HIDDEN AND SECRET MEANINGS
The Court Cards
By David Allen Hulse
As a student of the Tarot progresses in learning the cards, the sixteen Court
Cards will always be the leanest in meaning and nuance. Many books and
teachers don't seem to know what to do with them. However, they are a gold
mine of oracular vocabulary if their secret symbolism is studied deeply
enough.
There are two basic ways of interpreting a Court Card when it is drawn in
a Tarot reading. The exoteric approach is to look at the specific Court Card
as a person outside of the querent (the individual whose cards are being read).
It is someone they already know or are about to meet who has great influence
(which is usually determined by the cards surrounding a specific Court Card
in a Tarot spread). The nature of that person is determined by cosmetic
appearances or by the zodiacal sun sign. The esoteric approach is to view
a specific Court Card as a mask, attitude, or experience that the querent
needs to assume in the future, is already assuming in the present, or has
assumed in the past.
In my beginning studies of the Tarot, the most difficult cards were the
sixteen Court Cards. The pictorial Major Arcana cards had very dramatic and
distinct pictures to help me intuit their meanings. The Minor Arcana, at least
in Waite's well known version, also had distinct picture images to guide me
in determining their divinatory complexion. But the sixteen Court Cards
seemed to resemble one another and were not distinct enough for me to easily
grasp their oracular vocabulary. The most I could see in these cards were
the distinction of gender and possibly age. As such, in my initial Tarot
readings the Court Cards symbolized other people gathered around the querent.
Hair color and complexion seemed to be indicated in the various card designs,
and these cosmetic indicators were all I could use to initially differentiate
among these sixteen similar looking and often misunderstood Tarot cards.
The two master Tarot scholars, Waite and Case, defined the Court cards by
hair color more than anything else. But if we look at the doctrine of Tarot
correspondences found in the secret teachings of the magical order known as
the Golden Dawn, you will discover that these sixteen cards have a deep series
of correspondences which can help you in your readings.
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN COURT CARD INTERPRETATION
Ettellia (born Jean-Baptiste Alliette, 1738–1791) was the first of many
French writers to develop manuals for cartomancy (fortune telling with either
Tarot or playing cards). His first work dealt with reading the common pack
of playing cards rather than the Tarot. The King, Queen, and Jack
(corresponding to the Page in the Tarot) are given two sets of meanings, one
if the card fell upright and the other if the card was reversed. These
attributes were recorded in his textbook of 1770 entitled Etteilla, or a Way
to Entertain Oneself with a Pack of Cards.1
ETTELLIA'S KEY TO THE COURT FIGURES IN A PLAYING DECK
CLUBS
HEARTS
SPADES
DIAMONDS
DARK MAN
BLOND MAN
LAWYER
MAN
(REVERSED) CHESTNUT BROWN MAN CHESTNUT BLOND MAN
WIDOWED MAN
MAN
QUEEN
BLONDE LADY
WIDOWED LADY
LADY
CHESTNUT BLONDE
LADY
LADY OF THE WORLD
LADY
DARK YOUTH
BLOND YOUTH
MESSENGER
SOLDIER
CHESTNUT BROWN
YOUTH
CHESTNUT BLOND
YOUTH
SPY
SERVANT
KING
DARK LADY
(REVERSED) CHESTNUT BROWN LADY
JACK
(REVERSED)
These attributes would be further developed in Etteilla's later works on
Tarot divination. Eliphas Levi (born Alphonse-Louis Constant, 1810–1875),
the most famous of all French Occultists, discussed the Tarot in many of his
works. He never went into great detail over the Court Cards. However, he
composed a short poem to describe their symbolism in his Transcendental
Magic:
"King, Queen, Knight,Page.
The Married pair, the youth, the child, the race.
Thy path by these to unity retrace"2
In my beginning work as a Tarot diviner, if such cards were encountered in
the reading, I felt that they must signify another person other than the
querent. At first I used the tried and true formulae that Paul Foster Case
(1884–1954) shows in his The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, found
in Chapter XXVII "Tarot Divination." These attributions for the Court Cards
use hair color, complexion, and age to discern between the sixteen
personality types of these sixteen cards. These simple attributes (that came
from Ettellia and are used in Mathers' pamphlet on the Tarot, about which
I will have more to say later) are a quick way of giving meaning to the Court
Cards. They are also utilized in Waite's book on the Tarot. The following
table summarizes these attributes as shown in Mathers' Tarot pamphlet and
extracted from the writings of Etteilla
EXOTERIC MEANINGS FOR THE 16 COURT CARDS3
WANDS
CUPS
KING Country Gentleman Fair Man
SWORDS PENTACLES
Lawyer
Dark Man
QUEEN Lady of the Manor Fair Woman Widow Dark Woman
KNIGHT
Departure
Arrival
PAGE
Good Stranger
Fair Youth
Soldier Useful Man
Spy
Dark Youth
Case qualified these attributes by stating that "Pages may be young girls
as well as young lads. Queens are not always married, but represent rather
women with experience of life."4 This clarification helps, since many
commentators show the King, Knight, and Page all as masculine images, with
the Queen being the only feminine figure.
