Jodorowsky's Court Card System

I'm not a fan of Alejandro Jodorowsky or his book Way of Tarot, but recently I was hunting around for a non-personality-based scheme of reading court cards, and I remembered he had an unusual way of considering the courts, and after re-reading that part of the book, I found just what I was looking for - a method for courts which doesn't involve personality and which works well for really any kind of reading.

The book focuses on TdM but the court card method would work with any standard tarot deck, so I'm posting in this section rather than the Marseille section.

Jodorowsky has a story or scenario which illustrates his approach. Here is my own rephrasing of it (which may vary from what he writes in his book, I'm deliberately writing this from memory):

We can picture a castle for each of the suits. We might imagine a single suit symbol, or simply the Ace of that suit, inhabiting the center of the castle.

The Page stands just outside or on the threshold of the castle. He/she is hesitant about how to handle or what to do about the suit energies, not sure whether to enter the castle or leave without entering.

Example: Page of Swords - not sure what to think or whether to commit to a line of thought.

The Queen is inside the castle and is fixated on the suit energies, in a positive sense able to concentrate and give something her full attention, or in a negative sense obsessed.

Example: Queen of Wands - focused on what she is doing, or on the question of what to do or how to do it.

The King is also inside the castle. The King, like the Queen, is focused on the suit energies, but unlike the Queen is also attentive to the outer environment and taking outside factors into account, for example in the analogy, the King must when making decisions take into account other nearby kingdoms, whether they are allies or enemies, how they affect his own kingdom, etc., basically seeing the suit energies in the context of the environment they inhabit.

Example: King of Pentacles: An investor who watches not only the financial markets but also other sociopolitical circumstances in order to make informed financial decisions.

The Knight is offstage - he has been sent on a diplomatic or intelligence mission, perhaps acting as a messenger or otherwise carrying out the King's plans.

Example: Knight of Cups - telling someone how you feel about them (this would be the messenger aspect - the "kingdoms" are within us, so communicating the suit energies to others or otherwise interacting with others based on the suit energies would be the province of the Knight).

The TdM courts and also the RWS courts are at least somewhat illustrative of these ideas - for example, in both decks, the Queens are usually looking at the suit symbols they hold, while the Kings are looking away from them and are instead gazing out at the world.

Jodorowsky goes on to develop detailed personalities for each card, but I was interested specifically in the non-personality aspect so I'm ignoring his personality descriptions.

I've tried out this scheme in readings and have found it exceedingly useful. The concepts are specific enough that they provide good insight, yet general enough that they can be applied to various concerns and topics.

The gist of the system is that it focuses on how people relate to the suit energies, which to me seems a good use of the court cards, rather than the usual personality-based interpretations which give many of us so much trouble.

For reversals, one might simply take the negative side of the interpretations. For instance, an upright Queen would be focused, a reverse Queen unhealthily obsessed. An upright Knight would be interacting with others or acting in the world based on his suit, a reversed Knight would be gallivanting around in the world without having done the necessary thought or preparation. A reversed King might be too concerned with being accommodating to others and not committed enough to his ideals.

In terms of gender, I see them as having no relation to actual gender - since they basically refer to inner aspects of ourselves or others, actual gender of reader or readee wouldn't be reflected.

For anyone who has difficulty with courts, I hope you try this and see how you like it!

Thank you, this is very interesting! Court cards are so rich. I like the idea of the scenario, the castle is a good metaphor.

Lee, thank you so much for writing this post. It IS very helpful. I've been practicing for almost 4 years now and lately I've been really diving into the Courts because I just don't have a good handle on them yet. I know it's "normal" but it's frustrating. BTW - I read only RWS.

It's funny that you felt these interpretations wld work for RWS Courts (regardless of being for TdM) because I got so much more out of Yoav Ben-Dov's (RIP) The Open Reading Court section than most of my RWS books. Like you said they're both the least illustrative.

I have a Scribd account and they have Way of Tarot, so I'm thinking about getting it.

Could you tell me what it is that you don't like about the book or writer? Why you're not a "fan"?

Thanks again for the post.
Freyja

Well this is pretty much brilliant. I have never connected with the personality side of the courts, because it ties the personalities too strongly to the reading and short-circuits going deeper into the querent. I see so many readers automatically assign the king to a male figure....but what if it applies to a female querent? It totally misses the king-like qualities that apply to the female querent.


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Diplomatic mission? With a SWORD? Must have been a Crusade.

Thanks, Lee. I usually try to tie the courts to some kind of suggested action or reaction in line with the suit and the card's basic nature, since I prefer not to read psychologically. I also find the Golden Dawn descriptions helpful at a non-personal level - Potential Power (King, implying not so much inertia as the "King's Judgment," the wise use of force); Brooding Power (Queen, suggesting contemplative musing preparatory to making a decision - probably why the Kings passed judgment, promptly and cleanly, and not the Queens); Power in Action (Knight, the "go-getter") and Reception and Transmission (Page, the "messenger"). My basic approach is almost entirely along these situational lines, although I've never read Jodorowsky; I still can't shake the image of him as a surrealist (well, let's be honest, macabre) film-maker. It's a pretty big leap from El Topo to the Tarot de Marseille.

Regarding reversal, I would probably see it as being distracted, deflected or rerouted from the primary mission in some way.

Thanks Lee, I had forgotten this about Jodorowsky's method. It is indeed very useful, for every type of deck.

Freyja of V said:

Could you tell me what it is that you don't like about the book or writer? Why you're not a "fan"?

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Jodorowsky has a habit/affectation of making historical statements or proposing interpretations that are clearly untrue (for the former) or ridiculous (for the latter). He writes in such a way as to suggest that he knows that we know he's not being straightforward or truthful, but he seems to think it's funny or cute or "artistic" to do that.

That's just my reaction to his book, though, others may disagree.

Lee said:

Jodorowsky has a habit/affectation of making historical statements or proposing interpretations that are clearly untrue (for the former) or ridiculous (for the latter). He writes in such a way as to suggest that he knows that we know he's not being straightforward or truthful, but he seems to think it's funny or cute or "artistic" to do that.

That's just my reaction to his book, though, others may disagree.

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That's so bizarre and frankly irresponsible.. How's an absolute beginner supposed to know when he's being truthful and when he's not?

I actually got it anyway so hopefully I'll know enough and be able to catch it. I haven't had a chance to look through it yet, but at least now I know what to look for. Thank you for writing me back and again for writing the post.

I will probably get it at some point, too, since there is so little written in English specifically for the Tarot de Marseille. But Lee isn't the only one with reservations about this book. I doubt very much Jodorowsky will touch the works of Jean-Michel David, Yoav Ben-Dov, Joseph Maxwell (or even Camelia Elias) as my TdM reference works of choice.

Freyja of V said:

That's so bizarre and frankly irresponsible.. How's an absolute beginner supposed to know when he's being truthful and when he's not?

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I agree, but I'd also encourage you to read it for yourself and see what you think. I found something in it of value (the court card system), and you might too! Please do, however, also search out material on tarot history which is serious and responsible. Anything by Mary Greer is worth reading, for example this blog post.