Queering Tarot's Knights: Becoming Ourselves
Part two of four in the Queering Tarot’s Court Cards series. Check out part one, Queering Tarot’s Pages, here.
Image: A black person walking a black horse through pink and blue clouds.
The Knights are often where understanding of tarot's court cards break down.
There's something very familiar about tarot's Knights. There's a youthful quality that most of us have passed through. They're on a mission, and seen in the midst of action.
Like all court cards, they're purposeful. We see the Knights, and all court cards, at work. They are figuring out how to do their job, but also how sincerely.
Most of all, the court cards, Knights included, blend symbolism with actual people in your life.
Tarot's Knights as Symbols and Flesh
How confusing to hold news of a crush's affection alongside their own inability to commit long term! This can be a reality under the influence of the Knight of Cups.
How ambiguous to see the person informing you of corporate downsizing, and to know that it wont come from a manager, but a peer! This can be a reality under the influence of the Knight of Swords.
These are the complexities of the Knights. They can also be the complexities of queer life.
We see the Knights in a state of neither here nor there. The action is happening. The personality is forming. The outcome is developing, but not yet here.
This is how theorist José Esteban Muñoz described queerness itself in Cruising Utopia:
"Queerness is not yet here. Queerness is an ideality. Put another way, we are not yet queer. We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality."
Tarot's Knights are full of potential. They may or may not reach that potential.
This is part of why the Knights often show up at the earliest stages of courtship.
The Knights are all about courtship, commitment be damned. Which is great, if you're into that. Not so great, if committment is what you're craving.
When we understand the Knights in their symbolism, we can revel in something new. We can allow ourselves to pursue our desires. Or, we can steer clear of someone else's half-baked woo.
When we understand the Knights in their physicality, we can decide whether we have room in our life for someone still becoming what they will be. Sure, we all are, but some of us are a little more... inchoate at times.
You can find the Knight in the midst of your own transition. You may encounter this Knight at queer speed dating three days after a divorce.
The Knight is a work in progress. Even when they represent someone other than ourselves, they call our own self-work to mind.
All four of tarot's Knights go about this in their own way.
Analyzing how and why the Knights move as they do may help us better understand how are actions define us.
Knight of Wands
The Knight of Wands is the most gallant of its type.
They see no problem with rushing in, and never shy away from taking action. Due to this, people who manifest as the Knight of Wands can be rash and hotheaded.
Queer Knights of Wands may have an activist streak. I mean this in a traditional way, with protests and campaigns. They are uncompromising and bold. They'll speak truth to power.
The queers who fought back at Stonewall may have been operating under the influence of the Knight of Wands. Anyone who takes action with their back against the wall may call upon this influence.
There's a real "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" energy to the Knight of Wands. That internal fight and fire is something oppressive forces fear, and thus always try to snuff.
The Knight of Wand is the keeper of the flames of rebellion. They are a symbol of the action we take to meet our needs and express our desires. They tell us to shoot first and ask questions later.
When they come up in a relationship, they are more likely than not very hard to get. Their dance card is full, and people think they're super hot. With the Knight of Wands, the praise has definitely gone to their head.
They're flirtatious, probably polyamorous, and generally a hot fuck. They bring passion to all they do, and you will be no exception.
Will the Knight of Wands learn to make their actions sustainable? Will they learn that they aren't cut out to work for anyone else’s before they burn all their professional bridges? Who's to say!
Best to appreciate them for the excitable yet changeable person they are right now.
The Knight of Swords
The Knight of Swords proves that you don't have to be a fool to rush in.
This Knight is a conversationalist, a deep thinker, a charmer, and possibly a liar. Not in a "half truth" way. In a "whole lie" way.
Do they do this because they value your feelings? Perhaps, but they value their image way more.
In some ways, we're lucky when the Knight of Swords chooses to spare us. When they tell the truth, like the Knight of Wands, they're extremely blunt. They haven't yet found a way to soften the blow of their words, so many just skirt the facts.
They are the essence of "truth hurts" whether as symbol or flesh. If you find yourself in relationship with a Knight of Swords, don't expect it to be very affectionate. This is a meeting of minds.
You'll meet Knights of Swords in college classes, debates, town halls, and when someone is talking shit behind your back.
This kind of shit talking doesn't stay hidden from you for long. The Knight of Swords takes its Page's gossip and makes it a full blown rumor.
