Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Year: 2014

  • As Easy as 1-2-3?

    I was recently contacted by a lovely person on Facebook, Arthur, who asked about Court cards and links to other cards that shared the same numbers….

    Traditionally, of course, Court cards are not numbered, but if they WERE numbered they could follow straight on from the Ten, resulting in:

    11 Page
    12 Knight
    13 Queen
    14 King

    If there IS a correlation between the Courts and their Major Arcana numbers, this would mean that:

    Pages have a link to XI Justice
    Knights have a link  XII The Hanged Man
    Queens link to XIII Death
    Kings link to XIV Temperance

    Honestly? If I sat for a long time, I would probably be able to come up with reasonable strands that could reasonably link those cards together, but my gut feeling is that it would be like hammering square pegs into round holes to force things to fit.

    Something else to consider, you COULD also knock off the first ‘1’ and say that:

    Pages link to I The Magician
    Knights link to II The High Priestess
    Queens link to III The Empress
    Kings link to IV The Emperor

    This feels a lot more attractive because of the Queens/Empress and Kings/Emperor links, but really does Knight energy have terribly much in common with your understanding and interpretation of The High Priestess? Do the nascent Pages have the mature, transformative power of The Magician?

    Possibly.

    BUT – what about abandoning the Major Arcana as the comparison and replacing it with the beginnings of the Minor Arcana?  After all, the Major Arcana originated from a different source to the Minor Arcana, so it makes more sense that the Courts would have common grounds with those beginner Minor cards.

    Pages would then link to their suit’s Ace
    Knights would then link to the Two
    Queens to the Three
    Kings to the Four

    When you make THESE associations, it feels much more natural – the potential offered by the Ace is also present in the little Page, the vacillations of the Knight can echo the dilemmas/choices present in the Two, the creative source of the Queen can be found in the Three and the stabilising force of the King can be recognised in the Four.

    What if you opted to use it ALL?!

    What if Pages shared a link between The Magician AND the Aces?
    Knights were linked between The High Priestess AND the Twos?
    Queens would share commonality with The Empress AND the Threes
    Kings would have common ground with The Emperor AND the Fours

    I think this could work, if you fancied the idea, but it would be vital to remember that just because an apple is red and so is a cherry it doesn’t make them the same thing at all!  They can have a common touching point in their colour and in that they are fruit, but they taste completely different.  And so it is with a Page and The Magician – they can link through their ‘potential’ as can the Page and the Ace, but they are not the same taste at all 😀

    My over-riding consideration for the accepting the validity of linking the Courts to other cards through the use of numbers is whether it makes sense for YOU.  What does it bring to YOUR understanding of the reading? How does it help YOUR client?  And can you apply the links consistently?

    I can see that if out that if a spread contained, for example, a lot of Twos AND a lot of Knights then it makes sense to drill down into whatever dichotomy your client faces.

    But enough of what *I* think, what do YOU think?

  • Significators | Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm | The Book of English Magic

    Click on image to visit site

    Since I started this blog, I have been ferreting out different ways to help you choose a significator for your client (or yourself!) in your Tarot work.

