curly

As I wrote before, Minor Arcana Tarot contain curly cards, which are also used in playing cards. A significant difference between the Tarot cards is that each suit has one figure card more than in the well-known playing cards. Two cards in each suit are the same (king and queen), although their names differ, and it should be noted that the names differ even in different tarot decks. But with the remaining cards, the situation is more interesting. Two tarot cards combined in playing cards into one. Correspondence of cards can be reduced to a plate

Since everything curly cards represent images of people occupying different positions on the steps of the social ladder and having different views on life, it is logical to assume that the meaning of these cards will largely correspond to the “human” characteristics of the processes. I deliberately put the word "human" in quotation marks, since these characteristics do not necessarily refer to the actions of people.
It must be borne in mind that when divining on Tarot cards, the main goal was to describe human interpersonal relationships, while I remain in the deep conviction that this is only a narrow direction of application of the cards, and their meaning should be interpreted more broadly.

I will try to give an interpretation of the meanings of the figure cards, which would be broader than the definition of purely human characteristics, but, nevertheless, would be based on them. It is obvious that the figurative representation of the meaning of the cards greatly facilitates the memorization of an extended interpretation of their meanings. When considering the cards, I will rely on the names adopted in the Rider-Waite deck, however, the interpretation of the cards in lion tarot may differ, sometimes significantly, from the interpretations accepted in traditional tarot decks. Therefore, for those who want to get acquainted with the traditional interpretation of the Tarot, I recommend that you turn to the available literature.

All photos below can be enlarged with a click of the mouse.
King

The king is, in the generally accepted sense, a leader who determines the laws in his kingdom and outlines the path for the development of society. This card also symbolizes a leading position, which is combined with responsibility for everything that happens. This is the one who is able to inspire others, but does not avoid difficulties and embodies a fair attitude. The king is characterized by an analytical and logical approach to solving problems, but with an intuition developed on the basis of rich experience, a willingness to take justified risks. The king has a strong will and initiative, combined with deep realism and careful assessment of the situation.

Queen

queen symbolizes feminine in the broad sense of the word. In addition to the generally accepted interpretation of the female role as the guardian of the family and the hearth, one should also take into account the role of female individuals recognized by scientists as guardians of the genetic stability of the species. If males are distinguished by faster variability, for which they pay with a large number of deviations from the norm and a shorter life expectancy, then females provide conservatism, the stability of the species, having for this greater endurance in extreme conditions and increased adaptability within the existing limitations (physical and psychological ). Thus, the Queen symbolizes some limitedness in the search for new things, but ingenuity in the use of available resources. The queen needs stability and security. She is restrained and reasonable, has a critical view of the environment and can find a reasonable solution to a problem that does not involve going beyond the current situation. The queen is ready to devote herself to someone or something and will stubbornly achieve her goal.

Knight

The knight is distinguished by some inconsistency of nature. On the one hand, he is brave, bold, strong. On the other hand, he does not always calculate the results of his activity. Although the knight is honest and zealous to the point of pedantry, his behavior shows a desire to splurge and please someone. The knight is capable of methodical, well-organized actions, which can be leisurely or quick-tempered, explosive, but always effective. At the same time, the initial prerequisites that push the Knight to action can be ill-conceived, adventurous, dictated by immoderate ambition and stubbornness. The knight is characterized by actions, about which Kozma Prutkov said: "Sometimes zeal overcomes reason." The knight is able to honestly fulfill his duty, but he is not able to formulate this, he needs external guidance.

Page

The page personifies the use of potential opportunities, he is always actively looking for something new, but does not invent it, but uses what he meets. The desire to take advantage of this opportunity can lead the Page to a rather serious conflict. The page seeks to gain new experience, to try everything that is available to him. The Page has poorly developed restraining abilities, he is capable of adventures, which can sometimes be crowned with success, but can also fail miserably.

Mapping

As you can see, curly cards are very easy to apply to a family consisting of a father, mother, eldest son - a young man and a younger child, a boy or a girl (I remind you that in the Crowley deck, the Princess corresponds to the Page). At the same time, the meanings of the cards are easily interpreted in the usual human sense. However, it is possible to apply the interpretations of these cards in other areas of life. For example, if we consider the structure of the state, then the King means approximately the same as the legislative branch of power, the Queen - the executive branch, the Knight - judicial and law enforcement, and the Page - this is us in the state, trying to adapt to the current system and find for ourselves some new opportunities.

