Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Tag: tarot court cards

  • Tarot in Art | Queen of Pentacles | Visconti

    “Here, you take it, my arm’s getting tired!”

    On my frequent forays into the dusty art vaults at Tarot Thrones to bring you something lovely to see, I found this gem tacked on the floor behind the door behind an ancient pile of Radio Times magazines.

    This is the Queen of Pentacles, or ‘Reine de Deniers’ to give her her sale title, who was sold at Christies in Paris back in 2005.

    It is attributed to The Master of the Visconti Tarot (mid 15th century) and is gouache on board, with gilded highlights.

    Seated in front of a draped blue banner, we meet the red robed Queen.  She wears a golden crown to denote her rank and is depicted with her Coin held aloft in her right hand. Although she looks a bit pregnant, I suspect that is just the fashion of the frock.

    Just off to the left of the card we an see another figure who is either handing the Queen her Coin or receiving it from her.

    It’s a beautiful little image that measures 168mm x 63mm

    The card was estimated to sell at $33,549-$46,968

    It actually sold for $376, 817!

    Am I the only woman who wishes that Empire line frocks would come back into fashion so that we too can sit and let our tummies relax like the Queen of Pentacles.

    Also crowns.  I would like a crown……

  • Knights of Wands | Annoying little gaming dudes

    Forget the bare arms –
    pull on a sweater, woman!

    So, it was Sunday.  I am alone in the house.  I am luxuriating a la Queen of Pentacles mode on the sofa with the soundtrack from Gypsy playing discretely.  Well, as about discretely as you can have Miss Mazeppa and her bugle,  a pot of posh coffee on the go…..the Sunday newspapers….I was in heaven.

    Until.

    My son and his equally computer-mad friend arrive at the door, asking whether they could just have ‘an hour’ playing a game on line.

    Don’t ask me what it was.  They tell me that it’s building space-craft but there seems to be a LOT of shooting involved in building spacecraft the way they do it.

    Anyway, I acquiesced, determined to keep my Sunday Morning Pentacly Vibe going for as long as possible.

    And so I read the paper, ignoring the explosive noises coming from next door and supped at my coffee and let Ethel Merman do her lung-busting thang.

    And the house got colder.

    And colder…..

    And colder……

    Until it was colder than a nun’s, erm, HEART.

    I turned the radiator up the sitting room.  Nothing.  My heart sank – we only had a new boiler fitted in August. Surely it wasn’t on the blink already?

    It came with a fancy new wifi thing called Hive. Which is MAGIC.  When it works.  You can turn your central heating up or down or on or off from anywhere in the world.  But not from the living room radiator by the looks of things.

    I went into my son’s room and tapped the Hive unit anxiously.  No lights.  No nothing.  Surely that wasn’t right?

    ‘Have you done anything to this?’ I ask a small gaming Knight of Wands.

    ‘To what?’  his fingers dance over the keyboard, his gaze locked on the screen.  His face lit up in an eery blue light.

    ‘THIS’ I say, resisting the urge to smack him round the back of the head with the Hive hub.  The Queen of Pentacles’ relaxed, nurturing energy was spiralling down the plughole faster than the incoming Queen of Wands wrath was climbing up it….

    ‘Nope.  Not touched it.’

    I fiddle about with the settings at the back of the Hive hub and pull gently on the cable that runs to the wall socket.  It feels suspiciously NOT PLUGGED IN.

    I trace the path of the wire, crawling beneath the computer desk and emerge with the plug.  In my hand.  Not plugged in.

    ‘You’ve unplugged it!’ I bellow fearsomely.  This time I do give him an irritated smack – it ruffles his hair and his pride, but not much else.

    ‘Oh is THAT what that plug’s for?  oh right! Sorry! Yeah, I unplugged it.’  His fingers don’t miss a beat on the keyboard.  His small gaming friend won’t make eye-contact with me.  They are a couple of guilty puppies.

