Queen of Cups (Rider Waite Tarot)
First Impressions
The Queen of Cups is the most quiet and reflective of the court cards in this deck. Not as much so as the one in the Hanson-Roberts – probably my favourite incarnation – but very passive and gentle nonetheless. As the Water of Water by Golden awn reckoning, I guess she’s a being of pure emotion, pure spirit, pure faith, pure love, pure intuition. I’m surprised she can hold a solid form, to be honest. She’s pure femininity in the old-fashioned and gentlest sense of the word.
The Queen is very thin; if she were a real person she’d be
too thin, with no figure to speak of. Not as bad as her counterpart in some of the Marseille decks (is it just me, or does Dodal’s take on the Reyne de Coupes look like Gail on Corrie?), but thin nonetheless. Not the lush and bountiful figures of the Empress and Queen of Pentacles, nor the lean angularity of the Queen of Swords (thin and keen as a sword blade), but thin enough to suggest great fragility. She even slouches slightly as if she has trouble staying upright, so limp and liquid is she.
Her gown reminds me of the Empress’ granny nightie, although it fits to her form better. It’s a white-to-pale-blue shade in my deck, and has a suggestion of fancy slashes and lacings at the sleeves. Just enough to indicate that it’s a gown, not a nightgown. But what’s really intriguing is how the hem of her gown, from her feet up toward her knees, becomes deeper blue and appears to meld with the water that laps at her feet. Like the High Priestess. Pinned at her throat by a red scallop shell is a long cloak – thrown back from her shoulders so that she’s mostly sitting on it – and it’s got a pale blue and white pattern like a sun-dappled stream. There’s a hint of a bright red lining. Her crown is square and gold, like a fancy Christmas tin of chocolate cookies, and has a pattern of circles on it that I can’t make sense of on first glance. Her hair is fair, and braided at the side of her head; I think it’s likely wrapped in a coronet kind of style around her head.
Feet crossed daintily at the ankles, she reclines on a carved stone throne. It’s got low arms but a high back carved into a massive concave scallop shell supported by two mermaids. They look like cherubs or
putti wearing fish-tail costumes, and their expressions are sulky. On the side of the throne facing us, a third mermaid frolics grimly with a fish on a shoreline much like the real one in this card. The throne sits right on the edge of the sand where the shore meets the gentle rippling water of what is most likely a becalmed ocean, on a little peninsula or finger of land amid a scattering of brightly coloured pebbles. A nearly vertical headland, sand-coloured but topped by grass, is behind her in the middle distance.
But the real star of this card is the cup. It’s huge, easily the size of the Queen’s torso and head, and very different from any of the others in this suit. More like an ornate (and very ugly!) candelabrum or tacky urn for the ashes of a loved one with questionable taste. Perhaps an overblown bowling league trophy. Two arms jut out from the sides to support figures like seraphim in profile, turned to face the cup. Where the arms join the cup’s stem there’s a sort of a cross shape with a red jewel at its centre. Above it rises the bowl of the cup itself. Seemingly octagonal, it has figures engraved on the sides that are hard to make out. Animals? Zodiac symbols? There is a lid on the top that rises to a point and is crowned by what seems to be a bunch of grapes and a cross like you see on church steeples.
What exactly
is this cup? The crosses and engravings make me think of fancy monstrances (I think that’s the word) for Holy Communion. Certainly it’s not something from which she’s going to sit around sipping her morning coffee. And why the lid? Clearly there’s more to this than meets the eye.
Creator’s Notes
In
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot Waite says of the Queen of Cups:
Waite said:
Beautiful, fair, dreamy--as one who sees visions in a cup. This is, however, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream.
Strange, but I don’t quite see much action coming from this woman. She sees, yes. But does she act? I don’t get that vibe.
Other’s Interpretations
Waite interprets the card thusly:
Waite said:
Divinatory Meanings: Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother. Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonour, depravity.
Pretty dull.
Joan Bunning is, as always, a little more wordy about it than Waite.
Bunning said:
[…]In readings, the Queen of Cups asks you to think and feel as she does. For example: Are you aware of the emotional climate? Are you feeling loving? Do you trust your heart? Have you received an intuitive message? Have you been moved by another's pain?
This Queen can also represent a man or woman who is like her, or an atmosphere of gentle love, acceptance and respect for feelings. In a reading, she tells you that her special energy has meaning for you at this time. Let yourself be inspired by this Queen in whatever form she appears in your life.
Symbols and Attributes
Elementally this Queen is the Water of Water. She provides the Queenly Watery nurturing and care and fluidity to her Cups-like dreams and emotions and spirituality. Astrologically the Queen of Cups is ruled by Cancer, the Crab. A watery sign ruled by the Moon, it is a nurturing and protective influence. The Moon connection links her to the High Priestess; there is a strong connection, I find, between the two in this deck.
