The court cards

[zadey]

Hello,

 

I always have trouble with the court cards. There are two major issue that I am experiencing:

1) The kings and the queens
In almost every reading that I do, they make an appearance. But I find it hard to understand the following: 
• Who is this person that the king/queen is representing in a reading? 
For e.g., if I am reading on a topic related to my work and if I get King of swords, then I want to know if this king of swords is my boss or a co-worker or a new client. 
• How is this person related to the topic or to the other people (the other kings/queens) involved in the situation/appearing in the reading? 
For e.g., 
• If I get King of swords and queen of swords. Do they have to be a couple/partners? 
• If I get King of swords and king of wands, how are they related to each other? Is this king of swords the boss of king of wands?   
This is where I get baffled.

Is there any technique or spread that I can use just to get answers to the above mentioned questions?  

 

2) The knights and the pages 
How can I understand and get to know the knights and pages better? Is there any good book that you'd like to recommend? 

 

Any insight/help is really appreciated. 

Thank you so much.😊

[Chariot]

One or two court cards in a reading can make perfect sense.  However, I find if I get too many courts, sometimes my brain just explodes.  It happened to me this morning, when I was doing a new deck interview.  Out of 7 cards, 5 were courts!  In a deck interview.  I just wasn't up to dealing with it, and the cards certainly didn't make sense to me straight out of the chute.  I took a note of the cards and positions and may return to it later.  Or not.

I bought a book on Kindle a while back that had some pretty good tips and insights into dealing with courts.     It's called Your Tarot Court: Read Any Deck With Confidence, by Ethony Dawn.  I'm going to order it in paperback as well, to have it handy. 
 

I'm better with court cards than I used to be. I now think of them as personalities, rather than specific people. (This makes gender issues irrelevant.) In the case of pages/princesses, I may also see them as messages or learning situations related to the suit, and knights as actions related to the suit.

 

I also often think of reversed courts as missing certain personalities or traits, rather than manifesting the negative personality or trait.  In other words, the personality/situation/action of that court card may be needed, but is not around just now.

 

But sometimes I just can't be bothered with courts, and remove them from the deck altogether before I shuffle!   Whenever I've done that, I get a clear, accurate reading without the head-scratching.  🙂

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Chariot

[DanielJUK]

For me, the best Court Cards book is a Mary Greer specialist one about them (it's an ebook / on Kindle as well). "Understanding the Tarot Court" by Mary K. Greer

That book and her specialist book / ebook in the same range about reversals are some of my most used tarot reference books when I need to turn to look up more info 🙂

 

I like the Court Cards stuff in the LearnTarot online course, I always send people asking me for advice on it there - http://www.learntarot.com/less14.htm

(The site has been online a long time and doesn't have https pages (still!) so now gives you a browser error warning but it's safe to override it. It just needs upgrading to modern standards)

 

Court Cards are not easy and I think especially difficult without experience of them, they need intuition / wisdom to work out. So take it easy with them, it takes time to master 🙂 .

 

Also to add to your challenge @zadey, Courts can represent you or aspects of you. They can also represent the qualities you need to take on in a situation. The qualities of them also can be the outcome in a reading when they don't represent an actual person. A pair can also represent balance I think, like if you see the Queen and King of Swords represents you in a reading, that is a perfect balance of masculine and feminine energies. I usually see them as a couple though in my readings. I think a big mistake is that people think a Queen has to be female, they are energies, not necessarily the gender. For example I think I am most like the Queen of Cups.

 

Learntarot has a whole section about the pairs of the Courts and they change the meaning of them - http://www.learntarot.com/charts.htm#courtcards

I used to be really into the pairs but now I am not sure about the changed meanings, it's not really helped my readings personally.

 

I think it's really worth learning the structure of the courts well, what do the different levels mean to you? Page is a young child but also immature to something, Knight is the teenager, they think they are wise but they don't have life experience yet! I think back to when I was 20 and thought I knew everything about the world! How I laugh! My experience really came after 30 years old. Queens and Kings have mastered the suit but have a different feminine / masculine energy. It's worth thinking what they did in a court as well. The Pages pass on the messages. Queens often didn't have the power of leadership but sat next to their King and could have huge influence.

