If you're into tarot, you know that there are 16 court cards (kings, queens, princes, and princesses) in a deck, four of each suit (swords, cups, wands, and pentacles). In general, these face cards represent two things: the important people in your life and the skills you hope to possess. In other words, they represent both your real-world teachers and the tools that will help you on your journey in life.

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The Meanings of Each Tarot Court
Card Tattoo
If you're into tarot, you know that there are 16 court cards (kings, queens, princes, and
princesses) in a deck, four of each suit (swords, cups, wands, and pentacles).
In general, these face cards represent two things: the important people in your
life and the skills you hope to possess. In other words, they represent both your
real-world teachers and the tools that will help you on your journey in life.
I am not a tarot expert. I'm more of a lifelong fan or dabbler. I was in elementary school
when my long-haired mother—a hippy at that time, an artist who designed her own tarot
deck—did tarot with me. I did it with my friends as in my tweens and teens. In the 1980s
I used Tarot: Mirror of the Soul, a handbook designed by Gerd Zeigler to accompany
the Aleister Crowley Thoth deck, and in the 1990s it was all about Angeles
Arrien's Tarot Handbook: Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols, a book that
was on the bookshelf of every cool kid I knew in college.
Royalty Cards in a Nutshell:
 The King and Queen usually refer to older, long-lasting or authoritative people in your
life or long-standing abilities and insights.
 The Prince and Princess reveal new abilities and insights or younger, newer people in
your life.
 The female cards (Queen and Princess) = deepening consciousness about topics
related to the anima or the female or feminine facets of your personality.

3.  The male cards (King and Prince) = expanding consciousness about topics related to
the animus, your male or masculine faces.
Female and Male Tarot Cards: Anima and Animus
There is no need to take the gender of a tarot card too seriously. These cards are
thought to represent energies, not literal genders. Thus, for you, drawing a king card
might represent a powerful authoritative figure in your life or some masterful tool you
have in your toolbox, and drawing a queen might represent any maternal, self-sufficient,
or generative, introspective skill you possess. Princes and princesses might be stand-
ins for sons and daughters, or they might represent new skills you hope to gain.
What Names Do You Call Your Court
Cards?
Different tarot decks use different words to describe these four noble face cards. Notice that in different
decks, "Knight" refers to both the king-type and the prince-type of card.
King Queen Prince Princess
Other
Names
for
This
Card:
Knight,
Mentor,
Father,
Speaker,
Mother,
Priestess
Mother,
Artist,
Daughter,
Shaman,
Gift
Knight,
Son,
Amazon,
Knower,
Apprentice
Page, Daughter, Child, Place, Seeker
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What the Suits Mean
 Swords (Mental or Cerebral)
 Cups (Emotional or Inward-Turned)
 Wands (Spiritual or Upward-Turned) (aka batons, rods, or staves)
 Disks (Physical or Material) (also known as pentacles or coins)

4. If you're interested in the Major Arcana, read Tarot Card Tattoo Design Ideas and
Meanings: The Major Arcana.
If you're looking for the suit cards from Ace to Ten, read Tarot Tattoo Design Ideas and
Meanings: The Minor Arcana (Suit Cards: Swords, Cups, Wands, and Disks).

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Swords King, Queen, Prince, and
Princess
These cards represent four different kinds of mental understanding. These figures all
hold blades and are usually pictured in action, slicing through old patterns and beliefs.
King of Swords (The Mind Master)
This king represents an achievement of pinpoint focus, intention, and self-control. In
most decks he is depicted on a horse flying through the air (the element of the mind)
over water (the element of emotion). He gallops forward, holding both a dagger (yin)
and a sword (yang) to slice through the air with razor-sharp focus and willpower. This
card might represent an older man or authority figure or a True Master of an older skill
or tradition. The King of Swords moves forward fearlessly, in brand new directions.
Queen of Swords (The Mask Cutter)
This queen represents an achievement of both rational, disinterested thought and open-
minded awareness. She can see through the superficial layer of things into their truer,
deeper nature. She's often depicted sitting on or among the clouds, often holding a
sword in one hand and a mask in the other. She has sliced away the mask that veiled
her eyes. Like the goddess Athena and, according to Arrien, "She has the ability to
counsel and consult others and has the wisdom to seek counseling and consultation for
herself when necessary."
Prince of Swords (The BoxCutter)
This prince represents an achievement of creative thought, intuitive thinking, and a
desire for unrestricted and unrestrained mentality. This card represents a fresh, new

8. awareness of one's own intuition and one's ability to think unfettered, unboxed thoughts.
He is often depicted holding several blades representing his determination to cut
through old thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that might hold him back.
Princess of Swords (The Mood Fighter)
This princess represents an achievement of practical thinking and tangible thoughts.
She is called "The Mood Fighter" because she cuts through the emotion (symptom) to
see its heart (cause). She doesn't let emotions control her actions. She acts on ideas
rather than just mulling them over. She's often shown sitting in the clouds or battling a
dust storm of moods. For her, words and deeds are aligned.