    Here’s another method:  Philip and Stephanie Carr Gomm have devised two sets of questions that help you (or your querent) work out which suit and which rank best suits your personality.
    I reproduce them here with kind permission from the Carr-Gomms:
    Finding the SUIT that best applies to you:
    A – I’m an intuitive, enthusiastic person, who loves starting projects and tends to have ten new ideas before breakfast. I’m not so good at finishing things, though, and I can lack focus because I’m interested in so many things.
    B – I’m a sensitive, emotional person. I feel very deeply, and can cry easily. My heart goes out to people and animals who are suffering, and I feel drawn to the arts and the healing professions.
    C – I spend a lot of my time thinking and analysing. Some might call me an intellectual, and I can be accused of having my head in the clouds. I sometimes feel detached from everyday events and can find it hard to express my feelings.
    D – I’m a practical person – I just like to get to work and do things, rather than endlessly theorising about them or talking about them. I’m good with my hands and like making people feel at home.
    If you choose A – you’re a WAND, B – you’re a CUP,  C – you’re a SWORD and D – you’re a PENTACLE
    Congratulations! You’re halfway there!
    Now you have to find the RANK that best applies to you:
    A. I feel young and innocent most of the time. Sometimes this makes me feel uncomfortable or embarrassed when I’m in the company of other adults who seem so ‘grown-up’. I feel as if I have so much potential that I’m only beginning to explore.
    B. I like to get on with things. I want to be of use to the world, but I sometimes jump into things too impulsively. It makes me feel clumsy sometimes, but I prefer action to too much thinking.
    C. I feel quite mature and aware of myself and what I’m doing in the world. I value creativity and compassion and like to nurture these qualities in myself and those around me.
    D. I feel in charge of myself and my life, and am considered an authority figure by some people. I have accomplished a good deal and try to be socially responsible.
    If you choose A – you’re a PAGE/PRINCESS, B – you’re a KNIGHT, C- you’re a QUEEN and D – you’re a KING.
    Isn’t that just THE most elegant, straightforward way to sort out the Court Card that best represents you?
    To find out more:
    a) The Questionnaire is on pp456-458 in The Book of English Magic
    b) Thumbnail personality sketches on pp 458 – 465 of the same book.
    c)  Delve into the large book that accompanies The DruidCraft Tarot.
    My own insight into this method is that if you answer the questions WITH YOUR TAROT QUERY IN MIND, you could end up with different Courts representing you for different scenarios.   However, if you answer the questions keeping in mind how you see yourself generally, you will come up with a Court Card significator to represent you in ALL instances.
    What do you think of this method of selecting a Significator? 

  • Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm | Interview

    Whose favourite Druidcraft Tarot card
    is this, The Princess of Swords?

    Hot on the heels of the Carr-Gomms’ highly successful Druidcraft video-conference sessions  hosted by Linda Marson at GlobaI Spiritual Studies, I was very honoured when they both took time out of their busy schedules to answer some questions for Tarot Thrones about the Druidcraft’s wonderful Courts.

    Me (A):  First of all – thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed for my blog!  You are a Tarot duo that I have admired ever since I laid eyes on the DruidCraft 🙂


    Philip and Stephanie (P&S) “Thank you! And now we can start a mutual admiration society because we’ve discovered your blog and love the way you’ve given it the focus of the Court cards, which – as you know – is of great interest to us and starts off our book and the training we’ve developed that we’re calling Integrative Tarot.”  


    (Ali: more on this powerful Integrative method in a future post!)

    A: Quite often the Court Card section of a Tarot deck can be a real disappointment: very little thought or symbolism seems to be included in the cards.  Not so with the Courts of the DruidCraft who are exquisitely detailed characters both in the artwork and on the written page.  You and Stephanie put great emphasis on the Court Arcana with the Druidcraft – what prompted you to do that?”
    P&S: “The Hanged Man perspective! Looking at things in a completely different way – turning things upside down and inside out, certainly helped. When we worked on the DruidCraft Tarot, after looking at hundreds of decks, dozens of books, we noticed exactly what you have said. It’s as if the authors and artists focus on the amazing Majors first, then the pips, and by the time they reach the courts they’re exhausted and don’t seem to give the same level of attention to them. What convinced us was not turning things around and saying – “if everyone finishes with them, let’s start with them,” as a sort of attempt to be different or unique. No – it was because we realised that the Courts represent the Tarot’s own special typology – just as astrology has twelve, the enneagram nine types, and so on, the Tarot has sixteen. And when I remembered that the most commonly used personality typing system in psychology is a 16 fold one – the MBTI – that clinched it for me, particularly since the MBTI evolved out of Jung’s four-fold typology which correlates so beautifully with the principles of Druidcraft. Later I discovered in Mary Greer & Tom Little’s book that various others had made correlations, which was fantastic.

    “But the story goes on, because at that time I was working on the book in New Zealand. Steph was in Sussex, Will was in Manchester, the publisher’s art director was in London. Steph and I were skyping about the project, and emails were whizzing between all of us. A friend in NZ had trained with a teacher called Glynn Braddy who used the four elements as a key part of his teachings. This friend talked at length to me about his teachings and in particular about the different facial and body types associated with the elements, explaining that predominantly airy people had thin faces, aquiline noses, and piercing blue or grey eyes, while Earthy types were more likely to be stocky, with round flat faces,and so on. I relayed this information to Will, and so we have very consciously delineated differences between the Court figures of each suit. 