 

I think it's worth thinking about who in your life is represented by each card? You can do celebrities as well. It's interesting to see the people as courts appear in your own readings. Ultimately you have to make a decision on how to go with a court in a reading, there are usually clues like it looks like many people or it's different aspects of advice. But then you need to go back later and see if you were right with the direction you went in with the Courts, that is how you get better at it 🙂 . It gets easier seeing them turn up with practical experience!

 

[zadey]

11 hours ago, Chariot said:

One or two court cards in a reading can make perfect sense.  However, I find if I get too many courts, sometimes my brain just explodes.

Exactly! You captured what I feel when I see them in a single reading!
 

11 hours ago, Chariot said:

Out of 7 cards, 5 were courts!  In a deck interview.  I just wasn't up to dealing with it, and the cards certainly didn't make sense to me straight out of the chute.  I took a note of the cards and positions and may return to it later.  Or not.

Oh my! Even I remember when  two kings made an appearance. I asked the cards to tell me about a possible connection or a relationship between them and I got a queen as an answer! It was frustrating.

 

11 hours ago, Chariot said:

I bought a book on Kindle a while back that had some pretty good tips and insights into dealing with courts.     It's called Your Tarot Court: Read Any Deck With Confidence, by Ethony Dawn.  I'm going to order it in paperback as well, to have it handy.

I will take a look as well!  


I agree with reversed court cards and I also see them as blocked or that the people are suppressing the energies that the court cards represents. 

Thank you, @Chariot 😊 

[zadey]

 

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

For me, the best Court Cards book is a Mary Greer specialist one about them (it's an ebook / on Kindle as well). "Understanding the Tarot Court" by Mary K. Greer

That book and her specialist book / ebook in the same range about reversals are some of my most used tarot reference books when I need to turn to look up more info 🙂

 

I like the Court Cards stuff in the LearnTarot online course, I always send people asking me for advice on it there - http://www.learntarot.com/less14.htm

(The site has been online a long time and doesn't have https pages (still!) so now gives you a browser error warning but it's safe to override it. It just needs upgrading to modern standards)

I will make sure to read the book and the website content. Thank you for the suggestion. 😊

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

Court Cards are not easy and I think especially difficult without experience of them, they need intuition / wisdom to work out. So take it easy with them, it takes time to master 🙂

Yes really! I also want to say (without making your uncomfortable or sounding cringey) that your understanding and knowledge about the court cards is really good. I was searching within this forum to see if I can find any thread related to court cards and I found your answer for Page of swords. When I read it, I was impressed! I liked the way you explained and you could write a book on it, really! [It's like I want to know what you think of each court card but that's too much! lol]

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

A pair can also represent balance I think, like if you see the Queen and King of Swords represents you in a reading, that is a perfect balance of masculine and feminine energies. I usually see them as a couple though in my readings.

Yes, it does makes sense! But my mind instantly goes, "a couple" whenever I see them in a reading. lol 

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think a big mistake is that people think a Queen has to be female, they are energies, not necessarily the gender. For example I think I am most like the Queen of Cups.

Yes, I know many people take them as energies. In that case, the same question arises, " Who's energy is this? " This is what I want to know. I think, I am the Queen (may jump into any suit depending on my mood lol) and I can never be a King because it's too masculine for me. So, in a reading, say I get the Queens, then I can safely assume that the Queens are representing me. But then what about the Kings? Who-Are-They? He could be the guy that I worked with, he could the guy I may work with in the future. He could also be a future romantic interest or a villain that I need to be afraid of! lol I guess,

I have too many people/energies around me! 

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

The Pages pass on the messages. Queens often didn't have the power of leadership but sat next to their King and could have huge influence.

For the longest time I thought, if I get Pages, my phone will get calls, messages, and emails. Never got any. lol (Except only one time I got the Page of wand and within a few days, got a phone call.)

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think it's really worth learning the structure of the courts well, what do the different levels mean to you? Page is a young child but also immature to something, Knight is the teenager, they think they are wise but they don't have life experience yet! I think back to when I was 20 and thought I knew everything about the world! How I laugh! My experience really came after 30 years old.

