Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Month: March 2016

  • Crow Moon| March 2016 |

    The March full moon has a lovely selection of names that speak of the quickening of the soil and the spirit of Spring:

    Sap Moon
    Worm Moon
    Crow Moon
    Lenten Moon

    I have chosen the Crow Moon to celebrate the full moon of the 23rd because I am surrounded by the flappy black blighters.

    Lots of people hate them – frightening off the songbirds from the bird tables as they craftily work out how to burgle your squirrel-proof feeder.


    They are absolutely the noisiest neighbours in the history of Christendom.

    Many years ago, we were in a BBC Scotland gardening programme called The Beechgrove Garden.  When the producer turned up to ask me some preliminary questions, he was astounded by the amount of noise that the crows were making.  I was surprised- after half a dozen years, they failed to even register with me as being vocal!

    Now nearly 20 years later, I adore my great dark neighbours.  They’re clever, cruel and vastly entertaining to watch.

    I’ve hand-reared fallen chicks – wary-eyed feather dusters – with, erm, let’s say, VARYING degrees of success.

    I’ve rescued one who dangled by a claw from a bird feeder.

    I love their rhythms – wheeling noisily into the sky at dawn and then at dusk dropping into the treetops and settling in waves, like a black tide.

    At this time of year they toil through the skies clutching enormous twigs (usually the spring clippings from some garden border!) often so large that if one plummets from a distracted beak, you can get quite a startle as it clatters onto the pavement!

    The Crow Moon is, for me, a time when Spring arrives proper.  The ground is warming up, the sap is rising, the worms are working madly beneath the ground, pushing up their casts onto lawns all over the land.

    I choose The Queen of Swords from the Mary El to illustrate the Crow Moon.

    What is pulsing into life?

    The creative intellect of the Queen of Swords is what!

    As the year gathers power, so does our Swords energy – communication, brain stuff, book-learning, natural intelligence …. coupled with the Queen’s spirit – protective, nurturing and creative.

    Got a creative project lurking inside you? The Queen is telling you to Get. On. With. it.

  • Tarot & Finance | Pentacles Financial Advisers | Spring Blog Hop

    Welcome to the Tarot Thrones contribution to the Spring Tarot Blog! Our wrangler for this hop is Ania Marczyk.  As we the end of the Financial Year is bearing down upon us at a rate of knots, Ania wants us to talk about Tarot and Finance.

    Since the Tarot Thrones blog is all about the Court Cards of the Tarot, I have opted to seek advice from the family that knows most about money, the Pentacles.
    After a short confab, the Pentacles family from The Morgan Greer Tarot have come up with these little nuggets of advice …

    Words in bold are associated with their rank 🙂

    Page of Pentacles

    Look at your money in a new way

    Start     saving – even small amounts

    Learn     about money (without your eyes glazing over) Financial literacy is too important to leave to other people to handle for you.

    Start     a financial diary!
    The Knight of Pentacles

    Financial risk-taking should err on the side of caution
    Explore your financial options
    What can you do re your telecoms, can you make savings?  (prompted by all that Airy communication energy!)
    The Queen of Pentacles
    Nurture your money – check your interest rates and change where possible.
    Get on top of your household budget
    Be a good guardian for your money – be alert to identity theft. You may not be actually out of pocket, but your credit rating can be adversely affected if someone gets access to your identity.
    Teach other people what you have learned about making your cash grow – your other half? Your kids? 
    The Queens have watery energy – Might you may be better off on a water meter rather than pay via rates?  Before you change, check to see whether you are permitted to change back if it turns out to be more spendy.
    The King of Pentacles

    He didn’t get to where he is today by being frivolous, no matter that those grapes make you think! 
    Pay off old debt – whenever you have cash materialising put it towards reducing your existing debts – mortgage, credit card, store cards etc.
    Get an expert advisor/adviser 
    (‘Parently -er is five times more commonly used than -or)  I’m hedging my bets – very Pentacly 🙂
    The Kings display Fire energy, so here,  The King asks you to take command of your fuel bills – can you change your supplier? We did it this month and are going to halve our monthly energy spend.
    The Fire energy also suggests that maybe you could quit smoking to save some cash AND care for that other, most vital of possessions – your health!
    And just before you go ….. M’new book 😀  Yes! It’s by ME!!!!
    Click to visit Amazon UK
    also for sale in other Amazon outlets 😀 

  • A Year In The Wildwood | E-book

    On Saturday my new (well, let’s be honest – my ONLY) e-book will be published on Amazon.

