SYMBOLOGY STUDY GROUP: The Knights--July 13-27

Hi all,

I'm kinda helping Tabi out , so this time around we're going to talk about the knights.

The knights have the reputation of being the doers: they take the messages (dictated by the kings and--sometimes--queens) given to the pages and disseminate the messages througout the kingdom. Knights are best known, though, for being in the thick of battle: they are the warriors fighting on behalf of their kingdom. This zeal for battle sometimes leads to the impulsiveness and thrill-seeking that is usually associated with the knights in most decks (especially RWS-based ones).

Knights are portrayed differently in different decks. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot doesn't even have knights; that deck is based on a maiden/mother/crone dynamic. In the Thoth, the Knight is equivalent to the King in the RWS-based decks and the King is equivalent to the Knight (Thoth users, please correct me if I'm wrong).

In the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, they are called La Place (except for the Santeria suit, where it is called Oriate). Each La Place card in this deck shows a man with a machete, standing at a crossroads; the Oriate card shows a man with a sword.



Petro--La Place [Knight of Wands]: The La Place draws a fiery crossroad in the ground with his machete. His hands are positioned like the Magician: as above, so below. He wears a white hat and slacks and stands against an aqua blue background. This card is one of action, of making things happen...and of drawing one's line in the sand.


Congo--La Place [Knight of Cups]: This La Place holds his machete in his right hand while he dribbles water upon it from his left hand. The water drips down onto the center of the crossroads, obscuring the central portion of it. The La Place has long eyelashes/feathers about his eyes that seem to block his vision. His left foot is on part of the crossroads. I interpret this card as emotion tempered by logic; the use of the left hand and foot, and the obscuring of vision, also implies that the intuitive is of more importance here. A song lyric pops to mind: "use your heart and not your eyes."


Rada--La Place [Knight of Swords]: This La Place uses his machete to form a yellow tornado (which is basically a column of whirling air) in front of him. He stands before a rather small, yellow crossroads. Even his machete is yellow: either it was made that way or it is reflecting the yellow from the tornado. The La Place is intent upon creating this tornado and isn't paying attention to anything else. The background of the card is a lavender. Note that the tornado is larger than anything else in the card which, along with the use of the yellow, notes the importance of intellect/mental in this card.


Santeria--Oriate [Knight of Pentacles]: This is one of my most favorite cards in this deck! The Oriate [which is a Santeria high priest or priestess who can divine the spirits] stands before the head of Eleggua [spirit of the crossroads and open doors--similar to Papa Legba in vodoun], into which a sword is stuck. The oriate is pulling the sword out of the head. He is dressed in brown slacks and the background of the card is a swirly mass of browns and light oranges, depicting movement. This card alludes to the story of King Arthur and how, as a boy, he had to pull the sword Excalibur out of the stone in order to prove himself worthy to be king of Camelot.

T.

World Spirit Tarot--The Seekers [Knights]

In the World Spirit tarot, the knights are called the Seekers. This makes sense...again, knights disseminated messages from the king and queen (via the page) across the kingdom, and sometimes beyond (like the quest for the Holy Grail). They also "sought" to defend the kingdom and to carry out (via force) the wishes of the king and queen. Since the World Spirit is a RWS-based deck, some of the same symbols are evident: a knight on a horse, carrying the symbol of that particular suit, in some mode of forward motion/travel. The primary differences are that the knights aren't dressed in armor, and they each are positioned on their horses in a way to magnify the impulsiveness and devil-may-care attitude for which this suit is known and associated with.



Seeker of Wands: This card shows the knight, dressed in garb more appropriate for warm/desert weather: a headwrap in shades of reddish-orange, white, and black; a white short-sleeved tunic trimmed in reddish-orange and black; black slacks; and black sandals. He is reclined backwards upon the back of his horse, which has its right leg raised in mid-trot. The horse's saddle is in the shape of a flame and colored in orange and red, trimmed in black; the reins and harness match the saddle. The knight holds a flaming staff--and holds it dangerously near to the flame. He seems to be traveling through the desert, as there are cacti and other desert plants around.

Seeker of Cups: This knight sits on his horse with one leg crossed over the other; not quite sidesaddle, but close (which could cause him to be unseated easily). He is wearing a gray, long-sleeved, fringed buckskin tunic with black buckskin breeches and gray high-topped moccasins. A bedroll is strapped directly behind him (this could also be a means of lumbar spinal support ). He is focused on a golden cup that floats just above his head, and he is trying to reach it. His white horse (with black socks, mane and tail) is looking at the cup as well, and not paying attention to where he is walking--which is through a stream. The horse has blue reins and harness and his saddle is a light blue bordered in darker blue. The landscape behind them is washed in blue, which makes me wonder if they are traveling at dusk; there is a glow in the sky which could be from the moon.


Seeker of Swords: This knight is on a rearing gray horse with battle-ready harnesses and reins; the headpiece of the harness has spikes on it. The horse's main and tail are bobbed/fastened with blue bands. The knight is dressed in a long-sleeved blouse and black vest with a gold fastener, and blue/black/white striped breeches. His boots are black with gray turned-down cuffs. The knight and horse match more than the other knights and their horses. He is a redhead, and a black headband is wrapped around his forehead. He holds his sword in his left hand and the point resting on the palm of his right hand, as if to test its sharpness...but one false move (by either him or the horse) and that sword will go straight through his hand. A cloud is right above the horse's head and drops of rain are falling from it, but have not yet reached the ground (or the knight). They are in the desert, or at least a place without vegetation. There are rocks and only one plant. The horse's saddle is a light blue.


Seeker of Pentacles:This knight sits calmly astride his large brown horse. He wears a green, gold and black tunic, black gloves trimmed with red and gold, and gold breeches with brown boots; the boots have red and black cuff. A coiled rope hangs at his side. The horse wears black reins, saddle and harness trimmed in reds and golds. The knight holds a gold pentacle with a green star in his right hand; green baby vines sprout from the pentacle. The green and gold of his tunic match the pentacle and the hills behind him. The sun shines down from a clear blue sky and there are haystacks dotting the green hills in the background. The knight is focused on the pentacle as the horse walks slowly over a pumpkin vine; a half-grown pumpkin is on one end and a full-grown pumpkin is on the other.

Thank you Afrosaxon.

I practice an ATR as well (assuming you do) and although I am not familiar with the Voodoo Tarot, I can say that appreciate the imagery of La Placa and Oriate.

One thing that immediately came to mind while observing the images was "DECISIONS".

Especially the one that relates to Eshu/Exu/Papa Legba

Thanks!

-Sol