As can be seen from the above, the meanings of the cards are closely interconnected, but do not intersect, but mutually complement each other. At the same time, the group of curly cards describes, in contrast to the digital cards of the Minor Arcana, not the abstract characteristics of processes, but more reasonable, one might say, “moral” properties of processes. When a problem arises, the search for a radical solution can be used, taking into account the accumulated experience (King) or a compromise solution in conditions of limited resources (Queen), there are also possible forceful ways to solve the problem (Knight) or new workarounds (Page).
Thus, I repeat, Tarot cards cannot give ready solution, but allow us to evaluate possible scenarios for the development of events and ways of influencing ongoing processes. So far I have not touched on the topic of applying the interpretation of these cards to life, although this is, in fact, the purpose of my reflections, since it will first be necessary to consider the interpretation of card suits. The suits of Tarot cards speak of the scope of the interpretation of the digital meanings of the cards. We will talk about this in the next article in this series.

Figure cards difficult to learn and understand for a beginner in Tarot. The Major Arcana show the amazing energy of the archetypes that elicits an inner reaction, while the Minor Arcana numerical cards show the everyday lessons we live through. Figure cards reflect psychological nuances that are difficult to understand for a beginner.
Let's take a look at the various figure cards, linking them to the corresponding one.
There are two ways to interpret court cards is the consideration of each of them as real people in the life of the Questioner or as attributes of the Questioner. If you consider the figure card as a different person, then the suit to which it corresponds can shed light on the character of the person it represents. this map. You must decide for yourself what the card means in this case.
Wands indicate people with a fiery temperament and a passionate character. cups indicate people emotional and sensual. swords can represent a person who is indifferent, with analytical thinking or emotionally unreceptive, and Pentacles represent people who are practical, firmly standing on their feet. In another aspect of the interpretation, the four elements are associated with four inclinations, which, according to medieval psychology, determine the state of health and temperament of a person. In this case, the Wands represent the choleric, the Cups represent the sanguine, the Swords represent the melancholy, and the Pentacles represent the phlegmatic.
The dignity of each plays an important role in interpretation. Pages, for example, are children and teenagers, or very young boys and girls. Knights are middle-aged men. Kings are mature men. Queens are women. The Page of Wands, for example, can be a stubborn and rebellious child, prone to flare up overnight. In another aspect of interpretation, the Page card can symbolize a person younger than the Questioner, the Knight can represent his peer, and the King or Queen, respectively, a man or woman older than the Questioner. For example, if the issue of divination affects the professional activities of the Questioner, then the Page may be a subordinate of the Questioner, the Knight - a colleague or equal in position, and the King or Queen represent persons holding the highest position.
The Page can represent a person who helps the Questioner or brings a message, the Knight can represent a person who helps the Questioner investigate something, the Queen can represent a person who supports and trains the Questioner, and the King is an authoritative person who guides and helps the Questioner.
, to which the Figure card corresponds, determines the area in which this character influences the life of the Questioner.
For example, if desire and enthusiasm are attributed to the Wands, the King of Wands can represent a person who helps the Questioner satisfy some desire. If you associate Cups with love relationships, the Queen of Cups can represent a woman trying to maintain a love relationship. Swords - mean thoughts and ideas, which means that the Knight of Swords can symbolize a person exploring the hypotheses of the Questioner. Pentacles are associated with work, and the Page of Pentacles can represent a person who helps the Inquirer learn the skills needed to do the job.
As an alternative to using Figure Cards to shed light on someone's personality, they can be used to indicate a person's physical characteristics. One way of ascribing physical characteristics to the four suits is that Wands represent people with reddish-brown hair or ruddy cheeks, Cups represent blond people, Swords represent people with brown hair and an olive complexion, and Pentacles represent people with dark hair and swarthy complexion. face. And again, the value of Figure cards can indicate a person's age.
However, there are several options for associative links, so if you stick to another way of identifying figure cards with a person's appearance, of course, use it.
We have examined Figure cards with you, personifying not the Questioner himself, but another person. But any court card may also represent aspects, roles and character traits the Questioner himself. Let's look at this in the next article.

There are sixteen curly cards. They are also called court cards, as they represent the king and his retinue. These cards represent the people you meet in your life: they can be your acquaintances and family members, all those you come across at work, close and distant relatives. Sometimes they can also denote certain “ideas” that live in your mind. If the last card in the spread is one of the Courtiers, this may mean that someone else must make the final decision for you.

KINGS OF TAROT

Men aged 35 and over. The king symbolizes the paternal figure, authority, wisdom and life experience.

TARO QUEEN

Women aged 35 and over. Queens carry the image of a mother. This is a significant figure for you, combining such qualities as maturity, care and understanding.

Note. If the King or Queen is reversed in the layout, then this card can mean a hostile or unpleasant person. In addition, the inverted King can sometimes symbolize a woman of the astrological sign corresponding to this card (both benevolent and hostile). In the same way, the Queen can indicate a man of the corresponding zodiac sign - both positively and negatively towards you.

