Tarot and the Tree of Life

by Isabel Radow Kliegman

  With the Page of Wands we graduate from adolescence and are ready to move on to the Tarot’s—and our own—next stage of development.

  The Knights

  As we travel down the Kabbalistic Tree from Atzilut, the realm of emanation, we leave behind the pages and, with them, childhood and adolescence. The gifts have been received. Now what are we going to do with them? It is time for us to move into Beriah, the world of creation, and in so doing, we become knights.

  Of the sixteen court cards, the knights alone are depicted on horseback. They are the ones who are going somewhere! The knights appear as representatives of our psyches whenever we make significant changes in our lives. The knights can of course represent more superficial movement—a change of residence, a move across the country or to a foreign land, a change of job or career, departure from or entry into a relationship. As always, however, our fundamental interest is in changes to the psyche—the ways in which we bring to consciousness material heretofore lost in our own shadow. In so doing we create ourselves anew. There is no more heroic process, none in which we are more genuinely cocreators with the divine. It is through this journey that the self, as well as all art, emerges. For undertakings of this magnitude, only the creative force of Beriah can support us.

  The Knight of Pentacles

  The Knight of Pentacles sits on a black, heavily muscled horse, sensual, sleek, and powerful. Look at his body language, how relaxed he is astride the massive beast. The horse, an earth animal, is a symbol of the Knight’s physicality. Comfortable on his horse, he is at ease in his own body.

  The Knight of Pentacles has a solid, trustworthy, steady nature. There is no question of endurance. His powerful steed is up to any journey, but he is in no hurry. Effective and dependable, he has taken the time to position himself on a hill, commanding a view of the entire landscape. Rather than setting out in a direction that could turn out to be wrong, he does not begrudge the time required to set a strategy and prepare for his journey. When he sets out on his way, there will be no wasted motion (not like some other knights I could mention—and will).

  Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six of them sharpening my axe.” Preparation. The Knight of Pentacles takes the time to do things right. When I worked in advertising sales, there was a sign in the office that read, “Why is there never time to do things right, but always time to do them over?” This is someone who is going to do it right the first time. When he’s ready to take action he will accomplish his goal with no wasted effort.

  In addition, the Knight of Pentacles gets my vote for the sexiest card in the deck. He holds his pentacle as a gift, an offering. The offering is the gift of himself. He seems to be saying, “I offer myself to you, body and soul.” Here is someone who is capable of really turning themselves over to their partner in lovemaking; someone who holds nothing back, who, not needing to be in control, is capable of complete surrender.

  In the red bridle of the Knight’s black muscular horse, a rich, exciting sensuality is suggested. Some people see a cluster of grapes falling from the helmet of the Knight. Others see it as a plume; still others see a shock of leaves. Whatever it is, it is a symbol of male genitalia, adding to the explicitly sensate nature of the card. What I like best, perhaps, about the Knight of Pentacles as a lover is his patience. This is someone who says, “This horse will go as far and as fast you like. But I’m not taking off at a gallop. I wait at your will, beloved. I am here for you, but I’m not pushing you or pressuring you or manipulating you. When you are ready to receive me, I will be here.” This must surely be among the most attractive and pleasing things that a lover can communicate.

  The negative aspect of the Knight of Pentacles is that he may not get off the dime. You could grow old waiting for this man to move—especially when the card is reversed. He’s just not picking up on the clues. He is being invited to approach, but he deliberates too long, hangs back, not knowing when to advance. In terms of accomplishment this card can represent someone who is so perfectionistic that plans are never executed. Perfectionism flowers into procrastination. Paralysis is its acrid fruit. At his best, however, the Knight of Pentacles sets out to create change in the world, patiently drawing on the creative forces of Beriah.

  Knight of Cups

  We move next to the Knight of Cups, who gets my vote as the most romantic court card. Again, look at the body language. How straight he sits in his saddle! He sets the highest standard for himself; only his best will do. Look at the gracious arch of his horse’s neck, pure glistening white in the sun. This is the Grail Knight, the knight in search of the cup from which Jesus drank at the last supper and which caught his blood when his side was pierced at the crucifixion. On the Knight’s armor and helmet are the wings of Mercury, the messenger god. He’s moving at a walk. Why? Because when you’re doing your life’s work, when you’re seeking your Holy Grail, when you’re finding your dream, you don’t have to hurry up and get it over with so you can get on with something more important! The water in this card is a gentle, slow-moving stream. The Knight, setting out on his journey, already knows that you “can’t push the river,” that the stream will swell in its own time to become the river of his life. When you are going at godspeed, there’s no urgency, no rush. What is important is to do the best you possibly can.

  This is a Cups card, a feeling card. The Knight pursues his venture with his whole heart. The fish, a curiosity for the Page, examined at a distance, has now become a part of the Knight’s armor—and a part of himself. He integrates the stuff of his unconscious into his ego; his self has begun to emerge. He will need the wisdom and power the fish bring him from their oceanic depths. There is a mountain, steep and treacherous, that the Knight may have to scale as he follows his destined path. This is everybody’s knight in shining armor. He’s setting out in the world to make things right.