Telephone calls, meetings, and important documents abound with the Knight of Wands. There will be no shortage of high stakes communications, even for things that should be low stakes.
Early career writers and theorists hold the essence of this card. They're trying out ideas, developing philosophies, and talking way too much.
The Knight of Swords always knows what others say about you. They're likely to decide what you mean to them based on that. In this way they can be something of a snob.
Queers determined to claw their way to the top of the social hierarchy are operating as Knights of Swords. This is a card for the strivers, talkers, comics, and academics that color queer life.
Image: A Black person with vitiligo and curly hair smiling wearing a jean jacket. The text says "What's your liberation tarot archetype?" and "Take the Quiz" in lime green, On the computer screen in front of them is the Quiz.
Knight of Cups
The Knight of Cups often appears when a new romance is about to start.
The love may be fleeting, but it'll make your head swim when it pulls up. Unlike the Knight of Wands, the Knight of Cups is rarely a flirt.
They're not the kind of person you see with a new queer every week. (Nothing wrong with that, though!) All their attention seems personalized, like the Knight of Cups designed it with you in mind.
That's because they did. The Knight of Cups sets the perfect stage for swooning. It's honestly on you to keep your head on straight, because nothing about how they roll up is going to make it easy.
Relationships that started as the Knight of Cups have made major impacts in my life. Not just for short periods of time, either. When paired with an Ace or a Major Arcana card, you may be seeing a lot of the Knight of Cups.
This may or may not be a good thing.
The Knight of Cups rushes into your life. They can, and often do, rush out of it at the same speed. The Illustrated Book of Tarot by Jane Lyle, one of my favorite tarot books, writes that the Knight of Cups is "in love with the idea of love."
That's very different from the Knight of Cups being in love with you.
The Knight of Cups is capable of falling in love, but are they ready? Queers that show up as the Knight of Cups need one metric ton of therapy even if they do commit.
There's no doubt this rushing into relationships thing that they do is a habit. You're not the first person to get stars in your eyes at the Knight of Cups' approach. They're good at what they do, and may even do so instinctually.
As a symbol, the Knight of Cups is a rush of blood to the head. It's sweet and sacherine and makes you love your partner or friends or self, or even your job more than you did seconds prior. The feeling wont last, because it isn't designed to last. That doesn't mean it's meaningless.
The Knight of Cups is a classic queer lover archetype. They love like a Pisces and make every day dreamy. It's an energy that has to change to mature. After all, the more mature cards in their suit have a firm foundation underneath them.
It's good for starting poetry and art, but too scattered to finish it. It's excellent for falling in love, but not great for staying in love long term.
Such is life. The question is whether they'll grow up or just move on to the romantic rush.
Knight of Pentacles
Out of all the Knights, the Knight of Pentacles (no surprise) is the most stable.
There's something trustworthy about the King of Pentacles. This is true whether they come into your life as a person or a symbol.
The Knight of Pentacles starts how it means to go on. When they're a person, they are usually quite humble regardless of their accomplishments.
The Knight of Pentacles shares many positive qualities with the monarchs of it's suit. It's a more dependable Knight than the rest of them, and has more stability.
They're primary problem is that of the body. They're still learning to like their body, how to care for it. When symbolic, the person learning may be you.
You could be processing physical trauma, or coping with a new chronic condition. The key here is processing and coping, though. You're doing your best, and you're making progress. Perfection is more than humans can achieve.
Thankfully, the Knight of Pentacles is a Knight with a bit of patience. Your march is a slow one. You know you'll get where you're going without rushing.
The Knight of Pentacles is the marrying kind, but do they know what they want yet? They may make big promises, whether boyfriend or boss, but they may not be in the position to make good on them yet.
It doesn't mean they're lying, but know their goals may change over time. Yours may too.
It'll be a nice ride whether or not you seek different paths at the end.
Further Thoughts
Make Yr Life: Queering Tarot's Pages
The Minor Arcana: Radicalizing Daily Life
Image: A Black person with vitiligo and curly hair smiling wearing a jean jacket. The text says "What's your liberation tarot archetype?" and "Take the Quiz" in lime green, On the computer screen in front of them is the Quiz.
hey, i'm cyree jarelle. I run Temperance Queer Tarot. I help queers, feminists, and leftists connect with their intuition using tarot and cartomancy. More on me.