Morgan Greer Study: Court Exercise 1

Due to the guidelines of Aeclectic, I can not post ‘word for word’ chunks from books, so I have taken the essence of the exercise and changed it to suit our group.
(Moderators, I hope that this is okay)

In Mary K Greer and Tom Little’s book ‘Understanding the Tarot Court’, one of the first exercises is a visualisation, where you imagine yourself walking on a beach. While wandering along, you come across a beach party. The members of the tarot court (in our case, the court characters from the Morgan Greer) make up the group.

Through visualising the scene and looking at the sixteen cards, separated from your deck, they ask these questions -

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome? The one that makes you feel appreciated and part of the group.

In the distance, you see a character that you do not like. He or she makes you feel uncomfortable. Which court character will you do anything to avoid?

Which court in the party are you physically attracted to? The one that you feel drawn to like a magnet?

Which court makes you feel light-hearted and playful as you watch them have a wonderful time on the beach?

Which character do you deeply admire for their depth of wisdom and understanding? You do not want to miss the opportunity of being in this person’s presence. What words of wisdom do they offer you?

(What qualities of each figure made you feel the way that you did?)

I am not sure whether this is a useful exercise for us, but I thought I would get the ball rolling. I know that some of us find the courts difficult to interpret, so I thought we could give it a shot. I think this exercise is here to get us acquainted with the courts of the Morgan Greer, if we are not already. It may be useful for me, as my deck has been lurking in the darkness for a long time.

Regards
LB

A Party with the Courts

I have to say, before I begin the exercise that none of these courts look like a ‘barrel of laughs’, lol. Can’t imagine any of them on the beach having a party. They all look a little bemused and as if their mind is elsewhere.

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome? The one that makes you feel appreciated and part of the group.
To me, the warmest feeling I get is from the ‘King of Cups’. Unlike the ’King of Pentacles’, he doesn’t stare straight at me and make me feel intimidated. Unlike the ‘King of Rods’ and the ’King of Swords’, his grip on whatever he appears to be holding, is loose and not tight. Unlike them, he isn’t turning away from me completely. The ‘King of Swords’ looks quite severe.

In the distance, you see a character that you do not like. He or she makes you feel uncomfortable. Which court character will you do anything to avoid?
I am not keen on the look of the ‘Queen of Rods’; she looks stern and unfeeling; there seems to be a lack of emotion and I do not like the way she stares at me accusingly. I think I would definitely keep out of her way at a party.

Which court in the party are you physically attracted to? The one that you feel drawn to like a magnet?
Physically, I suppose I am drawn to the ‘King of Pentacles’. He looks strong and grounded. I feel as though I trust him.

Which court makes you feel light-hearted and playful as you watch them have a wonderful time on the beach?
The ‘Page of Cups’, with his or her jumping fish looks playful enough. I also like his flamboyant dress; he reminds me of some kind of entertainer. The roses suggest to me that he is sensitive.

Which character do you deeply admire for their depth of wisdom and understanding? You do not want to miss the opportunity of being in this person’s presence. What words of wisdom do they offer you?
The woman whom I think admire most for her words of wisdom is the ‘Queen of Swords’. She almost hides within the roses, as if she wants to tell me a secret that nobody else should hear. She is the seeker of truth. She has her big sword, and I think she is telling me to not listen to or spread gossip and to be honest with my self and others.


LB

This was a very interesting exercise, LittleBuddha, and a quick way to become familiar with all the courts.

I agree with you...most of these people look miserable!

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome? The one that makes you feel appreciated and part of the group.
I have to say the Queen of Swords for this. In fact, this seems like such an obvious choice to me that I was quite surprised LittleBuddha didn't choose her. To me, she has a soft, gentle expression. She looks very kind. The colour of the roses around her give her a very welcoming air. Her face is heart-shaped and the pinks in her eyes, lips and earrings all contribute to the gentleness. As soon as I took one look at everyone else at this party, I was heading straight for her!

In the distance, you see a character that you do not like. He or she makes you feel uncomfortable. Which court character will you do anything to avoid?
Again, very interesting to contrast with LittleBuddha here, as for me, the King of Cups just looks like he doesn't want to know me. To me, his expression seems to suggest that he isn't keen on my joining their party and he'd rather not acknowledge me. This is because he is looking away, his jaw is firmly set, and his bottom lip looks pushed out slightly, like a sulking child. He's quite handsome, but he's got all kinds of walls up so I'm keeping well away.

Which court in the party are you physically attracted to? The one that you feel drawn to like a magnet?
Yep, King of Pentacles. He's a hotty Good bone structure. Although, just looking at him now, he doesn't look all that intelligent. His eyes look like he's trying to figure out something someone said - a bit like Joey out of Friends.
I think some of the Knights are quite attractive too but it's hard to tell with all that armour!

Which court makes you feel light-hearted and playful as you watch them have a wonderful time on the beach?
I also thought Page of Cups at first, but "she" isn't looking at her fish so she seems quite distracted. None of these courts made me feel "light-hearted and playful" I'm afraid, although the Knight of Rods looks like he just heard a good joke.

Which character do you deeply admire for their depth of wisdom and understanding? You do not want to miss the opportunity of being in this person’s presence. What words of wisdom do they offer you?
I think that I would see the King of Swords as the "head" of this group. He looks strong but also wise. The oak leaves and the wheat soften his forbidding stance and he looks like the kind of person who would give good counsel.

Pip

Pipistrelle said:

I agree with you...most of these people look miserable!

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Yes, it's funny. I had never noticed this before I did the exercise. There is little to no emotion. They all look as though they are watching tv. The Page of Rods (so deathly pale) is looking at that rod as though it is completely alien to him.

