Healing Rituals of the Tarot Court: Queens & Knights

I find the tarot to be a useful tool of self-reflection and community connection, with the Court cards being some of the most intriguing archetypes to work with. But the Court cards can also be confusing to a lot of folks (myself included in my early years of reading the cards), so I thought I’d share the ways that I’ve found these cards to speak to me and offer insights on the path of healing.

Having already explored the foundational meaning of the Court, alternative ways of naming the Court cards, and the meaning and rituals of the Pages and Knights, it is now time to turn to the Queens and Kings.

Playing Cards by Master PW (c. 1500)

Connecting & Collecting: The Queens & the Kings

The Queen and the King are the two elders of the Court cards, whether this elderhood is defined by actual chronological age or lived experience and skill, depends on the reading. Like the Pages and the Knights, their energies are inexplicably linked - one is not able to do much without the other. One of the ways that I distinguish between the energies of the cards is that I see the Queen cards as either peers (i.e. working with someone who shares similar levels of knowledge and experience which allows you to work together easier) or expressions of mystical individuation (i.e. the oracle who acts as a bridge between the mundane and magickal, but have to maintain a sense of self to be able to perform such a mystical duty safely; the mediator who is working with others but must maintain an air of separateness; or the artist who is focused on their individual self-expression). The Queens are interested in the sharing of information and preserving and creating the systems by which information can be exchanged.

The Kings are mentors and teachers - they are meant to represent knowledge and experience greater than your own. The energy of the Kings focuses on how they are going to create structures to protect the legacy of wisdom not only that they are leaving behind, but the wisdom of their communities. The Kings are interested in collecting information, sorting it, and storing it for future generations. If information of the Queens is free-flowing like a river, the Kings are the ones creating quiet pools and dams for information to pool, be studied, and easily accessed. Both are working with the flow of information and how it is accessed and shared.

The Hermit from The Neutral Vibes Tarot

For a different approach to understanding what I just shared about the Queens and Kings, take a moment to imagine the traditional Smith-Waite image of The Hermit. For me, the Queens are the Hermit themselves, often accessed in the wild and fierce places of our psyche, while the Kings are the lantern which protect the light of wisdom - both of them have worked hard to nourish and make sure that others will see and be warmed by the light of wisdom for generations to come.

The Rituals

These rituals were written with the solitary practitioner in mind but can be easily adapted to group needs. Add to, adjust, and leave out whatever you need from the rituals as you are called. I try to create rituals that are simple enough for most folks to show up to but can also act as a foundation for folks to build upon. I hope you always feel inspired to make them your own.

Deck names listed below

The Queens: A Ritual of Reconciliation

Oracle · Companion · Artist · Visionary · Sybil · Mediator · Organizer
Primary Element: Water
Plant Ally: Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Working with the Queens is an opportunity to reconcile different aspects of your life into a woven whole. When Queen cards show up again and again in our readings they can indicate a need to acknowledge, honor, and make space for an important aspect of your identity that has been denied, hidden away or not properly recognized for its brilliance. Another way to understand Queen energy is to imagine your energy or your sense of self as a river and to notice where that energy is blocked and stagnant versus free and flowing. The reasons why Queen cards so often act like mirrors to our own state of flow is because they are interested in the exchange of energy and knowledge which can only happen when we are able to access our own energy and knowledge and allow it to flow between ourselves and others. Queen energy helps us to recognize the parts of ourselves that we worry or believe "hinder" the more acceptable parts of ourselves (whether that is acceptable by our own standards or the standards of the people and cultures around us such as it might be seen as acceptable for us to embody the energy of the constant helper but unacceptable to be the confident leader). 

In the following ritual we'll begin by identifying one aspect of ourselves that we hope to embrace, to call home, to reconcile with.

For your ritual, you'll need all four Queen cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal Queen cards to use in ritual. Depending on the aspect of yourself you're seeking to embrace, you'll need items that you can use to build an altar for that part of yourself, including images and items which celebrate that part of yourself and make that part of yourself feel at home (i.e. a flag that corresponds with the part of your gender or sexuality you are embracing).

