THE " wife & mistress "Combo ?

Grizabella said:

There's not a wife and mistress combo in the cards for me. Each reading is different and the cards interact differently.

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I rarely agree with Griz , but I do here. EVERY reading is different and NO one card (or combo) "always" means anything.

That's interesting. I've seen page/Cups seen appear repeatedly in readings for a friend whose husband was interested in the proverbial younger woman. (That was some time ago and she gave me the information, not the other way around). I don't read anymore for others so I don't have other experiences than the page/Cups as "new young love interest".

I've always seen the Queen/Coins as keeper of home and hearth or competent independent woman, thank you for adding a nuance from her sensual nature - it makes sense. I'm a Taurus and maybe this aspect of the Earth Queen makes me uncomfortable. I would have put my money on the fascinating, mysterious and dreamy Queen/Cups as dangerous rival ;-)

Grizabella's point about the caution in such matters was given neither condescendingly nor did she put herself up as guru, as far as I understood her, and I don't think she deserved your harsh reaction.

Grizabella said:

There's not a wife and mistress combo in the cards for me. Each reading is different and the cards interact differently. I would never, ever read those two cards for someone and tell them there was another woman. That could destroy a relationship or marriage or family and for what? Just for two cards that could even be facets of the wife herself. My folly in always seeing them as "the other woman and the wife could wreak havoc with everyone involved. I just don't read that way. While it's true that infidelity might come up in a reading, I'd be very careful with conveying that information, or might not convey it at all.

It's a very delicate area. We have to be careful that, while we're honest with our sitters, we're also kind and discerning and able to do what's best under the circumstances for all concerned. And never kid yourself that you can't be wrong in your readings. Any reader can be wrong sometimes.

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This, exactly this..

There is no such thing as 'a wife and mistress combo' and I think that to suggest that there is, is a very dangerous thing..

People who are very new to tarot read this forum and I really would not want them thinking that such a thing exists and that it's OK to tell someone that they were reading for that there was another woman in a relationship because these cards showed up together.

I am afraid I have never seen a set pattern in regard to the Queens, or dualities of them showing up...what they come up with, however, can certainly indicate some sneaking around. For instance, if the Devil were to surface along with any Queen and the Three of Cups reversed, I might see something in that...but again, it would depend largely on what else came up with them.

I just know by experience, after all my decades of reading, that while cards have a general descriptor, by and large they mean different things in different people's readings. So I would be unable to pin one pair of any cards down in particular to any one thing...

But that is just me.

I'm afraid I have to concur. Each reading is unique.

There is so much depth in each and every card. To pigeon hole them in this way is doing the cards an extreme injustice.

I do hope you will look for deeper meaning when those ladies show up in the future.

I agree with not seeing the same things in the same cards even in a particular common situation...though if the question is: does he have another woman etc. and the Empress pops up, I would be pretty certain that he does...or an all-too present Mother (which is really the same thing, I guess). I would more see the Queen of Pentacles as the Wife, like someone said, the keeper of the family hearth etc. I guess she could be the other woman in the sense that she is "keeping the fires of love banked" until her lover returns. But that brings us back to what most of the others were saying, two cards can come up together in the same question/situation and it means different things.

Example: The two cards you mention come up, in one instance it means exactly what you said at first, and the very next time it comes up in that situation, it now means the Queen of Wands is the only woman (there is no other) but she has a very intense energy that is intimidating her husband/lover and he wishes she was more of a sedate woman with a more controllable or defined energy - perhaps more of a homebody literally or metaphorically. Now, that could lead to him having the wandering eye and then following the eye all the way (perhaps to the Empress) but at the time of the reading it could mean he's insecure and can't talk about it because he's scared but if she knew she could address it with him and that is the message that you are being asked to convey. In other words, there might be a battle or clash ensuing but it might not be literal.

But I say, if it always comes up that way for you and you can confirm it every time, then stay with that until, and if you find that it's starting to mean something else.