Which Knight is which? Two ways to match the courts across decks.
Waite–Smith has Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages. Thoth has Knights, Queens, Princes and Princesses. Crowley’s Knight is the Father in his four-part formula; his Prince is the Son. Comparing pictures can bring the two mounted Knights together, while comparing family rank can place a Thoth Knight beside a Waite–Smith King.
The mounted Knight in each deck, then the seated King beside the charioted Prince. Queen and Page/Princess complete this editorial arrangement.
Waite–Smith
A rider holds a short leafy staff as the horse lifts its forelegs. Pointed hills stand behind the moving pair.
Waite treats the horse’s movement as a clue to the rider’s precipitancy. The account concerns departure and changes of residence, while explicitly saying that the journey is not a warlike errand.
Waite · Part III, §2 · printed p. 174 ↗Thoth
Fire of Fire
Crowley describes an armoured rider on a leaping black horse, with a torch and flames around the figure. The force is sudden and difficult to redirect once spent.
Read Crowley’s Knight of Wands section ↗
See Harris’s painting on Tarr’s reference page ↗
Knight of Wands
The heading of the earlier description. A shared title alone does not make its design the same as Smith’s card.
Book T (1912) · printed p. 159 ↗Book T first calls its mounted paternal figures Kings and its charioted sons Princes (printed pp. 156–158). Its individual descriptions then use Knight and King. A footnote on p. 159 explicitly acknowledges the change and tells the reader to follow the horse and chariot when identifying the two forces.
Book T · court introduction, printed pp. 156–158 ↗
Book T · naming footnote, printed p. 159 ↗
Crowley later chooses Knight, Queen, Prince and Princess for Father, Mother, Son and Daughter. His elemental combinations belong to that scheme. Waite’s descriptions of his own plates are a separate witness: a title in Book T is insufficient evidence for assigning its whole formula to a Smith picture.
The Book of Thoth · Part I, “The Tarot and the Elements” ↗
Father · Yod · Fire
A rider on horseback. Begins the elemental action: immediate force whose first impulse can pass quickly.
Mother · Heh · Water
A figure on a throne. Receives the initial force, develops it and sustains its activity.
Son · Vau · Air
A figure in a chariot. Carries the combined force of the preceding pair into a distinct expression.
Daughter · Final Heh · Earth
A standing or dancing figure. Gives the process material form; Crowley also describes a return into stillness.
The Book of Thoth · Part III, “General Characteristics of the Four Dignitaries” ↗
The correspondence guide hosted by Daniel Tarr adopts the family-rank convention, pairing Thoth’s Knight with the King and Prince with the Knight. Chris Gabriel’s “The King and Prince of Cups” instead places the Waite–Smith King beside the Thoth Prince. The selector exposes that difference as a choice of comparison, without declaring the cards identical.
Tarr’s correspondence guide · modern interpretation ↗
Gabriel · “The King and Prince of Cups” · 28 February 2025 ↗
Start with a particular card and its edition. Describe the figure, gesture and setting before adding another author’s correspondences. Then write what the comparison reveals—and what it leaves unresolved.
Waite’s introduction to the lesser cards distinguishes his divinatory pictures from a systematic account of higher symbolism. Read that qualification alongside his individual entries.