Queen of Wands / Clubs

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Francesca	09 Mar 2003
I'd like to hear what people think of the Queen of Wands. I don't actually get her much in my readings, however, I have come upon her twice in the last couple of days. I just bought a house and am doing a little renovation work before I move in. I had to remove some baseboards and yesterday I found a playing card behind one, the Queen of Clubs. Then today in a different room, I found another Queen of Clubs behind the baseboard. Odd! As I said, I don't get her too much in readings for myself, but I tend to think of her as the 'sexpot' of the deck.

Moongold	09 Mar 2003
:TQW I'm a Queen Wands but had never thought of myself as a sex pot :joke: I'm a Wands person, Sagittarius with five fire signs, so often choose Queen Wands as a Significator when I need one. She has stacks of energy and passion and a quick silver wit, I think. Not that I have all or any of those qualities of course but they're on my personal development shopping list. I'm hopeful to have them all by 31 December 2003. :confused: So Francesca, the appearance of Queen Wands in your home, albeit in working clothes, should be taken as a good omen. I've become very interested of late in the Queens as representations of the strongest female characteristics. They are also significant in that they represent qualities which men often want. I used to see the Queens as little sisters to the Empress, but no longer. I have noticed that the Queens certainly cop all the projections of the WORST way people often see strong women. Look at the constant debate and ambivalence about Queen Swords, whom I think is great :laugh:. Queen Wands? She is the guardian of the spirit and life force within all creation. She is the Mother of Passion, for without Passion there can be no creation. She represents transformation and regeneration. She has the capacity to scorch people when she disapproves but that capacity can be used judiciously. If you're planning to renovate your new home, invoke her! Blessings, Moongold

Thirteen	09 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Francesca I just bought a house and am doing a little renovation work before I move in. Q/Wands is most certainly for renovation--as Moongold pointed out, she is the essence of pure energy, of action and doing--and creativity. Just take care you don't burn yourself out doing too much.

Francesca	10 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Moongold :TQW She has stacks of energy and passion and a quick silver wit, I think. Not that I have all or any of those qualities of course but they're on my personal development shopping list. I don't know about that, Moongold, if some of the stuff you've posted is any indication, I'd say you have the quickest of silver wits. ANd energy. Quote: Originally posted by Moongold :TQW I've become very interested of late in the Queens as representations of the strongest female characteristics. They are also significant in that they represent qualities which men often want. I used to see the Queens as little sisters to the Empress, but no longer. I like this take on the Queens and I think the idea could be applied to the other court cards as well. THanks for the insights. I like the Queens too, even the Q of Swords who represents my sister a lot. In fact I prefer her over the Q of Cups any day. Francesca

Kitty	10 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Francesca I'd like to hear what people think of the Queen of Wands. I just bought a house and am doing a little renovation work before I move in. Odd! As I said, I don't get her too much in readings for myself, but I tend to think of her as the 'sexpot' of the deck. I do! I mean think of her as the most "sexy" of the Queens - in relation to your renovations - yep as the others have mentioned - creativity - a Queen of Wands will jump into renovations in a flamboyant style - different to that of the Q of P, she will be thorough and careful, making the place very homely - whereas the Queen of Wands will add some pizazz (sorry can't spell that word!!) If you want your home to have some style - ask the Queen of Wands to assist you! I see colours, interesting fabrics, furniture with a twist in style etc etc. As you can tell - I love the Queen of Wands - she sets mens hearts racing with her self confidence fiery manner - she will give as good as she gets - and has a cheeky trait to her - men want to get her bed - hehehehehehhe :D Sorry hope I haven't been to forward - just my experiences when I feel like the Queen of Wands - cheeky with my naughty little cat at my side.

