Tarot Court Cards: Nature or Nurture?

Published by Alison Cross on

boy with parent
Photo by Ba Phi from Pexels | What makes us who we are – nature or nurure?

It’s a hotly contested subject in real life – do external forces such as environment and education fashion who you are or are you born with a predisposition to act/be a particular type of person? While the argument goes on, it is currently accepted that much of who we are, mentally and physically, and what we do as adults is a combination of our nature and our nurture.

So, how do these factors manifest in our Court Cards?

Our cards come with only two pieces of information, the rank and the suit. Which of these represents our card’s nature and which represents our nurture?

The RANK (Page, Knight, Queen, King etc) shows us the NATURE of the card while the SUIT (Swords, Cups, Pentacles, Wands etc) gives us the NURTURE, the environment that the character must function within.

Consider the Queen of Wands – she is a Queen by nature, but she must function in a Wands environment. How does someone who is by nature caring and empathetic function in an environment where assertion/aggression, adventure, courage and ambition are ways of life?

The answer is: with difficulty.

Here’s an example to consider:

Picture the scene *does the wavy hands thing* we’re in a play park: A group of parents is sitting on benches chatting amongst themselves while their children explore all the exciting features – they are on swings, they are sliding down chutes, they are climbing over the frames, they are chasing each other.

Suddenly a wail rises through the conversations and laughter and the parents turn to see who is crying. A small child stands in tears, with knees scraped and bloodied after tumbling off the slide.

This child’s parent is a Queen of Wands type.

The challenge that the parent faces is – do I kiss the knee and make sympathetic noises, give cuddles and dab away the tears (which would be Queenly) or do I encourage the child to shirk off the minor upset and run back to join in with the game again (Wands)?

A healthy Queen of Wands knows when to kiss the knee and when to chivvy the child along.

In my forthcoming book, Genetics of the Tarot Court (yeah, it’s not catchy, still working on a title), the Queen of Wands lies on the same axis as another three court cards who face equally challenging integrations of their nature and nurture.

I hope that you’ll enjoy finding out who they are and the challenges that they face.

Out in November!


Alison Cross

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

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