Traveling with the Tarot Knights

I’ve been having fun writing about numbers and ranks in tarot recently. This week feels like time to explore the Knights!

The Court cards can be confusing because of their versatility; each one can mean so many things. This is especially true of the Pages and the Knights.

Traditionally, Pages are feminine, and Knights are masculine. This has never proved true for me in my readings, so I prefer a deck where the Pages and Knights are fairly androgenous-looking. Intuitively I may see a Page or Knight with a gender in a specific reading. In another reading, the same card may appear as a different gender to me. Of course, on these sorts of reding techniques and interpretations, your mileage may vary.

There are some tarotists who assign to the tarot Knights a sense of courtly honor, like Arthurian Knights of the Round Table. That has never resonated with me but might be something to consider.

Like the Pages, Knights can be young people, or can give you a directive, or make a prediction.

Keywords to associate with the rank of Knight include travel, pursuit, goals, motion. So, a Knight might be a young person who is goal oriented. A Knight might be a person of any age who is single-mindedly pursuing a goal. A Knight might encourage you to pursue a goal.

The sort of goal, of course, is determined by the suit. The Knight of Swords might be pursuing truth, writing, knowledge, communication, or technology. The Knight of Wands might be pursuing fun, creativity, humor, athleticism or spirituality. The Knight of Cups might be pursuing love and romance. The Knight of Pentacles might be pursuing work and money.

Knights can also predict or encourage travel. The type of travel is denoted by the suit. The Knight of Swords might be a trip to learn something or discover something. The Knight of Wands might be a trip for fun, or to a concert or sporting event. The Knight of Cups might be a romantic vacation. The Knight of Pentacles would be travel for business.

One of the ways the pandemic has appeared in the cards of clients is a lot of reversed Knights, indicating cancelled trips, and no ability to travel at the moment.

Two of the Knights can have a special job of indicating timing, that is, how fast something will happen, or how quickly you should move to make something happen. The Knight of Swords is about swiftness, while the Knight of Pentacles indicates a slow pace.

When Pages and Knights appear together, they may talk about a sibling group, with the Knights likely to be the older siblings.

Very often, the Knights appear to tell us to get off our butts and get moving. They can be a gentle or not-so-gentle nudge from the Universe to move forward toward our goals. They are also a constant reminder that life is a journey. Given their particular messages, they can evoke some of the same emotions and information as the Fool and the Chariot.

Reading the Tarot Pages

You are being Paged! That is something I sometimes say when I see a few Pages in a tarot spread. Sometimes a predominance of Pages can tell us that the Universe is communicating directly with us. It is ‘paging’ us, if you will, to get our attention and give us our marching orders.

Other times, Pages can give different sorts of messages. While the tarot Court, in general, can be tricky to interpret, the tarot Pages seem to be the most elusive and difficult to nail down.

In recent years I have heard many tarot students compare the Pages to the Aces, suggesting that the Pages can represent something new, or something beginning. While the Pages certainly do carry the energy of youth, and therefore newness, I feel there are so many richer and more specific possibilities for interpreting the four Pages of tarot.

Regardless of suit, all four Pages have a few things in common. The Pages can represent children. The Pages can represent pets. The Pages can represent people of any age who are engaged in learning something new, reinventing themselves, or finding their voice.

In a reading about business, the Pages can speak about your web page and social media presence.

Keywords for the rank of Page include learning, study, school, youth and communication.

The Pages can predict that you will receive a message. The Pages can remind you of the importance of communication. The Pages can tell you to go to school.

The suit of each Page gives the interpretation more specificity. If the Page is indeed a person, the suit will give us a hint about their personality. If the Page is telling us to communicate, or suggesting that we will receive communication, the suit will tell us what the communication is about. If the Page is telling us to study something or learn something, the suit will tell us what the subject matter should be.

Very often, Pages in a tarot reading will give more than one message. That means that a particular Page might be about your child, but also might talk about a class you are taking. It might also encourage you to have a specific conversation you have been avoiding.