People aged 25 to 40 years. These are messengers. If the card is upright, it means either a man or some good news. The Knight of Swords is an exception and most often means bad news. The upside down knight denotes the woman of this astrological sign.

PAGES OF TAROT

Young people under 25 years of age. Pages denote children or young men (girls) of different ages. Along with this, they can denote messengers or couriers, students, young people, as well as various kinds of problems. Sometimes a Page in a straight position is a male face, and an inverted Page is a female. Sometimes in the course of fortune-telling you have to clarify: “Do you have a son or daughter?” It also happens that the Page indicates a feminine male child or a strong, strong girl. Pages can be deceiving!

The cards of the Minor Arcana, which depict people, are called curly or "palace" cards. There are 16 of them, four cards of each suit. The division into four serves a double function here, because there are also four types of cards: kings, queens, knights, sometimes called horsemen, and pages (jacks). Each of them has a special role, as well as other cards in this amazing deck.

A. Khshvanovskaya "The Mystery of Tarot"

Yard cards. General characteristics

Court Cards

Thanks to figure cards, you can first of all choose a significator card, since simplest method for this - the choice of a card according to the sign of the Zodiac of the questioner. In addition, curly cards describe the character traits of people associated with this alignment, often suggesting their profession or inclinations in this direction.

Kings determine the main character traits of a given person, they are, as it were, carriers of the energy of this element, these are very strong cards, in strength they are almost equivalent to the Major Arcana. They embody power, leadership, self-control. The King of Wands indicates a choleric person, the King of Cups indicates a phlegmatic person, the King of Swords indicates a sanguine person, and the King of Denarii indicates a melancholic person.

Queens correspond to astrological cardinal signs, and, therefore, they speak of people who are solid, with a strong character, predisposed to leadership positions. Often they point to people who will be happy to help the questioner. They are active and active, possess not only logical thinking, but also know how to show emotions and feelings.

Knights are associated with astrological fixed signs and, like them, symbolize people with unchanging convictions who consistently stay in their position and bring balance and calmness to the life of the questioner. Travel, travel.

The younger of the figurative cards, that is, the pages, correspond to the astrological mutable signs. They bring an inquiring movement into life and symbolize, as a rule, young active people, lovers of change and travel, who can be useful to the questioner due to their new, fresh look at business and problems. Pages are also responsible for all matters related to children. These are children, teenagers, minors. Study, news, rest.

These cards are a graphical analysis of the powers of the four letters of the Name and the four Elements. They are also associated with the Zodiac, but the three decans of one sign do not correspond to one card: the influence of a card begins in the last decan of one sign and continues until the second decan of the next sign. The matter is complicated by the fact that, contrary to reasonable expectations, the elemental attributes of the cards are not brought into line with the zodiacal ones. The fact is that in the realm of the Elements everything is mixed and confused; or, to put it in a rightful tone, interdependent and balanced. With this arrangement, the maps, albeit on a rough and purely practical level, but very well describe the various types of men and women. In short, any of these cards depicts a person whose Sun or rising sign at birth falls within the range of zodiacal correspondences of this card.

Aleister Crowley "Tarot of Thoth"

Curly cards by Aleister Crowley

The knights symbolize the powers of the letter Yod in the Name. They are the most exalted, primordial, active part of the Energies of the Elements; for this reason they are depicted as riders in full armor. Their action is swift and violent, but transient. In the Element of Fire, for example, the Knight corresponds to a flash of Lightning; in the Element of Water - Rains and Springs; in the Element of Air, Wind; in the Element of the Earth - Goram.

The queens represent the first letter He in the Name. They complement the Knights: they receive, excite and pass on their original Energy. They accept this Energy, are quickly and well adapted to their function, but they are not yet the final product. Queens are the second stage of the creation process, the fourth and last stage of which is material implementation. They are depicted sitting on thrones. This emphasizes the fact that the Queens are appointed to perform certain functions.

Princes symbolize the Powers of the letter Vau in the Name. The Prince is the son of the Queen (daughter of the old King) and the Knight who conquered her; therefore he is depicted in a chariot carrying the combined Energy of his parents. He is an active product of their union, his outward manifestation, his intellectual image. Therefore, the action of the Prince is longer than the actions of his predecessors. In a sense, it even acquires a relative eternity, being the "public testimony" of what was done in secret.

The princesses depict the final Heh in the Name, the last result of the original Energy in its completion, crystallization, materialization. They also represent the balancing and self-absorption of this Energy, the silence into which everything returns. Thus, they are both eternal and non-existent at the same time. Princesses have no zodiac counterparts. But it is obvious that they depict four types of people. These are the numerous "elemental" people whom we recognize by their lack of sense of responsibility, whose moral qualities lack clarity. They are subdivided according to the dominant planets.