Take a moment to contemplate one part of yourself that may have been denied but deserves reconciliation. For some of you this will be clear, but for others this might need some extra consideration, maybe even a tarot spread to help you connect with the part of yourself that feels missing. You can also ask yourself questions along the lines of:

• What is a part of myself that I hide away from others because I worry what they'll think?

• Who would I be more of if I wasn't afraid of the perceived or real consequences?

When you're ready, begin by laying out the four Queen cards face down in front of you. Holding the image of the part of yourself that you are calling home, speak the following invocation:

Queen of wisdom
Queen of might
Wrap me in your dark and light
Guard the path that on I go
That what I call
Comes safely home

Then choose one of the Queen cards - this is the Queen that has stepped forward to guard the path between you and the part of you that you are calling home. Set the card in a central place on your altar. You can set the other Queen cards either behind your guardian Queen or on other parts of your altar as you feel called. 

Now, build your altar, speaking sweet things to the part of you that you are calling home as you set up a space of honor for them, for you. You can be silly or sincere or some space between - speak in a way that feels good to the part of you that you're calling home, maybe even using a name or title either given or chosen that feels personal and special to the part of you that you're calling home. You might say things like:

• Oh my sweet young self, with all your playfulness and silliness, come on home, I have your favorite book right here.

• Hello, art kid, it's time to pick up your pencils again. I can't wait to create art with you.

• Hey, there, tenderheart. It's ok to cry here, your sensitivity is so beautiful and I've missed you.

• Beautiful one, I'm so sorry I've had to keep you hidden away - it's safe now for us to start dressing more like who we really are. 

As you build your altar and speak your sweet spell of homecoming, whenever you start to turn to the image of the Queen on your altar and speak the invocation, calling their power in to protect you and support you as you reconcile with this part of yourself that you're calling home. 

When you feeling settled, you can speak the following charm:

Holy, holy, holy
Holy is the way
Found myself here again
And here I'm going to stay

If you want, you can end with a tarot spread that acts like a reintroduction to your reconciling self. This can be as simple as a three card energetic check-in or more complex like an Ancient Self or Future Self spread. Keep your altar up for as long as you like, either adding or subtracting from it as your reconciled self becomes more settled and more able to shape your world in a reflection of your wholeness.

Deck names listed below

The Kings: A Ritual of Legacy

Archivist · Queen · Mentor · Shadow · Architect · Sage · Teacher
Primary Element: Fire
Plant Ally: Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Working with the Kings is an opportunity to create little legacies for our future self to benefit from. The legacies that we are creating, both personal and communal, aren't just about what we leave behind when we pass on to the next life, but those that we and others are creating that are useful for us in the present and not-so-distant future. While the magick of the Queens in our lives mean that we might be identifying and tapping into currents of energy that we desire (i.e. the ecstasy of a runner's high and the pleasure of a mental and physical challenge), the magick of the Kings in our lives help us to create the structure for that energy to thrive and flow (i.e. scheduling time for runs each week and researching the best shoe for your needs). 

The following ritual helps us to create small reminders for our future self of our present wisdom to help us reach a specific goal or for our general wellbeing. 

For your ritual, you'll need all four King cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal King cards to use in ritual. You will also need at least four pieces of paper (I like to use index cards) and your favorite writing supplies.

Begin by setting out the four King cards in the cardinal directions around you. You can follow the directional correspondences of the tradition you follow, but here's the recommendations for many western esoteric traditions:

• East: King of Swords

• South (Northern Hemisphere) / North (Southern Hemisphere): King of Wands

• West: King of Cups

• North (Northern Hemisphere) / South (Southern Hemisphere): King of Pentacles 

Call in the energy of each King by turning to the appropriate direction and speaking the corresponding invocation. If you like, you can also light a candle in each direction, trace an invoking pentagram, offer incense, water, etc. Create as much structure and ceremony to the ritual as you feel inspired to. I have used the title "King" for each of the invocations, but you should feel free to substitute the title for the one you're most connected with.

