wisdom, knowing the
self, relying on personalexperience or insight,
discernment and artistry orbeauty.
And lastly, when I think aboutthe kings, I tend to think about
themes of logic, discernmentand artistry or beauty.
And lastly, when I think aboutthe Kings, I tend to think about
themes of logic, communityleading making change legacy,
(16:48):
long-term planning experience,thinking about the many, risk
assessment and, likearchitecture, both physically
and like structures for changethat are going to impact the
many.
Before I move into our littletip or trick for this episode, I
want to remind you that I thinkcourt cards really give us the
most space to play within thetarot.
I feel like there are so manycorrespondences and layers for
(17:12):
all of the rest of the cards inthe deck that really point us in
particular directions, butcourt cards as people seeing
them as people and personalitiesgives us so much wiggle room
and capacity to connect withthem in really individual and
personal ways.
I really encourage you to takeyour time getting to know these
cards and to let it be a funexperiment where you listen to
(17:34):
them and are open to new ways ofexploring them and
understanding them, rather thanfeeling like you're going to
immediately need to pin thesedown.
Court cards constantly surpriseme, perhaps more than any other
section of the tarot, and themore you work with them, the
more you might discover aboutwho they are and who they can be
, as well as who they mightinspire you to be.
(17:55):
My tip for this episode is that,in general, court cards are
some of the most complicatedcards in the deck, especially
when you're getting started.
I know I've said that like amillion times, but I just really
want to emphasize it because Ithink people feel guilty or
frustrated when they can'timmediately vibe with these
cards.
I think that when you seeimagery of other people and then
you think about their ownpersonalities and their styles
(18:16):
and their vibes, especially ifyou feel pressure to read them
in a certain way, it can getreally overwhelming and I see a
lot of advice to like assigncourt cards to people that you
know or otherwise interpretthese cards in really
hyper-specific ways and that canultimately end up being kind of
a roadblock for you.
I want to encourage you to begyou perhaps not to overthink
(18:40):
these cards.
Just because a lot of deckshave figures, have human figures
on their court card imagery andare described as people or
human embodiments of energies,that doesn't mean they have to
be complex or out of reach.
Instead of avoiding these cardsor writing them off as confusing
or surrendering to thechallenge of them, I really want
(19:01):
to encourage you to spenddeliberate time with these cards
.
Go out of your way to hang outwith these cards, pick a
specific card or pick a specificrank or pick a specific court
like group of court cards andwork with them intentionally,
talk to them, journal about them, connect them with different
songs or physical movements orflavors or sense or environments
(19:23):
or whatever else is going tohelp you connect with and learn
to understand these cards moredeeply.
It's probably going to take yousome time to develop deeper
relationships with these cards,but allowing them to and like
giving them permission to berich, complex, layered
archetypes with their ownmeanings and energies can make
these cards come alive.
(19:43):
You don't have to make themmore complicated than they need
to be, but you can allow themthe capacity to be deeper than
you know in this particularmoment.
If you start letting these befigures you're excited to get to
know, rather than people thatyou dread, it's going to make
your general work with thesecards and your work with court
cards in your readings a littlebit easier to manage.
(20:06):
That is all I have for you today.
I am including a couple ofresources to help you with court
cards in the show notes and Iwill be back soon with another
episode on how to interpretthese cards in your readings.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me and I'll be back
again soon with more card talk.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me and I'll be back
again soon with more card talk.
Card talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
if you love what you hear,please consider supporting the
(20:28):
podcast by subscribing,recommending card talk to a
friend or two or donating tohelp with production costs.
You can find episodetranscripts.
Learn more about me and join mysignature tarot conservatory
membership program through mywebsite, 3amtarotcom.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time.
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
In this episode we are going tostart talking about the Minor
Arcana court cards, with agentle introduction to these 16
(00:32):
figures that tend to reallyconfuse people.
In our last episode I talked alittle bit more generally about
how to work with these cards aspersonality types, as a way of
engaging with community andlearning to navigate complex or
different or even difficultpersonalities in community
building and social engagement,but in this episode we're going
(00:53):
to back it up a little bit andjust look at more broadly what
these cards even actually are.
Now, everything I'm about toshare with you about the court
cards is really just my ownperspective and my own way of
working with these cards.
