Court Cards & Decans

Exploring the motion of the Courts in tarot!

For many people new to tarot, the Court cards can be some of the more confusing ones to come across in a reading. One reason for this is that each one encompasses multiple signs of the zodiac, and each one represents a type of motion and change. This can give them many meanings, and they are almost always more complex on their own than a numbered minor card, or even a major!

Astrology and Tarot

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn observed and recorded systematic correlations between tarot and astrology. One of the primary connections is between the basic structure of the zodiac and the minor arcana of the tarot.

Here’s a helpful - if initially daunting - diagram of those associations, which you can find in a few places online. I’m not 100% sure of its original source, but I originally found it on blogspot - look up “Astrology & Tarot: The Decan Wheel” and go to “thothblogs” at that site for the source I found, and for a basic breakdown of the diagram.

You can see the Courts along the outside of the wheel, and the numbered minors on the inside - interestingly, as well as some dates for each one. We’ll dip a toe into that a little bit later! For now, let’s go over some terminology.

Decans

In traditional Hellenistic astrology, each zodiac sign consists of 3 “decans,” which are 10-degree divisions of the signs; this makes 360 degrees, and therefore 36 decans around the whole zodiac. There is evidence and speculation that the decans were first observed as a timekeeping method in ancient Egypt some two thousand years before the first Greek zodiacal division of the elliptical into 12 signs, and that the two systems were eventually combined due to their natural overlay. The decans were largely lost to modern astrologers for a couple recent centuries, but renewed access to ancient, medieval, and Renaissance astrology has revealed that most - if not all - traditional Western astrologers observed decans to be just as important as signs, and many of them did not consider any placement in a sign without also considering its decan.

Like the signs, each decan has a planetary ruler, and this ruler adds its influence and nuances to the placement. For example, the first decan of Cancer is ruled by Venus, indicating that this portion of the zodiac will also be influenced by Venus in a similar way as the Moon. This rulership scheme is not arbitrary, but is based on something called the Chaldean ordering of the planets; I won’t get into what exactly that means in this post and how it connects to the decans, maybe in the future, but I have at least given you a term to Google if you’re interested enough! (Note that there are other rulership schemes besides Chaldean for the decans, but I have found the Chaldean order to be most reliable in my own work, so it is what I use.)

Here is a chart showing the planetary rulers of each decan of each sign (image source is The Astrology Dictionary, visible in the image).

Interestingly, since the signs of the zodiac are connected to the calendar year, the decans are as well! In the same way a zodiacal calendar you can find online will tell you which signs correspond to which dates of the months, this diagram shows you the approximate dates of each decan.

You can therefore often use characteristics of those times of year for your interpretations of the minor cards… Although that’s another subject bigger than this post has the span to cover!

Quadruplicity

Quadruplicity is the dividing of the zodiac by 4, which results in 3 groups of 4 signs each. A term from modern astrology for this principle you may be more familiar with is “modality.” This describes the nature of a sign’s motion; “cardinal,” “fixed,” or “mutable.”

The cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn - are initiating and go-getting. They are willing and able to forge their own path, or to lead the way for others. They are goal-driven and ambitious, and well-suited to spotting new opportunities for growth.

The fixed signs - Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus - are contemplative compared to the other signs in their respective elements, and tend to resist change without a very good reason to do so; and even then, change does not always come easy for them. They seek understanding and consistency.

The mutable signs - Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, Virgo - are dispersed and expanding motion, the dissolution as well as saturation of the element, and this gives them the nature of being in more than one place at a time without being confined to anywhere specific. Sometimes they can let go and change more easily, but they sometimes can never truly leave a place they’ve been, always fluxing back there in feeling.

In people, the quadruplicities most heavily emphasized in their own natal charts often come easier to them; if you’re a Capricorn Rising, for example, chances are you don’t usually have a hard time getting motivated to pursue your goals. But in truth, we all experience all of these modalities in different ways. Some of us have a hard time letting go of relationships but spend money like the wind; some will happily wait on their friends for hours, but struggle to be patient with themselves. Since all the signs show up in all our charts, there are certain parts of our lives and selves that experience these motions uniquely!

But enough about natal astrology; that’s yet another post!

Court Cards

There are 4 “Courts” among the minor arcana of the tarot - in a traditional Ryder-Waite-Smith based interpretation, these are Kings, Queens, Knights, and Pages. In the Thoth tradition, these are called Knights, Queens, Princes, and Princesses, respectively; the above diagram is made in observance of the Thoth tradition, but note that I personally still use the Ryder-Waite-Smith system of naming for the Courts. Either way is fine, and those are by no means the only two systems out there, though they are the two most popular.

