Court Cards as People or Energy

New to tarot and the court cards are most confusing. Recently did a reading on someone between two career choices and the foundation knowledge they should know before making a choice showed the John Holland emotional loss card with the Queen of Pentacles as a clarifier. Posted this in the readings section as I wasn't certain if this meant they had to experience a loss with the relationship with their Queen. Or that a strong Queen would provide them strength through emotional loss related to the decision. Response in forum interpreted that they may experience some loss emotionally in themselves or in their general relationships (both choices would require a great amount of work and transition) but the Queen would respresent a financial wealth and stability regardless of the choice.

The question here is more general, when do you choose to interpret the court cards as a physical representation of someone in the querent's life or as the querent themselves, and when do you choose to interpret as the energy or representation of that figure in the card?

I've done many relationship spreads and in that case, it has seemed appropriate to interpret the court cards as representations of the masculine or feminine counterpart. Perhaps because this spread has to do with a decision in the querent's life and not to do with relationship I should avoid taking those court cards to mean anything but that of the querent themselves.

Thoughts? Opinions?

The answer is very short, easy and won't help you at all: I interpret them intuitively.

I used to interpret them as energies in the beginning. Starting to exchange readings here I found that they started to hint at other people as well. My intuition or the position in the spread will give me hints at how to deal with them. Most of the time, it's just a feeling. I think it comes with practice.

I guess it depends on whether your looking for insight or fortune telling for specific events. I guess its the structure of the question as well, from a rookie's point of of view, I would try to incorporate both answers in. The energy that will be there, thats a given. In fact a certainty - so I would say that first and then mention the possibility of this specific person if your gut says so.

I'm glad you posted this question, I was wondering the same thing last night. I've always interpreted them by energies, but am just starting to get the insights associated with people...I started using a new spread last night...and it was the spread which made it seem that I should be using them more as people.

It does seem like they lend themselves to people when the spread is more of a fortune telling spread than an inner psychological exploration spread.

I'm interested in hearing more about this topic.

Anne_23 said:

New to tarot and the court cards are most confusing. Recently did a reading on someone between two career choices and the foundation knowledge they should know before making a choice showed the John Holland emotional loss card with the Queen of Pentacles as a clarifier. Posted this in the readings section as I wasn't certain if this meant they had to experience a loss with the relationship with their Queen. Or that a strong Queen would provide them strength through emotional loss related to the decision. Response in forum interpreted that they may experience some loss emotionally in themselves or in their general relationships (both choices would require a great amount of work and transition) but the Queen would respresent a financial wealth and stability regardless of the choice.

The question here is more general, when do you choose to interpret the court cards as a physical representation of someone in the querent's life or as the querent themselves, and when do you choose to interpret as the energy or representation of that figure in the card?

I've done many relationship spreads and in that case, it has seemed appropriate to interpret the court cards as representations of the masculine or feminine counterpart. Perhaps because this spread has to do with a decision in the querent's life and not to do with relationship I should avoid taking those court cards to mean anything but that of the querent themselves.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Click to expand...

I believe, from what I have heard around here at AT over the years that the Courts are pretty much the cards that people have the most trouble learning and mastering. But we call get there in the end.

My answer is that I believe you need to establish inside yourself which of those methods you want the Courts to mean for you when you read. It's something you need to work out for yourself before you start a reading. Then the answers to your questions will come up reflecting the method you choose to use. If you aren't clear inside yourself what they will mean to you when they do come up, then the cards are going to be less clear in answering.

It's generally up to you to decide which of those 3 methods you choose to use. Then the cards will answer you using the one you choose.

As for me, when I started learning Tarot the Courts represented people in the querent's life for me. Because that was my method, that is what those cards always meant when they came up for me.

Things evolved over time in my methodology and readings, as I imagine they do for most readers as we learn and grow. My path was that now the Courts represent aspects of the querent themselves of advice telling them a good path for them to take on the issue in question. Because this is how I read now, this is what these cards always mean for me when they come up now.

They pretty much never represent just the energy of that card for me because I don't read them that way. The Courts don't HAVE any energy to me except what they tell the querent about themselves and their situation.

They always represent the person the question is about for me. IF that is not the querent themselves, eg in a 3rd party reading, then they will still be talking about the person the question is about.

That's generally how it works for me.

Babs

SunChariot said:

My answer is that I believe you need to establish inside yourself which of those methods you want the Courts to mean for you when you read. It's something you need to work out for yourself before you start a reading. Then the answers to your questions will come up reflecting the method you choose to use.

Click to expand...

I like that point a lot! It holds true for a lot of things in reading Tarot.

And it reminded me of a rather obscure method to interpret courts in three-card-readings. I found this method somewhere around here, but I can't remember who brought it up... [emoji20]

It combines the court position with their interpretation:

The positions in general
The first card represents always the querent's situation.
The other two cards show things that happen in the querent's life.

The first/left card is a court
Represents the querent.

The second/middle card is a court
Represents a person the querent will encounter. The third card will show what motivates this person - which can be another court of course!

The third/right card is a court
Represents a person the querent will encounter. Their motivation is unclear. The card in the middle will show a situation that involves the querent as well as the other person - a shared experience.

It's actually pretty easy once you get your head around it. And it works pretty well for me.

I take my cue from the person I'm reading for (always sitting across the table from me). I like to propose a court card as another person first since most people can readily relate to the idea, if only because they want someone else on whom to blame their troubles or pin their hopes.

Me to sitter: "This card can indicate another person involved in, or with an interest in, your situation. Can you relate to that in your present circumstance?"

If the answer is no or uncertain, I'll shift gears:

Me to sitter: "This card can also show personal characteristics, attitudes or behaviors you should either adopt or avoid in dealing with the situation."

If the context of the question is one that doesn't involve direct engagement by the sitter, I drop back another step:

Me to sitter: "At its most general, this card suggests impersonal energies or forces at work in the matter."

If you only read over the internet and have no direct dialogue with your sitter, this approach won't be of much use to you. In that case I would suggest floating all three possibilities in the reading, in whichever order you choose and to however much depth you think appropriate.