I agree with you! I also think a Page is someone who is inexperienced and immature or if they want to offer something, it's quite small and for a short term. They might also be hesitant to take an action because of the inexperience. Knights think that they're ready but they're not. They're like impulsive & rebellious teens. Experience comes with age, I cannot agree enough! Around 30, it's like we're becoming more of Queens/Kings, we're maturing!  

 

9 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I think it's worth thinking about who in your life is represented by each card?

I only know one, but it becomes a problem when I get multiple kings. 

Thank you so much, @DanielJUK 😊
 

 

[Renie]

On 8/17/2023 at 2:47 PM, zadey said:

• Who is this person that the king/queen is representing in a reading? 
• How is this person related to the topic or to the other people (the other kings/queens) involved in the situation/appearing in the reading? 

 

This cannot be understood only by individual Court Cards.

This requires more input information:
1. How the question was formulated.
2. In what position of the spread were the court cards.
3. What other cards were in the spread, in addition to the Court Cards.
From the King of Swords alone, it is possible just to say that a person with the qualities of the King of Swords will participate in your question.

It is considered that
 King of Swords is a boss or official.
Queen of Swords - the same.
King of Pentacles - father or husband.
Queen of Pentacles - mother, wife.
King of Cups - boyfriend or person who has romantic feelings for you.
Queen of Cups - the woman you love or the woman who loves you.
King of Wands - a leader or person in charge of an event.
Queen of Wands - friend, work colleague, assistant.

However, in practice it doesn't always work that way.
Kings and Queens usually show personality characteristics or the way person act.
For example, the King of Swords as a personality characteristic:
An authoritarian person who tends to dominate.
King of Swords in the meaning of the way of action:
The person will most likely try to command you. And if you do not like it, a conflict situation is possible.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Renie

[zadey]

Hello @Renie

 

14 hours ago, Renie said:

This cannot be understood only by individual Court Cards.

This requires more input information:
1. How the question was formulated.
2. In what position of the spread were the court cards.
3. What other cards were in the spread, in addition to the Court Cards.

 

My query is about the appearance of the court cards, specifically, the Kings and the Queens in a reading related to any topic. The topic could be about anything, for e.g., love, career, workplace, friendship etc. The reading becomes problematic when 2-3 kings/queens start to appear. I find it difficult to find their connection with each other as well as with the topic and the querent. More than that, I find it hard to find out who this king/queen is referring to if there are 2-3 in a reading. Just for an example (for explanation purpose), lets say we have a reading about work and in any spread we get two kings - the king of swords and king of wands. Now, let's assume that we have two bosses and we're working for them. In this case, I want to know if boss A is king of swords or king of wands. Then my question was how do we find it out. 

 

[Chariot]

14 minutes ago, zadey said:

Hello @Renie

 

 

My query is about the appearance of the court cards, specifically, the Kings and the Queens in a reading related to any topic. The topic could be about anything, for e.g., love, career, workplace, friendship etc. The reading becomes problematic when 2-3 kings/queens start to appear. I find it difficult to find their connection with each other as well as with the topic and the querent. More than that, I find it hard to find out who this king/queen is referring to if there are 2-3 in a reading. Just for an example (for explanation purpose), lets say we have a reading about work and in any spread we get two kings - the king of swords and king of wands. Now, let's assume that we have two bosses and we're working for them. In this case, I want to know if boss A is king of swords or king of wands. Then my question was how do we find it out. 

 

I don't know if you use spreads that have designated positions (like a Celtic Cross) but having these in place should help.  I've also found that a clarifier card for that particular court card can also help ...if drawn after the reading, and to clarify something you can't work out otherwise.

 

In your example, it would also help to take a few moments and think about the personalities of your two bosses (whom I presume you know) and see which King best fits the bill.   But, like you, I sometimes find it difficult to do this when doing a real reading.  Makes perfect sense when talking about it, though.  Funny that I rarely struggle to apply meaning to the other cards in a reading, but courts can really throw me. 

Just thinking about Pages, for example.  If the position of the card in the spread is about the future (not past or present) does this card mean a message, or a learning experience, or an immature person, or what?  It's why, I think, you have to develop your own 'language' when it comes to tarot.  For example, for me a Knight always denotes an action of some kind ...related to the suit.  Not a person or an event.  I'm still not sure about Pages, though.  I tend toward thinking they denote a learning experience, but sometimes messages or even immature people can be what they are referencing. This is usually very clear when the reading is about the past or the present, but for me, it's NOT clear when it comes to the future.