Court cards are fascinating andcomplicated and can be really
confusing, and there are a lotof different approaches to these
(01:13):
cards.
So what I'm going to share withyou is just my way of working
with these cards and I hope it'sreally helpful.
But if you disagree with me, ifyou feel strongly that a card
actually speaks to somethingelse or represents something
different.
That is more than okay.
The whole vibe, the whole dealof my work is that your
relationship with the cards getsto be your own, and I really
(01:35):
want to emphasize that.
When it comes to the courtcards, because these cards,
again, can just be reallyconfusing and challenging for
folks I want you to feel veryempowered to build unique
relationships with each of thesecards, and if that ultimately
means that the way you approachthis section of the tarot looks
very different than the way Iapproach this section of the
tarot, that's more than fine.
(01:55):
Do your thing, you're doinggreat.
Court cards are the 16archetypes of the minor arcana.
Just like the rest of the MinorArcana is divided into four
suits.
There are court cards for everyone of the suits and four
different ranks within the courtcards, so that means that we
get 16 cards total.
Each of the four Minor Arcanasuits has a page card, a knight
(02:17):
card, a queen card and a kingcard as part of their suit.
Now, just as a general note, Iwant to just let you know that
the rank names that I'm usinghere are, in general, the most
common ones.
They're borrowed from theRider-Waite-Smith deck, which is
arguably the most popular deckin existence, whether you're
using the classicRider-Waite-Smith deck or a deck
that follows the style of theRider-Waite-Smith.
(02:38):
If you were someone that isusing a Marseille style deck,
the pages might be named Valetor Nave, and if you're using a
Thoth style deck, the pages maybe known as Princess and the
Knights may be known as Princes.
Additionally, a lot of moderndecks completely rename this
section of the tarot to makethem a little bit more
accessible and easy tounderstand.
So, depending on which deck youare using or which style of
(03:01):
deck you want to be using, youmight need to refer to the
guidebook of your specific deckto identify which cards are
which.
But just for simplicity's sake,because it's the most common
framework for these cards andset of names for these cards, on
this podcast, as well as in allof my teachings and books and
resources and everywhere I talkabout the tarot, I use the
(03:22):
language of page knight, queenand king.
Every tarot deck is going to bea little bit different and has
its own imagery and set ofartistic style when it comes to
how they portray every one ofthe cards in the tarot deck.
Even decks that might not havepeople anywhere else might still
use imagery on the court cardsthat is human in nature or that
(03:42):
shows animals kind of doinghuman type things.
Court cards are really aboutembodied energy, or the way that
a specific kind of energymanifests itself in terms of
actions and feelings and sensesand thoughts and spiritual
energy.
And this kind of embodied workcan be confusing for a lot of
people, especially in tarotreadings, which I think is part
(04:04):
of the reason that these cardscan feel so complicated or hard
to connect with.
In our next episode I'm goingto talk more concretely about
how you can understand courtcards more specifically in your
personal tarot readings, but inthis episode I'm just going to
break down what these cards are,how they kind of shake out
within their respective suitsand some general things to know
about them.
As I explained earlier, each ofthe four minor arcana suits has
(04:31):
four different ranks of theircourt cards.
That means that we can dividethe court cards into two
different groupings.
We can sort them by suit orelement or we can sort them by
rank.
So first let's talk about eachof the four ranks and what kind
of energy they're generallygoing to represent.
Pages are often described as theyoungest member of their
respective court or family andbring a really curious or
seeking energy to the party.
(04:51):
Pages can represent thediscovery of an element or a new
aspect of an element, thebeginning of a journey, a choice
being made or an adventurebeing started.
I personally like to thinkabout pages as like an eager
kind of intern energy, aschildren or students, someone
who asks a lot of questions,someone who's willing to try
things out and someone who isn'tshy about testing the waters
(05:14):
and making new or unexpectedchoices.
With pages, I tend to thinkabout what questions they're
asking, what they want to knowor discover or experience, and
what they're hoping to feel orfind.
The next rank up in experiencelevel is the Knights, and these
figures are a little bit olderand have a little bit more life
experience than the pages, whichmeans that sometimes they're
(05:35):
described as the teenagers orapprentices of their respective
court or family.
Knights can representexperimentation with an element
or learning to wield an elementwith more confidence, or
sometimes seeking to prove theself through the use of an
element.
