One of the things that fascinates me most about the tarot are the people, or characters, in the story you are telling when you are doing a reading. The court cards can represent us, someone around us, or an aspect of our personality, and the pages can mean messages coming in the form of letters, emails or texts (as pages traditionally brought news to the court, if the pigeons were unavailable!) Pages also can represent a young person, a child, or that the client is taking an immature approach.
It all depends where these colourful characters reveal themselves in the spread and what other cards are present before you make your decision. This is where the tarot reader’s careful intuition and a quick flash of insight comes into play Generally speaking, the suits are based on your astrological sign, or what element you are, namely:
Fire – wands (Aries, Sagitarrius, Leo)
Water – Cups (Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces)
Earth – pentacles (Virgo, Taurus, Capricorn)
Air – swords (Aquarius, Libra, Gemini)
In my twenties, I definitely conformed to my astrological element in the tarot. As an Aquarian, I had many of the traits of the airy swords type. I worked in administration using careful planning and organisational skills; filing, communicating, decluttering and networking. I finely tuned my communication and writing abilities in this era and I could be cool and detached at times, belonging to everyone but yet to no-one, and I loved socialising!
Not as scientific as his other peers and colleagues, Carl Jung (a famous Swiss psychologist) found tarot symbols were extremely useful in his clinical psychoanalysis. He would ask his patients to select tarot cards to create a story, which would relate to the problem being discussed. Carl Jung identified five main archetypes (a person or behaviour) that can be used to relate to our own lives and help us to better understand ourselves, these were:
• The Persona: The face we present to the world
• The Shadow: The part of us unacknowledged but that exists
• The Self: The essence of the psyche
• The Anima: The female image in the male psyche
• The Animus: The male image in the female psyche
He also noted each tarot symbol has an archetype, relating to the transformation and illumination of the higher consciousness, a process of overcoming situations on a higher level. Carl noticed events in the outside world corresponded with his patients’ psychological states, giving him a “forewarning of the coming events.”
Once you have worked out which four letters you are, google your four letters and you will get lots of information about what career, relationships and personalities suit you most. Remember that these archetypes are not gender specific, they represent the energy you are demonstrating, so you may come up as a Queen if you are a male, because you are opting to be more reflective and nurturing than the authoritative and disciplinarian King. The following information will tell you which court card and personality you are:-
ESTJ – Guardian Supervisor
ISTJ – Guardian Inspector
ESFJ – Guardian Provider
ISFJ – Guardian Protector
ESTP – Artisan Promoter
ISTP – Artisan Crafter
ESFP – Artisan Performer
ISFP – Artisan Composer
ENTJ – Rational Fieldmarshal
INTJ – Rational Mastermind
ENTP – Rational Inventor
INTP – Rational Architect
ENFJ – Idealist Teacher
INFJ – Idealist Counselor
ENFP – Idealist Champion
INFP – Idealist Healer
Court cards:-
King of Wands- ENTJ
Queen of Wands- INTJ
Knight of Wands- ENTP
Page of Wands- INTP
King of Cups- ENFJ
Queen of Cups- INFJ
Page of Cups- INFP
King of Swords- ESTJ
Queen of Swords- ISTJ
Knight of Swords- ESTP
Page of Swords- ISTP
King of Pentacles- ESFJ
Queen of Pentacles- ISFJ
Knight of Pentacles- ESFP
Page of Pentacles- ISFP
So now you know what court card you are, you will recognise yourself when it comes up in a reading! If you are unhappy about the card you are, my advice would be to meditate on the card you DO want to be, to focus on it’s characteristics and do positive affirmations based on this card. That way you will get into the card’s energy and start it manifesting.