    “Incidentally, Glynn Braddy seems to have influenced a number of people, including Stuart Wilde, and an internet search will reveal comments such as:

    “Glynn Braddy, an Australian, was another lecturer who was particularly brilliant and of course controversial (almost all the greats are). Some considered him a metaphysical genius with his ability to combine science, nutrition, philosophy and metaphysics in his teachings. His mind traveled over a vast landscape. I use the past tense because I don’t think he teaches anymore but I attended a few of his workshops and they were in a league of their own. I use the information I learnt from Glynn on a daily basis.” James Wild. Leon Davis has produced a novel based on his four element teachings: ‘The Seasons Within’  as has Geof Spalding with his book The 33rd Sage .

    A: I e-mail interviewed  Mary K Greer (for my blog) and we spoke about the Personality Profiling that she and her colleagues did in her wonderful Understanding The Tarot Court and she said that they couldn’t agree on how to allocate the 16 types to match the 16 personalities of the Tarot Courts.  Do you think that this is because the Courts aren’t people, but facets of people’s character?”
    P&S “No I don’t think so. When you go into the subject of personality profiling and typology it becomes really quite complex and subtle – as it should do! After all we’re all quite complex contradictory creatures! And so I think it would take a lot of work to refine our understanding of the correlations between the MBTI types and the Tarot types, and maybe it isn’t an exact correlation anyway. But I think this requires more research and it’s rather nice to know that not everything has been discovered and worked out! I hope one day someone with a few years on their hands – perhaps a psychology graduate with a real interest in typology – will tackle this and let us all know their findings.”
    A: “Yes, that would be wonderful!

    “I very much enjoyed the two sessions that you and Stephanie did with Linda Marson’s Global Spiritual Studies and was impressed by the two sets of questions that you had developed to help people work out which suit and rank best represented them.  Do you think that one’s answers (and therefore Court personality card) to these questions will change, depending on the nature of the question that the sitter is contemplating?”  


    (Ali:  Those two sets of questions will go up here on  m’blog, with full permission from P&S next week!)

    P&S “That’s an interesting idea! The questionnaire as you know is very basic – but despite that it seems to often be quite accurate. I tried it last night on my mother and daughter – both Geminis – and they absolutely refused to go for one answer in each section. It took ages of saying ‘Yes but if I put a gun to your head which would you choose?’ before we could work out their types and I think they got a good fit. Your idea suggests that if – for example – you were struggling with an emotionally upsetting issue and you were feeling particularly vulnerable, you would be more likely to choose a statement that related you to a Cups Court, while if a day or so later you were wrestling with a practical or financial issue you’d be more likely to select a Pentacles court. I guess that’s certainly a possibility. One way around that would be to do the questionnaire separate from any reading, and to do it several times over a few months. If you consistently came up with the same Court I think it would be pretty accurate. “
    A: “My favourite card is the Queen of Wands – I love the expression on her face, the billowing fire, her pose, the cat beneath her throne…..THAT wand!  Which Court personality card is your personal favourite – and why?”
    Philip: “I love the Princess of Swords. In the original paintings the egg tempera blues of her dress and cloak are just stunning!”
    Stephanie: “I really like the Prince of Wands – he looks so joyful bounding along on his horse, over rolling waves of grass, he’s just having so much fun!”
    My favourite DruidCraft court card alongside Stephanie’s favourite!
    A: “We’ve had to wait a very long time for dedicated DruidCraft workshops to materialise – will you be running any more?”
    P&S:“We weren’t sure how a webinar would go – but we found that it’s a great medium to teach Tarot because the cards are a visual tool and therefore a visual medium like a computer screen is perfectly suited. And in addition, being able to interact with participants AND have it all recorded so students can go back over the material later is fantastic. So yes we’ll be doing more I reckon!”
    A: “I’m very interested in the creative process between deck authors and deck artists, can you tell me how you and Will Worthington went about creating these expressive cards? Did you send very detailed remits as to what you wanted to see in the images or did Will have a lot of creative leeway?”
    P&S: “For most we sent quite detailed briefs, but for some we said to Will ‘Why don’t you go ahead and just see what comes to you, as long as you have these two or three symbols/elements in there.’ Most of the time we agreed, but occasionally we struggled together but that’s good – that shows creativity is taking place. Giving birth isn’t easy after all, is it? It was definitely a joint process, for instance – ‘Death’ which we absolutely love, was our vision, which Will executed brilliantly. ‘The Wheel’ on the other hand was Will’s inspiration – and it’s fantastic, one of our favourite images!”