  The Knight of Pentacles and the Knight of Cups have certain similarities. They’ll both bring you flowers. The difference is that the Knight of Cups will bring you flowers because you are so beautiful. The Knight of Pentacles will bring you flowers because they are so beautiful.

  The problem with the Knight of Cups is that he’s just too good to be true. He will surely break your heart either because you discover that he has clay feet or because there’s no way you can live up to his expectations. No one can be as unflawed as he seems to be or manifest the perfection he’s looking for. Beware of a light so pure it claims to cast no shadow. Sooner or later you or he will betray the humanity his image belies—a petty observation, a selfish motive, an impatient response, a cruel or vengeful delight. The disillusionment can even be triggered by clumsiness on the dance floor, inelegant table manners, or an occasionally poor complexion! Still, this is fundamentally a most appealing knight. His quest for a sweeter world, in which ideals are revered as the motivating force of action, requires all the creative dynamic energy Beriah can provide.

  Knight of Swords

  As we move to the Knight of Swords, those of you who have followed my drift will not be astonished to learn that I love him! There are those who see him as an aggressive knight. I do not. I see him as the rescuing knight.

  Here is someone who has set out at a gallop; his horse flies flat out across the ground. Look at the birds. They are being blown helter-skelter in a great wind. The wind tears at the Knight’s plume and cape and at the horse’s mane. It threatens the trees and rips clouds jagged with its violent force, and it is the knight who creates the wind! Yet the birds on the knight’s armor and the birds and butterflies on his horse suggest a gentler flight and perhaps a higher purpose.

  The negatives of the Knight of Swords are fairly obvious. First, he is going so quickly that if he comes unexpectedly to the edge of a cliff, he won’t have time to stop! He’ll just zoom right over. Certainly, especially when the card is reversed, he can be violent. He can be a bully. Additionally, as one student sensitively observed, he lacks compassionate awareness. �
��I don’t like the way he’s treating his horse. Look at the eye; he’s frightening and hurting it. That’s no way to treat an animal.”

  On the other hand, if I, like Rapunzel, were imprisoned in a tower, this is the knight I’d want to come after me! He is a fiery, determined knight, and I think he’s going to get what he’s after, don’t you? He certainly looks like he means business! Naturally the Knight of Swords is the most willful of the court cards; knights and Swords are both characterized by determination and the thinking function of Jung. I wouldn’t want to be waiting for the Knight of Pentacles, as wonderful as he is. Until he got a move on, I could die of old age in a tower or dungeon. The Knight of Cups would stop at every shrine along the way and get sidetracked by every good deed he could perform—while I waited in the dungeon. Under the circumstances, I’d put my money on the Knight of Swords.

  However, as many of us have found, knights in shining armor are fewer and farther between than they used to be and much harder to locate. So on the many occasions when we do not get lucky, it is best to look for the Knight of Swords where we can always find him—within ourselves. Never mind the American Express card, this is the card I do not leave home without! I have worked in the business world, and I know from experience that there are any number of people who will happily, smilingly, run over your face with cleats on if you let them. The Knight of Swords carries the warrior energy, and by God we all need it, man, woman, and child. This is the card that says, “Not me you don’t. Check out my spurs and don’t even think about it—for your own protection!” This is the card that says, “I make an absolutely graceless victim. If you intend to shaft me do not expect me to participate. I just have no flair for it. I will stand up for myself; I will defend myself. You will not take advantage of me, and if you try, you may well live to wish you hadn’t.”

  As we have noted, the Knight of Pentacles and the Knight of Cups have marked resemblances. These become more obvious in relation to their mutual differences from the Knight of Swords. Pentacles and Cups, remember, are the feminine suits; Swords and Wands carry phallic energy. The former, then, are knights with a highly developed anima (female side); hence their gentle, soft aspect. Whenever we look at the male court cards in the Suits of Pentacles and Cups, we see men whose energy is female in tone. Conversely, when we look at the queens in the Suits of Swords and Wands, we see women with a highly developed animus (or male side).

  Sometimes when the need is for sudden and dramatic change, creative energy comes in an assertive burst. Thus the creative force of Beriah empowers the Knight of Swords.

  Knight of Wands

  We move now to the Knight of Wands. Flakiest card in the deck. (I hope I’m making some of you really angry. If I haven’t succeeded yet, keep reading.) First of all, he’s absurd looking. His legs are too long for the horse he rides. He never bothered to figure it out. He didn’t give it any thought. He just jumped on the closest horse, and it turned out to be too small for him. He doesn’t cut a very dashing figure.

  Look at the expression on his face. Now look at how fast he’s going. It’s clear that he’s moving much too fast for how uncertain he is of where he’s going. This is someone who repeatedly loses money in the stock market because somebody calls with a tip, and he has a hunch that he should go for it. It will never occur to him to read a prospectus or earnings report. Research is just “not his thing.” He starts a variety of projects, all of which have one thing in common: they are undercapitalized. “I’m going to open this club, and I don’t care if it costs me my last dime because it’s going to be a great club!” Then there’s an unexpected expense, like a sixty-cent phone call, and the guy can’t handle it, so the club never opens. But he never learns. He just keeps flying off half-cocked.

