Rider- Waite - Smith Tarot Card Meanings - The Four Royal Families

Pages are young and enthusiastic. They are students and messengers, children who must learn the fundamentals of the family rule. During the Renaissance, pages were like ferrying members of the royal court. It was their job to study - and to run errands, like ferrying messages from one person to another. When pages show up in a tarot reading, they typically represent young people, students and messengers.

Knights have outgrown their roles as childlike pages: now they are young adults who must make their own way in the world. Traditionally, when pages grew to the age of knighthood, they were tested: they were expected to embark on a quest, master a challenge, and demonstrate that they were not only strong enough and smart enough to succeed, but that they also could live up to the family’s heritage. Essentially, knights were rescuers and adventurers. When knights show up in a tarot reading, they may suggest that a new quest or adventure is about to begin, or that rescue is on its way.

Queens represent women who have proved themselves; they have faced their daemons and shown themselves to be mature and competent adults. Each queen symbolizes an ideal woman - a perfect wife, mother, or role model. The queens also embody the qualities we associate with femininity: they are compassionate, creative, receptive, empathic, and intuitive. They know how to exert their power behind the scenes, convincing - or cajoling - others to adapt their point of view. All told, the tarot’s queens can tap into their feminine qualities to safeguard, nurture, and protect their realms.

Kings are protectors, providers, and seasoned, experienced leaders, who succeed in he missions and quests they undertook as knights. They are skilled commanders who have proven themselves on the battlefield of life. And they are confident in the knowledge and wisdom they acquired during their quests. Kings are also stereotypical masculine: they are authoritarian, assertive, and alert. They can even be aggressive. They guard their kingdoms with passion and force, and they’re not afraid to make executive decisions. When kings show up in a reading, they may suggest that someone is willing to mount an aggressive defence or even wage war.