Case also adds the following spiritual attributes for the Court Cards. He
classifies the Kings as the spirit, the Queens as the soul, the Knights as
the ego, and the Pages as the body.5
But we shall see further that Case's four attributes allow the highest order
to fall to the King, when in fact the esoteric attributes will give the Knight
the highest order as the father, while the King will be seen as the son of
the Knight. But such a realignment did not occur until the Golden Dawn
established its own esoteric doctrine for the Tarot.
From the above table, the King and Queen are mature adults, the Knight a young
adult, and the Page a youth. Looking at their court titles, one would
naturally pair the King with the Queen as co-rulers of an empire, and the
Knight with his Page, his apprenticed helper. This was the standard
interpretation until the appearance of the Golden Dawn in 1887.
The Golden Dawn is the most important quasi-Masonic order to contribute to
the evolution of the modern Tarot. S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918) and
W. Wynn Westcott (1848–1925) wrote most of the papers documenting the
Order's secret teachings. Much was derived from a set of hidden documents
known as the Cipher Manuscripts that contained the skeleton attributes of
all the magical symbolism utilized in the rituals and practices of the Golden
Dawn. The famous attribute of assigning Key 0—The Fool to the Hebrew letter
Aleph and the element Air is concealed in a table interspersed among the many
leaves of the manuscripts which were written in a coded alphabet of the Abbot
Trithemius (1462–1516). However, this manuscript makes no mention of the
doctrine of the Court Cards that appears in the Golden Dawn document Book
T.
Book T was written by Mathers and contains many new innovations for the Tarot
as a whole. There are 3 levels of symbolism that Mathers imbued into these
sixteen mysterious cards: the fourfold family found in the Qabalistic
tetragrammaton, the 36 decans of the zodiac, and the counterchange of the
four elements.
THE CONFUSION BEGINS
One of the most difficult aspects of the Golden Dawn system of Court Cards
is that Mathers revised the titles for the four court personages.
Traditionally the four are shown as King, Queen, Knight, and Page. However,
Mathers came up with a different set of titles as King, Queen, Prince and
Princess. This has caused nothing but havoc with most modern interpretations
of Mathers complex symbolism.
The confusion rests in the title of the King. In glancing at Mathers' new
titles one would readily assume that Mathers' new King is equivalent to the
old King. But this is where it gets tricky. Mathers' King is the new title
for the old Knight. This is the most recondite teaching in the Golden Dawn
Court Card system. Both Waite and Case seem to be confused by this reshuffling
of titles, but Crowley was perceptive enough to understand Mathers' new
classification system. For the Old Knight becomes the New King, the Queen
remains the same in both schemes, while the New Prince is the Old King and
the new Princess is the Old Page.
Mathers' logic for this renaming is based on the mystery surrounding the
four-lettered name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, written in Hebrew as IHVH. This
mystery name contains the four elements and the fourfold family as Father,
Mother, Son, and Daughter. In Mathers' renaming of the Court cards, the King
is fire and the father, the Queen is water and the mother, the Prince is air
and the son, while the Princess is earth and the daughter. Crowley immediately
saw the difficulty in these revised titles so in his own Book of Thoth,
published in 1944, he brought back the old title of Knight, so that in his
own scheme the four court personages were transformed into Knight, Queen,
Prince, and Princess. This was done to guard against confusing the old King
with the new King.