    If you are familiar with the Wildwood Tarot’s facebook page, you will know that for the past couple of years, I’ve been an Admin there and exploring each of the cards as they arise on The Wheel of The Year

    A few people asked me where they could buy all the entries, and so I have now obliged by gathering them together into this little e-book.

    Cover image: The Pole Star
    permission kindly given by Will Worthington

    The book is currently available to pre-order and I hope that if you enjoy working with The Wildwood, you will consider adding it to your library.

    Version: text only

  • Comparative Tarot | Page of Wands

    We began this Comparative Tarot session with a look at the Page of Swords, over three decks.  Today we look at the Page of Wands, trying to find common ground and extend our perceptions as to what he might mean in the decks that we use ourselves.

    On the left we have the RWS Page of Wands, then the Fante Di Bastone from the Tarot of The Master (ToTM), the Knave of Batons from Dame Fortune’s Tarot Wheel and finally the Page of Staffs from The Byzantine Tarot.

    In the RWS we have a cloaked-up young man standing in an arid landscape.  He must be roasting hot in his hat and cloak! He gazes intently at his sprouting Wand.  Pyramids line the horizon to the right of the card.


    The Fante stands dressed in his travelling clothes, his Wand held like a walking stick, his cloak pulled around him and his little dog companion on a leash behind him.

    The Knave of Batons is named Hector in the Dame Fortune deck.  He looks martial with his helmet, breast plate and shin protectors. Yet he has no sword or shield. He too stands in a landscape, focussed on the Wand.

    The Byzantine Page is out of his office and hurries over the grass, bearing scrolls in his hands.

    We know that Pages stand for smallness, messages and newness …  but what do the Pages creators say about them?

    In A E Waite’s ‘Pictorial Key To The Tarot’ he writes of the Page of Wands:  “Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman….He may signify family intelligence”.  Clearly missing in the Donald Trump family, I think.

    The ToTM Fante is marked with the keyword ‘Message’ and the Little White Book (LWB) that accompanies the deck adds little to what we can see, stating only that the rural aspect of the Wands is clearly seen in the Fante.

    Hector’s LWB entry states: “A stranger.  Hector, prince of Troy. An unknown person, something extraordinary, admirable.  A messenger for a powerful man.”

    The Byzantine’s Page information comes from a good-sized accompanying book that comes with the deck.  The key words are: “A Prodigy, A Stranger, an Emissary, Surprise, Naivety, Faithfulness, Tidings – good and bad”.

    The common elements seem to be faithfulness, foreignness and a messenger of some sort (either delivery or ambassadorial)

    How can we link all this together?

    The RWS Page is clearly wearing the wrong clothes for his environment, so he’s HERE from somewhere else? And if you are visiting, you are a stranger and a foreigner … and you could be acting on someone’s behalf or delivering a message?

    The Fante is dressed for travel, with his cloak slung around his shoulders and his sturdy boots on.  Again – travel, foreignness … maybe he is waiting for the letter he must deliver.  We also clearly see this idea of faithfulness in the shape of his dog.  Dogs are often associated with fidelity.

    Hector was, according to Homer a thoughtful, heroic chap – so we can see the ‘admirable’ qualities that his LWB talks about.  Interestingly, on Wiki I read that author James Redfield describes him as a ‘martyr to loyalties..’ Also, according to Wiki, his name, Hector could mean ‘hold fast’ so here we have two ways that he is associated with loyalty and fidelity.

    Although I don’t think he was noted for being a messenger (please let me know if this is a wrong assumption on my part!) he is dressed in armour, but not in a battle. So, like the RWS he is here from somewhere else – so a foreigner and stranger 🙂

    The Byzantine Page of Staffs is clearly delivering messages.  More usually found in the confines of the office, this Page is outside his usual enviroment, just as much as the RWS Page and Hector – so again we can infer foreignness and being a stranger.

    So there we have it – by looking at four Pages of Wands we can see that they are messengers, strangers abroad, faithful and admirable.