I like to think about knightskind of as thrill seekers,
people who want to really thinkoutside the box, but above all,
(05:56):
they want to make a name forthemselves by doing something
really bold or innovative ordifferent or distinctive.
Knights want to be visible, andso with knights, I think about
how they want to make adifference, what horizon line
they're looking towards or whatis really capturing their
attention.
With knights, it's about whatfeels exciting or engaging to
them specifically.
Now the last ranks are thequeens and the kings, and both
(06:20):
queens and kings represent kindof excellence or experience or
mastery of an element.
This is confidence within anelement or a deep and ongoing
relationship with an element.
There's a lot of differentlanguage around these cards and
some of it's going to feelbetter for you than others is.
So try to be particularlyopen-minded when it comes to
queens and kings, because thesecards tend to get really
(06:42):
gendered and sometimes thelanguage can be kind of
confusing around it.
Now, some decks reallydistinguish between putting
either queens or kings higher inrank than the other, but I
personally prefer to think ofthem as being on equal footing
or on equal levels of authorityand just bringing a different
focus or set of experience orskill to that authority.
(07:02):
Both queens and kings are veryconfident and very purposeful
and bring a lot of wisdom andknowledge and experience to the
party.
Queens, specifically, are oftenreferred to as being more
focused on relationships orinternal matters, more emotional
or artistic or empathetic, and,in contrast, kings are often
described as being more outwardor instructive, being focused on
(07:25):
external matters and logic.
In general, I see queens asserving as kind of teachers and
mentors, people who areinterested in protecting and
nurturing and nourishing,whereas I think of Kings as
being a little bit more removedfrom individual relationships
and a bit more thinking aboutthe whole right.
So this is going to be someonethat is making decisions that
(07:47):
are going to affect the manyversus trying to safeguard the
few.
But again, both are reallynecessary and I don't think one
is necessarily higher rankedthan the other.
But again, that's just how Iapproach these cards.
Yours might be really different.
Now.
You will find one of each ofthese ranked cards in every one
of the four suits, which meansthat, for example, there is a
page of wands, a knight of wands, a queen of wands and a king of
(08:10):
wands, but there's also a pageof wands, a page of swords, a
page of cups and a page ofpentacles.
That means that each rank isgoing to have certain things in
common, like every page is goingto have an element of curiosity
right, but they'll alsointeract with their element in a
unique way.
So even though, for example,all pages are pretty driven by
(08:30):
curiosity and exploration, thepage of wands is going to have a
different flavor than the pageof pentacles, because the page
of wands is associated with theelement of fire, whereas the
page of pentacles is associatedwith the element of earth.
That makes these court cardsreally fun to work with, as they
really do feel like distinctivepersonalities and very
different from one another, evenif their rank is the same.
(08:53):
Now, because every card has botha rank and an element or a suit
, that means that we end up witheach suit having common traits
when it comes to theirpersonalities, and I don't want
to spend a lot of time talkingabout this, because I think this
is a place where your personalexperience of being a human
being, of being in relationshipwith other people, and of
(09:14):
building characters andrelationships with these cards
themselves, is a really powerfulelement of this process.
I don't want to put too much inyour head when it comes to what
these cards can be like, butessentially, when we're thinking
about each court separately or,if you prefer, each family
separately, you can really thinkabout what personality traits
(09:35):
they might have in common andhow those personality traits
might intersect with theiroverall rank and how their rank
is going to impact the way theyshow up in the world.
Now I highly recommend goingback, if you haven't listened
already, and listening to theepisodes that I recorded on the
minor arcana, because therewe're going to talk about each
element more in depth.
(09:55):
But I want you to think abouthow those elements might
translate to personality types.
What would it mean to have afiery personality?
What would it mean to have alot of air in your personality?
What would it mean to have alot of water in your personality
?
And what would it mean to havea lot of earth in your
personality?
Now, if you're familiar withastrology, these things might
have special meaning for you,but even if they don't, I want
(10:17):
you to start thinking about theelements as having their own
unique personality traits andthen thinking about what it
means for that particularelements personality traits to
intersect with each of the fourranks.
This is really going to helpyou start to let these cards
come to life in very specificand unique ways.
I do want to also explain thatsome people have additional
(10:40):
correspondences for each ofthese ranks.
