The Court Cards

Like the Suits of the Minor Arcana are associated with certain elements, the Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings are also each associated with an element, mentioned as follows:

Kings = element of Air (mental force)

Queens = element of Water (nurture)

Knights = element of Fire (action)

Pages = element of Earth (material)

Please note, when interpreting the Court Cards, the element of the Suit has the stronger influence on the meaning than the element of the personality.

How to interpret the Court Cards:

When interpreting the Court Cards the characteristics of the element corresponding to the suit and the characteristics of the type of person must be combined.

For example, the King of Cups is generally an emotional, warm-hearted man (Cups - Element Water), but he also has the characteristics of a King (Kings - Element Air), which means that he will act mature, authoriative, try to keep a cool head and is not always led by his emotions.

Nevertheless, when representing a person it is generally a warm-hearted, emotional man. As a representation of a man who is using his logical mind, but can still be a nice man, the King of Swords is much more fitting.

When a Court Card represents an outcome, an advice or a situation the characteristics of the Court Card must be applied.

For example the Queen of Cups could represent a very emotional, motherly, warm-hearted woman or a part of yourself with these characteristics.

When it is not a person that is represented by this card it could represent certain features that are associated with the card. For example if you ask what the future with your partner will be like and the Queen of Cups comes up it could mean that you will take care of each other and treat each other in a loving and gentle way.

If you want to be sure about the meaning of a Court Card, you can also set the intention before the reading that if a Court Card appears a person will be represented.

General Court Card Meanings:

The Pages

The Pages can symbolize a messenger and therefore can represent messages or something new brought to you.

As a person they represent someone young or a child - male or female.

They can be seen as the children of the Tarot that are at the beginning of their journey and they have a certain lightheartedness and curiousity to them.

The Knights

The Knights can stand for swiftness, action, events and energy. They can also symbolize something or someone coming your way.

As a person they most often represent someone male in their mid twenties to late thirties.

They are the teenagers of the tarot, who have already gained some experience and think they already know it all. They like to take action and are full of energy.

The Queens

The Queens are considered to represent motherly, nurturing, mature energies.

As a person they most often represent a woman.

Queens are the mothers of the tarot who influence in a subtle and gentle way.

The Kings

The Kings symbolize authoritarian energies and fully developed personalities.

They can represent a man that is a little older or mature.

Since the Kings are rulers they can symbolize that it is time to take control of a matter.

All depictions of the Court Cards on this page are from the Llewelyn Tarot.