Rachel Pollack appears to consider her to be a mundane (ie, earthly, Minor Arcana) version of the World card. I can’t say I see this, though.
The Queen’s expression is thoughtful, almost dreamy, as she is lost in thought gazing at her cup. Her focus is ostensibly on the cup, but you have to wonder if she actually even sees it. She faces to the left, suggesting a tendency to reflect and look inward. She is in touch with her unconscious. She is so focused on the cup to the exclusion of all else. Does she even realize her gown is getting wet, that it is
turning into water? She is too focused on the cup. It suggests a great deal of emotional investment. Whatever this cup is, whatever it contains, is of great importance to her.
Look at her body language; crossed legs in particular speaks of less openness than you find in the splayed-legs posture of the more receptive, more sexual Queen of Wands or Empress. She guards her emotions and her secrets, this Queen. Her arms are tight to her sides. Very internalized. Even her hair is not allowed to blow free in the ocean breeze, but is tightly braided. A sign of her modesty, perhaps? It used to be that only virginal girls had their hair loose; once married a woman wore her hair braided. I’ve also heard various accounts that braided hair would represent strength and unity – like in ropemaking, how a braided or woven strand was stronger than many single strands.
Her colours are the white of purity and the blue of Water, spirituality and the feminine divine. Again, the same as the High Priestess. Her cloak suggests water that is calm on the surface, but with activity underneath. The red lining we see a hint of suggests that while she is a passionate woman, or can be, she keeps that under wraps. It’s not the be-all and end-all for her, passion and sex, but it is there. I’m sure that under the tender outer layer is a lover and a sexy one at that. The golden crown on her head is roughly square, I think; maybe I’m just making too much of it, but it suggests to me that despite her watery fragility she is actually more stable than we think, certainly in her thoughts. You might say her head is screwed on right. But the pattern of circles on it suggests a connection to infinity, the divine; it speaks of her spirituality.
The cup she holds is unique. Ugly, but unique, it’s the most elaborate by far of the deck. This is the case as well in the Marseille decks, in which her cup is the only lidded one. Keeping her emotions under wraps, I think; I’m reminded that still water runs deep. But this cup really is a little extreme. It is a product of great imagination, of great emphasis on relics and spirituality, and questionable taste
Two arms protrude from the stem, topped by what I think are seraphim or similar. Although others have seen crustaceans in their form, like lobster claws. This would suggest a tie to Cancer, and to the Moon as well. But to me, they remind me of descriptions of the Ark of the Covenant; the way they face the enclosed cup suggests great spirituality, an object of reverence and great spiritual power. No wonder the Queen is so intent on it. The arms meet the stem of the cup in a cross shape, centred with a ruby. It could be another symbol of the faith and spirituality of this figure, or it might represent the unity of her conscious and her unconscious. Overall I think this is a very, very Christian emblem, this cup. Cross, seraphim, Ark, Eucharistic cup (they are typically covered and elaborate, although not this grotesque).
The throne she sits on is topped by a scallop shell, a symbol of faith (medieval pilgrims used to carry these shells with them) and of her Watery element. There’s one at her throat too, incidentally, clasping her cloak. It’s red, for passion. Mermaids or undines are carved into the head and at least the visible arm of the throne as well. Considered water elementals, they are shown here as very young, as if to suggest cherubs. It’s been suggested that scallop shell, sea and undine tie her to Aphrodite or Venus. Born of the sea, she is depicted in Botticelli’s
Birth of Venus as emerging from the sea on a scallop shell and surrounded by cherubs or
putti. Throne, Queen and all are on the sandy beach, but with pebbles underfoot, at the very edge of the water. She is yearning toward the water, toward her natural element, but is still grounded to earthly concerns.
Like we found in Temperance and the Star, the Queen of Cups’ foot is in (perhaps even of?) the water. Stirring up the unconscious, or perhaps just a sign that she is aware of it and in touch with that part of herself. And look – as in the High Priestess, she appears to become one with the water. Her dress turns into the water that laps at her feet. She is merging with her emotions, her imagination. She is literally in her element.
The tall flat table land in the background has smooth sides facing the ocean. It speaks of constant and gentle waves causing this smoothing erosion. If it were due to pounding surf, for example, it would be easier to imagine jagged and rugged cliffs instead. But this landscape speaks of a gentler influence than that. However, there is still emotional energy at work here under the surface; look at how smooth the pebbles are at her feet. This would suggest a great deal of rolling and abrading, a strong undercurrent to make them so smooth and perfect.
My Interpretation
This Queen is a figure of great and gentle faith, spirituality. She is almost not of this world, so immersed is she in her own world, but she still retains ties. She is a very passive creature, but with spiritual strength. As a person she may represent a wife, lover or mother; if so she may not be the most hands-on or domestic type, but a very tender and loving one. In the abstract she represents nurturing and spirituality.
