may 2025: knights, courage, and being seen

hello, friends. last month i shared a piece on pages and everyday rebellion, and this month i wanted to offer another essay on the knights: those figures of bold risks, big courage, and saying the hard but true thing.

if you love this concept and want to explore it more in your day to day, i made you a new journaling series that will drop potent activations into your inbox for four full weeks, helping you learn to navigate courage in your own way — and it starts as soon as you're ready.

every knight in the tarot, those adolescents and apprentices and adventurers of the courts, knows what it means to be visible, to stand up or speak up, to allow themselves to be witnessed. but sometimes being truthful is painful. sometimes being vulnerable is frightening. sometimes being passionate is intimidating. sometimes being steadfast is limiting.

there are endless reasons to keep our heads down and our mouths shut. but in this moment of history it's more important than ever that we not stay silent, demure, afraid. every courageous act, every word of dissent, every moment of rebellion helps to move the needle, reminding both us and people who witness us that we do not have to blindly trust authority. and the knights of the tarot can teach us how.

knights are so eager to prove themselves and make a difference that they're willing to take big swings, stick to their guns, fight for what they believe in, and put their hearts (and sometimes, their lives) on the line. in the tarot, knights represent bold action, potent courage, making a major move. knights demand attention, take up space, and have an impact on everyone they come into contact with.

it's impossible to ignore a knight.

and look, sometimes knights fall flat on their face. sometimes they make fools of themselves. sometimes they ride hard for a loud but wrong opinion. sometimes they confess a big feeling to someone who isn't in a place to receive it, or who doesn't feel the same way. sometimes they push hard towards a goal that no longer exists, or realize halfway through a project that they don't really want to do it anymore. there can be shame or embarrassment in these kind of experiences — which means there's risk in making these kinds of big choices.

but / and / also: no risk, no reward. knights know that they have to take big chances in order to accomplish big things. knights recognize that even if they fail, they can still have an impact — and that after they're done licking their wounds, they'll come back to the fight even stronger.

as i said last month, pages can be disruptive little hellions, often by virtue of not knowing (or sometimes, not caring) what the rules of engagement typically are. pages aren't concerned about conventions or traditions, and instead prefer to approach each situation or project or new adventure with a spirit of open curiosity.

but knights? knights have learned the rules, and are now being very deliberate in the ways that they either follow or break those rules. knights know exactly what they're doing, and set out to make a big splash, leave a big impression, implement a big change. knights bat for the fences, every damn time.

bless. i love the knights.

knights want adventure, intrigue, drama. knights want admiring glances, rave reviews, cheers and applause and parades in their honor. knights want epic poems and stories of bravery and songs of longing written about them. knights want everyone to be talking about their exploits and their impact. knights will do the scary thing in part because they can envision just how amazing it will be if their efforts pay off. knights say the hard thing, choose the more difficult path, challenge the existing patterns, because they want to succeed, and make an impact.

knights are courageous — and in their heart of hearts, they want everyone to know that they're courageous. but knights are also heavily, beautifully invested in their own convictions. knights know what matters to them, feeling and living those values deeply. knights are intense, with their eyes on the prize and a strength of purpose that keeps propelling them forward. knights will keep going, even when all others fall behind or go quiet or give up. 

perhaps this, really, is the fire that keeps courage burning: a willingness to take a leap of faith, to take a risk, even if the result is a massive flop. courage is love: a love so passionate and bold and loud that we cannot help but cry out for that love to be acknowledged. a care and attention so hungry that it’s willing to disrupt and unravel, to be seen in its most grasping, eager, authentic state.

you may have noticed that i tend to associate knights with visibility, which comes from their numerological association with the empress: that archetype of expression and collaboration, of sharing and celebrating, of offering something to the world and having it be joyfully received. (if knights are the twelfth card of their suit, and 1+2 = 3, then knights fit into this empress constellation beautifully.) three as a number always feels both generous and impatient to me, a combination of "look at this thing i did!" and "why isn't this immediately successful and appreciated?!"

and really, this makes so much sense for knights. it's bold and ballsy to do something hard, to take a big chance, and to ask that others witness that risk being taken. it takes courage and strength to commit to that kind of path. and it is also absolutely heartbreaking when that choice results in something that looks like failure, or doesn’t have the impact that we hoped it would, or isn’t recognized as the victory that we anticipated.

