The Passion of the Pages
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In her book, Tarot and the Tree of Life, Isabel Kliegman mentions the “passion” of the Pages for the idealistic preoccupations of youth. The idea is that the Pages in general lack the wisdom and experience of age and thus react instinctively rather than in a rational way to the “spirit of the moment.” They are “more passionate than informed.” I decided to look briefly at the four Pages from the standpoint of this all-consuming ardor.
First, a brief aside. Kliegman believes that the Pages should be placed at the top of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, in direct receipt of the supernal life-force flowing from the “hand of God” shown in the four Aces of the Waite-Smith deck and also in its Tarot de Marseille ancestor; their characteristic fecklessness arises from the fact that they don’t yet know what to do with the energy. The four Kings at the bottom have successfully negotiated all of the “bumps in the road” on the way down and are therefore seasoned (and battle-scarred) veterans of the “Kingdom of Earth.”
Since, for spiritual seekers on the plane of Earth, the Tree represents the bottom-to-top “Way of Return” rather than the top-down “Path of Emanation,” I can’t buy into this premise. It makes more sense to me that the Pages — as the esoteric avatars of elemental Earth — have their “feet in the mud and their head in the clouds,” vaguely envisioning the road ahead but not yet walking it. (In other words, their route is arduously upward toward self-fulfillment rather than inexorably downward into assured mundane dominion.) On the other hand, in the Golden Dawn’s Chaldean model of astrological correspondences, the Pages (the GD “Princesses”) are placed around the polar axis and form the “Thrones of the Powers” of the four Aces that link them to the rest of the “small” cards; as such they occupy a central position in the cosmic scheme while the other court cards sit on the outer rim represented by the ecliptic. You can take your pick, but personally I prefer viewing the four Kings as the “masters” of their element and the Pages as the inexperienced neophytes personifying the unrefined “root” energy of the Aces.
The Page of Wands (Fire of Earth) reminds me of the shrewd description of Donald Trump as a “bull looking for a china shop.” He (or “she” since in principle the court cards are “gender-neutral”) seeks a cause célèbre to pour his zeal for prompt (even hasty or reckless) action into and is not likely to “look before he leaps.”
The Page of Cups (Water of Earth) is vulnerable to intemperate, sentimental urges and often blunders into ill-advised emotional entanglements before he realizes his peril.
The Page of Swords (Air of Earth) is captivated by the latest social and cultural fads, and is exceptionally sensitive to peer pressure in this regard; he is more a “follower of fashion” than an “influencer.”
The Page of Pentacles (Earth of Earth) is fixated on matters of stability and security; he is a cautious “student of life” who ponders more than he accomplishes, and missed opportunities are his bane.
In summary, all of the Pages are a “work-in-progress” that — like the Fool who is their archetypal harbinger — aspire to the callow persuasions and pursuits of immaturity. As a postscript, in my opinion all of the other court cards “rise” on the Tree of Life, seeking the “Godhead,” and the Kings — due to their evolved elemental state — stand the best chance of reaching it. The Pages wouldn’t know “Divine Providence” if it were handed to them on a silver platter (which Kliegman assumes it is). But I agree with her that a good question is worth many times its weight in good answers, so I will close with a line from the Goose Creek Symphony: “Don’t go buyin’ no-one’s answers if your question was for free.”
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on June 11, 2023.