In Crowley's own Magical Diary for May 3, 1920 he writes a new commentary
to replace Levi's own poem on the Court Cards: “Why do the Tarot Cards give
the Knight as the father, the King as the son? It is an echo of the legend
of the wandering Knight who wins the Queen and whose son becomes the King.”6
This diary entry shows that Crowley clearly understood Mathers' secret
symbolism. For the Knight as the father goes out on a quest for the hand of
the Queen, and when he completes his mystic journey he is united with his
Queen to generate his own heir in the King. That King, who is his son,
ultimately takes on a bride, the Page who becomes the new Queen. This is an
open-ended cycle that repeats itself again and again through each new
generation, where son and daughter become father and mother. This pattern
may be of help in determining the changing energies represented by a Court
Card when it appears in a reading. The following table shows the complex,
and often misconstrued, symbolism of the Golden Dawn Court Card system:
THE FAMILY DIVISION OF THE GOLDEN DAWN COURT CARDS7
OLD
NEW
CROWLEY FAMILY ELEMENT JEHOVA
Knight
King
Knight
Father
Fire
I
Queen
Queen
Queen
Mother
Water
H
King
Prince
Prince
Son
Air
V
Page Princess Princess Daughter Earth
H
THE TREE OF LIFE
AND A SECRET FOR INTERPRETATION
Based on this scheme of the fourfold family, the four court cards in each
of the suits can be placed on the Tree of Life as one of the ten sephiroth
or stations on the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a Qabalistic diagram
of the Cosmos. There are ten basic numbers or stations on the Tree of Life
(sephirah in the singular). Each of the ten sephiroth correspond to the Minor
Arcana cards numbered Ace through ten in the four suits. The 22 cards of the
Major Arcana correspond to the 22 separate paths that serve as connecting
links between the ten sephiroth. Of the ten sephiroth, four fall to the family
structure of Father, Mother, Son, and Daughter. These in turn can be the four
court cards as the secret Golden Dawn family structure. The following table
shows this allocation on the Tree of Life:
16 COURT CARDS ON THE TREE OF LIFE
COURT CARD FAMILY SEPHIRAH MINOR ARCANA
KNIGHT
Father Chockmah
QUEEN
Mother
Binah
Threes
KING
Son
Tiphereth
Sixes
PAGE
Twos
Daughter Malkuth
Tens
From this attribution, each of the sixteen Court cards can be directly
connected to one of sixteen select Minor Arcana cards, and share the
divinatory meaning of that specific Minor Arcana card. This is another method
of obtaining an alternate set of meanings for the Court Cards. This was one
of the first secret methods that I used in my own Tarot divinations to enhance
the elusive meanings for the Court Royals beyond their outward cosmetic
appearance. Here are key definitions for the Court Cards based on the Minor
Arcana:
THE COURT CARDS AND THEIR MINOR ARCANA ORACULAR VOCABULARY
COURT
WANDS
KNIGHT Dominion
CUPS
SWORDS
PENTACLES
Love
Peace Restored
Change
QUEEN
Virtue
Marriage
Sorrow
Creative Work
KING
Victory
Pleasure
Science
Material Success
Ruin
Wealth
PAGE Oppression Satiety
When using the above attributes in a reading for the Court Cards, read the
specific Court Card drawn as indicative of an event in the querent's life,
not someone else in their life.
USING THE ASTROLOGY OF THE COURT CARDS
TO CHOOSE A SIGNIFICATOR
The Golden Dawn, inspired by Paul Christian's (born Jean Baptiste Pitois,
1811–1877) attempt of applying astrological harmonies to the Court Cards
as revealed in his History of Magic (published in 1870), devised an
astrological scheme which associated the twelve signs of the zodiac and the
four elements to the sixteen court cards. In Christian's scheme, the Kings
stood apart as four major stars in the night sky, while the Queens, Knights,
and Pages became the signs of the zodiac. In the Golden Dawn scheme the signs
of the zodiac were aligned to the Knights, Queens, and Kings, while the Pages
stood apart as the elements. In essence the Knights were assigned to the
mutable signs, the Queens to the cardinal signs, and the Kings to the fixed
signs.
GOLDEN DAWN ASTROLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES FOR THE COURT CARDS
WANDS
CUPS
SWORDS PENTACLES
KNIGHT Sagittarius Pisces
Gemini
Virgo
QUEEN
Aries
Libra
Capricorn
KING
Leo
PAGE
Fire
Cancer
Scorpio Aquarius
Water
Air
Taurus
Earth
You can use the above table fora quick determination by the Sun sign of what
card should be chosen to represent a specific querent in any given reading.
There is a more complex zodiacal attribution for these Court Cards in the
Golden Dawn system of magic. This aspect has each court card bridge 2 zodiac
signs. This complexity has been missed by many commentators. For the Golden
Dawn system, the zodiac was further divided into 36 decans for these
astrological attributions.
Each sign of the zodiac is 30 degrees of a 360 degree circle for the complete
zodiac. Each sign of is subdividedinto three decans, each decan ruling ten
degrees of that particular sign. A decan equals about ten days, as a zodiac
sign equals about 30 days of the year. Each Court Card represents a zodiac
sign spanned between two signs, the last ten degrees of the preceding sign
plus the first twenty degrees of the current sign. Thus, Knight of Wands
represented the last ten degrees of Scorpio and the first twenty degrees of
Sagittarius, though the card is predominately Sagittarius. With this system
any person who was born on a cusp (i.e.straddling between two signs) could
easily be classified as a specific courtcard. The following table shows the
time of the year governing each card:
THE 36 DECANS RULING THE 4 KNIGHTS, QUEENS, AND KINGS
TIME OF THE YEAR
DECANS
12 SELECT COURT
CARDS
March 11–April 9
20°Pisces–20°Aries
Queen of Wands
April 10 – May 10
20°Aries–20°Taurus
King of Pentacles
May11 – June 10
20°Taurus–20°Gemini
Knight of Swords
June 11 – July 12
20°Gemini–20°Cancer
Queen of Cups
July 13 – August 12
20°Cancer–20°Leo
King of Wands
August 13 – September
12
20°Leo–20°Virgo
Knight of Pentacles
September 13 – October
13
20°Virgo–20°Libra
Queen of Swords
October 14 – November
12
20°Libra–20°Scorpio
King of Cups
November 13 – December
20°Scorpio–20°Sagittarius
11
Knight of Wands
December 12 – January
20°Sagittarius–20°Capricorn Queen of Pentacles
10
January 11 – February 8
20°Capricorn–20°Aquarius
King of Swords
February 9 – March 10
20° Aquarius–20°Pisces
Knight of Cups
Using the above table you can determine the exact Court Card to use as the
significator card for your querent. The Golden Dawn astrological
correspondences are the most sophisticated and accurate astrological
attributes for the Court Cards ever devised.