 

Still lots of work for me to do on this issue.

 

[Bodhiseed]

Ginny C. Hunt's tarot blog really helped me with the court cards when I first began reading tarot. I don't think the blog is still active, but here is the section about the courts:

https://78notes.blogspot.com/search/label/The Tarot Court

[FindYourSovereignty]

I recently read a book, Children the Challenge by Rudolf Dreikurs, M.D. that teaches how one is feeling about an interaction with a person describes the actual struggle the person is having. Meaning if I find when someone is losing it because something didn’t go their way that I feel sadness, than they are actually sad and hurting even though their actions may appear to be controlling. In that case I would relate that person to the court card with Cups energy. If I feel peace or anger, I’d relate them to Swords, satisfaction or frustration to Pentacles, surprise or disappointment to Wands, and keeping with the theme, success or bitterness with Cups. I feel this helps me when I have multiple court cards appear in a thread to get a more accurate assessment of who is who in the spread.  When I’ve simply decided Fred is the Knight of Pentacles because he is the person who writes the company business plan, I am missing the opportunity to see that Fred is actually the King of Wands in this specific scenario. In a future reading, Fred may actually be the Knight of Pentacles.
 

I most often work with the energy of each Court card before assigning any people to them. 

 

I also have read both books shared above and recommend them. 
 

And, if you read with non RWS decks, if a card image reminds you of a specific person in your life, don’t discredit that. It could be important to the reading. I have a deck with a Page of Swords that looks exactly like my son when he was a child. I’ve discovered there is always a relationship if he shows up in a reading, even if it is just a memory of an experience that helps me further understand the reading.

 

I hope this is helpful. 

[zadey]

6 hours ago, Chariot said:

I don't know if you use spreads that have designated positions (like a Celtic Cross) but having these in place should help.  I've also found that a clarifier card for that particular court card can also help ...if drawn after the reading, and to clarify something you can't work out otherwise.

Most of the time, I ask one question, like what's next in career/love and draw 5 to 10 cards. Rest of the cards seem to make sense but the court cards! I also tried clarifying them as well as asking another question like, "who is this king of wands?" Or "How is this king of wands is related to the topic/me and so on. Instead of giving me the clarity, it clouds the reading.   

 

6 hours ago, Chariot said:

In your example, it would also help to take a few moments and think about the personalities of your two bosses (whom I presume you know) and see which King best fits the bill.

But what if they decide to change their energy and all of a sudden, the king of swords starts acting like king of wands.. is it possible?!

 

7 hours ago, Chariot said:

But, like you, I sometimes find it difficult to do this when doing a real reading.  Makes perfect sense when talking about it, though.  Funny that I rarely struggle to apply meaning to the other cards in a reading, but courts can really throw me. 

Just thinking about Pages, for example.

Then you and I are on the same "page"! lol 

 

7 hours ago, Chariot said:

 If the position of the card in the spread is about the future (not past or present) does this card mean a message, or a learning experience, or an immature person, or what?

In the very early days of my tarot reading journey, in every website all I saw was, "Pages are the messengers that bring news". Whenever I got Pages, I was like - I am getting a message/phone call for sure and never got any! So now, I think of Pages as immature energies - it could mean younger than I am or less mature, inexperienced, or what they're trying to offer is smaller than my expectations. 
 

7 hours ago, Chariot said:

This is usually very clear when the reading is about the past or the present, but for me, it's NOT clear when it comes to the future.

Yes, that's the key! I want to be able to tell the future as well.

[zadey]

6 hours ago, Bodhiseed said:

Ginny C. Hunt's tarot blog really helped me with the court cards when I first began reading tarot. I don't think the blog is still active, but here is the section about the courts:

https://78notes.blogspot.com/search/label/The Tarot Court

Thank you so much. I will take a look at it as well! 😊 

[zadey]

7 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

I recently read a book, Children the Challenge by Rudolf Dreikurs, M.D. that teaches how one is feeling about an interaction with a person describes the actual struggle the person is having.

