By Sarah Taylor
For a couple of weeks now, I have had the Thoth Tarot gently but insistently calling my name. I thought that, given I have been doing a weekly reading with the Rider-Waite Smith deck for near-on two years, it might be time to try something different and see what comes of it.
Today’s three cards speak of a balancing of two approaches — or, perhaps, a choice between two different people, situations or qualities — as represented by the Knight of Disks and the Knight of Swords.
In the Thoth Tarot, the Knights are the equivalent of the Rider-Waite Smith’s Kings. They are the masculine rulers of the court, counterparts to the Queens who embody the feminine. While Aces represent the limitless potential of the qualities of their suit, this limitlessness is not possible in the physical world, which is subject to the ebb and flow of constant change, and where the dual nature of existence prevents something from existing in pure form for any significant length of time: life is a series of cycles where nothing stands still and everything strives for balance.
Both the Kings and the Queens hold the highest potential that we can be as people; their positive qualities are what we exhibit when we are willing to become fully ourselves, accepting responsibility for our lives, understanding that we are unique and have a right to express ourselves as such, and yet also understanding that we are connected with everyone and everything else. Everything we feel, think, say, and do has both seen and unseen consequences. The shadow aspects of the court cards come into play when we resist the call to step into our lives as adults. When this happens, what we have learned along the way can become tools for (self-)deception, manipulation and control — which is just another way of saying that we choose power over wisdom.