Alex	11 Mar 2003
my boyfriend's ex- I'm sick of talking about that weirdo sl@t. Moongold, excuse me, I meant no offense to you. I'm sure you're another kind of Queen of Wands. :joke: I've been collecting some negative interpretations on the Queens that are pretty common in books as well as in readings that I see in forums. QWs: Unfaithful woman. A mistress. The "other woman". Sexually promiscous. Vindictive when provoked. A feminist. Common advice when she is the querrent: "keep your legs crossed the next time". :D QSs: divorced or widowed woman. Fashion-freak, lacking of personal oppinion, go-with-the-crowd sort of woman. Sharp-tongued. Cold. Frigid. A foreign. A foreign nation. QPs: sensual woman whith whom one can have lots of good sex but also a relationship with no true love. Independent and luxurious woman. QCs: woman prone to P.M.S. Men see in her what they want to see, she reflects the "mother principle" or "female ideal" but has no depth. Moody. Jealous. Insecure and sometimes depressive. If anyone has anything to add, feel free. The best way around with prejudice to face it first. Alex.

Moongold	12 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Alex my boyfriend's ex- I'm sick of talking about that weirdo sl@t. Moongold, excuse me, I meant no offense to you. I'm sure you're another kind of Queen of Wands. :joke: Hi there Alex, I am a dark haired (going grey) Queen of Wands in my early fifties so I used to automatically get lobbed into the Queen Swords category by computer programs :laugh:. And it hasn’t been hard to pick up all the negative stereotypes ascribed to Queen Swords, by almost everyone and surprisingly, even by women at times. We all buy into the social projections don’t we? I might start another thread on projections and intuition over in Talking Tarot and hope to see you all there :joke: Learning about the elemental correspondences in tarot and some astrology was a joy because I discovered Queen Wands! The red hair doesn’t matter. I can project or intuit red hair for myself. And what about our Queens? Inevitably they seems to carry the world's immense conscious and unconscious projections about womanhood. Where are their actively positive attributes? In 78 Degrees of Wisdom , Rachel Pollack gives a balanced picture and she also points out that the Queenly and Kingly characteristics can be ascribed to either gender. I haven’t seen that happen a great deal, however. And I notice (being a bit polemic here Folks :joke: ) that many times when there are negative male characteristics they often get downgraded to the Knights or Pages. I know that is a generalization but it does seem to hapen quite a bit. What about positive, wonderful, intelligent, wise, lusty, humane and other Queenly characteristics? In the Shining Tribe Pollack completely replaces the Court Cards with what she calls Vision cards and the conventional Queens become “Gift”. As with this whole beautiful deck, the meanings Pollack ascribes are very positive, gentle and constructive. The Gift of Birds (Swords): Art, inspiration, outpouring of ideas, Passion, wildness, free flying energy, all the qualities associated with birds. The need to open up emotionally or mentally to make use of creative gifts. Reversed: Conformity, resisting temptation. Following a safe path. Alternatively. The willingness to experiment with ideas or emotions. The difference in these interpretations comes because the reversed card the challenge of this Gift, and whether we will simply reject it or meet the challenge The Gift of Trees (Wands): The Gift of passion, joy, great energy, intuitive wisdom. Physical and emotional healing. Confidence, belief in yourself Reversed: The danger of knowledge without wisdom Fear of illness, anxiety I hear some one say. That isn’t a real tarot! It is of course, designed by one of the Great Crones of Tarot but let’s go on to another radical but more conventional Tarot. Tarot of the Sephiroth has other wonderfully affirming attributes for Queens. Queen Swords for example is Strength in intellect, communication and wisdom Queen Wands: Maintenance of spirit and life force regeneration; personal transformation. The others are beautiful as well. I think we do struggle a lot with social projections and constructions of women and our own internalization of these. So I think it is worth spending some time reflecting on the Queens and how they speak to us now, and writing new ideas into the collective unconscious. Very tired. Must go, Moongold

Kitty	12 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Alex my boyfriend's ex- I'm sick of talking about that weirdo sl@t. Moongold, excuse me, I meant no offense to you. I'm sure you're another kind of Queen of Wands. :joke: I've been collecting some negative interpretations on the Queens that are pretty common in books as well as in readings that I see in forums. QWs: Unfaithful woman. A mistress. The "other woman". Sexually promiscous. Vindictive when provoked. A feminist. Common advice when she is the querrent: "keep your legs crossed the next time". :D Alex I've been a good girl I promise!! :P okay okay I admit - I have been known to be a naughty Queen of Wands - I'll straight forward - yep should have keep my legs crossed - bad kitty bad kitty! I fit the psychical characteristics of the Queen of Wands too which is interesting - red/brown hair, brown/green eyes, with my little kitty (he is an aries cat) - do have a little black cat tattoo though.... I can also been the Queen of Cups - hormone central, moody, soppy and daydreamy. As moongold mentioned - the astrological associations - I'm cancerian sign sun but fire signs just about everywhere else.