    I sigh and pick up the telephone to the helpline…

    And lo! dear reader,  it took about an hour of running from room to room with the phone clamped to my ear, taking batteries out of thermostats, switching off the boiler, switching it back on, moving booster plugs….until the heating went back online….. and I headed straight to the drink’s cabinet for a celebratory (and warming!) whisky and ginger ale.

    Well, it was 5 o’clock somewhere, right?

    Court insights:

    Knight of Wands behaviour – action without thinking.  Mindless gaming activity.
    Queen of Pentacles behaviour – luxury and self-care.  Includes restorative whisky.
    Queen of Wands behaviour – fast-rising wrath that is unabated by motherly love.  Or even chocolate.

    Enjoy the Gypsy toon 😀

  • Full Moon in Pisces | Knight of Cups

    In September, we celebrate the Full Moon in Pisces, or, as we prefer to refer to him here in Tarot Thrones Towers, The Knight of Cups.

    Alexander Daniloff Tarot

    The Moon, in Tarot, is associated with imagination, dreams, subconscious and illusions.  If there is one Knight who knows all about THAT stuff, it’s the Knight of Cups.

    The Knight of Cups is very much a Grail Knight to me, so expect to find yourself caught up in a new quest or challenge.  Yes, the Knight of Cups will have you all fired up and trotting off to fight for a cause – or at least taking part in the ice-bucket challenge.

    But, like the ice bucket challenge – you might be getting involved in something that you don’t really know a heck of a lot about.  Do your homework before you ride off into battle to make sure that you are not under any illusions about what you’re doing!

    The Knights represent polar opposites, so if he sees himself as a Righteous Warrior For The Cause it’s likely that other people will see him as something entirely different – at worst he’ll come across as an Evangelical Know It All (who really doesn’t know terribly much and who hasn’t got a huge amount of experience) and at best others will consider him a half-assed meddler, a romantic dilettante.

    As Air of Water, we do have a lot of fizz in our Knightly chalice but, like fizz, the bubbles won’t last terribly long, so if you spend too much time gazing at your cup, you’ll find that you never actually DO anything other than day dream.

    Air and Water can lead to quite a lot of turbulence – strong emotions, grand gestures…..but rooted in what kind of reality.  He’s in love with the idea of love, not the nappy-changing, smelly reality of it all.

    This is Petrarch and Laura – loads of adoring poetry, but not much in the way of an ACTUAL relationship.

    If you are planning any new project or job that requires imagination and creativity he’s very auspicious! However, don’t get caught up in just dreaming about what you’ll wear on the red carpet when you go to pick up your Best Actress Academy Award – you need to get your booty down to the community acting class first!

    Don’t be caught up in the dream, get out there on the Quest.  And when you’re out there on the Quest, when you spot the Grail don’t just sit in admiring silence – Go. For. It!

  • Blog Hop | Lammas | Queen of Pentacles

    Welcome to Tarot Thrones – where the best Tarot card is always a Court card!

    You may have hopped here from Joy’s site or from Mary’s site.  Or even just happened here by chance! It matters not a jot – you are very welcome!

    Previous | Next | Master List

    Our Tarot Blog hop wrangler, Joanna Ash from Sun Goddess Tarot set the Lammas challenge: write about the Queen of Pentacles.

    Since my blog is alllllll about the Tarot’s Court Cards, there was no WAY I was going to be left out of this particular round of the blog hop!

    The suit of Pentacles is associated with our physical world – our health, our homes and our wealth.

    We often only consider our health when it begins to fail, or when you realise that your Rubens-esque curves now resemble the sort of plush padding that you only find in a luxury car. Give or take the leather upholstery finish…..:-D

    Our homes, suggests Pentacles, can be sanctuaries, places of safety and retreat from the hassles of the outside world; a place to cosset, recharge and hunker-down. However, it need not be a place of bricks and mortar – your home is where your heart is, so think about ‘home’ widely! Could your ‘home’ be your spiritual practice,  perhaps?

