An Introduction to the Court Card Pageant

I did a court card pageant as part of my video review for The Night Sun Tarot a few years back, and I decided that I wanted to bring back the idea for fun and for deck studies. It’s a great way to get to know the court cards in a new deck or refresh your perspectives on a tried and true reading deck.

The Court Card Pageant exercise that I’m demonstrating today invites you to select a winning page, knight, queen, and king from a deck. After that, a “grand prize” winner is chosen from those four cards. Discerning your favorite court cards and exploring the reasons behind your choices is an excellent way to get to the root of what you think each court card should embody and how close the cards in a particular deck come to meeting your vision.

Remember, as with any contest, bias needs to be put aside! If you despise the personalities of the suit of wands but adore the cups, you can’t pick the cup courts because of that universal inclination. This is about choosing the court card that embodies its specific personality in a way that resonates with you the most. Maybe that thing you hate about the Knight of Wands is expressed really well in a deck – that might make him your winner for the knights, even if you do think the Knight of Cups personality is “better” in general.

For today’s pageant I’m using the Anna K Tarot. Although I am ranking these court cards, it’s important to note that just because a card ranks low compared to its brethren doesn’t mean I don’t like it! This deck has a great court, and that’s why I chose it for this exercise.

Pages
The Page of Coins is so detailed and sweet. It shows the discovery of the coin – the first moments of success in the learning process. This scene captures the gentle and patient approach that defines the mannerisms of the coin court. It’s calm, curious, and practical.

The Page of Swords is a cutie, so that influenced me with his ranking, but his extroversion and forwardness are also well expressed in this card.

The Page of Wands tied for second place because his pioneering spirit is so simply but beautifully captured. He’s ready to start seeing the world.

The Page of Cups is also introducing himself to his element, I just feel like he shows less investment in making the connection with his suit vs. the other pages.

Knights
The Knight of Swords is a very narrative card. A court card with a lot of background details often conveys nuances of the character’s personality and makes them feel more human than a stone faced person sitting in a chair or riding a horse. Is the Knight of Swords approaching the danger to make a bold rescue or slay the arsonists? Or is he walking away from a fire he set to dispose of his enemies? As one of the extroverted Knights, his rushing to the scene makes sense. The sometimes sinister and malicious cunning of the sword cards also makes the more ominous interpretation a haunting possibility.

The Knight of Cups is out smelling flowers beneath the cover of darkness. He appears to be gathering them to give to someone. This card captures both the romantic and melancholy tendencies of this knight. He smiles, but the darkness in the card, much like in the Knight of Swords, creates a sort of dual mood. Perhaps he is gathering flowers for a lover, or perhaps he is fondly recalling someone who has passed away, and is gathering flowers for their grave.

The Knight of Coins is enjoying the sunrise. His quiet, introverted nature is well expressed here. He likes to pause and appreciate what’s going on around him, even the simple things. He isn’t getting anything done, but he is content. His blood pressure is probably lower than the other knights.

The Knight of Wands is boldly leading the charge (a bit clumsily!) with his banner. The passion and high energy of the suit of wands is present in this image, but I felt that the other knights had more complexity and/or personality illustrated.

Queens
The Queen of Cups is immersing herself in her element. She is in tune with it and revitalized by it. The presence of the moon, its reflection glimmering on the water, and the queen’s peacefulness do a wonderful job of expressing her intuitive and spiritual nature.

The Queen of Swords is as strong and regal as ever in this deck. The winter landscape makes me think of her description as an “ice queen.” Although this is typically viewed as a derogatory phrase, I think it illustrates her ability to withstand emotional hurts and and hardship and hold her head high. She doesn’t let other people cloud her thinking.

The Queen of Coins in this deck illustrates the earthiness and nurturing qualities commonly attributed to this queen. The details are lovely, I’m just not a big fan of pregnant courts. To me, a pregnant Queen of Coins veers a bit into Empress territory. While there are similarities between the cards, I prefer the archetypal Empress to be the pregnant card (if there is one). I realize that pregnancy is often symbolic in Tarot, regardless of which card it appears in, but I think that interpreting it as a metaphor instead of as a literal pregnancy is more natural with a trump card. The court cards often represent real people, making them more literal in nature, and they are commonly used as significators as well. Typifying which queen (personality) is “most likely to be pregnant” kind of feels like a bad yearbook contest to me.

The Queen of Wands – she’s lovely, but the lack of details make her personality a bit difficult to describe past “warm.”

Kings
The King of Cups reading a book is so perfect. It’s a wonderful way to illustrate an “emotionally mature” man. He likes to experience a good story and appreciates art and creativity. In my experience there’s a certain empathy and open mindedness in men who read books. Often the King of Cups is just a smiling guy with a cup or a nervous looking man floating in the ocean. He’s described as either a father or an alcoholic. It’s great to see him as a more dynamic character who isn’t pigeonholed into the “fatherhood” role to go alongside the Queen of Coins in the “Tarot Yearbook.”

The King of Swords calculating his next move on the chess board is another wonderful narrative expression. He is austere and cold, but he is intelligent and he gets the job done. A few pawns will just get knocked off in the process. As long as he wins it doesn’t matter, right?

The King of Wands is rushing to go somewhere. I appreciate the idea that the wand courts are probably the least likely to sit around, but I can’t shake the unfortunate impression that he is making a dignified rush to the bathroom. That being said, the highly directional nature of this card makes it great in readings. His clothes are fabulous too – as expected of the King of Wands.

The King of Coins exudes wealth and prosperity – the trademark of his kingly and coinly role. His expression comes across as rather nervous or upset though.

Grand Prize Winner: King of Cups

How would you rank the court cards in this deck? I’d love to know! I hope you give this exercise a try, it really is a lot of fun, especially with decks that have such an excellent court that it’s hard to choose a favorite. Watch for more Court Card Pageants in the future and let me know if there’s a deck that you’d like me to conduct a pageant for.

Order the Anna K Tarot on Amazon here.
Purchasing this deck on Amazon via this link supports me and my ability to provide information and resources on this website. Thank you!