Richly dressed, mounted on a horse in mid step with its white head turned to the right, the Knight of Batons, holding his baton in his left hand, indicates a pronounced passivity and an internal undertaking, but as he holds his baton vertically and towards the right, he shows that he nevertheless manifests energy for which he is the transmitter, and that he himself represents the transferring of physical energies across the material until they may emerge.
The Knight of Wands would the energies which nature places at the disposition of man, but he, enclosed in matter, can only gain use of them after the work of hatching them in himself. All powers used by Man undergo preparatory work before being put into play: the slow processing of coal, of chemical products, of minerals in their gangue, etc.
With the Knight of Batons, this internal processing is indicated by the horse, force organized but without personal action, for its head is white, and if its blue mane is suggestive of the energy in spiritual things, its caparison, flesh colored, weights him down by enveloping him in matter, but as it is woven of the vital forces, it assures the activity of its internal undertaking. The immobility of the horse shows the passivity necessary for this internal work; it equally serves as a seat supporting the certainty that matters will be firmed up on the physical plane.
The thrust of energy across matter to ascend onto a higher plane is indicated by the vertical direction of the baton and its up-and-down position.
As opposed to the Page who leans on his staff planted on the ground, symbolizing thus someone ready for the hike through earthly life, the Knight of Batons, through the advancement suggested by his horse, represents someone moving towards his own evolution.
The horse has its head turned to the sight and its legs hidden in order to indicate that man in his physical life is unaware and must not know of the advancement he is stepping towards; however, his shoes are visible and colored blue to show that he is surely guided by a spiritual force. The appearance of the horse, its knowing gait, its pointed ears, its blue mane, all show that the abstract plane is not inattentive to the physical plane.
The yellow baton and its red top signify that Man, having started out by trudging through matter, is drawing its strength (the symbol of the Baton) and is advancing with intelligence from Above, while remaining in contact with matter, but without being directed by it. The Knight looks attentively at his baton, because his glance, a symbol of intelligent whiffs [effluves intelligents], is turned towards a symbol of force.
His hat, in the shape of an 8, shows by the arrangement of its colors - blue, yellow, and red - that the forces have been set up in balance at the instigation of the anima, clothed in intelligence, expressed in the physical world by mental activities.
The sumptuousness of his clothes represent the knowledge acquired through successive lives, and his general appearance represents the mastery which a man is able to acquire by drawing on inspiration from the forces Above.
The four points on his hip, along with the flower with four petals on his knee, indicate the material doings of the Knight, while the seven points of the harness show that the work of energies is done in all its modes, because the septenary symbolizes symbolizes all vibratory ranges. These numbers also establish a link between the Knight of Batons and the Emperor (Card IV) in the same way as the Chariot does (Card VII).
The flesh-colored stirrup emphasizes that the fulcrum which permits this accession, this evolution is on a physical plane, and the red strap, the nerves supporting physical activity.
The significance of the ground is the same as it is for the Knight of Swords.
MENTAL. Intelligent and intuitive activity in the material world, happy achievement.
ANIMISTIC. Reconciliation in matters of feeling of any kind: amity, affection, fellowship. Protective activity: things veiled for incubating them more easily.
PHYSICAL. Harmonious achievement. Success in business. A happy result in a current case. From the point of view of health, hope for people convalescing for the recovery of their health, for a renewal of life.
INVERTED. Delay, resistance.
In sum, in its elementary sense, the Knight of Batons represents the incubation by Man of material energies put at his disposal, until he is able to make use of them at his convenience.