  In terms of relationship, permit me to wax personal for a moment. Here’s the scenario: I go to a party on a Friday night and see someone across a crowded room. There is an audible intuitive click; we gravitate toward each other and spend the whole evening finishing one another’s sentences. It seems that we are old souls who have known each other in a previous life. We leave the party and go down to the beach, walk hand-in-hand and talk until, watching the sun come up, we realize that there’s no point in saying “good night” because it’s morning! So we go to a beachfront cafe for breakfast, and there’s this continual mystical interchange that I can’t believe. It’s so wonderful we just spend most of Saturday together, blowing each other’s minds, fingers entwined like tendrils, lips brushing in the most delicate of kisses. Finally we part, and he says, “I’ll call you as soon as I wake up!” And I never hear from him again.

  I wish I could say it happened only once. (Is it me?) Who are these men, who, after the rapture, never call? Who are these women who, after the enchantment, won’t take your calls? “I may not know where I’m going, but I’m going to get there fast!” And off he charges, holding his wand.

  The Knight of Wands, on whom I have been dumping, does have his virtues. The pyramids are smaller and have receded slightly into the background, but he does ride through realms of magic. Further, like the Page, the Knight’s tunic is covered with magical salamanders. Perhaps this is why he is easily the best risk taker in the deck. (And I won’t tell you why it took me so long to appreciate that.) Sometimes you can’t gather information. Either there’s no information to gather or no time to check it out. You either have to go with an idea, an impulse, a feeling, or not.

  A friend phones and says, “There’s a limited partnership and three condos are still available. I’ll tell you a little about the track record of the partners, but the guy’s waiting for my call back right now. I’m buying in. Yes or no?”

  Your doorbell rings and you’re polishing the car or into the fifth load of laundry and you hear, “We’re leaving for Mexico; do you want to get in the car or not?” And you either make the trip or finish the laundry. You’ve got to decide.

  The reason that the Knight of Wands is such a good risk taker is that he has a strong intuitive sense of himself. He knows that if he winds up someplace he doesn’t want to be, he can simply get back on his horse, turn around, and go somewhere else.

  The whole notion of “mistakes” is highly suspect. From an ego perspective, yes, we all make mistakes. Getting hooked on drugs, flunking out of college, stealing something—these are mistakes. At the soul level, however, from a higher level of consciousness, there are no mistakes. There are only learning experiences. The strength of the Knight of Wands is that he knows he is not his “mistakes.” He can afford to take risks because he can afford to make mistakes. And he can afford to make “mistakes” because he doesn’t get himself confused with them. If a relationship or business venture or career turns out to be a disaster, he can say, “Well, that wasn’t it,” get back on his horse and leave the so-called mistake behind him.

  If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t taking enough chances.

  If you aren’t making mistakes, life is passing you by.

  The creative thrust required for risk taking can come only from Beriah. When the Knight of Wands wins, he wins big. Still, when someone comes to me for a reading wearing what John Bradshaw calls “the codependent flush,” if the Knight of Wands shows up, I say, “Batten down the hatches. Wear your ankle weights, keep your eyes open, and proceed with extreme caution!”

  The Queens

  The gifts from God that emanated into the Tree of Life in Atzilut, where they were received by the pages, were passed on to Beriah. Here the knights put in motion the creative processes now ready to come to rest in the female vessel of the queens. These God-given energies will be given form in Yetzirah, the olam of formation.

  Queen of Pentacles

  Nowhere is the process of formation more obvious than in the Queen of Pentacles. She is a queen, but her throne, on which we see the earthy goat heads of Capricorn, isn’t in a castle or a palace. It is out on the good earth, the nurturing earth from which she draws her strength. She sits in an open field under a bower of
roses. We see mountains, wildflowers, a stream, rich soil, leaves, and grasses. She is in touch with all aspects of nature. Because she is in touch with the natural world of God’s creation, she is also in touch with her own inner nature, the great lustiness of her sensuality. She is in touch with her motherliness; children are carved into her throne. She is at home with her femaleness, with the harmonious way in which she relates to the earth. She is the Earth Mother.

  The Queen of Pentacles is also the most melancholy of the court cards. The key to her melancholy can be found in the lower right hand corner of the card: a little brown hare. The hare is there to remind us of the brevity of life. Hares reach reproductive maturity in a matter of months. They are creatures of prey; most do not survive, but old age comes quickly if it comes at all. (I almost made the mistake of buying a bunny one Easter because he was lop-eared and cute. Afraid that he would be lonely, I asked whether I should get two. The pet-store owner said, “If you get two males they’ll fight and hurt each other.” I asked, “How about a male and a female?” She said, “If you get a male and a female, by next Easter you will have a thousand rabbits.” Pass.)

  The hare is not the only suggestion of the ephemeral quality of life. The season is autumn. The last roses are in full flower; the harvest of fruits and gourds on the Queen’s throne and the rich chestnut and russet browns of the earth all suggest fall. The Queen of Pentacles, therefore, as loving, nurturing, tender, and sensual as she is, is the only queen who can grow old, because she is the only queen who exists in the manifest world. She is the queen of time.