Among the minor arcana, sixteen cards have a special character. They do not show a number of cups, swords or coins, but a person: the Page, the Knight, the Queen and the King of each suit. These are the court cards, and for many readers they are the hardest to interpret. There is a reason: they can indicate real people, aspects of one's own personality or ways of approaching a situation. Understanding which reading to choose is an art refined through practice.
A court in four ranks
Early Italian playing cards had three figures per suit: Page, Knight and King. The tarot added a fourth, the Queen, bringing the court to four members. Italian regional cards still keep the three original figures today, while the tarot retains the full court.
In English-language decks the figures become Page, Knight, Queen and King. In some esoteric schools, beginning with the Golden Dawn, the names and hierarchy were modified, with princes and princesses replacing pages and knights. There is no need to know every variant, but it is useful to know that the system is not uniform.
The four roles
Each court card represents a different degree of maturity in one's relationship with its suit.
The Page: the apprentice
The Page is young, curious, sometimes uncertain. He is learning. In spreads he indicates a beginning, a course of study, a message, a piece of news, a novice, or the side of us opening up to something new.
The Knight: movement
The Knight is travelling, in action, often at a gallop. He represents energy moving towards a goal, the mission, but also excess and impatience. In spreads he can indicate a change, a journey, a person arriving or leaving.
The Queen: inner mastery
The Queen sits on the throne and fully possesses the qualities of her suit, but she lives them in an inward and receptive way. She is maturity expressed in care, understanding and the capacity to contain.
The King: outer mastery
The King too sits on the throne, but his maturity is expressed outwardly: in leadership, responsibility and decisions. He is the figure of established authority, with all its merits and risks.
Combining role and suit
The key to reading a court card is to combine the role with the suit. This table offers a first orientation.
| Cups | Coins | Swords | Wands | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page | Sensitivity opening up | Practical study, first resources | Mental curiosity, vigilance | Enthusiasm, a new idea |
| Knight | Romantic offer, romanticism | Steady work, slowness | Swift action, confrontation | Adventure, impulse |
| Queen | Empathy, intuition | Welcoming practicality | Lucidity, independence | Warmth, charisma |
| King | Emotional balance | Solidity, management | Judgement, intellectual authority | Leadership, vision |
Person, attitude or phase?
When a court card appears in a spread, it is worth asking three questions.
- Is it a person? Sometimes the card recalls someone in the life of the person consulting, recognisable by character rather than age or appearance.
- Is it an attitude? Often the figure describes the way the person is facing the situation, or the way they could.
- Is it a phase? The passage from Page to King can indicate a process of growth: from learning to mastery.
There is no fixed rule. The context, the position in the spread and the neighbouring cards help in choosing. The folk traditions that linked the figures to particular hair colours or precise ages are now considered of little use by many readers, because they reduce the card to a superficial identikit.
An example reading
Someone asks how to handle a new responsibility in a volunteer group. The Knight of Wands comes up in the current-situation position and the King of Coins in the advice position. The first card describes strong, perhaps somewhat hasty enthusiasm; the second suggests pairing that energy with a steadier, more organised attitude. Here the figures do not indicate other people but two ways of being between which a balance must be found.
An exercise with the court cards
Separate the sixteen court cards from the deck and choose, without thinking too much, the one you most recognise yourself in at the moment. Then choose the one that seems furthest away. Finally, note what the second could teach the first. The exercise helps you get to know the figures and, at the same time, to know yourself better. In the Officina Ermetica the court cards are considered a privileged mirror for precisely this reason.
In short
- There are sixteen court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King for each of the four suits.
- The tarot added the Queen to the three figures of Italian playing cards.
- Each role indicates a degree of maturity: learning, movement, inner and outer mastery.
- The reading arises from combining role and suit.
- A court card can indicate a person, an attitude or a phase: context decides.