Since the Pages are so much about communication, it only makes sense that each one of them should communicate a great deal of information!

Answers to Your Questions about Tarot: Court Cards and Reversals

Our question comes from Ben.

Hi Christiana,

I've just discovered your YouTube channel and I'm finding the answers to questions videos really helpful so thank you!

I am VERY new to tarot, I purchased by Rider-Waite deck 6 months ago and am loving it.

I was wondering whether you could do a video about whether you take into account reversed cards in readings. I know some people don't. From the off I've read cards reversed if they come up but I do have to say it is incredibly challenging sometimes to decifer what the cards mean (especially court cards)! From reading books and seeing what other people say online it's clear that everyone has their own opinion.

What do you think? Do you take into account reversed cards? And if so do you have any tips on how to decipher the meaning? I particularly find the Page of Swords a little elusive...

Hope you are well and thank you so much again for your videos!

Thanks for a great question, Ben. I hope you enjoy the video!

Not everyone honors reversals, but everyone honors dignities.

I do encourage my students who use a deck in the RWS (Rider-Waite- Smith) tradition to consider working with reversals. I think reversals give us more detail, more nuance and more ability to give a really specific reading.

I almost always honor reversals in my personal and professonal readings.

Each card has a spectrum, or continuum of possible energies and meanings. The reversal can give a clear sense of where on the continuum the card best fits the situation.

A reversal changes the energy of the card; perhaps introducing a resistance, a delay or an opposite.

My system for dealing with reversed Court Cards, when I think they represent people, is simple.

Upright Court Cards’ personalities are determined by their element and rank. All upright Court Cards are well-intentioned and basically good people.

Reversed Court Cards are people with problems. They may not be well-intentioned, or may be dealing with issues.

Please watch the video, which includes my take on the Page of Swords, both upright and reversed.

If you have a question about tarot, please email me.

Answers to you Questions about Tarot: Reversals and Court Cards

Video of Answers to you Questions about Tarot: Reversals and Court Cards

Answers to your Questions about Tarot: The Court Cards

This week’s question comes from Pamela, who is having a hard time understanding the Court Cards.

Pamela, you are not alone. The Court Cards are confusing because they can mean so many different things.

Each person has their own way of dealing with the Court. I will share mine – perhaps you will find it helpful.

My book, Tarot Tour Guide, has a whole chapter on the Court that will give you some good information as well.

When interpreting the Court, consider developing an understanding of the four ranks and an understanding of the Four Elements.

Here is a brief description of the four ranks, from my perspective.

Pages: Pages can be young people, or people of any age who are learning or doing something new. Pages are yin and receptive. Pages are students and communicators.

Pages may direct you to learn something new, or to focus on communication.

Pages may predict that you will receive an important communication.

Knights: Knights can be young people, or people of any age who are in pursuit of a goal.

Knights are yang and active. Knights are pursuers or travelers.

Knights may direct you to pursue a goal.

Knights may predict travel.

Queens: Queens are generally adult women.

Queen may direct you to nurture something within yourself.

Kings: Kings are generally adult men.

Kings may direct you to take a leadership role.

The personalities of the people and the nature of their directives and predictions can be determined by their element.

Swords is the Element of Air, and refers to communication, integrity, truth and intelligence.

Wands is the Element of Fire, and refers to passion, creativity, spirituality and enjoyment.

Cups is the Element of Water, and refers to emotions, sentimentality, love and relationships.

Pentacles is the Element of Earth and refesr to stability, prosperity, structure, practicality and groundedness.

In my system upright Court Cards can represent people who work well with their element and are basically good and helpful.

Reversed Court Cards represent people who have problems in the area of their element. Reversed Pentacles people, for instance, might be irresponsible or have problems with employment.

Enjoy the video! If you have questions about tarot please email me!

Christiana answers a question about the Court Cards

Video of Christiana answers a question about the Court Cards