King of Swords
Come you near!
Thought and skill
Gifts you bear!
Place of rising
Space of light
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Wands
Come you near!
Respect and trust
Gifts you bear!
Place of action
Space of might
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Cups
Come you near!
Hope and healing
Gifts you bear!
Place of feeling
Space of sight
Bring your magick
To this rite!

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King of Pentacles
Come you near!
Love and growth
Gifts you bear!
Place of courage
Space of life
Bring your magick
To this rite!

Once you have called in each of the four Kings, it's time to work with pen and paper. As each King represents a different area of your life to create the types of structures that work best for you, you'll be creating a series of cards that help you connect with a piece of wisdom and follow up steps for each area of your life. For general wellbeing affirmations and accompanying actions  inspired by the King of Swords in your life might be:

• Affirmation: I trust my powers of discernment.

• Actions: Practice five minutes of square breathing. Speak my decision or real experience of a situation out loud. Feel that discernment in my body.

If you are working towards a specific goal such as developing a sustainable running practice your affirmations and accompanying actions might be something like:

• Affirmation: I am strong and focused - I know I'm a runner.

• Actions: Choose an affirmation to say throughout your run. Paste a copy of it to your mirror. Practice a five minute run visualization (i.e. visualizing your run path and how good you'll feel afterwards).

I like to write affirmations on one side and actionable steps on the other, but you can create your cards however you like including illustrations, inspirational quotes, and more. Make at least one card for each King, but feel free to make as many as you like. Below I've listed a few correspondences for each of the Kings, but get inspired by your own intuition as well as the art specific to your tarot cards to help you write your affirmations.

When all affirmations are written, it is time to charge your deck. If you have a preferred method of charging up magickal items, proceed as you like. Otherwise, pick up the card(s) inspired by the King of Swords and turn to the appropriate direction. Hold them between your palms and begin to move your arms towards the East and back towards, tracing the path of a lemniscate or infinity symbol. As you do this, visualize gathering up the energy of the King and Swords and your own energy into an interwoven point in the palm of your hands where it charges up the card(s) you have created. Once the card(s) feel charged, you can speak the following:

By the Sword of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

Repeat this process with all of your cards and all of your Kings, again, replacing the title "King" and/or "Sword" if you like with ones that more deeply resonate with you. 

By the Wand of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

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By the Cup of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

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By the Star of Kings
and the magick I hold
So the path is laid
for wisdom to unfold 

When you've completed your circumnavigation, gather up the cards you've created. You can place them in a place of prominence where you'll remember to use them when you need extra encouragement or guidance on your path.  If you liked the King ritual and making your own set of personal affirmation and action cards, you might also like to create your own oracle of care.

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If you want to keep going with your tarot explorations, you might read my post on the Pages and Knights to complete your Court card journey or find a spread to fit your needs. Interested in a deeper dive into the correspondences of the court? Learn more about the four sacred elements from a traditional western herbalism perspective that each Court card is associated with.

Ready to read the tarot as a book of healing? Come this way.

I hope that this series has illuminated the sometime opaque tradition of the tarot Court and inspired your own practice of embodied healing.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

---

Decks Shown
A Deck of Cards by PW (c. 1500)
Neutral Vibes Tarot
Tazama African Tarot
The Future Ancestor Tarot
The Shining Tribe Tarot

Healing Rituals of the Tarot Court: Pages & Knights

The Tarot Court cards (also known as face or coat cards) play an interesting role in any tarot deck. Traditionally, the Court cards depict people (whether archetypal or relational) in your life, unlike the rest of the Minor Arcana (aka as the pip cards) which explore events, activities, and situations one might come across. In some ways they represent a subdued energy of the archetypal characters you might meet in the Major Arcana - but more on that in a bit.

Many tarot readers of all experience levels find Court cards challenging to interpret, not least of which because the traditional names of the cards - Page, Knight, Queen, and King - can feel unrelatable and limiting. The hierarchical naming of the cards can seem archaic, unnecessarily gendered, and difficult to interpret in a reading when you're trying to figure out why the Page of Swords is showing up for you and who the heck the King of Wands is supposed to be in your life. Also, these cards often have less "action" in them when compared to most of the other cards in the deck (of course, this varies from deck to deck) making them more challenging to interpret when compared to the rest of the Minor Arcana.