Kitty	12 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Moongold What about positive, wonderful, intelligent, wise, lusty, humane and other Queenly characteristics? Queen Swords for example is Strength in intellect, communication and wisdom Queen Wands: Maintenance of spirit and life force regeneration; personal transformation . The others are beautiful as well. I think we do struggle a lot with social projections and constructions of women and our own internalization of these. So I think it is worth spending some time reflecting on the Queens and how they speak to us now, and writing new ideas into the collective unconscious. Very tired. Must go, Moongold Love these interpretations Moongold - yes lets all start writing new ideas for out collective unconscious!! Will post some of mine over the coming weekend (time! time! I never have enough time!)

Alex	12 Mar 2003
Kitty. Enjoy your youth. I have been promoted to the Queen category last year. Phisically I'm a combination between the queen of wands and queen of cups, but my personality heads more towards the knight of swords. This shinning tribe deck might make readings a bit easier, for it's so difficult to read queens and kings and knights... last time I saw a queen was in England, but from so far away... Keep coming, the definitions. May be we an filll in a page or so with qualities of and prejudices against the queens. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by Kitty okay okay I admit - I have been known to be a naughty Queen of Wands - I'll straight forward - yep should have keep my legs crossed - bad kitty bad kitty! I fit the psychical characteristics of the Queen of Wands too which is interesting - red/brown hair, brown/green eyes, with my little kitty (he is an aries cat) - do have a little black cat tattoo though....

Jewel	12 Mar 2003
In working with the Queen of Cups and Queen of Wands for the Second Aeclectic Collaborative Tarot (SACT) I have been working very closely with these 2 Queens (I am currently working on my interpretation of the QW). Like Moongold I had originally seen these queens as "little sisters to the Empress" (sort of), but in coming up with a full concept for them I have realized that for me they embody various characteristics of the pure archetypes (majors). I share Moongold's interpretation of the QW, and see in her a combination of influences including the Empress, the Magician, Strength, the Sun and perhaps a little Devil (the temptation aspect). She is my favorite queen so exploring her archetypal characteristics has been real fun ... trying to draw a wholistic queen (including light and dark aspects) has been a real challenge. Another aspect I have taken into account, is that elementally she is "water of fire" ... I can see the QW having some moodiness of her own at times, and I would not mess with her when in those "moods" *LOL*. However her natural ability to cheer up poeple and her humor more than make up for that. I also see her as an optimist and incredibly creative. Thank you so much for starting this thread, it is very helpful to me as I work on the SACT QW. I hope to see a lot more responses to this thread :)

