Tarot Thrones | The Court Card Blog

Tag: tarot court cards

  • 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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  • Blog Hop – Love

     “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the
    barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

                                                                                                   Rumi

    Panic not, dear Reader!

    I haven’t gone all mushy and doe-eyed over some slim-hipped Lothario!

    The blog hop for this Samhain is about love.  And Rumi wrote a LOT about love.  But although the oft-quoted poet wrote about love, it a transcendental divine love, not the mundane love of two people making eye-contact across a shared pizza and ending the evening with a slow shuffle round the dance floor to Lionel Ritchie.

    What could I do for the Blog Hop about love? I decided that my contributionis a 3-card spread, based on the quotation above:

    Card 1:  You
    Card 2:  A barrier to the Beloved
    Card 3:  Removing this barrier to the Beloved

    Bear in mind that the Beloved needn’t be Hugh Jackman another person, but can be anything that you long for – a healthy relationship with your offspring, a promotion at work, or even something as mundane as new wool for a project.  I’m looking at YOU, yes YOU, all you NaKniSweMo peoples!!

    For Card 1 – pick a court card to act as a significator – you can use whichever method you prefer.  Here I’m simply going to choose the King of Wands because he represents my birth sign, Leo.

    I shuffle the deck, repeating the Rumi quote above and when I feel that my shuffling is complete,  turn the deck image-side upwards and work your way through the deck until you arrive at your Significator.

    The card before your Significator represents the Barrier (Card 2) and
    the card after your Significator is Card 3.  Card 3 shows a way to
    remove the barrier.  And by simply removing the barriers, you allow yourself to attain the Beloved 🙂

    Using my BELOVED Druidcraft, this is what I got. 

    First of all, my Beloved, for this spread was ‘to write a Tarot book’.   No sniggering at the back there!

    The Lady in the 5 of Pentacles leans against the tree with her arms over her eyes whilst a hound chases down a hare.  The hound and hare are part of the legend of Ceridwen and never fear the dog doesn’t get the wabbit:-)

    What does this Barrier card mean?  I don’t want to look at the work involved! I don’t think that I can do it – like Ceridwen, I won’t be able to catch my ‘hare’. This card is traditionally associated with a sense of lack or loss and perhaps I feel that I can’t do it? That I’m not entitled to it?

    I look at the Court Card that represents me – he is alert and about to get up from his throne.  Although one foot points to the Barrier card, he inclined towards the solution.  This is good, right?!

    The way to remove this Barrier is to get on with the hunt! The dog and hare of the 5 of Pentacles have been replaced by hunters coming home after a successful outing.  At the beginning of the day, they didn’t know whether they would be arriving home triumphant, but they went anyway.  And so must I.  Time to get on with working towards my beloved. And next time you see me, I might be triumphant!

    Now, I wonder what happens when I replace ‘Tarot book’ with George Clooney…….. *mind wanders off to somewhere that you’d better not look*

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  • Significators | Old fashioned toot?!

    Tooting for Significators!

    When I started this court card blog, I banged on and on and on some more about using Court Cards as significators and you, dear reader, mostly snortled good-naturedly into your coffee and told me that you didn’t use significators.

    There were a couple of solid reasons why people didn’t use significators:

    Reason 1:  If you use a significator, it removes that card from the deck and so it can’t arise within the main body of the reading.

    My reply:  And? When ANY card turns up in a spread, it precludes it from turning up in any other position in that spread, doesn’t it?   *kind and conciliatory face*  Why not just have a separate set of gorgeous court cards to work along side your working deck?  Then you allow for all the courts to turn up in the actual reading 🙂

    But no, you still weren’t buying into the idea….

    Reason 2:  A significator is soooooooooo old-fashioned!

    My reply:  It sure is.  But it’s a great way of settling your mind to the task in hand and taking your client INTO the reading with you and, for me, that’s an important part of the ritual.

    Nope, you were still shaking your head and looking apologetically at the floor……

    And then, when I was out tramping through the woods with the dog, a moment of insight!  Yes, JEN-YOU-INE enlightenment, dear reader!!

    Significators aren’t old-fashioned at all!

    You do use them……

    Every single day…….

    On Facebook, Twitter, forums (forii?!), your blog…. anywhere that you have an on-line presence…. you DO use significators because…..