THE ELEMENTS AND THE COURT
A third level of symbolism was incorporated by the Golden Dawn into the lore
of the Court Cards. Mathers reasoned that since there were sixteen cards in
the Court Royals that these sixteen cards must correspond to the sixteen
sub-elemental counterchanges of fire, water, air, and earth. The doctrine
in Western Magic is that the elements come together to form sixteen
relationships between the elemental forces of nature. There are four classic
elements of fire, water, air and earth. In the Golden Dawn scheme of magic,
these four elements are the four minor suits of Wands, Cups, Swords, and
Pentacles. In the divination system of Geomancy the sixteen counterchanges
of the elements are of great importance. The Tattva system of India also
utilizes this scheme of counterchanged elements. Crowley's own unique
research in the area of the I Ching allowed this elemental classification
system to be applied to sixteen select hexagrams, for four of the eight
trigrams are symbolic of the four Western elements.
Mathers clearly connected one of four elements to the cycle of Knight, Queen,
King and Page as fire, water, air, and earth. Further, the four suits were
also the four elements of fire, water, air and earth. Sixteen counterchanged
elements were generated from these four elemental building blocks that
allowed each major element to be subdivided into four blends of two elements.
Thus for the element fire there are four counterchanges being fire of fire,
water of fire, air of fire and earth of fire. This is true for all four elements.
Here are the sixteen elemental counterchanges for the Court Cards:
ELEMENTAL COUNTERCHANGES FOR THE COURT CARDS
WANDS
CUPS
SWORDS
PENTACLES
KNIGHT Fire of Fire Fire of Water Fire of Air Fire of Earth
QUEEN Water of Fire Water of Water Water of Air Water of Earth
KING
Air of Fire
Air of Water
Air of Air
Air of Earth
PAGE Earth of Fire Earth of Water Earth of Air Earth of Earth
By bringing in this elemental symbolism for the sixteen Court Cards, the
attributions of Geomancy, the Tattvas and the I Ching can all be aligned to
each Court Card, allowing a much deeper set of symbols than any other previous
system for the Tarot. Here are these systems indicating new oracular
vocabularies for the Court Cards.
GEOMANCY
Geomancy (meaning divination by patterns in the earth) is a very early earth
divination system that had its origin in the Middle East and spread to Africa,
Madgascar, and ultimately Renaissance Europe. There are sixteen figures that
are cast in this system. Each figure is composed of four lines made up of
one or two dots, odd or even (male or female). Casting of the figure was
accomplished by poking holes in the earth (or sand) with a rod, or by casting
two sided objects such as seashells.
The Golden Dawn used the European refinement of this system, and paired each
Geomantic figure to one of the sixteen elemental counterchanges of fire,
water, air, and earth. Each figure was also given both a planetary and
zodiacal influence. Based on the elemental counterchanges, the sixteen
Geomantic figures were assigned to the sixteen Court Cards. The following
table lists:
1. The name of the Court Card
2. The Latin title of the Geomantic figure assigned to that Court
Card
3. The Planet and Zodiac sign of the Geomantic figures
4. Its oracular vocabulary to be used as a means of interpreting
the Court Cards
GEOMANCY AND THE COURT CARDS8
Knight of Wands
Queen of Wands
Acquisitio
Puer
Jupiter/Sagittarius
Mars/Aries
Gain,Acquisition Youth, Rash Action
King of Wands
Fortuna Major
Sun/Leo
Wealth, Fame,
Help
Knight of Cups
Queen of Cups
King of Cups
Laetitia
Populus
Rubeus
Jupiter/Pisces
Joy, Delight, Health
Moon/Cancer
People, Crowd
Mars/Scorpio
Passion, Temper
Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
King of Swords
Albus
Puella
Tristitia
Mercury/Gemini
Wisdom, Bright
Venus/Libra
Saturn/Aquarius
Innocence, Beauty Sadness, Illness
Knight of Pentacles Queen of Pentacles King of Pentacles
Conjunctio
Mercury/Virgo
Union, Meeting
Carcer
Amissio
Saturn/Capricorn
Venus/Tarus
Delay, Tie, Prison Loss, Give Away
Page of Wands
Cauda Draconis
Saturn/Dragon
Tail
Exit, Below,
Leave
Page of Cups
Via
Moon/Cancer
Way, Path,
Journey
Page of Swords
Fortuna Minor
Sun/Leo
Small Fortune,
Aid
Page of Pentacles
Caput Draconis
Jupiter/Dragon
Head
Upper, In
The oracle associated to each of these Geomantic figures can be used as an
oracle for each of the Court Cards.They should be read as an indicator of
the querent in the reading rather than a person outside of the querent.