The book sounds very interesting! 
 

7 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

When I’ve simply decided Fred is the Knight of Pentacles because he is the person who writes the company business plan, I am missing the opportunity to see that Fred is actually the King of Wands in this specific scenario. In a future reading, Fred may actually be the Knight of Pentacles.

Exactly, I agree. I was also wondering if they change energies in future. But they must also have the core qualities which is a like the default self/mood of the people. It may be possible that a person behaves like king of cups (usually) but when triggered, they can act like king of wands depending on situation they're dealing with

 

7 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

And, if you read with non RWS decks, if a card image reminds you of a specific person in your life, don’t discredit that. It could be important to the reading. I have a deck with a Page of Swords that looks exactly like my son when he was a child. I’ve discovered there is always a relationship if he shows up in a reading, even if it is just a memory of an experience that helps me further understand the reading.

It is a unique way to see it. Yes, I also like to believe in intuition or what the gut feelings are telling me about a particular card.

Thank you @FindYourSovereignty 😊
 

Edited August 19, 2023 by zadey

[Renie]

12 hours ago, zadey said:

Hello @Renie

 

 

My query is about the appearance of the court cards, specifically, the Kings and the Queens in a reading related to any topic. The topic could be about anything, for e.g., love, career, workplace, friendship etc. The reading becomes problematic when 2-3 kings/queens start to appear. I find it difficult to find their connection with each other as well as with the topic and the querent. More than that, I find it hard to find out who this king/queen is referring to if there are 2-3 in a reading. Just for an example (for explanation purpose), lets say we have a reading about work and in any spread we get two kings - the king of swords and king of wands. Now, let's assume that we have two bosses and we're working for them. In this case, I want to know if boss A is king of swords or king of wands. Then my question was how do we find it out. 

 

If we formulate a question for example like this. “What kind of relationship will I have with my colleagues (boss, friends, clients)?” Then you will know exactly who the Kings and Queens will show. If the question is not specific. For example: “How things would go next  month in my work?” In this case, we have to use only our intuition to understand who is who🤗

[Renie]

I apologize🌷 for the large font, it happened when sending text from the phone

[Chariot]

10 hours ago, zadey said:

Most of the time, I ask one question, like what's next in career/love and draw 5 to 10 cards. Rest of the cards seem to make sense but the court cards! I also tried clarifying them as well as asking another question like, "who is this king of wands?" Or "How is this king of wands is related to the topic/me and so on. Instead of giving me the clarity, it clouds the reading.   

 

I'm still not clear about the 5-10 cards.  Does each card have a particular position to fill in a spread?  As in: foundation, past, present, near future, advice, hopes/fears, etc?  Or are you just pulling the cards and reading them as an unsorted 'bunch?'

I do feel the court cards are a little bit easier to read if they fill a particular slot in a spread.

For example, if you were doing a spread about your two bosses, and one position was to describe Boss One and another position was to describe Boss 2, you'd know instantly which was which, if Kings appear in these two slots!  Name the spread positions beforehand—related to your question—and you'll find interpreting them a lot easier ...if you don't already do this.  Courts can still be difficult, but this helps.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Chariot

[zadey]

8 hours ago, Renie said:

For example: “How things would go next  month in my work?” In this case, we have to use only our intuition to understand who is who🤗

Yes, this is where things become problematic, specially if there's a possibility of them being your future boss or if two courts have very similar energy that even intuition fails! lol

[zadey]

2 hours ago, Chariot said:

I'm still not clear about the 5-10 cards.  Does each card have a particular position to fill in a spread?  As in: foundation, past, present, near future, advice, hopes/fears, etc?  Or are you just pulling the cards and reading them as an unsorted 'bunch?'

These cards are for just one question, with no particular position because I don't want to know about it's past, just the future of the current energy. So, maybe, yes, unsorted bunch?! 

But what I am trying to do now is to take that king/queen and throw a relationship spread to identify them. Its kind of helping but I am not there yet!

 

2 hours ago, Chariot said:

For example, if you were doing a spread about your two bosses, and one position was to describe Boss One and another position was to describe Boss 2, you'd know instantly which was which, if Kings appear in these two slots!  Name the spread positions beforehand—related to your question—and you'll find interpreting them a lot easier ...if you don't already do this.