Francesca	12 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Alex I've been collecting some negative interpretations on the Queens that are pretty common in books as well as in readings that I see in forums. QWs: Unfaithful woman. A mistress. The "other woman". Sexually promiscous. Vindictive when provoked. A feminist. Common advice when she is the querrent: "keep your legs crossed the next time". :D QSs: divorced or widowed woman. Fashion-freak, lacking of personal oppinion, go-with- the-crowd sort of woman. Sharp-tongued. Cold. Frigid. A foreign. A foreign nation. QPs: sensual woman whith whom one can have lots of good sex but also a relationship with no true love. Independent and luxurious woman. QCs: woman prone to P.M.S. Men see in her what they want to see, she reflects the "mother principle" or "female ideal" but has no depth. Moody. Jealous. Insecure and sometimes depressive. If anyone has anything to add, feel free. The best way around with prejudice to face it first. Alex. So this is all bad stuff you say? It sounds like a bunch of misogynist tripe to me from the mouths of some embittered male chauvinist pig who knows that all the women around him are superiour but can't accept it. Who is this guy? A Qof W who is her own woman sexually, enjoys herself when and with whom she will (usually a privilege only men get) will often be seen as promiscuous. THis Q of P has nothing to apologize for as far as I can see. THe Q of S may be frigid toward the men, but I'll bet her girlfriend has a different story. (I am an air sign and that's my story.) WHat is the crowd that she's going with? A bunch of women friends sitting at the bar dishing? And what does sharp-tongued mean? It means she has opinions! The swords are an intelligent suit, intellectual. You bet she's opinionated. SHe has nothing to apologize for either. What you wrote about the Qof P isn't negative at all. THere are different sorts of 'true love' than what's between two romanitic partners. She may not want or need true love from a man, but she may very well be devoted to her family, be a truly loving and caring aunt or daughter or friend. NOthing to apologize for here. ANd what woman doesn't have Q of C days? Many people--men--don't really believe in the heightened emotions that come with menstruation. 'Oh, it's just PMS,' but it's not. It's a powerful time of the month. Many women are more psychic around their periods. I think that what happens at PMS time is that a woman's defenses go down. Her body is receptive and so is her psyche. It's not that the emotions at this time lack depth, exactly the opposite. They are just more at the surface. So the Queens have nothing to apologize for; these traits are nothing to be ashamed of, and it seems to me that most women are a frightenly complex mixture of all of them, plus a few more cards.

Moongold	12 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Jewel Another aspect I have taken into account, is that elementally she is "water of fire" ... I can see the QW having some moodiness of her own at times, and I would not mess with her when in those "moods" *LOL*. However her natural ability to cheer up poeple and her humor more than make up for that. I also see her as an optimist and incredibly creative. The inherent contrast in this combination of elements has always interested me as well. All of the other combinations seem to have some degree of logic or fit. This combination doesn't. In terms of psychoanalytic tarot and astrology it is interesting to speculate about the personal impact of water of fire in a spirit. I understand that there are usually other factors there to balance things but sometimes there is clearly an imbalance. Speaking personally, I have five planets in fire signs and just one water, but that happens to be the Moon in Pisces. Francesca or Alex (can't see the rest of the thread) said that all women probably contain varying degrees of all the Queens and I think this is probably true. I very much look forward to seeing your card, Jewel. I have a feeling, though, that some Faeries may creep in to the image somehow :laugh: In fact the Queen of "Wands" seems to be a natural for the Faeries! Moongold

Alex	13 Mar 2003
I have been collecting these from various sources. It has puzzled me that many interpretations for the queens are on the bad side unless she is "loving", "caring", "motherly". You will NOT like what I am going to say next. Even though society values are ever changing, there are a few things that are not likely to change. One of them is the way promiscous women are looked at. Why? Because men can never be 100% sure of their paternity. So there is a place for ladies who sleep with every other man they come accross, and this place is in every other man's bed; but most are unlikely to take her seriously as a foundation of a family. Not that I'm against promiscuity in women, I don't really care as long as she is not around the men I perceive to be mine. A lot of the prejudice against women comes from women themselves, it's not all a product of men's chauvinism. However, as the Tarot has been developed in times when society was very patriarcal, it is just natural that QUALITIES attributed to women are those related to submission and purity in standard interpretations. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by Francesca [b] So this is all bad stuff you say? It sounds like a bunch of misogynist tripe to me from the mouths of some embittered male chauvinist pig who knows that all the women around him are superiour but can't accept it. Who is this guy? [b]

Moongold	13 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Moongold . This combination doesn't. In terms of psychoanalytic tarot and astrology it is interesting to speculate about the personal impact of water of fire in a spirit. Ooops! I think I've confused my correspondences, muddled my metaphors and anthropomorphized the attributes! How to retire in a Queenly and dignified manner? :laugh: Moongold

miranda	14 Mar 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Francesca So the Queens have nothing to apologize for; these traits are nothing to be ashamed of, and it seems to me that most women are a frightenly complex mixture of all of them, plus a few more cards. i could not agree more:) been reading all the queen threads & the empress thread.. & my mother is all of the queeens & a few of the kings & the empress :)& they are all beautiful

The Queen of Wands / Clubs thread was originally posted on 09 Mar 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.