The Court Cards
We have now arrived at the Court Cards of the Minor Arcana. These are more likely than any other card in the Tarot to represent a person in your life, or possibly an aspect of yourself.
Unlike in a normal poker deck, there are four ranks of court cards: the Page/Princess, the Knight, the Queen, and the King. Because so many decks were based on Waite-Smith, I will call this rank Page, as Waite does, but it can just as easily be the Princess.
The Pages
Waite-Smith Tarot
The pages are cards of ᚨ (Ansuz) in its aspect as Rune of Communication and Learning. There are four different sources of wisdom: adventure, study, communication, and introspection. This card represents what a philosopher might say about a suit, to the extent that one deck even refers to it as the Elemental rather than Page or Princess.
And while the Pages tell you how you will receive your message, the cards around it will tell you what the message is about.
When the Pages represent a person, they tend to represent a young person whose dreams haven’t been squashed yet. Tyr before he gave his hand, Odin before he gave his eye, Thor before he got a rock lodged in his forehead.
Page of Swords
Thoth Tarot
The Princess of Swords is the card of the fairytale folk hero about to step out on her journey. She has cleaned the house and chopped the wood often enough, and now she is ready to ᚱ (Raidho, journey) out into the wide world and face the ᚦ (Thurisaz) therein.
This card represents the kind of ᚨ (Ansuz, learning) you can only find by leaving the ᛉ (Algiz, safety) of your home. Think of Alice and Dorothy and even Cinderella. In each of those stories, they were faced with difficult situations in which the correct response was kindness, and their kindness led to their eventual escape.
Page of Pentacles
Wildwood Tarot
The Princess of Pentacles is depicted studying the product of their hard work directly. In addition to the ᚨ (Ansuz) mentioned above, there is a hint of ᛊ (Sowilo) here: this is a card of seeing what is there in detail. While The Page is proud of their ᛃ (Jera, hard work), they are always looking for ways to do better. Right now there is contemplation, but it is a plotting, planning contemplation to figure out in what way to get your hands dirty.
The Princess of Pentacles is standing in a sacred place. In the Druidcraft Tarot above, she is in front of standing stones. In most, she is standing in a field or meadow, with grass, trees, and flowers all around.
Page of Cups
Darkwood Tarot
The Page of Cups almost universally shows a young man or woman having a conversation with a fish. This is a card of wisdom coming from a cup, like the rune ᛈ (Perthro). She is asking the fish for advice because it is something that she can’t ask a person about. There is the connotation of ᛚ (Laguz), discussing her own feelings. She needs to get the words out, but she can’t talk to her friends because they wouldn’t understand.
One very specific interpretation of this card is that The Page of Cups is pregnant. The cup represents the womb, and the fish represents the child who is coming. Only a mother can talk to an unborn child.1 In this sense, there is a connotation of the union of ᛒ (Berkano) to this card.
1The use of the term “mother” here should not be construed to exclude men who have functioning uteruses. I think of “mother” as more of a verb than a noun: mothers are people who hold a child in their womb and then give birth, as opposed to fathers, who contribute genetic material and then are not able to help all that much for the next 40 weeks.
Page of Wands
Modern Witch Tarot
The Page of Wands is a card of ᛇ (Eiwaz), both in its aspect as a Rune of Yggdrasil and as a Rune of going out to seek dangers to yourself or your family. The Page of Wands is alone in a wasteland, and she has some exploring to do, but not of her surroundings: this is an inwardly-facing card. Unlike the last two, in which the princess is looking outward for answers, this card is about seeking the answers within.
This card has a connotation of the growth from the Maiden, ᚹ (Wunjo), to the mother, ᛒ (Berkano). This is demonstrated by the way in which the Page is staring at the very phallic Wand in her hands. She is distracted from her outward journey by the journey within.