    How do YOU interpret the Page of Wands?

    Like the look of these cards? ….

    Amazon.co.uk Widgets

  • Exhibition | The World In Play

    The King of Falcons
    Stuttgart playing cards

    The World In Play 1430 – 1540 is an exhibition of playing cards at The Met in New York, ending 17 April 2016.

    Sadly, my pockets are empty *shows the threadbare linings* and I cannot attend.  But in an ideal world, I’d pop over for the weekend and take in a show on the Saturday night before settling down to a late night supper with some friends …. 😀


    I have encountered two sets of the original Visconti Sforza cards in Italy last April.  Firstly at an exhibition on Milanese life in Milan and then later at the newly refurbished Carrara museum.

    I long to press my nose up against the glass and marvel at the sugar-almond shades of the Courtly Hunt Cards.  Careful how you say that.

    Come with me, let’s ogle the cards together ….

    Alison Cross | Upper Knave of Pinks | Master PW of Cologne | The Met

    Or perhaps your head would be turned by this round deck, made by the Master PW of Cologne.  Check out the Upper Knave of Pinks!

    If I can’t get myself a deck of Courtly Household cards I am going to be simply furious *stamps foot like spoiled toddler*

    Big shout out here to Caítlin Matthews who is has a habit of enabling me to spend cash that I haven’t got, on cards!  Ladies and Gentlemen …. I give you Guinivere’s Games!!!!

    Because Tartarus is not a Russian oligarch, I will have to limit myself to one deck.  Alright.  TWO decks.

    However, we CAN take part in a minor way!  The exhibition catalogue is available from Amazon.  Here it is:

    http://amzn.to/2rp51US

    Have fun!

  • Women’s Day | Advice from The Queens

    Welcome to Women’s Day!

    What would these experienced women tell advise their younger selves?

    CREATE your life from the stirrings of your heart.

    Don’t live your life trying to make other people happy…

    NOURISH your mind, body and spirit.

    Don’t shut yourself off from nature – neither the great green world out there, nor your own …

    ACT with PASSION!  

    Don’t sit on the sidelines watching life pass you by…

    BELIEVE in yourself!

    Don’t let other people’s gossip and misconceptions – about you or other people – bring you down!

    #IWD2016

    What do the Queens have as advice for YOUR younger self?

  • Comparative Tarot | Page of Swords

    I’m running a workshop for the Glasgow Tarot Meetup Group at the beginning of April on using the comparative method of working with the Tarot.  I first heard about this method from Valerie Sim and the Comparative Tarot deck that she created specially for it.

    I though that it would prove an interesting exercise to do with the court cards, here on m’blog.

    From the left we have the Valet d’Epee from the Camoin/Jodorowsky Marseille deck, then the Page of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith in the centre and the Valet De Spe from the Ancient Tarot of Bologna on the right.

    They all have different names, but henceforth I shall refer to them all as the Page of Swords, for ease of reference.

    What do the books say about them?

    Ancient Tarot of Bologna (Lo Scarabeo) says that the Valet is a researcher, investigator, revelations, search for truth, surveillance

    In A E Waite’s Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Page of Swords is described as: Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto

    Tarot de Marseille Jodorowsky/Camoin – The deck’s LWB is silent on entire Minor Arcana.  But in his book The Way of The Tarot, Jodorowsky uses the words: ‘foundation of intelligence’, ‘student or young seeker’ ‘caution’.

    So our Pages are most definitely associated with intelligence, a Swords’ suit trait.  But also perhaps with secret intelligence too – spying, secret service, surveillance, investigator etc.

    What can we actually see in these cards?

    They are each looking to the left, which I associate with the past. Perhaps they are each looking over their shoulder.  We look over our shoulder when we are being wary.

    They each hold a sword in their left hand.  The left has always had slightly sinister (did you see what I did there?!) overtones.  Our little valets could, in theory, shake your hand (traditionally the right hand is proffered …unless I’m shaking hands with you and then, being a leftie m’self, I extend my left hand!) and stab you in the arris with a cunningly concealed left-handed stroke!

    Two of them have empty scabbards, so we could say that they have drawn their swords and are alert to attack.

