Page of Cups
The Page of Cups is the first of the four court cards in the Cups suit of the Minor Arcana. Court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King) represent people, roles, or stages of maturity within the suit's domain, rather than events or process stages, as numeral cards do.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-18
Historical fact
Unlike numeral cards, court cards were already illustrated figures in the earliest Tarot decks, such as the 15th-century Visconti-Sforza. Tarot is distinguished from an ordinary 52-card deck precisely by having four court cards per suit (Page, Knight, Queen and King) instead of three (Jack, Queen and King) — historian Michael Dummett documents the Knight as the additional card introduced specifically within Tarot's structure. The Page is also historically called the Knave, depending on the deck's regional tradition.
Interpretation — Rider-Waite-Smith / Golden Dawn
Waite described the Page of Cups as a studious young man, inclined to render service and act as a messenger for another's wishes. In the modern reading, the card is associated with curiosity, emotional sensitivity, creativity in an early stage, and often news or an invitation of an affectionate or artistic nature. Reversed, it can indicate emotional immaturity or insecurity in the face of new feelings.
Interpretation — Thoth (Aleister Crowley)
In the Thoth deck, Crowley replaced the four-rank court system (King, Queen, Knight, Page) with another four-rank system (Knight, Queen, Prince, Princess). What the Rider-Waite tradition calls the Page corresponds, in Thoth, to the Princess of Cups — associated with the Earth aspect within the Water suit, representing the crystallization of emotional and intuitive energy into a concrete, often creative form.
This section presents one tradition's interpretation, not a verifiable fact.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the Page of Cups mean in Tarot?
- In the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, it usually represents curiosity, emotional sensitivity, and the start of a creative or affectionate expression — often read as a message or invitation of a personal nature.
- Why does Tarot have four court cards while a standard deck has only three?
- The Knight is the additional card Tarot introduced into each suit's court structure, as documented by historians such as Michael Dummett. The 52-card deck we inherit today kept only the Jack, Queen and King.
- Is the Page of Cups the same card as the Princess of Cups in the Thoth deck?
- They occupy the equivalent court position, but with different names and emphasis: Crowley renamed the Thoth court system (Knight, Queen, Prince and Princess), so the Princess of Cups takes the place that, in the Rider-Waite tradition, belongs to the Page.
Sources
- Michael Dummett. The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City (1980).
- Arthur Edward Waite. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910).
- Aleister Crowley. The Book of Thoth (1944).
- Stuart R. Kaplan. The Encyclopedia of Tarot (1978).