Queen of Cups (Golden Tarot)

April 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm (Golden Tarot, Queen of Cups, Tarot)

Queen of Cups (Golden Tarot)

This is from the absolutely gorgeous Golden Tarot, which is not only beautiful to look at, but a true pleasure to handle, with cards that feel like silk to me and come stored in an upright box I wish were standard for Tarot decks.  The cards have gold gilt edges that make me a bit leery about wear and tear when I shuffle them, but they’re so interesting to read with that I try not to worry about that overmuch.

This Queen of Cups is shown in lush golds and reds, seated at a table in front of a red and gold tapestry.  She is blonde, crowned, and wears a golden dress, though a hint of red sleeve can be seen at her wrists – it is modest yet rich and suggests a sensuality hiding underneath the garment that doesn’t have to be displayed openly.  In her hands are a red covered book and a quill pen that I imagine is her diary, recording her experiences through the filter of her emotions.

Before her on the table is a basket containing a pair of white doves, speaking to her desire for peace and love, a scorpian – she is associated with Scorpio, a golden goblet and a glass pitcher of water – water is emotional and spiritual, and she does display that openly, and shares it freely.

Queens, for me, are the nurturers and caretakers of their element – and this Queen sustains herself by her emotional experiences. She follows her heart, and will freely share with you just how much she feels for you and for everything that happens to her.   She sees the best of all possible experiences to be those that bring hearts together, as with the doves, and she will play peacemaker when she is able – but it’s important to remember that scorpian sting when she feels threatened, and to understand that thinking, for her, IS based on her reading of how she feels and what she instinctively knows, and not just logical analysis.

One thing that has come to be clear to me over years of working with tarot is that this Queen can be a real grudge holder… as the nurturer of emotion, she hangs onto feelings and protects them, and that includes nursing bad feelings as well as good ones.  That diary of hers is not an objective accounting of what happened, but a record of how what happened made her feel, and she is recording it so that she never forgets – in replaying old events, she re-feels the emotions surrounding them.

She’s the one who still pines for the man she hasn’t seen in a decade.. .and she’s also the one still not speaking to you because you cut the hair off her Barbie when you were both six.