And yet, through their both too specific or too vague energy, I love the Court cards. I think this love comes from the way that I was first introduced to reading them - which was less about actual people showing up in your life and more about the arrival of archetypes and the opportunity for embodying energy that would benefit one's development. When the Court cards are approached from the perspective of archetype and embodiment, there is greater opportunity to interact with tarot as a tool of directed development of consciousness. For me the Court cards embody the tarot's ability to greatly reduce "haphazard movement and spiritual chaos" in one's spiritual journey, as tarot scholar Pamela Eakins writes.¹ In other words, the Court cards help us to connect with purpose, untangle spiritual knots in our energetic flow, and learn how to embody the consciousness needed to develop as individuals within the collective.

So how do we connect with the Court cards through archetype and embodiment? Let's start by meeting the Court cards and exploring their structure within tarot. Then I'll share with you a series of healing rituals for the four archetypes of the Court to help you embody the wisdom they represent beginning with the Pages and Knights in this post and following with the Queens and Kings in the next post. 

Playing Cards by Master PW (c. 1500)

The Structure of the Court

One of the oldest forms of representation of people in tarot decks, proto-tarot decks, and the playing card games that influenced tarot is that of royalty or at least upper class individuals. The reason for this is varied but includes the fact that early tarot cards were luxury items produced for royal Courts and wealthy individuals, so the Court cards reflected the lives of those they were being produced for.² The images in early tarot were based on images and archetypes that would have been familiar and recognizable to players from books, plays, pageants, and frescoes.³ That said, the images of the tarot cards may have followed a familiar format, but the details of the Court cards and other cards with people in them, changed with Courtly fashion, cultural differences, and artistic license. This practice of evolving the image of tarot cards continues on today, with the expansion of Court card culture and naming, but the basic structure of the Court cards that inform most modern decks are listed below. I've also included some simple and traditional interpretations of each card.

• Page - Youth, curiosity, naivety

• Knight - Young adulthood, exuberance, brashness

• Queen - Middle age, confidence, vision

• King - Old age, authority, legacy

The traditional structure of the Court cards roughly follows a path from youth and inexperience to age and experience. If you were to only work with the Court cards from this perspective, there's a lot of use and wisdom to be found. We start with the student, whether a child or young adult, in the form of the Page as they are just starting or in the midst of their studies about life. The Knights move into the combination of awkwardness, idealism, and sometimes hubris of teenage years and young adulthood, where there is more freedom of movement to explore the world and begin to formulate and test out one's ideas about what they find. The Queens represent adulthood moving into middle age and help to understand better our vision of a life and a world that we want to be in both understanding our limitations and potential better. Finally, the Kings represent middle to old age and are as much about looking back as they are looking forward, having tested out and determined what foundations are needed to leave behind a legacy while supporting generations to come. Take out the unnecessary gendering of these cards allowing each Court card to be any gender or agendered and you have a system of interpretation and engagement with the Court cards that can be of use to most any querent.

In modern decks there has been expansion around the names, presentations, and ideas around the Court cards in tarot decks, a practice that was primarily born from the (often lesbian and queer) feminist tradition of re-imaging and reclaiming tarot that began in the 1970s.⁴ I love the ways that the language around the Court cards has continued to expand and as I share some of the alternative names below, I encourage you to work with the ones that you resonate with the most, applying them to any deck you work with. Tarot is meant to help us find our story, and our choice of language for each of the cards is one of the ways that we can do that. 

With that in mind let's explore the archetypes of the Court cards.

The Archetypes of the Court Cards

What are the archetypes of the Court cards that we are being invited to embody when they come up in a reading or when we use the cards in ritual? A great place to start to understand the archetypes of the Court cards is to explore the many ways each card has been named. As mentioned before, modern tarot culture has expanded on the traditional language of the Court cards, relying less on a hierarchical and royal Court structure, and more on trying to connect with the spiritual path and life stages of a querent (i.e. the person being read for) that is more broad and inclusive. I've gone ahead and included interpretations of the Court cards by six modern decks to help show you the many archetypal energies that the Court cards can represent. I've listed each alternative name in order of Page, Knight, Queen, and King (i.e. Child is the Page card in The Amazon Tarot and so on). 

