Court Cards - help?
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If anyone has a tip they used to become more fluent in reading court cards, it would be much appreciated. I stumble on them in readings and find that I haven't yet formed a system capable of a deep understanding of how their attributions interact, whereas the major arcana and the number cards have become somewhat familiar to me.
In fact, any comments whatever are welcome on this subject. Thanks.
93 93/93
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Me too.
Recently, I read a comment from JAE that helped me.
The substance was that the 4 elements can mean two things in this context: (1) the four elements of malkuth and (2) the four worlds. Four times four equals sixteen - so sixteen court cards.
Kings are all the 'yod' of the tetragrammaton, and the world of Atziluth. Queens are 'heh' and Briah. Princes are 'vav' and Yetzirah. Princesses are the second 'heh' and Assiah.
It's a good exercise to try to separate these two aspects of each card. So, if you had a Princess of cups, you could imagine two lovers hugging, for example. Prince of pentacles, someone thinking up business plans. Etc.
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One of these days, I hope to get my book on Tarot - Liber Theta - back in print (or possibly just give it away as a PDF). It does almost nothing for the Trumps (there's enough material on that around), but it is the strongst thing I know on the Court Cards.
If you'd like to pick one of the cards for an example, I can probably post the text here without too much reworking. I recommend you don't pick a Princess (different model altogether) and that you don't pick a doubled-letter (Yod of Yod, Heh of Heh, etc.) for best effect.
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When I get home tonight, I'll try to get the Knight of Swords posted - It involves harvesting it from a no-longer-used word processor, doing some file conversions, then doing some graphics conversions to text - probably will take me most of an hour - but I should be able to do it at least this week.
In the meantime, here's some really basic stuff off the top of my head:
Knight of Swords corresponds to the last decanate of Taurus and the first two decanates of Gemini. These correspond, respectively, to the 7 of Disks, 8 of Swords, and 9 of Swords. Set these cards out in front of you, with the Knight above them. Meditate on these cards. The main message is that the nature of the card substantially is that of the 8 and 9 of Swords. The 7 of Disks is kind of an over-compensatory fall-back, something not really native to the card at all but what it retreats to when its normal resources fail.
And, through all of this, it is essentially the Chiah or Will idea manifesting through Ruach specifically.
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The Knight of Swords: FIRE of AIR
YOD of VAV (FIRE of AIR): When the fiery, creative, commanding impulse of the paternal Yod expresses itself through the intellectual realm of Air, we see the egoic, self-conscious faculty of reason, a piercing and brilliant intellect, separative and discriminating, controlling, commanding, and imperious. These faculties, which have permitted civilization and science to emerge and flourish, give enormous ability and advantage; yet they are also cruel, callous, and impersonal.
Yod of Air is all these fierce and penetrating things. “The Dominion of the Intellect” is its cognomen. Yod in Yetzirah is the power of brilliant intellect, vivid and mighty imagination, and all related cognitive capacities mobilized to support the Will. This Knight’s chief weakness, though, is that, in Yetzirah, awareness is dividual, cut off from conscious relationship to the Supernals; so there is less certainty in Swords that one’s perception of Will and its purposes is True.
He rules the heavens from 20° Taurus to 20° Gemini (including the constellation Auriga). Dual Gemini corresponds to Zayin, which actually means “sword.” The sword divides; cognition is a dual, binary function; and Gemini is ruled by mental Mercury. The Knight corresponds to the first two decanates of Gemini, ruled, respectively, by Jupiter and Mars, and called INTERFERENCE (or SHORTENED FORCE) and CRUELTY. “Cruelty and Interference” is a good description of the Knight’s basic nature.
The Jupiter decanate, INTERFERENCE, expresses “Fire of Air” as the lightning and thunder of the storm. This decanate is an example of “overkill” and obfuscation, of too much force applied to small things. In Swords, these traits commonly degenerate to malice, pettiness, and domination. The Mars decanate, called CRUELTY, indicates despair, pitilessness, malice, argument, rage, revenge, suffering, anxiety, and distress. It can, however, if very well dignified, signify mental discipline, analysis, precision, inquiry, and discrimination.
His shadow aspect is shown by the last decanate of Taurus, attributed to Saturn, and called FAILURE. Quite the opposite of the Knight’s usual temperament, it is characterized by inertia and slow development. It requires patience and careful labor. More than the simple antithesis of the Knight, this is his buried fear from which he flees, and against which he overcompensates.
His character is active, clever, subtle, fierce, courageous, skillful, discriminating; with a piercing, brilliant, and disciplined intellect and powerful imagination; precise, analytical, inquisitive; but inclined to dominate, to overvalue small things, and to apply disproportionate force to small matters, unless he is exceptionally well dignified. If ill-dignified: deceitful, tyrannical, separative, suspicious and distrustful, cruel, malicious, argumentative, rageful, vengeful, pitiless, petty, callous, and cagey.