    And wealth? Well of course it could be the actual coin itself – our savings, investments or assets. And those assets need not be the car, the house or your growing collection of Tom Hiddleston photos that lurk at the back of your knicker drawer *cough*. Your assets could be your family, your fabulous gal pals, your hard-won university degree or your ability to bake divine Custard slices. Custard slices. *eyes glaze over and drools*


    The Queen energy offers us an opportunity to care for, guard and nourish these three areas of our lives.

    So, here’s a little 3-card spread based on her energies:

    Queen of Pentacles Spread

    Card 1: How can I best care for my health?
    Card 2: How do I best nourish my home and family?
    Card 3: What can I do to guard my wealth?

    I drew three cards, from the Morgan Greer Tarot (in case you are getting a little bored with the Alexander Daniloff Tarot lol!), to find my own answers:

    How can I best care for my health?

    Work!


    Although I work from home, I miss being in a place of work outside of the home.  I miss the camaraderie and the laughs that come with being in a workplace. Sure, my days are very busy ‘in the office’ and I have lots of website clients and Tarot writing to do, but yanno, I’ve got to be honest and say that a lot of that busy time is on Facebook. Networking with similarly-minded people.  Or looking at cute pictures of cats.  Mostly the cats.

    Getting out of the house and back into a workplace will get me off my increasingly flat bottom.   I think that it would be good for my mental health and self-esteem to get back into that environment.

    And then there is the issue of biscuits.  And cup cakes.  And tray-bakes.  And Tunnocks Caramel Wafers.  Reader, I have put on a lot of weight since leaving the Office, thanks to my sweet tooth and my decision that walking to the kitchen for something to eat actually counted as exercise.  Having limited access to the sweet stuffs can only do me good!

    How do I best nourish my home and family?

    The most immediate feelings that I get from this are – if I look after my health, then it automatically has positive impact on my home and family situation.  Also, getting a bit of balance will be useful – anyone who works from home walks a tightrope between ‘work at home’ and ‘family time home’.  I often fall off that tightrope – my son once drew a picture of me and it was the back of my head while I sat at the computer.  That was a *lightbulb* moment!

    I also see that being outside, perhaps walking (path to mountains), perhaps in my garden (flag iris and water).  Paddling! Yeah, why not?! I need to get on with the garden and the growing of vegetables and flowers! Having a bit of fun outside! Step AWAY from Dogshaming.com!

    What can I do to guard my wealth?

    The first words that popped into my head were:  ‘Balance the Sailor!’ which is not as bonkers as it might sound.  There is a sailing ship in the background and my other half – the bread-winner – is in the merchant navy, so he’s technically a sailor.  Although he would rather die than wear a bell-bottom. And a hornpipe is something that he would probably try to smoke.

    I can never hope to balance his income with income of my own, I think this card is indicating a different sort of ‘wealth’ – our life together here. I can help balance the scales by becoming more active and in many parts of our life together where, at the moment, I just let him take the lead (or even tune out completely).  He’s an Aries. Sometimes it’s easier just to acquiesce, know what I mean? 😉

    Maybe learning to juggle my money will be a good thing too – I tend to open accounts and just leave the money in there for ever, regardless of the interest rate.  Maybe step up to that with enthusiasm and take responsibility for ensuring that my money doesn’t just stagnate?

    So, there you have it.  The Queen of Pentacles advises me to take a more active role in my ‘wealth’, to make a better balance between work and home – get gardening! get outdoors! Step AWAY from Facebook!  And maybe find regular ‘work’ outside of the home – perhaps volunteering in a charity shop might be a good place to start?

    Try the spread and let me know what you get!

    Now, either hop to the next blog, or hop back to the previous blog….or if the links are broken, hop over to Joanna’s Master List!

    Previous | Next | Master List

  • Tarot in Art | Vanitas | Sebastien Bonnecroy

    St James of Morrison once said, ‘No one gets out of here alive,*’ and he was quite right, of course.  Since 17th century Dutch painters didn’t have The Doors as a reference point, they created Vanitas paintings – the purpose of which was to remind us, basically, that no one gets out of here alive.

