Tarot of Delphi's Face Cards: Devotee, Artisan, Hero, Enchantress

When I first received this deck, I spent many nights staring at four rows of cards.

Four cards on each row.

They are the face cards of the Tarot of Delphi, the equivalent of the Court cards in conventional decks. The Devotee, Artisan, Hero, and Enchantress of Cups, Swords, Staves (Wands), and Coins.

The delineation between Devotee and Enchantress seems very clearer and straight forward. At least in my mind.

At one end of the spectrum there is "Devotee".

The word "devotee" clearly suggest a certain level of passivity, immaturity, and a degree receptivity that is generally greater than their level of productivity.

On the other end, there is the "Enchantress".

The feminine, the yin, execution of action by inaction, holding the power of conjuring, of invocation, of manifestation. Self-reliant, self-determined, holding power not by action but by influence. In a sense, very King like.

But then there are the the "Artisan" and the "Hero."

In light of these two, suddenly, I had to prevent myself from associating the Enchantress with the Queen. The large and active movements of the Hero of Wands and the Hero of Coins made me want to see all the Heroes as Knights. While the Hero of Swords made me want to think King of Swords. "Artisan" suggesting highly skilled applications of knowledge gained that can only be gained by doing. So this was a toss up between it being the equivalent of Knights, or Kings, in fact, you could argue for a Queen here too. Without the benefit of days of contemplation, I initially had no idea what to make of all this.

The booklet had to be consulted.

It says that the face cards are named and ordered based on "... the history and literature of Ancient Greece and Rome" (p. 17). It continued to explain that "Devotee" represents "Devotion to what the suit represents, "Artisan" represents "Ability to use the suit's qualities in productive ways", "Hero" represents the "Energetic, living expression of the suit", and the "Enchantress" conscious application of the suit for desired ends".

I was still scratching my head.

Reading that, I still thought that the Heroes really have the energy of the Knights more than anything, whether looking at it from the RWS structure or that of Crowley's Thoth. So it was very hard NOT to think of them as Knights.

BUT.

The order in the booklet clearly stated: Devotee, Artisan, Hero, Enchantress.

Which would make the Heroes somewhat equivalent to the Queens...? Hm. Nope.

I scratched my head again.

It was not until I completely let go of the "Court" (Page, Knight, Queen, King; or, Princess, Prince, Queen, Knight) structure that I was able to finally see it for what it is. It is a very different pattern of progression, and it adds to my understanding of other patterns of progressions.

Some of the cards stood out for me more than others.

Face Cards of the Suit of Swords and Cups

The Devotee of Swords is the one most physically active of all the Devotees, while the Enchantress of Swords is the most physically inactive, but the most highly evolved mentally in the form of the Oracle of Delphi, the namesake of this deck.

The Hero of Swords is one who is NOT using his sword, but instead relying on his ability to NOT use it. He uses instead his gentleness to afford others his protection. So there is a sense of the King of Swords there.

In the Enchantress of Swords, I saw another step beyond the traditional King. A stage where not only empowerment has been understood as the absence of action, and execution through influence rather than force, but in which it has also been understood as being empowerment through the highest form of wisdom and attunement to the higher self . It a stage where we can take the best attributes of the Hierophant, the Priestess, the Hermit, and the Emperor combined. That is some powerful stuff!

The other card which stood out for me was the Enchantress of Cups. Her overwhelming emotions poisoned the entire body of water in existence. The Enchantress here seems to be the one that is most out of control. Almost in direct opposition to the suit of swords, where lack of control illustrated a practicing sword fighter in the Devotee of Swords. In this sense, the Enchantress of Cups does remind me of the King of Cups. While the Hero of Cups is depicted by a soldier, fresh from his last battle, sharing his experiences with others. Someone who has seen action, braved it, survived it, and living to tell the tales. Someone who has been scared by the horror of war, defined by courage, and now imparting his stories to anyone who wants to listen, to take them whatever they are worth, as they wish (since we all have free will).

(In this sense, he reminds me of the Hero of Swords. Whose heroism also lies in their lack of physical actions).

Face Cards of the Suits of Wands and Coins 

The Heroes of Wands and Coins are the most active of all the Heroes here. It is interesting that "standing above the rest" take the most active of physical forms in the realm of Earth and Fire: earthly resources and necessities, passion, drive, creativity. Stuff that are generally considered to be a bit more "primal".

The Enchantress of Wand is depicted by a woman who stood up for herself, she did not wait around to be rescued, but did so herself. Not only did she received the justice she deserved, she was elevated to the status of an Empress in the end, obtaining the platform to further social justice focusing on education, which was essential to her own success. This is a stage where you are in a position of not only being able to elevate your own life, or actively elevate those of others by duty (in a way that a King would, presumably), but by a personal desire to do so. In other words, by charity, and by compassion.

The Enchantress of Coins is depicted as invoking abundance instead of praying for it. This stage is then a stage where we do not only command resources, but we are manifesting them. Again, through our intunement to a higher reality.

A Stage Beyond This World

So overall, my biggest learning from these face cards is to understand a new order of progressions: from learning and a position of being like a receptive vessel, to not only the skilful applications of those learned and knowledge received, but most importantly the refinement of these skills and knowledge through experience. Then moving on to a stage where we go above and beyond even such refinement into a level which can literally be considered "of heroic proportion". The kind of state where one stands out above the rest, beyond the norm.

This is where I feel we traditionally left the progression of these stages with the Kings.

Here, at least the way I have learn to see the Face Cards, I can see another stage beyond that.

A stage that allows us the possibility of not only standing above the crowd with mastery and control, but a stage where wisdom extending beyond the yang of the earth into the yin of the divine. Of idealism, of conviction. It is a stage of having the vocabulary and the sight to reach beyond this world. Of having the ability to commune with a higher reality.

A stage where one's skills are not OF this world, even if existing and executing IN this world.