S L MacGregor Mathers| Etteilla | Court Cards

Published by Alison Cross on

I’m all about spreading the Court Card luff, as you know, so here are a couple of useful things that I picked up the other day from a slender volume called The Tarot by S L MacGregor Mathers.

Yes, you know, the Golden Dawn guy.  Right at the back of the book, under the heading ‘Special Insights’ I noted the following:
Knight of Sceptres
(Knight of Wands)
You can interpret the DEPARTURE of the energies of the card following the Knight of Wands.  So, if the Knight of Wands is followed by 3 Swords, it would mean the departure of grief/loss.

Knave of Sceptres
(Page of Wands)
Reversed:  See what cards it lies between and they shall show you the source of the news and what the news is about.

The Knight of Cups
Where the Wands Knight showed departure, the Cups Knight shows ARRIVAL in the following card.  So Knight of Cups followed by 3 of Swords shows the arrival of grief/loss.

The Queen of Swords
Much less useful information for us – can show someone who has just been widowed.  Or simply show that ‘if two people are married, the one will die some time before the other, but not necessarily that the event will occur immediately’.  See? Not hugely useful.  But presented for you nonetheless πŸ™‚

The Knave of Swords
(Page of Swords)
Reversed:  Indicates that the card following is UNEXPECTED.  So, followed by 6 of Wands, you would have an unexpected victory.

Knave of Pentacles
(Page of Pentacles)
Reversed: The following card will show where the querant is PRODIGAL  (ie wastefully extravagant)

These are ‘chiefly’ taken from Etteilla, according to Mathers.  Am now, of course, sweeping myself off to the dustiest corner of the Thrones Tower library to inspect Etteilla for more court card info πŸ™‚

I’d be interested to know how you get on when using these insights.


Alison Cross

The Tarot's Court Cards are my specialist area.Β  They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ....

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