    A SIGNIFICATOR IS AN AVATAR!!!!

    You select an image of yourself that you want to present to that community, don’t you? Whether it’s a  photo of yourself or a witty kitten image, you choose it to convey something ESSENTIAL about you to that community.

    That’s exactly what a significator does.

    You and your client select a card that best conveys something essential about the sitter and the situation in which they find themselves.  In effect, you create an avatar of your sitter.

    And the secret sauce?  Your interpretations of court cards will go through the ROOF if you start working with them consciously, as avatars.

    My session on Court Cards at the UK Tarot Conference next month focuses on the CONSCIOUS use of Court Cards.

    And that’s it    *shrugs*

    That’s my bright idea.

    And it cost me a friendship to be able to tell you that.  More of which at a later date, I suspect.

  • Lammas Blog Hop | From my table to the community

    Welcome to the Lammas blog, where the theme set by our Wrangler, Arwen, is: “What can I share from my table to enrich my community?”  If you’re hopping forward, you’ve come from the lovely Ania Marczyk’s blog and if you are hopping backwards (you TOTAL rebel, you!) you’ve come from the equally lovely Joanne Sprott’s blog. And if your cat has randomly strolled across your computer keyboard and the Tarot Thrones blog has popped up on your screen…. well, just be grateful that I’m not a porn site 😀

    So what can I share from my table to enrich the Tarot community?
    Since Tarot Thrones is a blog all about the Court Cards of the Tarot, I got into a huddle with my 16 courtly colleagues to thrash out a few ideas.  Reader, it got very heated.  The Queens wanted me to teach something, the Kings wanted me to DO something, the Knights wanted me to be daring and bold and the Pages? Well, the Pages just went outside to play.
    Then I had an idea.  I made my suggestion and the Kings and Queens murmured their agreement and happily headed off down the pub to give me peace and quiet to write.  So here’s my Lammas Blog Hop gift to you:
    When you are buying a new Tarot deck, how do you choose it?  Do you have a few favourite cards that you inspect? Do you run your hands expertly over The Star’s fetlocks to see if she shapes up to your perfect Star? Do you inspect the teeth of The Devil to make sure he’s someone that you can work with or do you take The Lovers for a quick canter around the paddock?
    Well, here’s a suggestion from ME to YOU:  Why not take a look at the Court Cards to see whether you can work with THEM?  After all, they tend to be the section of the Tarot that readers tend to frown  around – why not make sure that the Courts are guys that you are comfortable with?
    Radical, eh?
    So here are my Top 7 bits of advice for expertly checking out the Tarot Court in a new deck:

    1  The most important thing in the Courts, for me, is symbolism – what is there for you to work with? Plenty of symbols will give you plenty of pegs on which to pin your ideas about the Court Card and lots of things to talk about in your reading.  Check also for consistency – do all the Knights have some kind of steed, for example.  If not – why not? Can you see why the Knight of Pentacles might be left to labour along on foot….or does it show a lack of thought about what the Courts represent?  Are all the Queens wearing shoes, except one? Why might the Queen of Cups go barefoot and the Queen of Swords wear shoes that are tightly laced? Does it make sense to you?
    Tons of symbolism, nice setting, expressive character and suit colour-themed
    2  The next most important thing is Setting – are the Courts active in some kind of scene?  For me this is important because it helps with the story-telling aspect of your reading.  What direction are they heading? What are they DOING?  What are they looking at/turning their back on?

    It seems to me that people struggle with the courts because they seem to punch holes in the flow of your story-telling much more so than the Majors or Minors, so any setting that allows you to incorporate the Courts into your story is a Good Thing.

    3  Character – this covers a lot of ground – if the characters are expressive, clearly delineating a personality type by their expression or pose, then this helps you work with them.  Someone bent over and tired-looking has easily got a completely different message from a sprightly young Page. 
    4  Sex – is there an equal balance of male and female characters? Are they all women? All men? Are they animals/birds? Is that what you want?
    5  Rank – how are the Courts ranked?  Straightforward Page (Princess)/Knight/Queen/King ares traditional and, for me, easier to work with than an entirely new combination like Lightbringer/Demon/Sprite and Soul where it’s not clear which rank trumps the others and how progress is made – you have got some additional learning to do.  And does that learning conflict or support what you already know about Ranks in your other decks?