So depending on where you arein your tarot journey, how much
experience you have with thetarot, you might find these
additional correspondenceshelpful.
I'm going to really quicklyjust share these correspondences
that I personally work with andI'm also going to include some
links to some additionalresources in the show notes that
(11:01):
go into these correspondencesand just kind of explain them
more deeply.
But I do want to emphasize notonly that working with these
correspondences in general isdeeply optional, but also that
there are other schools ofthought and other different
kinds of correspondences thatyou can use for each of these
ranks.
The TLDR is that if these don'tland for you or don't make sense
to you or don't feel necessaryor useful, you do not have to
(11:23):
use them.
So personally, I like to thinkabout all of the pages as being
inherently connected to theelement of earth, as well as to
the number two.
This combination adds a senseof depth, observation, patience
and really deliberate movementto these cards that I
particularly love.
I see all nights as inherentlyaligned with the element of fire
(11:44):
and the number three, whichgives these figures a spirit of
creativity and action,expression, passion, generosity
and quick movement.
I associate all of the queens,inherently with the element of
water, and the number four,which provides an extra spirit
of intuition, protective energy,leadership, purpose and just
(12:05):
lived, wise experience to all ofthese cards.
And finally, I put all of theKings into the same category as
the element of air and thenumber five, which offers them a
duality of experience and areal willingness to change, as
well as a sense of long-termthinking and authority and
responsibility.
Now, whether you like theseadditional particular
(12:26):
correspondences or not, acrossthe board, I find it personally
really helpful to think aboutthe court cards in general as
minor arcana archetypes, just asthe 22 trump cards that make up
the fool's journey are referredto as major arcana archetypes.
If thinking about the courtcards as people or personalities
really stresses you out orfeels confusing or inaccessible,
(12:48):
allowing them to be archetypesinstead might help them fit a
little bit more neatly into yourbrain or help you connect with
them a little bit more.
But considering these cards asarchetypes might still mean that
you can think about these cardsas people too.
It's nice to have options right, and court cards can really
serve as steps in a largerjourney representing aspects of
who you are, people who arecurrently in your life or may
(13:11):
eventually enter your life orstart to take up a bigger role
in your life, or can even serveas advice on what kinds of
energy or aspects of yourpersonality to embody or expand
in order to navigate aparticular question or situation
.
Again, we're going to talkabout how to use these cards in
readings more in the nextepisode, but in general, you can
(13:31):
really understand court cardsin a lot of different ways and
again, if just thinking aboutthese cards makes you feel
really stressed out, that'stotally okay.
I've got your back.
It's super common and you'renot behind or anything like that
.
Court cards can be messy.
I also just want to say ifyou're in the camp of court,
cards are too confusing and Ihate seeing them come up in my
(13:51):
readings or working with them.
That's often why a lot ofmodern decks rename them.
This kind of ranked courtsystem of experience and how
they serve the court at largecan feel really hard to access,
especially for those of us whoaren't super into history or
don't know a lot about feudalcourt systems, and so if you
find a particular rank reallyconfusing, I want to encourage
(14:14):
you to take some time to look upand research alternative names
for that rank in other decks.
Search alternative names forthat rank in other decks.
Finding those other names andkind of locking into different
frameworks can really help tounlock something in your brain
and might just help you reorienthow these cards relate to one
another as well as how you canrelate to those cards.
Finding the qualities that eachrank really seems to embody or
(14:37):
highlight or the function thatthey serve in their group can
also be really helpful.
It's also incredibly normal tohave some ranks feel easier for
you to connect with than others.
You might find that court cardsin one suit makes more sense to
you than the court cards inanother, that one element is
easier for you to engage with,that a certain kind of
correspondence feels easier foryou to understand.
(14:58):
All of this is super normal.
Everybody's brain is a littlebit different.
All of us process information alittle bit differently, and I
think that most people havecards across the board in the
whole deck not just in thissection of the tarot that feel
easier to understand than others.
So I want to just remind you toshow yourself some grace when
(15:18):
learning the tarot in general,but especially when starting to
engage with these court cards.
The last thing I want to offerin this episode is that I tend
to think about each rank asinviting us to think about
certain themes, and so I want tojust kind of rattle off a few
keywords for each rank to getyou started and give you
something to think about Again.
This is just how I connect withand understand each of these
(15:39):
ranks.
