The Pages (Princesses)

Synopsis

If we look at the Tarot through Paul Huson's historical lens of European feudal life, the Majors are representative of the popular themes and teachings of the Church, especially through public events such as morality plays and festival theater. In this way, the Majors are associated with more "divine" provenience and social order--principles like Temperance, Fortitude, and Mercy. Even the human figures are larger-than-life and set apart by their divinity, such as the divinely-chosen Emperor and Pope, or the Hermit/Time on his solitary quest. The exception to this are the Fool and Magician, both associated with entertainers and commoners, yet even these are still set apart from the majority of commoners as they play a particular role in line with a sort of Trickster mytheme.

The more apparent worldly powers to the commoners were the nobility, represented by the Court cards. These are the people who actually made things happen in the commoner's lives, even if following or inspired by some sort of "divine directive". Viewed through this lens, the Court cards can be seen as the Minors that are active movers in a querent's life. These "movers" may be events or actual people that have the qualities represented by a particular card. In the Golden Dawn system, the qualities are primarily elemental (a quaternity--four elements, four court cards), then astrological.

As the Court cards are related to elemental qualities, they share some kinship with the Aces, which are the "root" or pure element of each suit. Rather than potentials (as the Aces are), however, the court cards are active forces in play with a personality. While I generally read all cards as having a personality, the court cards are closer to a human personality that we may recognize in ourselves or those around us. They may literally be a person connected to the reading, or an aspect of personality of the querent, or a quality describing a situation or event.

The Pages

The Pages (Princesses in the Golden Dawn/Thoth decks) are associated with elemental Earth. They are agents of manifestation and magic. Among the Court cards, it is their work that brings about concrete results. While the Kings bring inspiration and power, the Queens deep feeling and intuition, and the Knights vision and ideals, the Pages are the ones that actually get the work done. The Pages are the archetypal youth full of inspiration, potential, ideals, and energy, but lacking experience. However, they are well-suited to gain that experience by making things happen that the other Court cards can't or won't do. They often hold much more power than they realize.

In the Golden Dawn system, the Princesses are associated with the Sefirot Malkuth, "The Kingdom" of matter and the Earth itself. Though at the base of the Tree of Life and seemingly as far away from the Godhead of Kether as one could be, the Princesses hold the power of possible experience that cannot be gained with omniscience. Though another lens, they may actually be very close to another "Kether" as one can imagine another Tree below them whose upper branches are the roots from which the Pages draw their power. It is this paradoxical position which likens the Pages/Princesses to humanity itself experiencing corporeal life.

In a reading, Pages can represent a youth, a student, or a process of getting things done. They may bring paradoxes of both inexperience but also surprising power, vitality, and wisdom in ways they might not understand.

While the Golden Dawn system is specifically gendered given its historical and social context, it is interesting to note the androgyny or non-gendered nature of the Pages in the Waite-Smith deck. Both approaches have insight, but the Waite-Smith depiction is especially interesting in terms of the American cultural climate at the time of this writing. Trans- and non-gendered movements are beginning to gain widespread recognition in cultural dialog and spaces, and the Pages point to how we might "get things done".