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Cups King, Queen, Prince, and
Princess
These cards represent four different kinds of emotional understanding. These figures all
hold cups, grails, or vessels of some sort. Water is emotion, and cups hold it.
King of Cups (Master of Unconditional Love)
This king represents emotional loyalty and commitment and unconditional love. He's the
only king in the deck that does not wear a helmet or a crown to signify the idea that he's
open-minded, trusting, unguarded, vulnerable, and willing to be seen. He often rides a
winged horse (Pegasus) and offers a grail or loving cup up to the sky in a generous,
eternal gesture.
Queen of Cups (The Truth Teller)
This queen represents an achievement of emotional integrity and self-reflection. She
can also represent motherhood or maternal figures. She gives birth to new forms,
talents, selves, identities, and lives. She expresses her feelings eloquently, openly,
freely, unapologetically. She owns her feelings and expresses them freely without
repression, blame, or judgment. She's often depicted on a throne overlooking a pool of
water, gazing into its depths and and its reflection: She chooses reality over illusion.
Prince of Cups (The Lover)
This prince represents the achievement of emotional desire. He's often depicted riding
over the water (emotion), holding a cup in his hands. He is motivated by his innermost
desires and emotions. He gazes into the cup to find his way, looking inside himself to let

11. his emotions and desires guide him. He drinks deeply from his loving cup, feeling and
expressing emotional passion deeply and utterly.
Princess of Cups (The Mood Master)
This card represents an achievement of emotional openheartedness, objectivity and
detachment. Instead of being attached to any object of love, she is simply in love. She
doesn't play emotional games: She is beyond possessiveness, jealousy, and
manipulation. She is emotionally stable and able to communicate her feelings and
desires clearly. She is ready to love or to find new ways of loving. She holds a cup in
front of her, offering free love to the universe.

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Wands King, Queen, Prince, and
Princess
These cards represent four kinds of spiritual or supernatural connection. Each of these
characters holds a wand (baton, rod, or stave) that allows them to communicate with
other wolds and connect to higher powers.
King of Wands (The Vision Quester)
This king represents an achievement of insight and intuition. He is a visionary leader or
spiritual guru of sorts. Often depicted riding a unicorn, he sits firmly astride a
supernatural connection. He holds a torch (the ace of wands) in his hand to burn
through any blocks or obstacles that impede his vision. He charges forward, actively
and assertively seeking truth and dynamically making it so.
Queen of Wands (The Self-Seer)
This queen represents an achievement of self-knowledge, introspection, and personal
transformation. She sits on a throne and is often seen reflecting or in reflection. She has
achieved self-knowledge and self-actualization. She knows every face of herself and
manifests who she is in the world, giving birth to every form and facet of herself. Her
radiant crown represents "the splendor of awakening to the deepest essence of who we
are" (Arrien).
Prince of Wands (The Self-Maker)
This card represents an achievement of creativity. He is often depicted on a chariot or a
horse. He holds the reins casually, nonchalantly, completely self-assured in his sense of
direction. He is completely caught up in the flow of his creative process, moving in new

14. directions. letting his inner creativity guide him. He is fully committed to and engrossed
in the process of expanding and transforming himself through his creative process.
Princess of Wands (The Tiger-Tamer)
This princess has faced her demons, wrestled her inner beasts, and won. In the Thoth
deck she is depicted as having a literal tiger by the tail, as this card signifies an
achievement of of self-liberation, the release of inner fears and limitations, and a
triumph over internal blocks and limits.

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Pentacles (or Disks) King, Queen,
Prince, and Princess
These figures represent four different manifestations of external powers or material
gains. Whether you call it a pentagram (a symbol of the element of earth) or a disk or a
coin (symbols of material riches or gains), all four of these characters express
capabilities and dexterities in the physical world.
King of Pentacles (The Harvester)
This is the king of prosperity and abundance. He manifests his skills in the outer world
in practical ways. He sits overlooking abundant fields; he has planted his seeds,
cultivated carefully, and reaped what he has sown. This ability is not abstract or
metaphysical or emotional: It represents physical, real-world, bottom-line, tangible
abundance in health, career, finances, and the physical world.
Queen of Pentacles (The Nurturer)
This queen—like Demeter or Earth Mother—is the feeder, the giver of nutrition, and the
"builder of fruitful worlds" (Arrien). She builds new realities, feeds new forms, nurtures
new lives, and fulfills new destinies. She is the matter-of-fact and down-to-earth mom
who cares for her family, invests in her community, and insists that everyone stay for
dinner.