Roy de Bastons

In the thread on the Roy de Coupes, Diana posts a reply she received from Kris Hadar which addresses questions with regards to all Kings...

The four kings, from both the 1701 Dodal and from the 1996 Hadar, may be viewed on Kaz's site. For those interested, another thread which discusses the Four Kings is The Kings of the 4 Quarters (well worth also comparing).

Of note with the King of Bastons is that the Dodal's representation of his right leg (to the left of the card) looks so much as though it could be a prosthesis - a wooden leg or stump.

In that case, his Bastons may also here serve him for support as he walks though his domains.

The Dodal also appears to have his left-hand either hidden or just not there, and given the size of his left arm, may indicate again a stump.

Overall, a King which has certainly seen a fair amount of unfortunate action - though still, judging by his face, quite young but taught.

By contrast, the Hadar representation is one of youthful gentility, and a person certainly with complete parts.

Both Hadar and Dodal (as pointed out by Hadar in the other thread linked to before) show this King with golden 'light' descending/emanating above his crown, and both have him in accoutrement which resembles, to some extent, armour...

I'm soooo glad you posted the Kings of the Four Quarters link. That is just what came to mind seeing Diana's picture post last night for the reyne de deniers, but I couldn't remember the thread.

I pulled this card in my spread for the week and since I have so much trouble with court cards anyway, let alone court cards from the TdM, I thought it might be a good idea to have a brainstorm about the symbolism and any potential meanings. So please feel free to pull out the Roy de Bastons from whichever deck you have and lets talk!!!

I have the Hadar Roy in front of me and first of all will direct you to the very interesting translation that Diana did of an e-mail she had from Kris Hadar regarding the Kings in general. It is about the 8th post down.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22562

Now to my own observations : looking at this King, you can see that his Baton has been crafted, worked and perfected. What began as merely a branch (see Ace Batons) has become a beautiful work of art. When I look at it, it reminds me of a compass, I suppose that is because of the point. So what is the point (pardon pun!) of a compass? It is an implement used for drawing circles. It helps delimit a boundary. So how can this relate to this King?

Certainly, when thinking of the compass and circles, it is easy to expand this to think of the sphere and the Earth. It is obviously quite easy to see him as an architect, mathematician, someone who understands the 'workings' of things, someone who is precise with his calculations and workings out, but is it OK to see him as a traveller? Even an adventurer? Someone who has accomplished what he set out to do? In view of the fact that I see him as someone who is precise in what he does and who like things to be accurately worked out, I also imagine him to be someone of integrity.

I wish I could understand more about his dress. Was this the dress of a particular era? It looks like he is a bit of a show-off to me, but he looks friendly and compassionate too!

He almost looks like he's got himself all dressed up in his posh stately clothes and is posing for an official painting. I feel like I need to go find a painting of some French King, and I'll bet he's in this pose.

Anyway, please feel free to criticise or comment on anything and also, of course, to add your own thoughts.

moderators, am I in the right place? Feel free to move if you wish.