The Amazon Tarot ~ collaboratively made by Billie Potts, et al

• Child

• Amazon

• Companion

• Queen

The Collective Tarot ~ collaboratively made in Portland, OR

• Seeker

• Apprentice

• Artist

• Mentor

Future Ancestor Tarot by Alexa Villanueva

• Student

• Explorer

• Listener

• Maker

Tarot of the Crone by Ellen Lorenzi Prince

• Beast

• Witch

• Grandmother

• Shadow

The Shining Tribe Tarot by Rachel Pollack

• Place

• Knower

• Gift

• Speaker

The Slow Holler Tarot ~ collaboratively made predominantly by queer and/or BIPOC southern US Americans 

• Student

• Traveler

• Visionary

• Architect

World Spirit Tarot by Lauren O'Leary and Jessica Godino

• Seer

• Seeker

• Sybil

• Sage

The Herbcrafter's Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert and Latisha Guthrie

• Hijas

• Adelitas

• Madres

• Curanderas

I work with all of the decks I've listed above and all influence my practice to some degree. I would add the following names for each Court card:

• Page: Student, Scholar, Philosopher

• Knight: Messenger, Rebel (with or without a cause)

• Queen: Oracle, Mediator, Organizer

• King: Archivist, Teacher

In addition to renaming the individual cards in the Court, we can choose an alternative to the word and concept of Court itself, whether choosing traditional terms like Face or Coat Cards, or alternatives such as:

• Circle

• Family

• Witches

• Coven

• Collective

• Community

Having these alternative names for the Court cards means that when I pull a Queen card during a reading I can choose to work with the particular interpretation of Queen energy with the deck, but I also know that I have a library of Queen-type archetypes to work with. In some readings it makes more sense for me to connect with the Mediator energy of the Queen where in other readings, it is the energy of Queen as Visionary that I can connect with. As a reader and student of tarot I encourage you to focus on the archetypes of the Court cards that make the most sense for you at this time and expand on those concepts as you feel called and ready. There are no "correct" archetypes for any of the Court cards and knowing which archetypal energy is calling to you is part of the intuitive process of reading tarot from a healing perspective.

I also want to mention that I've focused on the empowering aspects of the Court cards and less on the challenging energies of these cards - there's a whole other shadow work aspect to the Court cards that is beyond the scope of this post. Shadow work and the Court cards is a post for another day, but is another useful aspect of healing work with the Court cards. If you're looking for more general recommendations about shadow work and the tarot, come this way.

Another way to help understand the Court cards is to compare them to each other and specifically the Pages and the Knights to one another and the Queens and the Kings to one another.  

Yearning & Seeking: The Pages & The Knights

For me, the Pages and the Knights are closer to each other energetically than they are to the Queens and Kings and I think that this helps to interpret the meanings of these cards. You'll find that the Knights and the Pages share a name "Seeker" in some decks and I think this is a helpful way to understand the similarities and differences between these two cards. The Pages are seeking knowledge, but are also seeking to be embraced within a (often learning-based) community. The Knights are seekers, too, but are often seeking to break out of the confines of the community spaces they've grown up in (family cultures, school systems, work spaces) and are more interested in the outward expression of what they've learned as opposed to the desire for an inward drawing of knowledge as expressed by the Pages.

Another way to understand the Pages and the Knights is to think of the Pages as trying to find their place by being in a place (they are trying to learn new things but familiarity is still comforting and being part of a community is a focus), while the Knights are trying to find their place by exploring what they perceive to be "other" spaces.

The Rituals

These rituals were written with the solitary practitioner in mind but can be easily adapted to group needs. Add to, adjust, and leave out whatever you need from the rituals as you are called. I try to create rituals that are simple enough for most folks to show up to but can also act as a foundation for folks to build upon. I hope you always feel inspired to make them your own.

