By Arlene McKanic

The Court Cards in the Tarot deck are often the most difficult cards for Tarot readers. They are often explained as the "personalities" of people involved in the reading. Some experts have given early and rigid definitions of personality archetypes, aligning them with significators—cards meant to stand in for the reader or another person (querent.) In some "systems" this includes appearance, others emphasize personality. When a court card appears in a reading, it is widely thought of as representing a person with those attributes.

Other readers interpret the courts differently, choosing instead to interpret the personality indicated as an idea rather than a person. So, for example, the King of Wands, generally held to be a creative mature male person, might actually indicated aggressive creativity. Instead of King being interpreted as a male person, it can be interpreted as "yang" or male aggressiveness or action-activity (in archetypal language). So, the King of Wands might be a active creativity, while the King of Pentacles might be thought of as reliable action or resourcefulness. The position in the reading, and the reader's insight, would determine the actual meaning.

Court card confusion

The reader who takes the physical description as a guide will often come away confused when the appearance doesn't fit with the personality.

In the more rigid descriptive systems, the courts are the King (man), the Queen (woman), the Knight (younger man) and the Page (young woman or child)—sometimes going to extremely literal interpretations, such as King of Pentacles representing a dark haired, mature man.

Regardless of your method of interpretation, it is generally accepted that each suite, the Pentacles, Swords, Cups and Wands, has their set of Court Cards, aligning with personality types according to their elements. Interpreting by elements can be problematic, since in some systems swords represents air and wands fire, while in others the reverse.

Rigid definitions might not work

What people who use tarot cards find troublesome about the Court Cards are these rigid definitions. Are they supposed to represent the reader, or the querent, or another person? Sometimes the querent doesn't think the Court Card the reader has chosen fits them. They may think that none of the Court Cards really fit them.

Here are some examples from several books attempting to rigidly define the courts
• One of the traditional sources indicates, the King of Wands represents a blond man with blue or hazel eyes who is an enterprising, passionate sort who's married or stable. Yet in Joan Bunting's book Learning the Tarot, the King of Wands stands for creative, inspiring, forceful, charismatic and bold. It seems diametrically opposed to the first definition, likely because the two authors are interpreting from different elements, one with air and one with fire.

• One interpretation of the Queen of Wands is a blond and blue eyed women and wields great power while being dedicated to her home and family. Joan Bunting interprets with the keywords attractive, wholehearted, energetic, cheerful, self-assured. While they don't necessarily contradict, they are not the same.

What to do?
What to do with all this conflicting information. Part of the problem is that some of the older sources interpreted based on older decks, while later interpretations came out of Rider Waite derivations, or from Aliester Crowley's Thoth deck. Later, and more intuitive Tarot advice seems to spin in a different direction entirely.

Is there a right and wrong to Courts? The answer has to be no. Ultimately, the reader must consider the position in the spread, their own personal insight, the querent's question, the deck and the other cards in the spread that pair or compliment. Does it represent a person? The other cards in the spread should tell you. Does it represent an idea? The position in the spread might help. Yet, nothing will help so much as your own intuition.