TATTVAS
The Tattvas originate from India and were incorporated as part of the
Theosophical tradition. The term Tattva combines the Sanskrit for "that" and
"thou" to symbolize the essence of reality. They are a set of magical symbols
that can classify the physical universe as five elemental shapes. The Golden
Dawn brought this system into their own magical tradition from Theosophical
sources. The Tattvas are a subset of the Hindu system known as Yantras, which,
in part, are diagrams to aid the mind in meditation. They are used as a tool
to induce concentration, and Mandalas are part of this tradition. The Tarot
can be seen as a system of Yantras for the West.
In the Tattva system there are five basic shapes: oval, circle, triangle,
crescent and square. These five basic shapes are counterchanged so that 25
combinations can be generated. Each combination has one symbol drawn half
the size of the original and laid inside the original. This smaller symbol
counterchanged on a larger symbolis the sub division of that element. Thus
a smaller triangle within a larger circle designates the elemental
counterchange of fire (triangle) of air (circle). This is reminiscent of the
sixteen counterchanges of the four elements. However, with the Tattva system
the blue-violet oval is spirit as the fifth element, so that 25 combinations
are generated.
[Editor's Note: If you are interested in this fascinating but little-known
system, there is an in-depth analysis of it in Hulse's The Eastern Mysteries.
You may also want to look at Dr. Jonn Mumford's Magical Tattwa Cards kit.
It includes a book with a full description of the Tattwa or Tattva system
(giving many practical uses), plus a deck of 25 cards illustrating all of
the potential counterchanges. Working with these may help you get a better
understanding of the energies of the Court Cards.]
Of these five basic shapes, four are equal to the Western fourfold elements.
They are in turn both one of the four court cards and one of the four suits
in the Minor Arcana. Here are the attributes:
TATTVA ELEMENTAL CHART
TATTVA
SHAPE
Tejas
Red Triangle
Apas
Vayu
ELEMENT COURT
SUIT
Fire
Knights
Wands
Silver Crescent Water
Queens
Cups
Kings
Swords
Blue Circle
Prithivi Yellow Square
Air
Earth
Pages Pentacles
For the Golden Dawn, the 25 Tattva combinations were used as astral doorways
to the various elemental kingdoms. By passing though the symbol in the astral
body, the many gradations of the elemental kingdom could be explored. Each
counterchange represented a certain type of astral scenery. Of the 25
counterchanges, sixteen correspond to the classic sixteen elemental
counterchanges. By this attribution sixteen select Tattvas can be paired to
the sixteen Court Cards. Each counterchange is a different scenic location.
These geographical oracles are shown in the following table which lists the
name of the Court Card, the name of the Tattva counterchange, and the
geographical location that the Tattva represents in a divination.
ELEMENTAL TATTVA LOCATIONS AND THE COURT CARDS9
Knight of Wands
Queen of Wands
King of Wands
Page of Wands
Tejas of Tejas
Apas of Tejas
Vayu of Tejas
Prithivi of Tejas
Hot Climate
Tropical, Rainbow
Hot Winds
Volcano, Earthquake
Knight of Cups
Queen of Cups
King of Cups
Tejas of Apas
Apas of Apas
Vayu of Apas
Hot Springs
Wet Climate, Ocean Rain, Fog, Mist
Page of Cups
Prithivi of Apas
Waterfall,
Riverbank
Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
King of Swords
Page of Swords
Tejas of Vayu
Apas of Vayu
Vayu of Vayu
Prithivis of Vayu
Sunshine
Snow, Ice
Windy, Clouds
Cliff, Valley
Knight of Pentcles Queen of Pentacles King of Pentacles Page of Pentacles
Tejas of Prithivi Apas of Prithivi Vayu of Prithivi Prithivi of Prithivi
Desert
Beach
Mountain
Forest, Garden
As such, these attributes can beused in a reading to determine the
geographical locations that the querentmay be exposed to, in the past, the
present or the future.