    They each have their feet pointing in different directions, the Page on the right is on a path and, for me, this means that he is not certain which way to go.    This lack of clear direction is most obvious in the RWS Page whose body language is clearly carrying him forward, but his gaze is behind him.

    They all stand on uneven ground.  In the RWS I associate that rolling landscape underfoot with a lack of confidence or experience.  That could also apply to the other youthful Pages too.

    The RWS Page is quite different in many respects – without a hat, cloak or scabbard.  He seems altogether more theatrical than the two Marseille Pages.  He does, of course, come from a period much later than the two Marseille decks (being printed in 1910).  The Camoin deck original dates from 1760, with the Bologna version from the 1780s).

    Perhaps Pamela Colman Smith decided:  NO CAPES! *in the manner of Edna from The Incredibles*

    Amazon.co.uk Widgets

  • Tarot Queens | Mothers’ Day

    Last year’s Mother’s Day Tokens
    Still unspent!

    Originally Mothers’ Day was when people returned to their Mother Church.  These days, Mothers’ Day has become a Hallmark schmaltz-fest directed at Mothers everywhere.  In the UK we have Mothering Sunday on the 6th.

    Yes, we know that it’s all a big commercial CON, but woe betide the child who fails to proffer up SOMETHING.

    Sonshine is very partial to buying me mugs.  And the odd musical teddy-bear.  I am hopeful this year of a scented candle 🙂

    The tarot’s Queens are nurturers, guardians and teachers, but how do they mother!?

    Queen of Cups

    Loving. Verily, even in the face of slammed doors and crispy sports socks discovered beneath the bed.  The Queen of Cups represents those times when the temperature of your relationship with your offspring is in the desirable range – loving, caring, empathetic, understanding, friendly. BUT she can also be an emotionally manipulative Quine* if she doesn’t get her own way.

    Mother most likely to:  Keep every scrappily-coloured in heart and crayoned card you ever made for her.

    Queen of Swords

    This is Mrs Sensible Head.  She’s not terribly happy about going along with the Tooth Fairy DECEPTION and if you have a Queen of Swords mother, you will probably be the first in your group to find out that Santa Claus IS NOT REAL. Keen to engage you in philosophical conversation, questions such as ‘Where do dogs go when they die?’ and ‘Was Jesus a real person?’ are the stuff of LIFE to this Queen!!

    Mother most likely to:  Tell you that it’s ‘for your own good’, no matter what.  Bad Cop is a role she is prepared to embrace.  For your own good. Of course.

    Queen of Pentacles

    This Queen is everyone’s favourite aunty – she’s the BEST gift-giver and the comfort-food queen.  When you are ill, she makes you chicken soup and ensures that your pillows are plumped and your bedding is fresh.

    Mother most likely to:  Make you a Tracey Island Thunderbirds birthday cake. Even though you’re 40.  Because she knows that you’ve always wanted one.

    Queen of Wands

    This is the most conflicted Queen – her fiery and watery natures do not sit comfortably together and she can struggle to keep it all together.

    Too much emotional luffy-wuffy neediness seeping her way and she feels dragged down and restricted.  But too much fiery assertiveness can burn out any emotional connection to a frazzled shadow and she can seem like an emotionally cool or unavailable mother.

    The mother most likely to:  Not be able to articulate how much she loves you.  Even though she does.  Also, she may fail to kiss your knee to make it ‘all better’.  But she will take you on the most amazing adventures.

    Which one represents your style of mothering? Or your mother’s style of mothering?

    HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY WHEN IT COMES!
    Morgan Greer Tarot – Amazon uk
    *Quine – Aberdonian word, queen
     – when referring to any woman, not an actual queen.
    Short-lived (but much-loved) Scottish Magazine
    was called Harpies and Quines 😀 

  • World Book Day | 2016

    In honour of World Book Day, here are some excellent tarot books that you might like to explore:

    Note: The late Yoav Ben Dov’s book and the Alexander Jodorowsky are for Marseille work 🙂

    Amazon.co.uk Widgets

    Hopefully you will see a carousel with books on it, right?!

    And my own li’l offering called A Year in The Wildwood is available for all Wildwood Tarot fans 🙂

    As is Tarot Kaizen – 100+ exercises to help turn a beautiful deck that you treated yourself to aaaages ago into a hard-working deck that you can use for readings or working for yourself.