    This particular painting, attributed to Flanders-based French artist Sebastien Bonnecroy, features the usuals suspects – a hollow-eyed skull (to remind us of our mortality) surrounded by temporary things – the cupboard decorated by a skeleton holding an hour glass, the candle that burns down, the pipe that breaks, the clock that ticks out the hours of our lives (I actually typed ‘cock’), and a whole load of other symbols that trumpet the painting’s purpose:  YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

    Holding the thought that your end was looming at the end of any given sneeze… or pustulant boil, people would then gaze blearily upon their Vanitas paintings and rush out into the world to do good works and lead spiritual lives.  Also, infect people.

    In this particular oil painting,  nestled in the middle of the arrangement of symbols is a set of Tarot cards.  The inclusion of Tarot cards may show the fleeting pleasure of gaming, alongside the fleeting pleasure of music (as shown by the musical instruments)…or does it indicate that by the time this painting was produced, 1663-ish people WERE using Tarot for divination and the exploration of our fates?

    The painting was in auction at Christies in 2009 for an estimate of £10,000 – £15,000, but I’ll be danged if I can see what it actually DID sell for.

    What do you think – gaming or divination?!

    * Five To One, Waiting for the Sun (1968)

    Update – appears to have been sold for $58,941

  • Prince George | Queen of Cups | King of Wands

    You would need to be living beneath a rock not to realise that the Magnificently Coiffured Duchess of Cambridge and the slightly less magnificently styled Duke of Cambridge have had a BABY!!!! Yes, I know Prince George was born last July, but hey, I like to be UNPREDICTABLE and fashionably late to parties.

    Of course,  I’m very pleased that the Little Prince is here, healthy and breaking hearts all over the world – he did an outstanding job in Australia – but I’m more interested in him from a purely Tarot Court Card point of view.

     Tragic and worryingly obsessive, I know.

    Prince George Alexander Louis was born on 22 July 2013.  He’ll be celebrating his first birthday next week!

    He teeters on the energetic high-wire that is the cusp of Cancer and Leo.  Personally, I would have ‘gassed’ and ‘aired’ with my legs crossed until he could be born on the 23rd of July because all the best people are Leos  *nods sagely and looks forward to her own Leo birthday in August.  No pressure for presents. Much.*

    To be born on the cusp like this this makes our new Prince a Queen of Cups (Cancer) with powerful King of Wands (Leo) undertones.

    When people are born right on a cusp, I usually take this to mean that they will have the positive traits of the outgoing sign and the, erm, less attractive parts of the incoming sign.  Some people work it the other way around – take your pick and be consistent!

    For baby Boy George, this means he’ll have the positive traits of The Queen and the negative traits of The King contributing to his personality.

    The Queen of Cups is an emotional character whose focus is very much on relationships.  Strongly empathetic, I think that Prince George will share many of the qualities that his late grandmother (Can you believe it!? Princess Diana as a grandmother?!) was best known for.

    There could not be a greater contrast, energetically, than the King of Wands.

    The Lizard King – crazy, sexy, beast!

    Prince George is going to be pretty much un-ignorable!  With a larger than life personality that you can see blazing for miles and a powerful attractiveness that god far beyond looks – he’ll be a Rock Star King for the new Millennium!  Given that these Wandsy features are supposed to be his less than positive characteristics, this vital and passionate nature might materialise as pleasure-seeking, playboy behaviour.  Remember his Uncle Harry and that Nazi uniform gaffe? *shudders*   Remember his grandpa in his trunks on Bondi Beach back in the day? *shudders again*  Akshully, just checked out a picture of Prince Charles in his shorts on Bondi and he was, honestly, a bit buff.  Even if he doesn’t know what that means.

    Annnyway, back to The Little Prince…..

