The court cards are some of the most beautiful cards in this deck. They are especially interesting because the king cards are all animals, which contrasts the rest of the deck which are people based. The court cards can represent peoples, goals, or the way a person utilizes the element of their suit. I found understanding the court cards kind of hard at first. To better understand them, I started with trying to understand the suits, then how each role in the court cards utilize their element, and then I tried to understand each individual court card.
This is how I understood them:
- Suits:
- Coins: Nature, earth element, physical resources (wealth, health, items), slow moving, legacy based, aware of the long term.
- Swords: Clarity, air element, mind, consciousness, justice, fairness, truth, conflict
- Chalices: passive, emotions, relationships, water element, examine dreams, psychosocial, creative, internal, unconscious
- Wands: Fire element, bold, fast, ambitious, drive, competition, vitality
- Court Cards:
- Pages: messengers, learners, potential, passively using the element, immature, has weaknesses, inexperienced
- Knight: movers, actively using the element, facilitation, extreme, change, excess
- Queen: mentor, exercises the element, unconscious, emotional side of utilizing the element, foundation
- King: leader, mastery of the element, conscious, controlling, firm, powerful
That’s just how I tried to understand them and it has helped so far. For today’s post, I want to focus on just the King cards.
King Court Cards – Animal Imagery
The king cards shows four animals: an eastern dragon, a raven, a smaller golden bird, and a white rabbit. They each wear crowns, and many of them are surrounded by flowers. I think they all still have some connection to folklore (especially the mythical dragon in the King of Chalices, the three legged crow in the King of Wands, and the golden bird in the King of Swords).
Chinese Dragon – King of Chalices
- The King of Chalices is the master of the element of water and emotions. This card represents authority, diplomacy, emotional balance, wisdom, and counselling. When this card appears, there is a reminder to have complete control over one’s emotions, and remain mature when dealing with your challenges in life. It can also represent a person in one’s life who has those qualities.
- In this image we see a Chinese dragons with a crown, and his body wrapping around him. These creatures are powerful, benevolent, and have some control over water (ending droughts, causing rain, and living in bodies of water). The dragons are often associated with imperial power, balance, blissful relationships, happy marriages, and the long reign of a king. The dragon has a pearl in his mouth, which there is a story of a boy who swallowed a pearl and became a dragon (and protector of the land), but I do not know it very well.
Yatagarasu – King of Wands
- The King of Wands represents leadership, taking control, making daring or bold decisions, and being a visionary. He is the master of the element of fire, and is a bold natural leader. This can either be about a person in one’s life, a goal in one’s life, or addressing issues in a capable, certain, and daring way. He symbolizes pure energy, reminds one to stop at nothing in making goals a reality, and suggests that their may be opportunities in the challenges you face.
- Yatagarasu is a three legged crow that represents the sun in Japanese mythology (similar to the 10 Suns in Chinese mythology). Yatagarasu was an incarnation or a form of the god Kame Taketsunumi who led Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan, through the Kumano mountains and to Yamato where he found the capital. As a guide, Yatagarasu brought Jimmu through adventure and danger to his end goal. Yatagarasu lives on the sun and represents the sun. He led Jimmu who was a descendent of Amaterasu the goddess of the sun thus he represents this bold and fiery spirit associated with fire element that was actively involved in leading the future leader of the country. The flowers around the bird seem to be red spider lilies which are thought of as flowers of the heavens in Japan.
Aetos Dios – King of Swords
- The King of Swords is the master of the air element. He represents intellectual/logical power, authority, truth, and mental clarity. When this card appears, it is a reminder to use your head and not your heart when dealing with an issue. You must be impartial when making judgements, and your high standards may be affecting your life in some way. This card may represent a person in your life who is strict and blunt and logical (maybe like Spock). King of swords is a reminder to seek the logic and reasoning in your choices.
- I cannot think of a single small golden bird in my repertoire of mythological knowledge. Most birds of gold that I can think of are huge and splendid (there is one in Chilean myth and the golden bird in Brothers Grimm story that actually shows up in another swords card in this deck). It does bring in to my mind the image of the golden eagle associated with Zeus. This eagle is his personal symbol and messenger. The eagle appeared before him during the Titanomachy and symbolized victory in war. As the symbol of Zeus, the golden eagle also became a symbol of other great Greek kings and strategic thinkers such as Alexander the Great and his successors. This is a symbol of power, victory, strength, and intellect.
Great Rabbit – King of Coins
- King of Coins (pentacles in some decks) is the master of the element of earth. He is a grounded, dependable, and successful provider. He represents wealth, discipline, and abundance. If this card appears in a reading, it may be a reminder to work carefully towards reaching long term goals, a look into a prosperous future, or it may be about a person in your life who is dependable, stable, and conservative.
- This card shows a white rabbit in a lush green world. He sits in a golden grown covered in white roses. Mishaabooz came to mind when I think of a rabbit king. He is the Great Rabbit in Ojibwe stories who was involved in the creation of the world, naming plants and animals, teaching people to hunt, and creating the society that studied medicine. Kokopelli is another rabbit in Amerindian mythology that is usually seen with a flute, and he represented fertility, prosperity, abundance, and wealth.
The End
These are just my interpretations of the cards, but hopefully they help someone who is looking for information to better understand their own deck. If you have more ideas about these images feel free to share them with me. I would love to know. I think the next post will be about the Queen cards which are so pretty, and they each have an animal with them which is pretty interesting to delve into. If you have tarot decks you want to recommend, please feel free to share that too.
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