The Royal Court
Introduction
Each suit of the minor arcana is crowned by four court cards. In the traditional Smith-Waite style these cards are the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. In the Hermetic system, Pages are replaced by Princesses and the order is shifted to Knight, Queen, King, Princess. This is the order I will be exploring with The Prism Tarot.
Why Princesses over Pages?
I prefer the Princess archetype because of the direct correlation to the placements on the Tree of Life, and more simply because I like the idea of the princesses possessing all the power. I think overall it is a more elegant system with a clearer established hierarchy and story. I always felt that the Pages and Aces were a bit redundant. In this order, Aces are the spark of potential for the suit, and princesses are that potential fulfilled and the complete state of being of the suit. However, I don’t want to alienate people who read pages so it’s my intention that these cards could be read either way. They possess much of the same energy, the biggest difference lies in the hierarchy.
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The Hierarchy
Knights correspond to the second sephirah on the tree of life, Chockmah. It rests on the light masculine pillar, Jachin. The Knight is the Father of the King and Princess.
Queens correspond to the third sephirah, Binah. It rests on the dark feminine pillar, Boaz. The Queen is the mother of the King and Princess.
Kings (or Princes) correspond to the sixth sephirah, Tiphereth. They are the sons that inherit the throne
Princesses correspond to the tenth sephirah, Malkuth. They are the daughters and vessels that receive, transform, and hold the full power and potential of their suit.
Gender
When I created the figure for my cards I discussed my choice to keep them gender neutral in order to resonate with people from all walks of life. I want to clarify, however, that gender in terms of the sexual characteristics of humans is much different than the concept of masculine and feminine energy. All people, no matter what gender they identify as, possess both masculine and feminine energy. It is one of the core dualities of the universe like yin and yang, light and dark, chaos and cosmos. For balance to be maintained, both must exist and neither can exist without the other. I believe that for a deck of tarot cards to be able to fully resonate it has to create a complete portrait of universal energy. It is my intention to visually represent the masculine and feminine energy of these cards, as well as cards such as the High Priestess, Empress, and Emperor, without relying too heavily on any societal constructs that surround those ideas. I guess the core of what I’m trying to say is that we all have the energy of kings and queens inside of us.
In case you do feel more comfortable referring to the cards by more gender-neutral names, I have given them each a second.
Knights = Messengers
Queens = Cultivators
Kings/Princes = Rulers
Princesses = Transformers
Energy
The court cards are unique in that they explore what happens when the elemental energy of one suit is introduced to another. So for instance, the Knight of Cups is the fiery aspect of water. If you consider how those two elements intermingle it can give you a base idea of their energy. Their meanings also depend on how they combine and intermingle with others. So what might happen when the fiery aspect of water meets the watery aspect of fire? There are so many possibilities.
Knights/Messengers are aligned with fire. They a passionate, inspired, swift, and violent. They serve as the messengers of the power of their suit. Like fathers, they possess the seed of creation. They represent the raw power of their suit.
Queens/Cultivators are aligned with water. They are nurturing, grounded, creative, and receptive. They serve as the keepers and caretakers of the energy of their suit. Like mothers, they cultivate the seed of creation. They represent the nurtured power of their suit.
Kings (Princes)/Rulers are aligned with air. They are sincere, compassionate, wise, and just. They serve as the master of the energy of their suit. They represent harmony and balance. They represent the mastered and balanced power of their suit.
Princesses/Transformers are aligned with earth. They are stable, powerful, pure, and complete. They serve as the vessel, inheritor, and guardian of the elemental energy that was born from the ace. They represent human potential and the fully expressed power of their suit. They transform and materialize the energy they receive from the Knight, Queen, and King. They are the total state of being.
In Readings
These are the cards we are most able to identify with because they represent familiar human personality archetypes. As such, they are sometimes pulled from the deck as querent significators before a reading begins. If they appear in a reading they are often representative of people in our lives or ourselves. They may also indicate the querent’s current relationship to the unique energy of a certain court card and suggest that they either are embodying that energy or denying that part of themselves. I will go more in depth about the meaning of each one in their individual posts.