knights are a living testament to adventure and risk-taking: trying something, experimenting, seeing what happens, measuring impact. pages might ask questions, but knights dive right into a potential answer, upping the ante and trusting that the journey itself will lead to transformation, change, growth, and a discovery of deeper meaning.

so why am i writing about knights right now?

because every day i see a new conversation, a new email in my inbox, a new initiative talking about community, activism, showing up, fighting back. every day somebody asks me what they should do, how they can get involved, where their labor or talents are needed. (i made you a workbook about this!) every day someone shares with me that they don't know if they're doing "enough."

the truth is that there are many roles to fill; there are many ways to engage and get involved; there are many tasks to be done. but the messy, uncomfortable reality — the part that i think sometimes holds people back from taking action — is that not all of these roles are visible.

and boy, do many of us love to be seen doing a thing. (especially us white folks: we want our courage rewarded. we want our strength acknowledged. we want our sacrifices appreciated. we want our contributions celebrated. we’re not like those other white people! we're different! we do things!) all actions big and small have meaning, even if we do them in the dark or the quiet. but oh, isn't it glorious and rewarding and satisfying to have someone realize that we're doing it, that we're showing up, that we're making a difference? isn't it even better when somebody notices that we're doing a great job, and praises us for our work?

listen — there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting our labor to be valued, with yearning to be seen and appreciated, with craving admiration. but if the fear of not being witnessed and thanked holds us back from actually doing the thing, then it becomes a real internal hurdle. and if we’re not willing to do the thing unless there’s a prize at the end, then we might never do anything at all — especially if the thing itself is hard, or vulnerable, or requires sustained courage and stamina instead of just one momentary act of bravery.

consider: what is really motivating your risks, your capacity for change, your willingness to be brave? would you still do those things, make those choices, if you knew that nobody else would ever see it or know about it?

what's beautiful about the knights is that they actually would, and do. knights do the thing because they believe it in so fucking deeply that they can't not do it. knights couldn't live with themselves if they didn't speak their truth, share their heart, chase their ambition, take necessary action. 

knights wouldn’t be themselves if they didn’t fight the good fight, trust the courage of their convictions, and keep holding up their heavy shield and sword even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. even if their hands shake, even if they're completely alone, knights still show up.

and we can learn a lot from that kind of bravery, devotion, and effort.

there are many tarot cards that we can associate with these ideas of courage, visibility, conviction, action. but for my money, knights are phenomenal tarot archetypes to reach for when we need a reminder to just do the damn thing. to try, to stretch, to risk. knights demonstrate true, real, faithful courage – and in working with them, we can recognize the courage that we carry too. 

maybe your courage is fierce and charismatic, illuminated by a blazing inner fire that sparks passion and purpose in everyone around you like the knight of wands. maybe your courage is crisp and observant, perceptive and focused, honed by a sharp blade of truth and necessary knowledge like the knight of swords. maybe your courage is sensitive and artistic, pulling your heart from your sleeve and holding it out to others with vulnerable abandon and a craving for connection like the knight of cups. maybe your courage is steadfast and determined, devoted to your cause and your mission and your future with intentionality and discipline like the knight of pentacles.

or maybe your courage has a different shape altogether. and isn't that beautiful, to possess something that's completely your own? to carve a path that no one has walked before, to stand up and stand out in a way that your younger self would be in awe of?

in the days and weeks to come, especially with saturn moving into aries later today, i want to encourage you to think about which knight, or knights, really resonate. i want you to think about how you personally embody these bold, brave, incredible figures. i want you to celebrate them for the adventurous risk-takers at they are, and explore how they might show up in your life — or how they could take up more space if you let them.

which knights sing to you? which knights do you embody? and how might working with one or more of these archetypes help you to more deeply appreciate the courage you possess, and live that courage at every possible opportunity?

thank you, as always, for reading. i'm currently testing a new mini tarot reading that i'll be opening up to everyone in june, but in the meantime make sure you check out my latest journaling series cards of courage if you want to learn more about using the tarot to understand and activate your own natural courage!

and a reminder that i have a ton of resources to explore on rebellion, grief, and making your tarot practice your own. i'm still planning to open mentorship spots later this year, but in the meantime my spread architect program is a fantastic way to get ongoing, personalized support for your personal tarot practice. and of course, don't forget that if you preorder my second book TAROT SPREADS, you can share your receipt to get a free copy of my latest spread collection. more soon!