Deck names listed below

The Pages: A Ritual of Stability

Student · Child · Seeker · Beast · Seer · Philosopher · Place
Primary Element: Earth
Plant Ally: Milky Oat (Avena sativa)

Working with the Pages is an opportunity to embody stability in your life. It is hard to move forward with an idea, take on a new project, connect with others, or understand our wholeness without a supportive foundation from which to work from. Imagine the life of a young child and student - the emphasis on learning is less about independent study and more about providing foundational knowledge and supporting the curiosities of a young mind. In ideal child-centered and compassionate learning environments, certain boundaries and systems are put in place to protect and nourish the world of young learners. Swimming lessons, for example, shouldn't start with throwing a child into the deep end, but by introducing children to water safety, the feel of water, the difference between shallow and deep, and lots of play with experienced swimmers around. The Pages help us to imagine and embody these feelings of stability and safety so that we can proceed with the work and play of learning and exploration.

For your ritual, you'll need all four Page cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal Page cards to use in ritual. We will be placing each of these cards in one of the four cardinal directions and if you like you can built an altar for each card in each direction that helps to call in the energy of each Page and/or simply light a candle next to each card. Again, do what you feel called, able, and inspired to do - this is your ritual to support your unique embodiment needs.

Begin by creating sacred space and perhaps a breathwork practice (such as the Tree of Life technique) to help you settle into your body. Set the Page of Swords in the East, the Page of Wands in the South (if you're in the northern hemisphere) or North (if you're in the southern hemisphere), the Page of Cups in the West, and the Page of Pentacles in the North (if you're in the northern hemisphere) or in the South (if you're in the southern hemisphere). Of course, these are the directional correspondences of the tradition I work in, so adjust them to fit the tradition you work with if needed.

Next, spend a few moments setting your intention:

• I embody stability in order to…

Examples of calling in stability might be:

• I embody stability in order to show up more deeply to my intuition.

• I embody stability in order to be more present in my relationships.

• I embody stability in order to support my creative flow.

Once your intention is set, speak it aloud or express it nine times, paying attention to the sensations that arise in your body as you recite your intention like a charm. You're not trying to analyze these feelings or connect them to anything in particular, just let them arise and flow through you as you practice awareness of them.

Turn to the East where the Page of Swords is located. Speak to them and call forth the power of the Page of Swords:

Blessings to the Page of Swords
Beyond and within me
Help me embody stability
That I may carry the sword of clarity

Spend some time visualizing and feeling the sword of the Page in your hands. Take time to move and breathe until you and the sword feel balanced together. When you are ready imagine the sword flowing into your energy, able to be summoned whenever you need it.

Turn to the South where the Page of Wands is located. Speak to them and call forth the power of the Page of Wands:

Blessings to the Page of Wands
Beyond and within me
Help me embody stability
That I may carry the wand of creativity

As with the sword, spend some time visualizing and feeling the wand of the Page in your hands. Take time to move and breathe until you and the wand feel balanced together. When you are ready imagine the wand flowing into your energy, able to be summoned whenever you need it.

Turn to the West where the Page of Cups is located. Speak to them and call forth the power of the Page of Cups:

Blessings to the Page of Cups
Beyond and within me
Help me embody stability
That I may carry the cup of sensitivity

As with the sword, spend some time visualizing and feeling the cup of the Page in your hands. Take time to move and breathe until you and the cup feel balanced together. When you are ready imagine the cup flowing into your energy, able to be summoned whenever you need it.

Turn to the West where the Page of Pentacles is located. Speak to them and call forth the power of the Page of Pentacles:

Blessings to the Page of Pentacles
Beyond and within me
Help me embody stability
That I may carry the star of tranquility

As with the sword, spend some time visualizing and feeling the pentacle or star of the Page in your hands. Take time to move and breathe until you and the pentacle feel balanced together. When you are ready imagine the pentacle flowing into your energy, able to be summoned whenever you need it.

Finally, pick up each card and place them in a stack over your heart, while saying:

Protected by the sword
Warmed by the flame
Held by the waters
Nourished by the land

Take a few moments to feel these words and energies within you. When you are ready, seal the ritual by saying:

All this and more I embody
All this and more I call to me
By love and will, so mote it be

After the ritual you can either return your Page cards to the deck or set them up on an altar or some place where you will see them regularly. In the days and weeks ahead pay attention to when similar sensations arise for you as you experienced within this ritual and know that you can call upon any or all of the tools of the Pages when you need extra grounding and stability.