I will try this! Thank you for the suggestion! 😊

 

[Chariot]

@zadey - Yeah, if you can get in the habit of not throwing down a whole bunch of cards to answer a single question, but instead decide ahead of time what you need to know about and assign a card POSITION for each thing you need to know about, you'll end up in less of a muddle.  That's why there are so many spreads out there—but once you get the idea, you just create your own, based on what you need to know each time.  You don't have to ask about the past, etc, if that's not what you want to know.  Ask about what you DO want to know.  Experienced readers who write books about tarot usually emphasize that asking specific questions is important.   Don't just ask a general question and chuck down a bunch of cards.  They won't make much sense unless you give each one of them a specific purpose before you deal them out.

Example: what is my central issue, what do I know already, what am I missing, what to embrace, what to avoid, what is the best action for me to take to get the outcome I want  (or something similar.)  If you draw a single card to answer each part of your dilemma, then read them all together as a unit, you'll find your answers will be less confusing.    Don't be afraid to design your own spread for each question you ask.

 

In the case of your bosses, ask yourself exactly WHAT information you need, then put a spread together that will give you that specific information.

 

Don't just say something like 'I need to know what my bosses are like' and then deal out 5-10 cards.   Instead, ask 'what is Boss One like,' and deal ONE card for that. Then ask 'what is Boss Two like' and deal a card for that. Then ...maybe ...what is their relationship with each other like (one card.) And then maybe 'what is the best way for me to deal with both of them together ...one card.  And etc.
 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Chariot

[zadey]

5 hours ago, Chariot said:

but once you get the idea, you just create your own, based on what you need to know each time.

This is exactly what I have been doing since Friday. I am noting down all the questions that I want to know about a particular king that keeps stalking me in almost all readings. I created a spread, tried and so far its going good. I think I am moving closer to clarity!

 

5 hours ago, Chariot said:

 If you draw a single card to answer each part of your dilemma, then read them all together as a unit, you'll find your answers will be less confusing.  

I was wondering, what if a single card is not enough for an answer and I need an elaborated one? Then I get an urge to pull 5 cards for one question to get me a detailed answer. That's where the court cards sometimes start crowding. How does one ask for an elaborated answer on one question?

 

Also @Chariot , You've been really helpful, understanding and patient with me. Thank you so much for all the suggestions and generous guidance! 😊🥰

[Chariot]

@zadey  I'm no expert, but I can relate to your issue with the court cards.  
I think I'm struggling a bit with the notion that you would pull 5 cards because you need one card clarified though.  I think that's where you might be going wrong. I say 'going wrong' because you seem to still be confusing yourself and not getting the answers you need, so maybe change the method a bit.

I do occasionally use clarifier cards, but maybe 'cards' is the wrong word to choose.  If I'm doing a spread, and I get a card in a particular position that either doesn't make sense, or could be signaling a couple of different things, I first take a long time to think about it, and relate it to the other cards.  If I am still baffled, I will pull ONE (only ONE) clarifier card.  Usually the two together snap right into place and make sense.

The last thing I would do is start pulling cards, hoping one will eventually click.  I would rather go away from the reading a bit puzzled, than to be swamped with different options.

I was just paging through my journal, looking for where I used a clarification card with a court card.  In early June I asked how an important bureaucratic process I was starting up was going to advance.

 

In the advice position, I got the Page of Swords reversed.  This indicated (initially) either I was being advised not to take an overly rash approach, or advised to hold back and do nothing at all—two contradictory meanings of the Page of Swords reversed.  Either interpretation could have made sense, but I wasn't sure, so I drew another card—which was Strength.  Aha.  So the advice was to go for it—but in a rational way—to stay strong, meet the challenges with a clear head and sensible action.   Delays and setbacks will be overcome if I don't fold now.  I will need to deal with difficult people and situations, but I can do this. (Thank you, Strength! And yes, this is what has transpired, by the way ...the advice was spot-on.)  It would have been tempting to see that Page of Swords reversed as a warning to not start the procedure at all—but the Strength card clarified the meaning perfectly.   Don't be rash, but don't hold back either.  And stay strong.