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I recognise a few of my colleagues (scientists) in this Knight, brilliance & pitfalls.
"One of these days, I hope to get my book on Tarot - Liber Theta - back in print (or possibly just give it away as a PDF). It does almost nothing for the Trumps (there's enough material on that around), but it is the strongst thing I know on the Court Cards."
Like Dhakhair I have the most trouble with understanding the court cards properly. This book sounds most interesting.
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Jim, I have two questions that are on-topic to this thread. (I'll take anyone's answer, really, but Jim is surely the authority here.)
- Would it be safe to say that the Court Cards can be defined as the parts of the Psyche [Chiah, Neshamah, Ruach, and Nephesh] being expressed through each other?
You said that the Knight of Swords, for instance, was the Yod, the Chiah, being expressed through the Ruach. The Prince of Wands, then, would be... the highest creative aspect that is within the Ruach? Does this way of thinking about it hold up for all of the court cards, or am I going off-course here?
- Would you be able to say a few words about the Prince of Wands? It showed up in a Tarot reading recently and strikes me as very interesting [hence my using it as an example in the previous question].
[If you don't have time for this one, don't worry about it - the Book of Thoth will get me through it
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@Ash said
"1. Would it be safe to say that the Court Cards can be defined as the parts of the Psyche [Chiah, Neshamah, Ruach, and Nephesh] being expressed through each other?"
That's certainly one way to express it, yes. (Perhaps "from the perspective of each other.")
"2. Would you be able to say a few words about the Prince of Wands? It showed up in a Tarot reading recently and strikes me as very interesting [hence my using it as an example in the previous question]."
VAV of YOD (AIR of FIRE). Vital, virile, energetic, swift, bearing into action (or articulation) all the raw, primal potential of the Knight, his father.
As Vav in Fire, he is Reason giving guidance, lucidity, and continuity (persistence) to the underlying Will-force. With him it is Reason that directs, guides, and carries forward.
As Vav in Atziluth, a higher vision of this idea become apparent. Here he represents the linkage between our inturned (or upraised) consciousness, and the spiritual roots of primal fire, will, and the creative vital forces. In this regard he takes on an angelic character; for he is the intermediary, or messenger, between upraised human consciousness and the plane of spiritual Causation.
20° Cancer to 20° Leo: The first two decanates of Leo are ruled by Saturn and Jupiter, and are titled STRIFE and VICTORY. It is upon the keen edge of struggle and victory that he rides. Saturn and Jupiter signify loss and gain, constriction and expansion - and, as if in the world of business, he must continually keep these two principles in dynamic balance. Saturn/Leo has a quality of domination and arrogance, and means either condescension and cruelty, or patronage and generosity, depending on dignity. Jupiter/Leo reflects other aspects of the same royal demeanor, and indicates victory, but only within the context of, and resulting from, struggle. He signifies joy, gain, abundant self-confidence or, in its negative aspect, insolence, vanity, excessive self-aggrandizement, and pride. He is the magical consciousness that governs and steers the Lion Kerub, which in turn presides over all the elemental powers of Fire. By correspondence to Leo and Teth, he partakes in their lust for life, their passion and vitality, and the rapture which is born from the fulfillment of True Will.
His inferior, or shadow, component is indicated by the final, or lunar, decanate of Cancer, popularly called LUXURY. Despite his accouterments of both nobility and aristocracy, his is a way of vitality and action, which is neither passive nor quiet. His pleasures are in his vitality, his “going,” and his rapture is in the exertion of his Will.
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Thank you, Jim - I hope to see the full text of liber theta someday, it seems extremely helpful.
I noticed that the popular names of the decanates are titles AC gave to minor arcana - are all the minor arcana representative of decanates (which I understand to be purely symbolic and without much astrological import)?
Also, if liber theta exists in an outdated file format, I may be able to help you convert it, if you so wished. My dad is an IT guy and has access to a lot of software. May I ask what format it's currently trapped in?
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@Ash said
"I noticed that the popular names of the decanates are titles AC gave to minor arcana - are all the minor arcana representative of decanates (which I understand to be purely symbolic and without much astrological import)?"
Yes, except the Aces.
"Also, if liber theta exists in an outdated file format, I may be able to help you convert it, if you so wished. My dad is an IT guy and has access to a lot of software. May I ask what format it's currently trapped in?"
It has to be completely restructured (incuding substantial rewrite) before I'll let it out again.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Yes, except the Aces. "
Ahh! That makes sense. I knew the math didn't quite add up, but in the haze of just waking up after eating a tremendous amount of turkey, I failed to process that.
@Jim Eshelman said
"It has to be completely restructured (incuding substantial rewrite) before I'll let it out again."
Ok, gotcha.