The People In Your Tarot Court Cards

In a psychic tarot reading, several court cards, also known as ‘people cards’, may come up in a spread. This can be challenging and even confusing, because the reader must now interpret not only the situational influences and circumstances revealed by the spread, but also the other people who are playing a role, or may still be involved in the matter.

There are many different approaches to interpreting tarot court cards, but my personal preference is to associate each card with an astrological sign of the zodiac.

There are 78 cards in a traditional Tarot deck. The first 22 cards are the Major Arcana and the remaining 56 are the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits that correspond to the four classical elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.

The element of Air is typically represented in the deck design as swords, feathers, birds, or clouds. The element of Fire is usually represented as wands, batons, or staffs. The element of Water is represented by cups, chalices, bowls, or mermaids. And the element of Earth is represented as pentacles, coins, or stones.

Sixteen of the 56 minor arcana are the court cards. The court cards of each suit represent people who embody the personality, traits, or influence of the associated element. Occasionally, a court card may also represent someone who fits the physical appearance of a particular person card as depicted in the card’s design.

For example, the King of Pentacles in a reading may represent a person with a pragmatic, masculine, “earthy” energy, who is grounded, stable, reliable, and very adept at dealing with materialistic matters, money management, real estate development, financial planning, investing, wealth creation, and so on.

The court cards represent the people in our lives, the roles we play, and the qualities we embody ~ Mary K. Greer

Now, I often take this a step further by also identifying the person’s astrological sign. The earth signs in the zodiac are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. If the King of Pentacles appears in a spread in a relevant, significant placement, I will ask the client if they know someone who either fits the above description, or someone who is an Earth sign, or both. They usually do, and it is always somehow relevant to the reading.

One of the easiest ways to start learning how to interpret the court cards or ‘people cards’ and to remember who they might represent is to take them all out of the deck. Then study each card carefully, one at a time, and think of someone you know in your own life who is very well represented by the card. If you do not know someone personally who fits the description, then think of a celebrity or public figure who fits the description of that court card.

For example, actor Brad Pitt was born on December 18, which makes him a Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a fire sign, so the qualities of the King of Wands, a male court card of the fire sign, can be a good representation of Brad Pitt and some of the character traits of his typical movie roles.

The court cards can help us to understand our relationships with others, and with ourselves ~ Angeles Arrien

It is important to remember that each of the court cards can also represent different aspects of us in a reading, depending on its placement in the spread. Just as we have influences from all 12 signs of the zodiac in our astrological charts, we all embody some or all of the traits of the 16 court cards to varying degrees.

Another important aspect to consider is that the symbolism of the court cards is not limited to biological sex or gender. A King or Queen card does not necessarily represent a biological male or female, but rather a person with yin or yang, masculine or feminine, external or internal energies. For example, Kings bring things out into the world, while Queens develop, cultivate, or nurture things within. Pages and Knights have a more youthful or new energy than Kings and Queens.