Not much writing practice tonight. I am instead going walking to 7-11. However, I have some cards I should study: Prince of Pentacles, Queen of Swords, Four of Swords, and Prince of Wands.
PP. Prince of Pentacles
That which is indicated by the card modified has taken on physical form
If reversed: Things have not yet taken shape, or will not
(already studied)
QS. Queen of Swords
That which is indicated by the card modified has begun, has become a concept. The first step is taken forward, the action has begun, the Will has been directed. The seed is planted, the Journey begun.
If reversed: Undirected Will. The wrong action has been taken or at least considered. Querent may be unable to direct the Will enough to get started.
The Queen stands at a crossroads, with sword in hand. She is wearing a long red dress. It appears to be spring in the scene behind her, which is a green hill, a single tree on the right, and a small fire burning in the distance to the left. A few white puffy clouds are in the sky.
More info on the Court cards below.
4S. Four of Swords
Constructive action, effective action, building, putting in order. Will put into order to become useful. Energy now has a project to be directed to.
If reversed: Action accomplished nothing. Tyranny. Querent used action instead of thought. Next time, think first, and if the best thing to do is nothing, do nothing.
The Four shows a man in a red martial-looking robe, kneeling to place four Swords in the shape of a square. The ground is gray and featureless except for the shadows cast by the man and the sword he is holding.
The Swords form the edges of a square, and the three sides already placed are pointing in a counter-clockwise direction. The fourth, which he is either placing or picking up, is pointing clockwise, opposite the others.
The appearance is one of carefully laid plans and preparation. The Swords seem to represent action, but instead of being wielded they are being set out in preparation, possibly for some future battle (or even for a drill or exercise). He is preparing but he is also biding his time.
If reversed it would represent hasty, unprepared action, or going off half-cocked.
PW. Prince of Wands
That which is indicated by the card modified has taken on form. It is not yet entirely manifested, but its shape is known. The seed has grown; the Journey continues.
If reversed: That which is indicated by the card modified may not be progressing well. Time to check progress toward goal. Something may have changed.
The Prince is on a path, walking, bearing a Wand. The scene behind him looks to be summer; the hills are colorful and all kinds of flowers are blooming.
This Prince is garbed in yellow, and his cape has plain edges, not like the fur-trim edges the Pentacles prince has. His hair is very dark, possibly black. The artwork is almost identical for the two Princes other than the garb color, hair color, and Item.
Lots of court cards. I need to figure out what is up with the whole Court.
Here is what they seem to have in common by rank:
King: Winter, symbols on headdress, seeming to be at the beginning of a crossroads
Queen: Spring, symbols on crown, starting down one of three paths
Prince: Summer, symbols on buckle, walking on a single path
Princess: Autumn, journey ended, a man’s hand reaching to take hers
Here is what they have in common by suit:
Wands: Yellow, Air/wind, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Swords: Red, Fire, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Cups: Blue, Water, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Pentacles: Green, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
From the description: King=not yet started, Queen=started, Prince=taking shape, Princess=completion. And, Wands=ideas, Swords=actions, Cups=emotions, Pentacles=physical/material.
Ok so it looks like they go like this:
King of Wands: Start of a thought, seed is chosen
Queen of Wands: Concept formed, seed planted
Prince of Wands: Taken on form, seed growing
Princess of Wands: Completed, seed is harvested
King of Swords: Direction of action is chosen
Queen of Swords: First step forward, action begun
Prince of Swords: Action taking shape, in progress
Princess of Swords: Action has taken place, or ongoing
King of Cups: Chosen direction for emotion
Queen of Cups: Feelings have begun
Prince of Cups: Emotion formed, intuition formed
Princess of Cups: Emotion has come to manifestation
King of Pentacles: Possible physical manifestation in the future
Queen of Pentacles: Something has manifested physically
Prince of Pentacles: Taken on physical form
Princess of Pentacles: Thing has manifested
Or it could just be used to represent a person of the appropriate sign… hmm.