Having said this, in a reading today, I did sense some emotion from the 'Knight of Swords' as he stood behind the 'Knight of Cups'. Maybe they work better together than alone. I look forward to finding out.

Am about to have a bath so will take my court card book with me and scan the next exercise.

I must say, it is nice to see the name 'Morgan Greer' boucing about amongst the new posts index.

LB

This looks really interesting, I've not done anything like it before. I've printed this thread out and will post once I've done the exercises.

This is very hard LB as many of the faces are not clearly seen.

I have not looked at any one elses answers just to make sure that this exercise was 'all my own work'.

LittleBuddha said:

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome? The one that makes you feel appreciated and part of the group.

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You know this is really difficult, they all look so solemn! I think though I would go with the Queen of Swords. It must be the flowers - not the sword which gives me this impression. I like her, she looks really friendly imo.

In the distance, you see a character that you do not like. He or she makes you feel uncomfortable. Which court character will you do anything to avoid?

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Knight of Pentacles. With all that armour he looks a little stern and unflexible. I was writing earlier on the ToP study about the tin man from the Wizard of Oz who was looking for his feelings. I think this is him! Too much protection - scarey!

Which court in the party are you physically attracted to? The one that you feel drawn to like a magnet?

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King of Pentacles definately

Which court makes you feel light-hearted and playful as you watch them have a wonderful time on the beach?

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None really but if I had to pick one it would be King of Rods. His eyes look full of mischief. I reckon he has a great sense of humour! Smiling eyes.

Which character do you deeply admire for their depth of wisdom and understanding? You do not want to miss the opportunity of being in this person’s presence. What words of wisdom do they offer you?

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Queen of Pentacles. She seems to command respect and with all of those acorns, she has to be pretty wise. She oozes confidence which I admire greatly.

Now to look at everryone elses answers ...

I was thinking about this exercise this morning and how it seems to encourage you to make judgements about the people at the party solely on their appearance. For me, as my Morgan-Greer deck is very knew to me, this was very much a case of first impressions. Funnily enough, my daily cards for both yesterday and today were courts - the Knight of Swords yesterday and the King of Cups today. After what I said about him yesterday, I'm surprised the King is talking to me ...however, I'm already looking at him in a different light and he looks much friendlier and more interesting today. I'm quite keen to find out what he has to say today.

I just thought it was interesting how my opinion of this court had changed so rapidly.

Kind thoughts,

Pip

P.S. On both days, the energies of the Knight of Swords and the King of Cups have been extremely helpful. Yesterday, the Knight helped me finish a writing project which was at a standstill the day before. And today, the King encouraged me to put my selfish wants aside long enough to help out in a task I really didn't want to do.

Sorry..meant to say this as well

I find it interesting that the Knights in this deck are depicted as grown men and not teenagers/young men, as they are in many other decks. I think this maybe gives them a more wholehearted approach.

Finally sat down last night and got this done. I had fun doing it and seemed to be dreaming of beaches and water all night.

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome:
For me it is the Pentacle King - he has a friendly and open face, is more light-hearted than the other Kings but he also looks younger than the Rod and Sword King but a little older than the Cup King.

Which character makes you uncomfortable, and you would avoid them:
The Knight of Swords is one that I'm not keen on. With the red firelight in his eyes he looks a little wild, and his sword is at the ready. He isn't much fun at all.

Which Court are you physically attracted to? They draw you like a magnet?
I like the Cup Knight. He looks a little vunerable, sensative but he's got a nice face.

Which Court makes you feel light-hearted and playful:
Now I had to work at this one because none really gave me a playful light-hearted feeling, but in the end I settled on the Rod Knight. He looks like he might be a laugh, not so straight-faced as the rest of the Courts.

Which character do you deeply admire:
There could only be one Court for me in this role, I've admired the aspects of this Queen since starting to use this deck and its the Sword Queen. She's fair minded and intelligent but has a very strong character, no one uses this Queen as a doormat - She talks common sense and of not letting the heart rule the head. The roses that surround her are beautiful but beware of the thorns.

Which of the characters makes you feel warm and welcome? The one that makes you feel appreciated and part of the group.

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The Queen of Cups. She looks like a great hostess who would come up to you and say "hey glad you can make it and here's a drink for you". I could imagine myself standing right outside the left border of the card holding a conversation with her.

In the distance, you see a character that you do not like. He or she makes you feel uncomfortable. Which court character will you do anything to avoid?

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Queen of Rods. She looks judgemental and unfriendly to me. Someone who's not as warm on the inside as she appeared on the outsdie.

Which court in the party are you physically attracted to? The one that you feel drawn to like a magnet?

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It took me a while to pick one coz I wasn't physically attracted to any of them initially. Anyway, my choice is the Knight of Cups. He looks relaxed and not being self conscious. Someone who's unaware of his own charm.

Which court makes you feel light-hearted and playful as you watch them have a wonderful time on the beach?

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Page of Cups. He looks like a curious kid. The jumping fish gives me the feeling of playfulness. Someone who wants to find out all the wonders in life. The fish is his buddy and they met each other during his/her adventure.

Which character do you deeply admire for their depth of wisdom and understanding? You do not want to miss the opportunity of being in this person’s presence. What words of wisdom do they offer you?

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Queen of Cups. She reminds me of the high priestess with a worldly twist. She's wise, compassionate and considerate, therefore not flashy about her own intelligence. Words of wisdom: See the world with love and compassion. Be gentle.


I also wrote down feelings I got from each court but it's 4am here and I must sleep!!!

*passed out*