    The Queen of Cups is hugely creative and George will inspire people with his brilliant people skills and enthusiasm for the Arts. Oh yeah, he’s going to be a cultured dude!

    Prince George’s Minions.  I could not resist it because, yanno….MINIONS!!!

    We can only keep our fingers crossed that, despite his privileged position, his parents manage to bring him up in a normal family environment that will keep him Down With Da People and those marvellous Queen of Cups will be a positive asset!  His father, Prince William, was a sensitive child: Once, when he found his mother crying bitterly in a locked bathroom, he reportedly pushed paper hankies under the door for her.  THAT is the action of a kind heart.

    As a leader, I hope that George turns out to be someone who leads his minions from within (Queenly), rather than storming away out in front on his own (Kingly) without a care or thought for anyone else. Thoughtless behaviour or heartlessness are a couple of flaws that can be levelled at this little Prince if his King of Wands energies overwhelms his Queen of Cups.

    The Queen of Cups brings a significantly emotional dimension to George’s life. Hopefully this will seen as an asset and not a weakness or liability.  This is, after all, the Royal Family where nothing is stiffer than their upper lips.

    I think that although he might be quick to anger and easily made laugh (Wands), he’ll cry and forgive easily too (Cups) .  He’ll have a strong sense of duty (Wands and House of Windsor!) but hopefully have some of his late grand-mother’s empathy and sensitivity.

    George may turn out to be a sensitive young man completely in tune with people’s needs and able to relate to the man on he Clapham Omnibus as readily as he does to the Infantas of Spain.

    Now, whether or not this little bundle of cuteness turns out to be any sort of a King at all is all in the lap of the Gods – and possibly Mr Putin.  Whatever his future holds, I hope that he is a happy child; loved and loving.  Because that’s what matters 🙂

    You ever use your Tarot Court Cards to speculate about Little People and the personalities they might develop?

    Happy birthday, Prince George, you wee cutie!

  • How to interpret | The Page of Pentacles

    From my earlier post on Pages, we know that they can stand for:

    Small

    Minor (as in relatively unimportant)

    Playful

    Inexperienced

    Young

    Child at heart

    Curious

    Childish


    The suit of Pentacles is associated with (but not limited to):

    • Health
    • Wealth
    • Hearth
    • Physicality

    So when the Page of Pentacles arises in a reading, and he’s not appearing as a person, you can see hims as representing a combination of elements from the first list and second list. I call this sort of phrase-making ‘Pidgin Tarot‘ and the odd phrases can give us an idea as to what a Court is about.  Here are some examples for this little Page:

    Health Messenger – perhaps a lower back twinge that lets you know that you need to take better care of your self.   A reminder from the Health Centre to go for a check up.

    Minor Wealth – yeah, don’t be signing any contracts for that Lamborghini just yet…..

    Playful Hearth – perhaps buying that doggie-shaped door stop isn’t such a bad idea after all…..


    Young Physicality – youthful constitution……lucky beggar!



    Childish Wealth – not looking after one’s assets as diligently as one might hope? Lack of experience of caring for one’s finances?



    Young Wealth – That Equity Bond has got a few more years to run.


    Curious Home – how can I fix that ominous knocking sound from the boiler?!  How can I make the most of this space?

    Of course, some of these will not be right for your interpretation in a particular reading and each deck WILL have its own slant designed-in, but if you don’t have a LWB for your deck, these can help you approach the card with confidence.  And I have NO idea what is going on with the fonts changing in this blog post either 🙂

    If he arising in the reading as as a person….
    For me, this is someone who likes the slapstick physical humour of custard pies and comedy car chases, rather than the thrust and parry of dinner party repartee. This Page is practically-inclined rather than bookish; an apprentice rather than a university student. This is a slow and deliberate chap rather than an impulsive soul. She might be fond of games (but not necessarily running-about games nor team games). Curious about the natural world and how things work – mechanically minded and hands-on. This person is quiet, home-loving, happy to roll up her sleeves and get on with something.