Your mileage may vary, yourexperience may vary, so when I
think about pages, I tend tothink about themes of curiosity,
discovery, exploration,questioning, connection, duality
, choice, relationships with theself, trying something
different, being open to a newidea or perspective or moving in
(16:01):
a new direction.
When I think about Knights, Itend to think about the themes
of adventure, risk, pursuit,change, progress, movement, ego,
excitement, relationships withothers, charisma, thinking
bigger and like reputation orvisibility.
When I think about the queens,I tend to look to themes of
(16:23):
empathy, intuition, communitycare, protection, boundaries for
the self and the many,stability, wisdom, knowing the
self, relying on personalexperience or insight,
discernment and artistry orbeauty.
And lastly, when I think aboutthe kings, I tend to think about
themes of logic, discernmentand artistry or beauty.
And lastly, when I think aboutthe Kings, I tend to think about
themes of logic, communityleading making change legacy,
(16:48):
long-term planning experience,thinking about the many, risk
assessment and, likearchitecture, both physically
and like structures for changethat are going to impact the
many.
Before I move into our littletip or trick for this episode, I
want to remind you that I thinkcourt cards really give us the
most space to play within thetarot.
I feel like there are so manycorrespondences and layers for
(17:12):
all of the rest of the cards inthe deck that really point us in
particular directions, butcourt cards as people seeing
them as people and personalitiesgives us so much wiggle room
and capacity to connect withthem in really individual and
personal ways.
I really encourage you to takeyour time getting to know these
cards and to let it be a funexperiment where you listen to
(17:34):
them and are open to new ways ofexploring them and
understanding them, rather thanfeeling like you're going to
immediately need to pin thesedown.
Court cards constantly surpriseme, perhaps more than any other
section of the tarot, and themore you work with them, the
more you might discover aboutwho they are and who they can be
, as well as who they mightinspire you to be.
(17:55):
My tip for this episode is that,in general, court cards are
some of the most complicatedcards in the deck, especially
when you're getting started.
I know I've said that like amillion times, but I just really
want to emphasize it because Ithink people feel guilty or
frustrated when they can'timmediately vibe with these
cards.
I think that when you seeimagery of other people and then
you think about their ownpersonalities and their styles
(18:16):
and their vibes, especially ifyou feel pressure to read them
in a certain way, it can getreally overwhelming and I see a
lot of advice to like assigncourt cards to people that you
know or otherwise interpretthese cards in really
hyper-specific ways and that canultimately end up being kind of
a roadblock for you.
I want to encourage you to begyou perhaps not to overthink
(18:40):
these cards.
Just because a lot of deckshave figures, have human figures
on their court card imagery andare described as people or
human embodiments of energies,that doesn't mean they have to
be complex or out of reach.
Instead of avoiding these cardsor writing them off as confusing
or surrendering to thechallenge of them, I really want
(19:01):
to encourage you to spenddeliberate time with these cards
.
Go out of your way to hang outwith these cards, pick a
specific card or pick a specificrank or pick a specific court
like group of court cards andwork with them intentionally,
talk to them, journal about them, connect them with different
songs or physical movements orflavors or sense or environments
(19:23):
or whatever else is going tohelp you connect with and learn
to understand these cards moredeeply.
It's probably going to take yousome time to develop deeper
relationships with these cards,but allowing them to and like
giving them permission to berich, complex, layered
archetypes with their ownmeanings and energies can make
these cards come alive.
(19:43):
You don't have to make themmore complicated than they need
to be, but you can allow themthe capacity to be deeper than
you know in this particularmoment.
If you start letting these befigures you're excited to get to
know, rather than people thatyou dread, it's going to make
your general work with thesecards and your work with court
cards in your readings a littlebit easier to manage.
(20:06):
That is all I have for you today.
I am including a couple ofresources to help you with court
cards in the show notes and Iwill be back soon with another
episode on how to interpretthese cards in your readings.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me and I'll be back
again soon with more card talk.
Thank you so much for hangingout with me and I'll be back
again soon with more card talk.
Card talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
if you love what you hear,please consider supporting the
(20:28):
podcast by subscribing,recommending card talk to a
friend or two or donating tohelp with production costs.
You can find episodetranscripts.
Learn more about me and join mysignature tarot conservatory
membership program through mywebsite, 3amtarotcom.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time.
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