    A Princess to replace the Page, nice setting, symbolism, suit attributes 
    6  Colour – this could form part of symbolism – do the suits have colours? Are those colours pulled through into the Courts? If they are, it might make it easier for you to incorporate suit traits into your story?  Do those colours represent the elemental associations that you’d expect?  If not, will that affect your use of elements in this deck?
    7  Astrological information etc – some decks have information from other systems built in to their Courts which makes it a danged sight  easier to talk about, for example, astrological traits instead of having to memorise the associations!
    The black-clad Ninja with his sneaky expression and his heuuuuge hidden sword
    The other Courts have astrological associations clearly illustrated – result!
    Of course, this isn’t a complete list, and they don’t ALL have to be present in every deck’s court, but these are just some of the main prompts that will help you find easy to work with Courts.  
    Now, if you’ll excuse me,  I’m off to run my hands expertly over the haunches of the Knight of Wands ;-D

  • The Fool and The Queen of Pentacles

    So, many years ago I read an article about the fate of greyhounds once their racing days were over.  Some, the lucky ones, were found new homes, but many of them ended up dead and in a ditch, their ears removed to prevent their identification.

    Things have changed since I read that article and many charitable bodies help rehome the 30,000 dogs that annually retire from the sport and need loving homes.

    And for some reason it stuck with me:  One day I would give one of these dogs a good home.

    Wednesday was that very day!

    It’s one thing to talk about rehoming a dog, quite another to be confronted by 48 of them peering through their kennel doors, all hugely delighted to see you and barking their heads off.

    I was quite clear about what I wanted.  I wanted a blue bitch.  I’d even seen a couple on the rescue centre’s website so that I wouldn’t have to put myself through the torture of looking at every dog (and wanting every single one of them!)

    However, I hadn’t reckoned on the formidable presence of the lady who runs the rehoming centre.  Before we could suggest the names of the dogs that we wanted, ‘Flash’ was produced for us to take for a walk around the paddock.

    Flash was a huge black dog who wasn’t much interested in us.  And, to be brutally honest, we weren’t much interested in him.  He wasn’t a blue bitch.

    We returned to the kennels and the cacophony of excited barking that greeted us was quite overwhelming.

    ‘What did you think of him?’ she asked.

    ‘Well, he’s very nice and easy to walk on the lead,’ I said, ‘But we were really looking for a blue bitch.’

    The lady nodded.  ‘Oh yes, the unusually coloured dogs always go quickly.  But it’s not about how you LOOK, in life that counts, is it?  It’s about the nature of the dog,’ she said.  Turning to one of the many smiling volunteers who walk the dogs for her, she said’ Bring down Jojo.’

    Jojo wasn’t one of the dogs on my list.

    He came in and my heart sank.  He was a big black boy with a moulting coat, shaking legs and a severe dose of dandruff.

    She handed me his lead….

    …..And he leaned against my leg, gazing up at me with eyes darker than the devil’s waistcoat.

    …and, fool that I am, I took a deep breath and stepped off the cliff.

    Reader, when I set off from home that morning I was determined about one thing:  I didn’t want a Big Black Dog.

    So here he is:  My Big Black Dog.

    This is the first time that he laid down on his blanket, hence the nervous ‘skinned rabbit’ look about him.  He didn’t recognise his name, Jojo, so we changed it to Nero because he’s black and it’s regal looking, as is he.

    As I type he is spread out on the floor behind me, sleeping.

    And I luff him.

    Sooooooo what in the hell has this got to do with Tarot – or the Tarot court specifically – I hear you mutter.  Well, it’s this.

    The Queen of Pentacles often gets landed with the nurturing home-maker label which can make people think that she’s a bit of a soft touch.

    And the woman at the Rescue Centre clearly had that caring and nurturing Queen of Pentacles nature, but also, running through her was a steely core, like a bit of high-tensile cable! She possessed the resolve to make the very best efforts for her hardest to re-home animals – the big black boys.

    So the next time the Queen of Pentacles come up in a reading for you, remember the determination of Celia to do the best for her four-legged foster kids.

    Have you had any Fool or Queen of Pentacle moments recently?