    Winner:  The Page Most Likely To…..
    ……..Have Helped His Dog Deliver Her Puppies.

    Elemental composition:  Earth of Earth

    Reversed  –  read as Knight of Swords  (Air of Air – elemental opposite of Earth of Earth)

    This and more stuffs like it are in the e-book about Court Cards that I’m currently writing.  

  • AniaM | Tarot Bags | Alexander Daniloff

    So this technically isn’t a court card blog post, but I HAD to share the beautiful gift that arrived for me in the post this morning: a magnificent custom-made Tarot bag from AniaM.

    You may have twigged, dear reader, that one of my very most favourite decks is Alexander Daniloff’s Tarot.  It has been in a bag, of course, to keep it safe, but I REALLY wanted a custom-made bag to store it in the regal glory that it deserves!

    And here it is – ivory velvet, lined with gold…..

    I had sent Ania a few jpgs of tiny sun and moon images that decorate the cardback.
    And Ania, clever sausage that she is, turned the sun into a pattern for her embroidery machine.
    My photo is a bit rubbishy, but you can just see the sun image on the card’s back.
    And to try to keep it at least nominally court card orientated, that’s the Knight of Wands you can see in that first image.
    The bag is a pressie from my lovely friend, Viv Kacal.  Thank you Viv – I luff it 11/10!!!
    Show me your favourite Tarot bags and boxes!

  • Tarot in Art | Visconti Sforza

    Has your biro just burst in your handbag?

    What about splashing out on this as a replacement?

    This is a fountain pen from the pen people at Visconti.

    To mark the creation of Lo Scarabeo’s Visconti Sforza Tarot deck, they created four designs from the Visconti Tarot for very limited edition pens (each has a run of 78 – what else?!)

    Visconti commissioned artist, Soukou Oshita, who is an expert in Maki-e artwork (where images are created from sprinkled precious metals, no less!) to turn some of the Major Arcana images into artwork for the pens.

    It has an 18 kt pen nib and a double resevoir.  If you’re thinking of replacing that Biro.

    These Visconti folks undoubtedly create magnificent artworks. Visit their site and FEAST YOUR EYES, people!

    Their pens have been used, for example, to sign the NATO-Russia Summit in 2002, which marked the end of the Cold War and Visconti pens were also presented to the 25 signatories of the European Constitution in 2005.  See? Classy.

    But you will STILL absent-mindedly leave it lying on the counter in the bank……..

    Soukou Oshita at work

    The topmost image depicts the Chariot and Wheel,  but you can check out the others here.

    Fancy it? Well, just mortgage the children for £9,800 and one of these really gorgeous pens can be yours!  *wonders whether she should ask for one to use as a promotional item and decides that the answer will be hysterical laughter*

    OR

    You could just buy a copy of the Visconti Sforza deck and a packet of Bic Crystals and spend the rest on a luffly holiday!

  • Blog Hop | Midsummer | 16 Things that bring me joy

    Welcome to the Summer Solstice Blog Hop!  If you have arrived here by happy accident and are intrigued by this Blog Hop thing, you can find out more about it here.  If you’ve hopped here from Olivia’s blog (our wrangler for this blog hop – thank you, Olivia!) or from Chloe’s blog, I hope that you enjoy the 16 things that bring me joy!






     Our theme for this blog hop is: joy!  We are asked to write about what brings us joy, what brings light to our heart and how we spread that joy to others.  And all with a Tarot or divination slant to it!

     In the non-Tarot world, looking after animals gives me great joy.  I have a rescued greyhound called Nero who is the light of my life (not counting my son, of course!) and the other day I looked after a little blackbird who had been struggling in this really hot spell we’re having. He’s now returned to the garden and I spotted him about an hour before I wrote this, up a tree.  So that’s looking good!

     But this post is about TAROT and I appreciate that you’ve got a lot of posts to get through today, so I’ll keep it brief – and true to the court card theme of my blog!


    This deck has brought me huge joy since I bought it – here are 16 reasons why:





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