Knight Of Wands

Well, I really want to get these court cards sorted out in my mind, I have always found them difficult, and I am hoping some of you would like to share your thoughts.

So, first off the top is the Knight of Wands. The firey part of fire.

Crowley says lightning.

As a knight he is (I think) both the old king, the father of the Prince, and the young knight who will replace him. A creature of swiftness and movement.
As a wands card he is a man of action, a doer of deeds.
Yet I do not feel that I know him (or any of the others). I find the courts difficult, perhaps I find people in general difficult. Is it just me?

Who is this person to you? What does he represent. If he came up in a reading how would you interpret him.

And thank you in advance to anyone who joins me in this discussion (I hope that someone does).

I also do not relate the Thoth court to real people well. They are depicted in such a symbollic way. Maybe I am just too literal-minded, but I will take a shot at it.

I see what you wrote about who he is, but I had thought of him more as the consort to very powerful Queen. He is both old (to be sacrificed for the good of all) and new (the new vitality, the inseminating force). In the case of the Knight of wands, I would say then the emphasis is on the latter. To me the former are more represented by the Disks (earth, land, which is fertilized by his death) and Swords itself (cutting, death, endings) while the Knight of Cups is of course the passion between them.

Although on the card he looks impetuous, I think that quality is more tied to the Prince.

If he was a person, just looking at the card, what would he be? Determined in a firey way (not slow and steady determined of Disks); demanding and fierce; prone to anger when thwarted. Odd, looking at the flames on the head piece and horse's mane, it almost seems as if a strong wind is at his back. Like he really has somewhere to go. Certainly lacks the peaceful certainty of the RWS King of wands.

Thank you!

That is fascinating!

It has given me a whole new way of looking at them.
I'm going to have to go and think some more!

It's so good to be able to talk to people about this stuff.
I love this forum!

Knight of Wands

Seeing Tarot permits everyone to see whatever he sees, I will no longer hold back my views and thoughts.
If he is the father of creative imagination, I think that he gets his fiery strengh from the sun in the background. Contrary to what I first thought, that he had a cape of fire, I now see it as if the sun behind him is sending pure energy up to and through him to give him his power.
Does anyone know what the emblems on his chest and saddle (below his knee) represent?

Diwha

here are some half-conscious thoughts, I don't feel good putting tags on tarot cards, want them open, undefined, intangible, always new unexpected, without hard delineated form, preset image, coming to me alive, fresh, in any form known or unknown, to take me beyond ...limits

the fire energy of Knight of Wands can take any form, depending on other cards, could be a person, though we are usually more complicated, never just one fire; maybe it is invitation to bring the fire in ourselves to it's highest level, to burn ourselves at the inner stake, burn all stale, heavy burdening layers, to jump from G. Washington Bridge, not down, but up, up, up, as high, as the fieriest flame of Fire can take us

just a suggestion ...

The more I look at the card and read others replies, the more the ambiguities seem to come out for me. Which is odd, you would think this would be the most strightforward of all the cards (double Aries, so to speak). Lady Harris was very particular with details, so I do not think it is an accident that his facial expression, for all the swirling fire, is very calm and focussed. This person is in no way out of control. Carrying the burning brand and moving ahead. He is after the king, and so is keeping a strong measure of control.

I like the comment that what could be causing the fire could be quite a range of things, both internal and external and may depend on the reading.

Marion said:

This person is in no way out of control.

Click to expand...

Hi Marion, this is very true - if for every fire there would not be a bucket of water this place would be too hot to be

though I am not sure the essence of the fire is about control, especially in the case of the Knight of Wands. controlled fire? as in a heater?

quoting from THE BOOK OF THOTH, The court cards:

The Knights .... They are the most sublime, original, active part of the Energy of the Element; ... Their action is swift and violent, but transient. In the Element of Fire, for instance, the Knight corresponds to the Lightning flash;...impulsiveness, swiftness in unpredictable actions...[/end of quote]

The knight appears as a 'Lightning flash', what we do with this energy is another story...

jump...

knight of wands

At a certain point, in the Crowley Tarot book, Akron.Halo Banzhaf state ''This king is an expression of great maturity''. Does not the Knight of the Thoth deck represent the King of other decks? I am wondering now.

Diwha

I wonder that too.

And then I decide, and then I read/think something that makes me wonder again!

Other packs have a king on a throne, as the 'older' male figure. And the kinght on a horse, as the 'younger' male figure. (the page being even younger when he is present as male).

This is just a quick sketch of my thinking, I know it is a lot more complicated than that, but bear with me.

Now, in the Thoth, you have again a knight on a horse, but in the book (crowleys) he is listed first. And to complicate it even more the book discribes him as being both the old king and the young knight. Both older and younger than the other male card, the Prince.
(If any one else was a Lexx fan, they too will have certain associations in regard to a certain Prince. But I digress)
The Thoth Prince is seated, like the more usual King, but on a chariot rather than a throne. and these chariots (and the helm that each prince wears) represent the four Kerub, the cardinal signs, who also appear in XXI The Universe and V The Heirophant. The knight does not have this symbolism, which would make me think that the prince is the more significant card in the elemental sense.
And, as well, the Prince is sandwiched between the split nature of the knight. He is what the knight was and will be.

Am I right? or am I talking nonsense?
Sometimes I wonder if I have understood any of this at all.

Any how, the question. If I am looking at a 'non thoth' book, and it mentions a knight and a king, how do I relate these to the knight and prince?

I don't know.

Sometimes I could give Crowley a right slap for damn elistist obfustcation.

By the way, the Knight of Wands. According to the zodiac attributions given in the book, I have the sun and I think 3 other planets in the degrees covered by this card!

Diwha said:

Does not the Knight of the Thoth deck represent the King of other decks? I am wondering now.

Click to expand...

Hi Diwha, this is just what I think about this, as everybody else have their own view.There is no CANON, or law, which way to interpret KoW. Crowley has his view, based on his background and time. He created a beautiful deck, closely based on archetypes and symbology of traditional tarot. Plus, all the complexity and mix up of styles of 1st half of 20th century. Far from simple purity of older decks. I like it, for some reason I resonate with this deck, but I am not locking myself in Crowley's interpretation. Or in anybody's else. As many people here, as many interpretations. And each time the same Knight will feel different. Sometimes it will look like typical King from other decks, sometimes as primordial fire, or when Moon transits Aries or Leo, the Knight will appear to reflect their energy relative to the question. It's not written in stone.

To add to our confusion, I read somewhere, don't remember where, that in Thoth Princess is the most powerful, combining the power all other court cards, therefore corresponding to the Kings of other decks.?