Court cards

The four ranks

The ranks follow the four letters of the Name, Yod Heh Vau Heh, and with them the four elements and the four worlds. Each rank is one element acting inside the element of its suit.

The four ranks are a family and a cycle. Knight and Queen unite and produce the Prince; the Prince wins the Princess; she is set on her mother's throne and wakes the old Knight again. The process starts over each time it finishes, which is why the Princess is both the last court card and the home of the Ace.

The sixteen

Read every court as “X of Y”: the element of the rank working inside the element of the suit. The small word under each card says how the two elements get on, by the rule of elemental dignities.

	WandsFire	CupsWater	SwordsAir	DisksEarth
KnightFire	Fire of Firepure	Fire of Wateropposed	Fire of Airfriendly	Fire of Earthneutral
QueenWater	Water of Fireopposed	Water of Waterpure	Water of Airneutral	Water of Earthfriendly
PrinceAir	Air of Firefriendly	Air of Waterneutral	Air of Airpure	Air of Earthopposed
PrincessEarth	Earth of Fireneutral	Earth of Waterfriendly	Earth of Airopposed	Earth of Earthpure

Pure: the element doubled, the clearest type of the suit. Friendly: Fire with Air, Water with Earth. Opposed: Fire with Water, Air with Earth, an unstable mix. Neutral: Fire with Earth, Water with Air.

Courts in the year

Twelve of the courts rule thirty degrees of the zodiac each, from 20° of one sign to 20° of the next. Each takes the last decan of one sign and the first two of the following sign, so it mixes two signs and rules three small cards. Queens hold the cardinal signs, Princes the fixed signs and Knights the mutable signs.

The four Princesses rule no dates. Each holds a quarter of the heavens around the North Pole, together with the Ace of her suit.

I Ching

Crowley gives each court a hexagram built from two trigrams: the suit below and the rank above. Four trigrams carry the four elements.

More under I Ching and the courts.

All sixteen at a glance

Wands

Card	As a person	As a situation	Advice	Beware
Knight of WandsFire of Fire	A starter and risk-taker: quick, proud, generous, impossible to predict.	A sudden opening that rewards immediate action.	Strike first and commit completely; you get one clean charge.	Brutality; one failed charge and nothing left behind it.
Queen of WandsWater of Fire	Someone charismatic, generous and proud, who expects loyalty and remembers slights.	A matter that needs calm, sustained confidence more than force.	Hold your centre and let people come to you.	Vanity, brooding, snapping when not admired.
Prince of WandsAir of Fire	A bright, romantic, fearless character who lives large and argues for the pleasure of it.	A project gathering momentum through bold ideas.	Act on the bigger vision, and finish what you announce.	Boasting, cruelty in jest, big gestures with no follow-through.
Princess of WandsEarth of Fire	Someone brilliant and impulsive, fearless, quick to anger and to love.	A new passion, or news that sets everything alight.	Follow the enthusiasm and give it something real to burn.	Drama, vengeance, burning what you love.

Cups

Card	As a person	As a situation	Advice	Beware
Knight of CupsFire of Water	An amiable, artistic, easily moved person, quick to respond and slow to endure.	An invitation, proposal or arrival carried by feeling.	Make the offer now, while it is sincere.	Shallowness; promises that evaporate.
Queen of CupsWater of Water	A dreamy, tranquil, empathic person who shows others to themselves.	A time to observe and absorb, not to push.	Stay still enough to see clearly.	Becoming whatever is near you; passivity.
Prince of CupsAir of Water	An intense, secretive, artistic character: calm outside, driven within.	A matter with strong undercurrents and hidden motives.	Read below the surface, and be honest about your own aims.	Ruthlessness, hidden agendas, caring only for your own aim.
Princess of CupsEarth of Water	A sweet, romantic, kind person who helps without display.	A feeling or fantasy beginning to crystallise.	Support quietly and let the dream take form.	Indolence; living in the dream.

Swords

Card	As a person	As a situation	Advice	Beware
Knight of SwordsFire of Air	A sharp, active, domineering mind: brilliant in attack, impatient with doubt.	A fast-moving conflict or decision that rewards decisiveness.	Decide and move; subtlety can come later.	Aggression without reflection; the tyranny of the clever.
Queen of SwordsWater of Air	A perceptive, self-possessed, exacting person who sees through pretence.	A time for frank assessment and stripping away illusion.	Judge clearly, then act on what you see.	Harshness; cruelty disguised as honesty.
Prince of SwordsAir of Air	A brilliant, restless intellectual, full of plans and short on commitment.	Many ideas and options, with little yet settled.	Harness the mind to one purpose.	Endless theorising; cleverness that destroys what it builds.
Princess of SwordsEarth of Air	A stern, clever, argumentative person who handles practical matters aggressively.	Disputes and material affairs that demand firm handling.	Clear the air, then get on with the work.	Petty quarrels, cunning, constant anxiety.

Disks

Card	As a person	As a situation	Advice	Beware
Knight of DisksFire of Earth	A patient, hard-working, practical person, strong on instinct and short on imagination.	A matter that will yield only to steady labour.	Keep to the task and trust the harvest.	Dullness, plodding, clinging to routine.
Queen of DisksWater of Earth	A warm, sensible, hard-working person, greater than she appears.	A time of quiet cultivation and practical care.	Look after the ground and let growth take its time.	Drudgery, dullness, being used.
Prince of DisksAir of Earth	A capable, thoughtful, dependable manager of practical affairs.	A project that needs planning and steady execution.	Apply your mind to the material and keep going.	Stolidity, insensitivity, resentment of quicker people.
Princess of DisksEarth of Earth	A strong, generous, grounded figure who holds every possibility in reserve.	The end of a cycle that carries the seed of the next.	Stay with it; the result is nearly here.	Wastefulness; losing yourself in contradictions.

Reading a court card

• A person. Someone in the situation who acts like the card. Age and sex are loose guides at best.
• A part of you. The manner you are using, or are being asked to use, in this matter.
• The style of an event. How a thing arrives: fast and hot (Knights), steady (Queens), thought through (Princes), in concrete form (Princesses).
• Dignity. The deck is read without reversals. A court is strengthened by cards of its own or a friendly element beside it and weakened by its enemy element, which is when the “badly placed” side of the card shows. See Elements and Reading with the deck.