    A: Thank you so much to Philip and Stephanie for taking the time to answer all these questions! I hope that your interest is piqued by the Integrative Tarot style mentioned.  You can find out about the 16 personality types in much more detail in Philip’s book: The Book of English Magic, pp 45- 465


    See the full range of books by Philip Carr-Gomm:      http://philipcarrgomm.druidry.org/books.htm
    Read Philip’s blog:  http://philipcarrgomm.wordpress.com
    Find out more about OBOD:   www.druidry.org

    Druidcraft Tarot app – for iPad and iPhone on iTunes
    Druidcraft Tarot app – Google Play

  • The Queen of Cups rises to the occasion!

    So, I am hideously casual with my jewellery.  I have lost count of the number of times I have been sound asleep in bed only to bolt awake and upright thinking: “WHERE IS MY PENDANT?! I HAVEN’T SEEN IT IN YEARS!” and yes, it all happens in those horrible shouty capital letters.

    Well, dear reader, I had one of those moments with my Big Gold Earrings.  One of the perks of living with someone who travels the world is that they tend to bring you back amazing presents from odd places – I’ve had kimonos from Japan, cowboy boots from Texas, gold from The Gulf and Chlamydia from Brazil…..

    Yeah, I’m half joking.

    Amongst some of the spoils of war  trade were a pair of gold earrings.  They are very large, so they are called My Big Gold Earrings.

    I remembered putting them out on the bed as I debated with myself what I should wear to the ballet in Glasgow.  But since I was travelling to the theatre by train, I opted for something less conspicuous.

    And that was the last that I saw them.

    Cut to two weeks ago and I had the ‘OH MY GOD WHERE ARE MY BIG GOLD EARRINGS?!’ moment at about 5am.  So strong was the feeling that they were Lost and Gone Forever, that I got out of bed and went hunting for them.

    Again, this is the sort of thing you can do when your other half is somewhere else in the world for long periods of time.

    Nero the dog lifted his head from his basket, sighed and humphed himself into a comfortable position.  I on the other hand had every drawer opened and cupboard turned inside out.  No sign of the earrings.

    This went on for DAYS.

    My mother simply rolled her eyes when I telephoned to ask her whether I had maybe left them at her house.  Like I say, I am a bit casual with my jewellery and the last thing that I’d left there was an engagement ring.  Which SHE had given me.  Which I didn’t notice I wasn’t wearing until mother telephoned me to ask where it was.  When she had it all the time back on her finger.  My mother is sneaky and emotionally manipulative.  And mostly right.

    I was so fed up racking my brains as to where the earrings might be that I drew a Tarot card.  ‘Where on EARTH can I find my earrings.  Just give me a visual clue, ok?’

    And the card that I drew was this:

    Since I tend to see my mother as The Queen of Cups, I idly wondered whether she really DID have the earrings and was Teaching Me A Lesson.

    Some other thoughts:

    They are near a chair
    Near some kind of snake
    In a cup
    Near a bright light
    In my outdoors jacket with the hood

    A few more days passed and I had to go out in the car.  ‘Oh look – cup holders,’ thought I. ‘That’s sort of like the Queen of Cups and her cup,  I wonder if the earrings are there.’

    And they were.

    Have you used a Tarot card – more specifically a Court Card – to help you find a lost item?

