Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
We complete our journey through the minor arcana with the final complement of court cards: that of the Kings.
I sum up the Kings with the words “authority, power and balance” because, as a group, I feel that the Kings have finally managed to get to grips with the qualities of their suit in a way that is focused without being obsessive, commanding without being tyrannical.
The Kings are the masculine counterparts to the feminine aspects described by the Queens, and this relationship is important enough to be explored in its own article at a later date. For now, however, let’s take a look at this, the final cohort in each of the four suits.
[Note: much of the writing below is taken and adapted from earlier articles on the Kings.]
King of Wands
I look at the King of Wands, and the man is practically on fire with creative energy, or life force.
He sits at an angle that isn’t quite in profile (although his face is) and he is ready for action: his arms — right one forward, holding his Wand, left one back, elbow crooked — convey movement, as if he is striding purposefully towards something that is out of the picture to the left. His face is set, brow furrowed, focused intently on the same point. It is as if the throne on which he sits cannot contain him. Nor does it want to. Nearly the whole picture abets his demeanour.
Wands are associated with fire, and it is apparent everywhere in the picture. The King’s hair (or hair-covering, I can’t quite decide) glows red, topped with a gold crown fashioned into flames that lick upwards. These flames are repeated on his cuffs, while his robe echoes his flame-coloured head.