THE I CHING
The Chinese Book the I Ching(meaning the Book of Changes) is an earth oracle
similar to Geomancy. Either a straight line (yang or male) or a broken line
(yin or female) are cast six times in this oracle to generate one of 64
combinations. The basic building block of these combinations are known as
trigrams, each made of three lines. The eight trigrams represent, the sun,
the moon, male, female, and the four elements. The trigrams that correspond
to the four elements can be linked directly to the Court Cards and the
elemental suits of the Tarot.
These elemental cross-correspondenceswere developed by Aleister Crowley in
both 777 and The Book of Thoth. They are not part of the Golden Dawn tradition;
however, they can be directly linked to the sixteen elemental counterchanges.
The following table shows the number of yin or yang strokes that make up:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The trigram (starting with the bottom line)
The Chinese name
The element in nature for this trigram
Tthe corresponding Western element
The Tarot suit
The Court Card
FOUR TRIGRAMS AND FOUR ELEMENTS
TRIGRAM
NAME
NATURE
ELEMENT
SUIT
COURT
Yang: Yin: Yin Chen
Flame
Fire
Wands
Knight
Yang: Yang: Yin Tui
Lake
Water
Cups
Queen
Air
Swords
King
Yin: Yang: Yang Sun Wood (Wind)
Yin: Yin: Yang Ken
Mountain
Earth Pentacles Page
These four basic elemental trigrams form sixteen counterchanges in the series
of 64 hexagrams. Sixteen of the hexagrams correspond to one of the Court Cards,
and can be used as an oracle for the Court Card series. Again, the attribution
comes from the sixteen elemental counterchanges that can unite sixteen select
hexagrams of the I Ching with the Court Cards. The following table gives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The name of the Court Card
The names of the two trigrams that form the hexagram
The number and Chinese name of the hexagram
The translation of the Chinese name
The oracular language that can be used to define the Court Card
in light of the I Ching. This oracular meaning should apply to
the querent in the reading.
THE I CHING AS ORACULAR LANGUAGE FOR THE COURT CARDS10
Knight of Wands
Queen of Wands
King of Wands
Page of Wands
Chen of Chen
51: Chen
Tui of Chen
17: Sui
Sun of Chen
42: I
Ken of Chen
27: Yi
Arousing
The Quest
Increase
Nourishment
Inner strength In order to rule,
To seize the
To care for yourself
deflects attacks one must first moment & advance & others around you
serve
Knight of Cups
Queen of Cups
King of Cups
Page of Cups
Chen of Tui
54: Kuei Mei
Marrying Maiden
Tui of Tui
58: Tui
Joyous
Sun of Tui
61: Chung Fu
Inner Truth
Ken of Tui
41: Sun
Decrease
To follow, rather To entertain or To win over your Passions curbed by
than lead
talk with friends opponent's view
higher instinct
Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
Chen of Sun
32: Heng
Duration
Tui of Sun
28: Ta Kuo
Power of the Great
Keeping to the Standing firm even
path first chose
though alone
Knight of
Pentacles
Queen of Pentacles
Chen of Ken
62: Hsiao Kua
Power to the Small
Tui of Ken
31: Hsian
Influence
To attempt the
Unexpected help
small & avoid the coming from above
great
King of Swords
Sun of Sun
57: Sun
Gentls (Wind)
Page of Swords
Ken of Sun
18: Ku
Renovation
Gradual, lasting
To not recoil from
influence on
hard work or danger
others
King of Pentacles
Sun of Ken
53: Chien
Gradual Progress
Page of Pentacles
Ken of Ken
52: Ken
Keeping Still
Persevere to the
To rest after a long
end of a long
journey
journey
ELEMENTAL PERSONALITIES
(JUNG AND THE COURT CARDS)
There is one more application of the elemental counterchanges for the Court
Cards that can reveal a psychological portrait of an individual. This is a
system that I had developed after I had gained familiarity with reading the
cards. It based in part on Carl Jung's fourfold division of the human psyche
as will, emotions, intellect, and the body (as sensation). These four
attributes can be attributed to fire as will, water as emotions, air as
intellect, and earth as the body (or somatic response). These four principals
modify one another as the sixteen Court cards. Here are traits that can be
used as further definitions for the Court cards in any reading. They can be
either the querent or someone the querent knows.
THE COURT CARDS AS ELEMENTAL PERSONALITIES11
Knight of Wands
Pure Will
Knight of Cups
Will modifying
Emotions
Knight of Swords
Queen of Wands
King of Wands
Page of Wands
Emotions modifying
Will
Intellect
modifying Will
Body modifying
Will
King of Cups
Page of Cups
Intellect
modifying Emotions
Body modifying
Emotions
Queen of Cups
Pure Emotions
Queen of Swords
Will modifying Emotions modifying
Intellect
Intellect
Knight of
Pentacles
King of Swords
Pure Intellect
Page of Swords
Body modifying
Intellect
Queen of Pentacles King of Pentacles Page of Pentacles
Will modifying
Body
Emotions modifying
Body
Intellect
modifying Body
Pure Sensory
(Physical)
THE INFLUENCE OF BOOK T ON WAITE, CROWLEY, AND CASE
Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1943) In The Pictorial Key, Paul Foster Case (in
The Tarot) and Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) in his The Book of Thoth give
divinatory attributes to the sixteen court cards that are derived from the
Golden Dawn esoteric tradition for the Tarot. There is much agreement among
these three authorities, and the following table will give you the essential
divinatory vocabulary in defining the court cards as personality traits.
