Have Your Ever Fallen for a Knight? The Tarot’s Four Knights in Love, by Elliot Adam
(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)
The colorful personalities of the tarot court can offer us amazing insight into the different types of people we might encounter in the realm of dating. Many of us are initially hoping to secure a relationship with someone who is serious, stable, and ready to settle down in a relationship. However, the desire for stability is more in alignment with the tarot’s king and queen personalities. Although kings and queens can offer lasting security, they may not initially inspire the same fireworks as the dashing knights of the tarot court. On the quest for true love, you’ll inevitably find yourself interacting with individuals who exhibit the personality traits of the tarot’s four knights.
Many tarot decks will depict knights riding a horse. Knights are always in motion, ever coming and going. In a love reading, knights are passionate, vigorous, and electrifying individuals. They lack the stable nature of kings or queens… and yet, that’s what makes them so attractive and exciting. However, the youthful vigor that makes knights so captivating is also what makes them resistant to being tied down. Their behavior is notoriously erratic and inconsistent. Knights usually appear very confident in themselves, even when they don’t have life completely figured out yet. They are still on a quest of personal development and rarely make their relationship partner the primary focus of their life. At their best, knights are sexy, passionate, exciting, confident, vigorous, and chivalrous. At their worst, they can be inconsistent, noncommittal, or even unfaithful. Although many traditional tarot books seem to describe knights as strapping young men in their twenties and thirties, the tarot court does not necessarily adhere to traditional assumptions of age or gender. The court cards in the tarot often more accurately describe the personality traits and maturity level of the person in question. This is true for any gender identity or age group. I’ve spoken to many frustrated clients dealing with a partner who is chasing after a knight well into their 60s! Here is a sampling of the tarot’s four knights from Tarot in Love: Consulting the Cards in Matters of the Heart. Try and identify if you’ve ever dated one of these unpredictable knaves.
Knight of Swords: The Knight of Swords is continually in fast pursuit of their desire. Whether chasing a love interest, a job, a deadline, or a personal goal, they give 110% to achieve their objective. In love pursuits, the Knight of Swords will initially pour all their interest and energy on the object of his affection. However, their attention can be easily diverted toward the next conquest that captures their imagination. It can come as a sudden shock when their abruptly switch gears toward a different pursuit. For the Knight of Swords, it’s all or nothing. They are fiercely competitive, holding visions of glory for themselves. The Knight of Swords wants to win, conquer, and vanquish anything standing in the way of their goal. Their confidence give them great sex appeal; however, they can lack the empathy to consider how this ruthlessness might hurt others. At best, the Knight of Swords is dashing, intense, exciting, and attractive. At worst, they are self-serving, ruthless, and possesses an eerie ability to detach from compartmentalized emotions.
Knight of Cups: The Knight of Cups is the archetypal “Knight in Shining Armor.” Because of their beauty, they have been blessed with many unearned advantages in life. Their dashing, romantic confidence can make you swoon, as past lovers fade into distant memory. The Knight of Cups fearlessly declares their heart with unmatched charm. It’s easy to abandon all common sense when they set their angel eyes on you. Although the chemical attraction to the Knight of Cups is irresistible, they don’t always translate into a substantive partner. The thrilling pleasure of their presence is also laced with the danger of possibly losing them. The Knight of Cups will quickly gallop off if they sense desperation from a lover, preferring to idealize a romance that is just out of reach. This knight secretly desires that rare person who is out of their league. At best, the Knight of Cups is expressive, romantic, confident, charming, and devastatingly sexy. At worst, they can be unfaithful, changeable, conceited, and emotionally unavailable.
Knight of Pentacles: The Knight of Pentacles can captivate you with their potential. They exude an aura of self-confidence and all the external trappings of success. The problem is, the Knight of Pentacles hasn’t quite reached their full potential yet. In a love reading, the Knight of Pentacles can represent a person who attracts you with their possibilities. However, the Knight of Pentacles is usually slow to grow. The Knight of Pentacles will often step on the brakes before making a big commitment. They also harbor a secret frustration for not quite attaining the success to which they aspire. The appearance of the Knight of Pentacles will often advise you to keep your expectations in check. Beware of projecting your wants and desires on a person who is currently unable to deliver the total package. At best the Knight of Pentacles is attractive, charming, exudes confidence, and has great plans and aspirations for the future. At worst, they can be stagnant, slow to grow, and will constantly keep you waiting.
Knight of Wands: The Knight of Wands seizes each day with a spirit of adventure and vitality. They might leave you breathless after your first passionate encounter. The Knight of Wands loves physical activity, movement, and change. They will likely be athletic, enjoying sports or working out. It goes without saying that they also love sex. Their self-confident presence oozes energetic virility. The challenge the Knight of Wands presents is also what makes them so desirably attractive, this roaming spirit of adventure. The Knight of Wands will maintain their freedom for as long as they humanly can. This is not to say that the Knight of Wands can’t fall in love or make a commitment one day. However, they must be at a life stage when their “wild oats” have been satisfactorily sown. Waiting for this Knight can take a very long time… At best, the Knight of Wands is thrilling, sexy, confident, honest, free-spirited, travel-loving, and open-minded. At worst, they are rebellious, non-committal, evasive, impulsive, and unfaithful.
Falling for a knight can be passionately exhilarating. However, finding lasting happiness with one can only happen when you accept the stage they are at in life. Knights cannot be “waited out,” guilted into submission, or pressured into doing your will. In fact, these behaviors will only seem to drive them further away. If you enter a relationship with a knight hoping to “make them” into a more consistent king or queen, you are likely to be disappointed. You must believe and accept what the other person is showing you, not the elusive potential that they promise to live up to in the future. However, if you find yourself exploring a liberating “knight phase” in your own life, a relationship with another knight could open your world to previously unknown levels of passion, excitement, and adventure.
For more in-depth card meanings for any relationship reading, check out Tarot in Love: Consulting the Cards in Matters of the Heart.
Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2023. All rights reserved.