UESTION

Why do some Tarot deck use Princesses or Princes while others use Pages or Knights? Why the confusion?


NSWER

The world of the Tarot can indeed be a very confusing place at times, especially if you like to alternate between decks. You are so right - there are a number of decks who portray the traditional Pages and/or Knights as Princesses or Princes. It doesn't stop there, either. For instance, the Quest deck calls these cards the Daughters and Sons, while the Buddha deck calls them the Animal Guardian (Knights) and the Dakinis (Pages). These are both very current decks, and show 21st century ingenuity in their "face card" referencing. However, the Princess and Prince issue is a more traditional one, probably beginning with Aleister Crowley's Thoth deck in the early part of the 20th century. Several other deck creators have followed suit, such as the Spiral Deck, the Celtic Deck, the Maninni Tarot, the Victoria Regina Tarot, the Cosmic Tarot, and so on.

The controversy continues to this day and tends to confuse many people as they learn the tarot. One reason tarot designers have moved away from Knights and Pages is a simple societal one - these classes really don't exist much in society anymore. Princes and Princesses still do, at least in a cursory way. As well, making the two younger face cards royal, puts them on equal ground with the King and Queen, despite their youth and inexperience. Whether Page or Princess/Prince, these particular face cards always represent someone who is young and fresh. In Tarot, a Page can be either male or female but are usually correlated to the Princess rather than the Prince. In the Thoth deck, the Knights are called Princes. This reflects the traditional practice of naming the first born royal son as the Crown Prince. The Prince is older and has more responsibility than the Princess. He also has more "power" than the Knight who serves the Royal family of King, Queen, Prince and Princess.

The Lelandra site presents a useful chart that details many of these differences and correlates three of the most common decks (Rider Waite, Thoth and Golden Dawn) in regards to the Knights, Pages and so The Royal Road site also presents an interesting overview of tarot face card meaings in the article, Understanding Your Deck
or... What to do before you try reading the cards! As well, Raven's Tarot Site features an interesting overview of the Court Cards. You can also read another detailed overview of the traditional Court Cards, the King, Queen, Knight and Page.


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