The Fool-Proof way to Remember the Tarot Court Cards!

Are you struggling to remember the Tarot court cards?

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The easiest way to sear the court cards into your brain is to…

Attach each of the Tarot court cards to people in your life!

Really? But how do I know who to pick for each card?

*You will need a basic grounding of the four Tarot suits: Wands/Cups/Swords/Pentacles. (See my keywords below).  But if you know an inkling about Astrology you’re one step ahead as they neatly correspond to the four astrological elements: Fire/Water/Air/Earth.

*You’ll also need at least a tiny understanding of the Pages/Knights/Queens & Kings in Tarot… Lost already? You’re allowed to cheat and look it up at this stage! (But see my keywords below).

*Now comes the really fun part when you fill in this chart with people you have known/loved/hated/worked-with/played-with at some point in your life that match how you feel about the mixture of suits and elements!

{Click to enlarge in a new window and print}

Because let’s face it, Tarot court cards don’t always represent people.  Often they do, but not always.  It’s the feeling of the energies that could pertain to a person, a situation, a place, a building, an outcome – or even qualities that you are being urged to take on, that your chart will help you remember.

Let’s start with a few keywords:

Wands (Fire)

Direct / outgoing / passionate / active / impulsive  

Cups (Water)

Emotional / artistic / caring / imaginative / romantic

Swords (Air)

Intellectual / unemotional / inquisitive / communicative / truth-seeking 

Pentacles (Earth)

Practical / physical / sensual / nuturing / realistic

{Of course there are tons more – look ’em up!} 

Pages

Birth / free-spirit / potential / messages / young (whatever their actual age) 

Knights

Adventurous / urgent / romantic / ambitious / determined 

Queens

Nurturing / confident /capable / devoted / bossy

Kings

Wise / assertive / benevolent / confident/ controlled

{Again, there are tons more – look ’em up!}

What now?

Well, you could attempt to put a summary of all the keywords into every box, as I have started to do here with the suit of Wands…

But honestly?  Kill. Me. Now.  You may as well try and memorize my whole book!

What we’re going for here is a simple fool-proof way to drill the damn Tarot court cards into our brains, so pick a person who somehow personifies a mixture of the keywords of the suits + the court cards for you and put their name in the appropriate box.  Done! 

Here’s mine:

Notes to remember:

* The people you put in the boxes don’t have to match the corresponding astrological element. (Although you’ll be amazed at how often they do).

* Not everyone is going to encompass every single keyword!  And you can put two or more people in the boxes if you wish, to demonstrate different expressions of the same archetype.

You can see I have both my friend Julia and my mother in the box for the Queen of Pentacles.  Because although on the surface they’re strikingly different, their approach to life is quite similar.

For example: If Julia had a pressing problem, rather than get in a flap and try and fix it immediately, she’d quite likely decide that it’s not worth stressing about; then put it out of her mind whilst having a bubble bath or cooking something delicious.  Similarly, if my mum had the same pressing problem, she’d also not worry unduly.  She’d no doubt busy herself weeding the garden, planting vegetables or going dancing. (Even at ninety-one!)

Julia is a sensual earth-sign Taurus and my mum a practical earth-sign Capricorn – both different expressions of the Queen of Pentacles.  🙂 

Have fun with this. 

And remember my book Easy Peasy Tarot Card Meanings is here if you get stuck…