These are the most common divinatory meanings that most modern Tarot readers
ascribe to the Court Cards. For the most part these definitions were derived
from Mathers' elaborate Golden Dawn order teachings as recorded in his secret
Book T.
BOOK T'S KEY WORDS USED BY WAITE, CROWLEY, AND CASE12
COURT
BOOK T
WAITE
CROWLEY
CASE
Knight of
Wands
Active, fierce,
sudden and
impetuous
Journey,
Discord
Fierceness,
Impulsive,
Revolutionary
Departure,
Change of
Residence
Queen of
Wands
Adaptability,
Magnetic
Steady Rule,
Persistent energy,
personality,
Great
Calm Authority,
Love of money or
attractive
Easily deceived
success
power
Magnetic,
Friendly,
Business
success
Swift, Strong, Honest, Ardent,
Violent in
King of Hasty, Violent
Animated,
Expression of
Wands yet just, Noble, Noble, Good but opinion, Noble,
Generous
Severe
Indefatigable
Friendly,
Ardent,
Honest,
Possible
inheritance
Brilliance,
Page of Force, Courage,
Wands
Beauty, Sudden
in love or anger
Extemely
individual,
Brilliant and
daring
Messenger,
Brilliance,
Courage
Graceful,
Higher grace of
Indolent but
Knight of
imagination,
enthusiastic if
Cups
Advances,
roused,
Proposition
Venusian
Dilettante,
Amiable,
Exceedling
Sensitive
Venusian,
Indolent,
Arrival,
Approach
Gift of Vision,
Fair,
Beautiful,
Loving
intelligence
Dreaminess,
Patient,
Tranquility
Fair,
Imaginative,
Poetic, Gift
of Vision
Intensely secret
and artistic,
secret violence,
ruthless
Calm
exterior,
Subtle,
Violent
Imaginative,
Queen of Poetic, Dreamy,
Cups
Good Nature,
Coquettish
Envoy,
Faithful, A
lover,
Indecision
Fierce nature
Creative
King of
with calm
intelligence,
Cups
exterior,
Law, Science,
violent, subtle Art, Divinity
Page of
Cups
Poetry, Dreamy,
Meditation,
Live in world of
Studious,
Sweetness,
Reflection, romance, perpetual Reflection,
Gentleness,
Message, News dream of rapture
News
Imaginative
Courageous but
Active,
inclined to Skill, Bravery,
Clever,
Knight of
domineer,
Defense, War, Attack, Activity,
Domineering,
Swords
Clever,
Wrath, Ruin, Skill, Cleverness
Enmity,
Delicate,
Destruction
Wrath, War
Skillful
Perceptive,
Quick,
Queen of
Confident,
Swords Graceful, Fond
of dancing &
balance
Sorrow,
Sadness,
Widowhood,
Mourning
Intense
individualist,
Swift, Accurate,
Confident
Subtle,
Quick,
Perceptive,
Keen,
Widowhood
Overcautious,
Firm in
King of
friendship and
Swords
enmity, Full of
Ideas
To sit in
judgement,
Authority,
Command
Wisdom,
Alert, Lithe,
Page of Strength, Grace Vigilance,
Swords and dexterity,
Spying,
Acuteness
Overseeing
Knight of
Pentacles
Heavy, Dull,
Material,
Clever,
Patient,
Laborious
Intellectual,
Ideals without
practicality,
Faddist
Distrustful,
Suspicious,
Extreme
caution
Stern and
revengeful,
Cleverness,
Dexterity
Vigilant,
Subtle,
Acute, Active
Slow, Enduring, Preoccupied with
Responsible, material things, Laborious,
Able,
Success due to Patient, Dull
Interested
instinct
Impetuous,
Greatness of
Kind, Timid,
Queen of
soul, Opulence,
Charming,
Pentacles
Generosity,
Melancholy,
Liberty
Great-hearted
Quiet, Hard
working,
Practical,
Sensible
Generous,
Charming,
Intelligent,
Moody
Steady,
Valor, Success,
Reliable,
King of
Intelligence,
Practically
Pentacles
Business
applies things,
Aptitude
Increase
Persevering,
Competent,
Ingenious,
Insensitive
Friendly,
Steady,
Reliable
Generous, Kind, Application, Being on the brink
Page of
Diligent,
Study, Rule,
of
Pentacles Benevolent,
Management,
transfiguration,
Persevering
Reflection
Being a woman
Diligent,
Careful,
Deliberate
With the elaborate Golden Dawn attributes for the Court Cards, we have come
to the most sophisticated set of attributes possible. This is certainly a
deeper view of the cards, than the traditional "a dark man", "a fair woman",
or "a clever youth". Hopefully, the wealth of new divinatory meanings
captured in this essay will help enrich your own Tarot readings when dealing
with the elusive sixteen Court Cards. May the Spirit of HUA that dwells over
the Tarot cards guide you with light in all your readings.
