Interpreting the Tarot Court Cards
You’re in the right place if you want to…
learn how to interpret the court cards of the tarot.
understand how the position of a card in the court applies to the meaning of the card across suits.
have a better understanding of the structure of a tarot deck.
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As I mentioned in the post last week, we’re focusing on the tarot and the structure of a tarot deck for the duration of the fall season. I already gave you an overview of the standard structure of a tarot deck in that post, but just in case you missed it let's talk about it again.
Tarot is generally made up of 78 cards: 22 of these are called the Major Arcana. In November, we'll talk about these in three parts. The other 56 cards are called the Minor Arcana.
The Minor Arcana are made up of four suits. We’ll discuss these next week. Each suit is has ten numbered cards with ace for one, which we talked about last week, and four court cards.
Each suit also has four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These cards represent personality traits and characteristics. They bring the human element and the characters into the story.
Knowing the structure of the deck is helpful when learning the meaning because each suit has a domain, and each position in the court has a theme that is consistent across the suit.
So now, let’s talk about what each of these court positions mean. If you have a tarot deck, you might want to sort out the court cards so you can follow along with visuals.
The Court
It seems to me that the court cards are some of the hardest to interpret for most people I talk to. I think this is because they represent so much. The court cards most often represent a specific person.
In telling a story with the tarot, the Major Arcana are the big ideas or themes, the numbered cards are the events and setting, and the court are the cast of characters.
The court cards can also represent a specific part of your personality rather than an entire person. At times, the court card may personify an event or add personality to something that wouldn't normally have one. And another way the court cards may show up is as a level of maturity.
We'll talk about each of these ways to interpret the court cards a bit more after we've met the different court cards.
Get the Tarot Court Quick Guide
I created a cheat sheet for you to print out that includes keywords for each of the court cards.
You can hang it in your tarot reading space or include it in a grimoire, so if your mind goes blank during a reading, you can glance at the page and the keywords might jog something in your intuition.
Just click the button below.
Let's talk about interpreting the court cards!
Pages
The pages represent a child-like or immature spontaneity through looking at the world in new ways and expressing themself in surprising ways. These cards are about beginnings and initiations and are very reactive in terms of how prepared they are for a situation that arises. The pages also represent communication and sending or receiving a message.
Knights
The knights are about being daring and taking action. They are purpose-driven and are committed to adventure and fulfilling their mission. They are followers, doing what they are told, but with energy and dedication. The knights are idealistic about their ability to complete any quest, always willing to get the ball rolling.
Queens
The queens hold a subtle power and influence that focuses on nurturing and the emotional aspects of maintaining the progress made by the knights. The queens are receptive to what’s going on around them and are capable of running things behind the scenes. They represent expansion, growing, and moving into the potential.
Kings
The kings are the most mature and serious of the court cards. They are strong, natural leaders and true authorities with visible power. They can be both selfless and ruthless when it comes to upholding the grand design of the vision. They are controlling and decisive as they set the tone, direction, and plans.
How to Interpret the Court
Some texts will talk about the court cards representing specific features of a person such as hair and eye color, age, and gender. I have never found this to be very accurate, and in fact, it is quite limiting, especially when using a traditional deck like the Smith-Rider-Waite which is not very diverse.
A Specific Person
I think the most common meaning of the court cards is as a representation of a specific person, and usually yourself or someone you know. If you're reading for another person it would represent them or someone they know. In this case, it is helpful to know the personality of the card: how the character thinks, feels, and behaves in various situations, what motivates them to take action, how they respond to stimuli, etc.
Some people like to link the cards to the Myers-Briggs Personality Trait Indicators (MBTI) to help get a sense of the personality. The MBTI has 16 types, and there are 16 cards, so you can match each card with a type.
There is no universal system for this, but there are plenty of people who have made their own connections. I think it's a fun exercise to do this for yourself as it will help you really think about the personality you see in these cards.
You can also look to the zodiac signs for personality types. Of course, the zodiac is made up of only 12 signs, therefore when I did this I left the Pages out. I think the Knights align with the Mutable signs, the Queens with the Cardinal signs, the Kings with the Fixed signs, and each suit matches up with the element of the signs.
A Personality Trait
Another way to interpret the card is as a facet of your personality or the personality of another person. In this case, it is often something that you might benefit from nurturing and developing. Or it might be a part of you that you are expressing too heavily.
Personification
The court cards could also personify an event or object that wouldn't normally have a personality. This will depend on the question asked but if you are asking about the outcome of going to an event and you get a court card, the event would personify those characteristics of that card.
Maturity or Transformation
Finally, the court cards can represent the progression through levels of maturity. This isn't always in relation to age though it can be an indication of age. Usually it's more about the maturity of a person's mindset or emotional state. A Page could represent someone who is young at heart, naive, or unfamiliar with the situation rather that someone who is young in age.
In terms of maturity, this can also be seen as where a person is in a particular transformation with the Page as someone who has just started this journey and the King as someone who is at the end of the transformation.
Which One is Right?
Now you may be wondering how to know which way to interpret the court card when it shows up.
Here is what I do:
Set an intention about how you want to interpret court cards before starting the reading. This way it's very clear that they are showing up as a specific person, an aspect of a personality, a situation or object, a level of maturity, or a position on the transformation spectrum.
Trust your intuition about the meaning when a court card shows up in the reading. Simply listen to the first thing that comes to mind when you see it. This is usually a good indication of how that card is meant to be interpreted.
List out all of the potential interpretations of the card if you are really stumped. Think about the keywords you know about it, the personality traits associated with it, the people you associate with it, etc. Whatever makes sense in the context of the reading is how you ought to interpret it.
Summary
Thank you so much for being here with me today! I really appreciate that you chose to spend your time learning about the tarot with me. To recap what we talked about, we looked at the general structure of the tarot deck and where the court cards fall in this structure. We also looked at each card on an individual level and how to interpret them when they come up in a reading.
Wait, don’t go yet!
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Now it’s your turn!
Do you have other keywords you associate with these court cards? How do you learn the meaning of the Tarot cards? Share you tips below.