It’s helpful to note that each type of Court is associated with one of the four basic elements! Kings are associated with Fire, Queens with Water, Knights with Air, and Pages with Earth. In this way, they represent a smaller elemental part of a larger elemental whole. For example, the Queen of Wands is known as “the Water of Fire;” within the context of the Fiery nature of Wands, she is the Watery nurturing and feeling, the emotional responsibility within the goals you’re passionate about. 

When reading the Court cards, you can therefore interpret the courts similarly to their corresponding elements, with for example the King carrying the actionability of Fire with him wherever he goes through the suits.

However, you can get even more specific than just the elements among the Courts within the decans, as you can see by the staggering of the Courts across the signs!

Decans, Quadruplicity, and Tarot

There are 36 decans in total; this is also the total of the numbered minor cards in the tarot, minus each of the Aces. As per the diagram, the Aces are associated with a whole circuit of 3 signs, proceeding through cardinal, to fixed, to mutable - but more on that in a little bit.

The decans of the cardinal signs of each element have the 2, 3, and 4 of that element’s suit; the fixed signs have the 5, 6, and 7 of the suit; and the mutable signs have the 8, 9, and 10 of the suit.

For example, the 2-3-4 of Swords correspond to the three decans of Libra, cardinal Air, since Swords are connected to Air; the 5-6-7 of Swords are the decans of Aquarius, since it is the fixed sign sharing an element with Libra; and the 8-9-10 of Swords are the decans of Gemini, the mutable sign of the element.

However, most of the Court cards are spread across two signs, ruling the last decan of a sign preceding their element, and the first two decans of a sign in their own element. For example, the Queen of Swords has the last decan of Virgo, and the first and second decans of Libra, as Earth precedes Air in the zodiac.

This means that each Court card contains the progression of motion from one stage to the next. The Court cards are malleable and hard to pin down with one meaning in a reading because they represent the changing of one thing into another.

The Queens have the last decan of a mutable sign, and the first two decans of a cardinal sign. They see the end of what was, as well as the birth of what will be; they disperse the last of the pre-existing energy and initiate a new cardinal drive. In the last decan of each mutable sign is a 10 card; here the Queen is present for the overripe saturation of the journey’s conclusion, and the fall of the fruit from the tree. In the 2s of the cardinal signs, she opens up the seed of the Ace and gives way to a new promise. In the 3s, she confirms vows and sets the precedent for all which will come after.

The Knights have the last decan of a cardinal sign, and the first two decans of a fixed sign. They gather the upward momentum set forth by the Queen and begin to build; they direct the median of the journey by what’s before their eyes and in their hands. In the 4s, the Knight meditates and contemplates, preparing in peace for the turmoil yet to come. In the 5s they must act, must fight to survive, and they cannot do so without consequence. In the 6s they look back at their past achievements, and progress; and then, hand on the wheel, they set a course for the final stages of the journey.

The Kings have the last decan of a fixed sign, and the first two decans of a mutable sign. The King takes what was established by the Knight, what is strong and secure, and morphs it into what will be its final form. In the 7s he recognizes the failures of the existing structure and begins to reshape it. In the 8s, he tempers the creation, breaking it apart and putting it back together, fluidly melting it into itself and concentrating the effect of the element. In the 9s, we see the completion of the growth cycle, the finished work of the suit in its prime; the tree fleshed out with fruits and foliage, vibrant and most alive before the end.

The Pages are special in this system - as you can see in the diagram, they along with the Aces are associated with a whole progression of cardinal, fixed, and mutable, which associates them with all of the decans in that progression of 3 signs. This is because the Pages represent experience; they are present for the whole journey, and they remember all of it. They are there to see and experience everything, start to finish, to learn and to understand. The Pages and Aces are not bound to any part of the growth cycle because they hold within themselves the potential for all; if the Ace is the seed, the Page is the planter of that seed, who watches and tends the life’s beginning, middle, and end. While the other Courts are responsible for shifts in motion, the Pages are responsible for moving; for creating. The Page does not rush. They contemplate, because they may draw on any number of solutions.

All this reminds us of one thing…

The Courts Are Complex Cards!

When you see a Court card appear in a reading, don’t be afraid to contemplate its many meanings! They are nuanced and intricate, probably more so than any other type of card in the deck on its own. A common sentiment of the Courts is that they often represent a real person in a reading; and just like real people, the Courts cannot be grasped in their entirety at a glance.