  • The Essential Tarot King

    The Essential Tarot King

    And so we arrive at The Kings.  After reading about the lives of the other ranks in the Tarot court, you might think that The Kings of the Tarot Court are free to do what they want, erm, any old time:

    You might want to don a pair of sun glasses before you watch this video, because: acid house.

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  • Little White Newsletter Recommendations – Kyle Gray : March 2014

    I send out a monthly newsletter from Tarot Thrones called The Little White Newsletter.  

    Every month someone in the Tarot biz makes a recommendation on a deck and/or book that they want to share with their Tarot peers.  This month, author of the forthcoming book Angel Prayers and BIG Tarot fan (and hugely bendy Yoga chappie!), Kyle Gray sent me so much lovely copy, that I couldn’t bear to cut it down to a couple of sentences! 

    For those of you who are regular Inmates Readers at Tarot Thrones and who haven’t signed up yet for my newsletter, you can do so here:

    ….and if you clicked through on the link in Kyle’s recommendations and haven’t visited Tarot Thrones before…well hello there!  *waves and offers a plate of biscuits*

    Come and read Kyle’s full comments!

    “I’m absolutely privileged to be
    writing my recommendation for This Game of Thrones blog because It is
    an excellent resource of information. I have been following the blog
    for several months now and not only has the information helped my
    personal practice, it’s made me laugh too.
    “There’s one Tarot book I’ve not
    been able to live without. I remember getting a copy about 9 years
    ago and being really excited that I’d finally have a HOW TO guide
    on being a professional reader. The book goes beyond what I expected
    of it and it is constantly by my bed to this day. In fact I’ve had
    several copies of it because I’ve given it to others who are just
    starting on the journey of reading cards for a living or need some
    pointers in there own established business.
    “The book I’m referring to is
    Professional Tarot: The Business of Reading, Consulting &
    Teaching by Christine Jette. It went out for print for a few years
    but after having a quick look on Amazon, I see that there are new copies
    available! Woo-hoo!
    “Whether some people like to admit it or
    not, Tarot reading is indeed a business. I know it can be part of our
    spiritual practice, our desire to help others and can be a real healing
    experience but like everyone – we have bills to pay. When I first
    got this book I had the habit of doing readings for free, being
    hooked onto by friends who I had read for and maybe putting myself
    into situations that could have been trickier than I thought (house calls would be a prime example).
    “Christine Jette has a wealth of
    knowledge and comes from a nursing background. I love how she helps
    you deal with a client holistically rather than just read their cards
    and send them on their way.  For example she encourages you to have a
    list of numbers like A.A, Al-Anon, Samaritans and anything else that
    might come in handy. 
    “She also deals with more challenging subjects; in
    fact one of my favourite sections is called ‘ARE YOU FUNNY ABOUT
    MONEY?’. Christine helps you create a wholly professional mind and practice but also get that spiritual buzz from it all at the same time.
    This book is my personal resource of information and guidance –
    even 10 years after reading it and many successful years in business.
    It’s great!
    “If you’re a tarot reader but you’ve
    been sucked into being emotionally drained, you’re not making as
    much as you had hoped or you just want to feel a little bit organised
    – this book is for you. She also devises a plan on how you can
    teach the cards, what a perfect way to get organised. I love this
    book so much!
    “The old faithful tarot deck I have to
    recommend is the Thoth Deck by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda
    Harris. I remember the first time I saw this deck – I was on the
    way to do a ‘psychic party’ with a friend. We had been going to
    do house calls together for quite sometime but I had never even asked
    to see her cards before. My friend said: “they’re in my bag, have a
    look” and I started gliding through the deck filled with rich
    imagery and, well, let’s just say to-the-point messages!
    “I was instantly mesmerised and decided I
    needed to get a pack. After doing some research I learned about
    Crowley and his madness. I was overwhelmed and to put it honestly, it freaked the hell out of me! The deck lay in my bedroom and I kept dreaming
    about it. I was petrified. I remember telling my friend about my experience and her guidance has stayed with me ever since.
    She said: “Kyle, it’s a deck of cards, the power isn’t inside
    them, it’s inside you!” and I realised then that I was just being
    silly, that the deck was a tool for my focus, to trigger my intuition.
    “A few years passed before I really
    got into the deck but ever since I tucked into them one night with
    great success I’ve never looked back. I think I was just young and
    like everyone had worried about the idea of Crowley and his bad
    press. Maybe I was worried I was going to be ‘cursed’ or have a
    meeting with ‘Satan’ but I knew then I wasn’t being truthful to
    who I am. For years I’ve told people that only good exists and it’s
    just FEAR we come up against.  Well, this deck helped me move through and
    let go some of my own.
    “Since making my peace with the deck I
    have become interested in Crowley’s and Harris’s work together.  I believe this deck reflects Crowley’s years of going in and out of the light and
    darkness – something we all go through in life. When using the
    Thoth deck you are able to see people’s strength and challenges but
    more importantly guide them through it with a grounded, down to earth
    foundation. The cards remove the ‘fluff’ and sugar-coatings that
    other decks can put on certain cards so that you can point people in
    the right direction without having to mumble your words or explain a
    card – they’re real life!
    Kyle Gray