Editors Note:
As you have no doubt seen by this article, David Allen Hulse is an amazing
and thorough student of the occult. His two remarkable books follow this
tradition of depth and accuracy. The Eastern Mysteries uses language as a
uniting factor in its examination of six major Eastern spiritual traditions,
including sources of Hebrew and the Qabalah, secrets of the chakras and
Sanskrit, mysteries of Chinese and the I Ching, etc. The Western Mysteries
follows the same focus on the secrets of language. It links astrology, runes,
magick squares, Enochian magick, the Tarot, etc. Together they form a
complete introduction (and thus, a great encyclopedic resource for research)
to virtually all major spiritual and magical systems. Both The Western
Mysteries and The Eastern Mysteries by David Allen Hulse are © Llewellyn
Worldwide.
Have you used the information in either of these books to help your Tarot
divinations or for some other purpose? Share what you've learned with other
readers. Send an email to us a TLJletters@llewellyn.com or click on the "We
want to hear from you" link below with your story.
FOOTNOTES
1. Decker, Ronald et al. A Wicked Pack of Cards. New York: St. Martins Press. 1996. p.75.
2. Levi, Eliphas (Translator, Waite, A.E.). Transcendental Magic. London: Redway. 1923.
Chapter X. p.103.
3. Mathers, S. L. MacGregor. The Tarot. 1891. Reprint New York: Weiser, 1971. Pgs.17-21.
4. Case, Paul Foster. The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages. Richmond: Macoy Publishing
Company. 1947. p. 207.
5. Case, Paul Foster. Ibid. p. 17.
6. Crowley, Aleister. The Magical Record of the Beast 666. (editors Symonds, John, and Grant,
Kenneth). Montreal: The Next Step. 1972. Diary entry for May 3, 1920.
7. Hulse, David Allen. The Western Mysteries. St. Paul: Llewellyn Worldwide. 2000. The
remaining tables in this essay have been extracted from the Twelfth Key, pp. 259-457
8. Hulse, David Allen. Ibid. See pp. Lxxxviii-Ci for an overview of Geomancy.
9. Hulse, David Allen. The Eastern Mysteries. St. Paul: Llewellyn Worldwide. 2000. See pp.
286-334 for a complete description of the Tattva system.
10. Hulse, David Allen. Ibid. See pp. 376-517 for a extensive analysis of the I Ching.
11. Hulse, David Allen. The Western Mysteries. St. Paul: Llewellyn Worldwide. 2000. Table
derived from p. 306.
12. Hulse, David Allen. Ibid. Table derived from pp. 308-317.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Case, Paul Foster. The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages. Richmond: Macoy Publishing
Company. 1947.
Christian, Paul. The History and Practice of Magic. 1879. Reprinted, New York: The Citadel
Press, 1969
Crowley, Aleister. The Magical Record of the Beast 666 . (editors Symonds, John, and Grant,
Kenneth). Montreal: The Next Step. 1972.
_____________. The Book of Thoth. Berkeley: Shambhala. 1969 (first published 1944).
Decker, Ronald et al. A Wicked Pack of Cards. New York: St. Martins Press. 1996.
Hulse, David Allen. The Eastern Mysteries. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications. 2000.
_______________ The Western Mysteries. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications. 2000.
Kuntz, Darcy. The Golden Dawn Court Cards. Edmonds: Holmes Publishing Group.1996.
Mathers, S. L. MacGregor. The Tarot. 1891. Reprint New York: Weiser, 1971.
Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn. 1940. Reprint St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications. 1970.
Waite, Arthur Edward. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. 1910. Reprint. New York: University
Books. 1959.
David Allen Hulse
From an early age, David Allen Hulse diligently studied the alphabets
of the ancient world. As a child, David possessed a great affinity for
the alphabets of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece.
In college, a reading of MacGregor Mathers' Kabbalah Unveiled opened up the
Hebrew alphabet-number technique of Qabalistic research. After Hebrew, many
other ancient languages were decoded and studied, including Sanskrit and
Tibetan. In 1979, a discovery led to the need to capture the extent of all
prior Quabalistic research into one great reference work. Research is still
being carried out to discover new definitions for the number series as well
as new magickal systems.