The Tarot Court

The Tarot Court remains one of the hardest segments of the tarot for many readers. The sixteen cards can reflect people, characteristics of self, situations, and in some cases messages. The interpretation of these cards depends upon the reader, the client, and the reading itself.

So, how do you know what a court card signifies within a reading? It is really a case by case situation. But, by getting to know the court, you improve on your chances of getting it right and eliminate most of your confusion. Practice is also a good method of gaining knowledge of the court cards.

Exploring the insights of others can also bring about information to help you to explore and get to know the sixteen mysterious cards of the Tarot Court. Always remember when your intuition is the most important factor, but it never hurts to gain as much insight as possible from outside sources. If something resonates with you, then tuck it away for future references.

This leads me to my current reading material, Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K.Greer and Tom Little.

The book begins with an introduction, which touches on the tarot court, suggests keeping a tarot journal, and an exercise of selecting your first Significator.

Chapter One - titled The Many Faces of the Tarot Court, explores the different ranks and elements of the court, along with multiple visions due to different creators. Methods of choosing a Significator and when/why to do so are offered. A few exercises are suggested in this first Chapter, but I’d like to share one with you here on the blog.

I found the following exercise insightful to both my choice of Significator and to who I am and where I’m going in my life.

Significator Exercise:

1. Choose your Significator 
2. Shuffle deck, including chosen card. Make sure cards are randomly reversed. (My method of ensuring this is to cut the deck in three stacks and flipping the middle pile to allow for reversals.)
3. Deal off the top of the deck until you find the Significator.
4. Place the two cards before the Significator, the Significator, and the two cards after in a line.
5. The next step gets a little tricky. Determine what direction your court card is facing. If the figure faces left or right, well that’s easy. But if the figure faces forward – upright equals right, reversed equals left.
6. Once this is decided, the first card in the direction of the card’s facing is (the next action), followed by (results of action), the card in the direction the card turns away from is (past action), and the one beside it (past cause).

I would normally share my exercise with you on the blog, but in this case the results were ‘very’ personal, an extreme eye opener to where I am, and who I am.

To be brief: Past experiences (emotional) have created who I am today and to move forward I need to find a way to release the pain which has built up over the years. The results will be a creative explosion, a huge awakening, and a tapping into my higher self.

Have you read Understanding the Tarot Court? Have you found other books helpful in your tarot journey? Have you tried this exercise? Were you impressed by the results? Feel free to comment below or contact me.