    Find out more about Kyle here:

  • The Essential Tarot Queen

    The Essential Tarot Queen

    So the Knights are clanking around in their armour, fighting for whomever they agree with THIS week….the Pages are running upstairs and downstairs, all excited at the newness of the world in which they find themselves.  What about the Tarot Queens – where do they find themselves historically in this box of jewels that we call the Tarot Court?

    Back in the day, women were handy to have around in much the same way as it’s good to have all your chessmen on the board: Daughters were useful for marrying off into strategic alliances, wives were good for bringing legitimate offspring to the game.

    Valued as equals? Not really.

    If you read through the lists of Queens from late Medieval to mid Renaissance Europe, there were very few who ruled alone, by design.  Oh sure, there were some exceptions (Elizabeth I).

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  • The Essential Knight

    Once upon a time, in Ye Olde ynd Merrye Englande of around 1300 (the year, not the time) the word ‘knighthood’ or ‘cnihthād’ * referred to the period that we call ‘adolescence’ today.  We more readily associate the idea of ‘knight’ with strapping chaps on horseback – armour, jousting, chivalry and crusades.

    Possibly also Danny Kaye.

    By the time the Tarot deck that we know and love was smooshed together ie during the late Medieval or early Renaissance period, Knights were a recognised social class and had lashings of power and status.  As with other nobility, they fought for whomever they had sworn fealty.  Or whoever had the bigger purse and stood the better chance of coming out as top dog.  It isn’t just a woman’s prerogative to change her mind….
    Here’s a little local history to add a shot of colour to the Knight: 
    In 1298 King Edward I (aka The Hammer of The Scots) and his troops confronted Mel Gibson William Wallace and the Scottish army at Falkirk.  From fairly early on in the battle, it was clear that the Scots were going to be hammered (as we have been at most sporting events subsequently) by the English and many of the Scottish Knights who were supporting Wallace quietly slipped away.
    Not so Sir John Stewart of Bute, Knight and owner of the fair island on which I reside.  He stood his ground and died on the battlefield all the while directing the Scottish archers. Every one of the 600 men that he took from the island to add to Wallace’s infantry perished. Stewart is treated as a Local Hero, but who knows? They all died.  The battle was lost *shrug* We can’t all be Audie Murphy.

    Knights are:

    *    Adventurers
    *    Challengers
    *    Adolescent
    *    Incredulous
    *    Inconsistent
    *    Explorers
    *    Rebels
    *    Foolhardy

    What do Knights represent for you? 

    *thank you Wiki!

  • The Essential Tarot Page

    Back in the day, the well-to-do Late Medieval/Early Renaissance family with connections would find a place for their son within the household of the local aristocracy. Daughters? Not so much.

    The boys, usually between the ages of 7 and 14 were promptly dispatched to what we fondly call here on the island The Big Hoose.  There they were allocated positions within the ‘court’.  Mostly they were apprenticed to Knights or acted as a Very Early Internet System (ie delivering messages).  Their tasks were mainly minor and uncomplicated *thinks of own Son at seven years of age and how he could barely be trusted to flush the toilet after him at that age.  That’s still a work in progress to be honest.)

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