Deck names listed below

The Knights: A Ritual of Discernment

Messenger · Amazon · Apprentice · Witch · Traveler · Seeker · Rebel · Knower · Explorer
Primary Element: Air
Plant Ally: Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

Working with the Knights is an opportunity to embody discernment in your life. The Knights are the messengers and seekers of the tarot Court, ready to spring beyond the classroom of the Pages and into the unknown. When the Knights show up for us in readings again and again, they are often indicating that there is an important message being delivered to us or information that we need to seek out. The key to successfully connecting with that message is the power of discernment. There is so much to see and do and experience in the world that it can be all too easy to get caught up in the movement and consumption of information, without learning how to discern and distill knowledge into wisdom. The Knights help us to trust our own inner knowing and find the resources to better develop our abilities for embodying discernment. 

For your ritual, you'll need all four Knight cards from your tarot deck of choice. Alternatively, you can spend time drawing, collaging, or otherwise creating your own personal Knight cards to use in ritual. You'll also need four coins - any type of coin is just fine and that can be all the same, all different or a mix. Coins have been used in folk magick for generations as symbols of luck and protection and they'll act as conduits for both of those energies as well as tokens to "pay the messengers" within the ritual.

Begin by creating sacred space and perhaps a breathwork practice (such as the Tree of Life technique) to help you settle into your body. Place all four Knight cards before you (on your altar or otherwise) and hold the coins in your hand. 

Wherever I travel
Wherever I go
No fear removes
My ability to know

Wherever I travel
Wherever I go
No pressure blocks
My ability to know

Wherever I travel
Wherever I go
No river drowns
My ability to know

Wherever I travel
Wherever I go
No words confuse
My ability to know

You can keep these coins on your altar, your wallet, or in a charm bag that you carry on your person. I like to keep mine in a jar that I shake when I need to dispel unwanted energy and call in some good fortune.

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You’ll notice that I listed some correspondences for the Pages and Knights, including the elements. If you’re interested in learning more about the elements from a traditional western herbalism perspective, come this way. If you’re looking for tarot spreads, I have a few.

I hope that these thoughts and rituals about the tarot Court inspire your own practice and I’ll be back next month with the Queens and Kings.

In the meantime, may your travels through the tarot arcanas be full of illumination and inspiration so that your life may be filled with more clarity and peace.

This post was made possible through patron support.
❤︎ Thanks, friends. ❤︎

---

Decks Shown

A Deck of Cards by PW (c. 1500)
Tazama African Tarot
Amazon Tarot (1979)
The Weiser Tarot
The Herbcrafter’s Tarot
Tarot of the Spirit

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Footnotes

1. Pamela Eakins, Ph.D., Tarot of the Spirit (Boston: Red Wheel/Weiser, 1992), 4. The full quote reads: “As such, when the divine tool of tarot is correctly employed, the potential for haphazard movement and spiritual chaos is reduced.”

2. Tim Husband, 'Before Fortune-Telling: The History and Structure of Tarot Cards,' The Met, April 8, 2016, https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-season/2016/tarot (accessed June 2022).

3. Sherryl E. Smith, 'Italian Tarot in the 15th Century,' Tarot Heritage, July 24 2014, https://tarot-heritage.com/history-4/italian-tarot-in-the-15th-century/ (accessed June 2022).

4. Decks like The Amazon Tarot, published in 1979, followed by a number of decks in the 1980s including the New Amazon Tarot, Daughters of the Moon and The Book of Aradia Tarot (the latter two inspired in some part by Shekinah Mountainwater's Matriarchal Tarot), Thea's Tarot (inspired by A New Women's Tarot by Billie Potts who was one of the primary editors of the Amazon Tarot and New Amazon Tarot), and The Motherpeace Tarot. Some of these decks were collectively made, others by individuals or in partnerships, but all were part of the growing intersections of lesbian organizing, Goddess spirituality, and feminist rebellion.