That's how a clarifying card should work.  It will help you tell what the original card actually meant, if there is any doubt.  

[zadey]

9 hours ago, Chariot said:

I think I'm struggling a bit with the notion that you would pull 5 cards because you need one card clarified though.  I think that's where you might be going wrong. I say 'going wrong' because you seem to still be confusing yourself and not getting the answers you need, so maybe change the method a bit.

I think just one card cannot be enough for one question. Lets take a question for e.g., "How does X feels for me?" and we get The Fool card. How am I suppose to interpret this.. that X is fool for me? No, I don't think so. If I know the person and kind of know (intuitively) how X feels, then I may want to interpret the Fool as X doesn't yet have romantic feelings but they're open. But if I don't know the person (like reading for a client) then the Fool may not be enough. Although, when it comes to feelings, I don't have problem reading a bunch of cards without any particular spread, I can read them just fine but same technique doesn't work for work/career readings.

 

9 hours ago, Chariot said:

I do occasionally use clarifier cards, but maybe 'cards' is the wrong word to choose.  If I'm doing a spread, and I get a card in a particular position that either doesn't make sense, or could be signaling a couple of different things, I first take a long time to think about it, and relate it to the other cards.  If I am still baffled, I will pull ONE (only ONE) clarifier card.  Usually the two together snap right into place and make sense.

If I feel that a card is not making any sense then I try to ask "Why this card is here"? and sometimes it clears the confusion but the other times I also ask for clarifiers. If it make things clear then okay, and if not, then I disregard the clarifier. Sometimes, a court card can get another court card as clarifier.

 

9 hours ago, Chariot said:

The last thing I would do is start pulling cards, hoping one will eventually click.  I would rather go away from the reading a bit puzzled, than to be swamped with different options.

Just to clarify, I don't start pulling 10 cards back to back because the first card doesn't make sense. I ask a question and predetermine how many cards I want to pull the cards. Again following the same question as a example, "What does X feels for me?" I ask, then in my mind I decide that I need 5 cards to know how they feel, I draw them out of them deck and start the reading. This generally works if I want to know how someone is feeling. 

But I think I am making a progress now. 😊

[Chariot]

@zadey - Ah!  I didn't understand that you predetermine how many cards you are going to pull to answer a question!  That's more helpful than asking a question, pulling a card, then pulling 5 more cards because the first card didn't answer the question fully enough.

However, I still think that being more specific with the questions can help.

Instead of 'how does he feel about me?' Why not try something like,

a) what does he like about me  (Is this realistic?  Is he seeing me as I really am?)
b) what doesn't he like about me  (is this true about my personality, or is he making a mistake?)
c) how does he see our relationship (just now, in future, in past, etc ...be specific in your question) 
d) what do I want/or expect from this relationship (am I being realistic, or wearing rose coloured glasses, or too negative and lacking confidence?)
e) what does he need or want from me?  (this is what he really wants)

This gives a clearer picture, than just 'how does he feel about me?' followed by 5 random cards—which leave you to try to decide what issue each of the 5 cards you draw is addressing.  Especially if his feelings are mixed, as feelings often are.

 

I'm not suggesting you use these particular topics, but they are examples to give you an idea of how to break your topic down, and make it more specific ...and much easier for the tarot to address.  Time spent formulating the question by asking YOURSELF what, exactly, you need to know, will never be wasted.

[Arianalit]

Hi! Sometime in my reading court cards duplicate each other and show the same person. Like king of swords and king of wands can indicate the same person, as we don’t have 2 kings of swords, the other way to show how important this person is for us/our situation. Or the king and knight of cups can indicate/duplicate the same person. I do big spreads like 40 cards. Or the queen of cups with the queen of pentacles. 

[zadey]

8 hours ago, Arianalit said:

Sometime in my reading court cards duplicate each other and show the same person

8 hours ago, Arianalit said:

the other way to show how important this person is for us/our situation

Thanks for commenting!😊
I agree with you, even I felt that! Since the card keeps appearing, they must be very important. I also feel that a person cannot be represented by just one suit (like King/Knight/Page of swords or wands only), they can have characteristics of king of wands as well as king of swords, for example. It is also possible that in a particular situation their King of swords qualities are more prominent.