In the Court Card hierarchy, the Queens are the next step, preceded by the Knights and the Pages. The Queens represent someone who has now matured and added a healthy dose of understanding, and feminine energies of nurturing and caring to the actions that were taken.
Essentially, in the stage of the Page, the ideas were conceived, and those ideas were acted upon in the Knight stage. But now, in the Queen stage, those actions are nurtured, cared for and developed further into a sustainable scenario.
Let’s look at the different Queens in our Tarot card deck.
The Queens Within
The Queens represent a mature woman (or someone who has feminine energies around). This is a someone who is more prone to nurturing and caring for the ideas that were generated around her. She takes care and makes sure that the things that were set in motion receive the regular nourishment and sustenance that will keep them going.
Here are some typical interpretations of the Queens in the Tarot court:
- She is a mature woman who nurtures and cares. She is loving and giving and can be motherly.
- Queens come up in a reading to depict the presence of feminine energies. These can be in the shape of female friends, or friends who have such loving personalities.
- In the King’s Court, the Queens are very loyal to their Kings. In the real world, these women are devoted to the males / people with such male energies around them.
- Queens are linked with the element of Water. Water signifies feelings, emotions, creativity and intuition. The Queens contain all these traits that are then expressed through their different actions in keeping with their suit elements.
In this manner, the Queens signify the stage of nurturing and caring, which is very essential in order to take the idea towards maturity.
Now, let’s look at each of the Queens in detail.
Queen of Wands
Personality
The Queen of Wands is the Water of Fire. She is the mixture of emotion and passion. She loves to nurture, but she can also be very aggressive too. She is a caring and giving woman, but she can also be very independent and spirited.
This is a lady who is very warm hearted and giving. She is attractive and assertive while being generous and authoritative at the same time.
Dress
The Queen of Wands sits on a throne wearing a golden / yellow dress that symbolizes the warmth of her suit’s element: Fire. She holds a wand in one hand and a sunflower in another.
Sunflowers always turn towards the Sun – they represent a very deep level of devotion. And a Queen of Wands can be quite devoted!
With her warmth and deep understanding nature, she also has that kind of a power that makes people turn towards her for warmth and understanding. The cat sitting at her feet symbolizes her deep feminine and feline nature – she can also be very creative and intuitive.
Compared to all the other Queens, the Queen of Wands sits with her legs spread apart – a sure sign of an aggressive, masculine approach towards things in life. She is a go-getter.
Surrounding
Just like all the Court Cards in the suit of Wands, she sits in the middle of a desert, surrounded by sand dunes.
This desert is the representation of the fire and passion that surround her like an aura. She brings warmth into any room that she enters.
Upright Interpretation
So when the Queen of Wands comes up upright in a reading, we can say that:
- Someone who is warm and generous, aggressive and assertive, and creative and giving at the same time.
- Someone who is displaying such personality traits in the given surrounding situation.
- A woman who likes to take control, and aggressively pursues what she wants.
- Someone who is very passionate and can even be a tad dramatic in her approach of life.
- Someone who is very confident and enterprising.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Reversed Interpretation
However, when the Queen of Wands comes up reversed in a reading, we can say that:
- Someone who is temperamental, controlling, dominating and self centered. She can be jealous, moody and intolerant.
- Someone who is behaving in such a fashion in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is prone to too much drama in their regular lives.
- She can be too pushy, too catty, too proud and quick to get angry.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Queen of Swords
Personality
The Queen of Swords is the Water of Air. She is a combination of feelings and logic. She loves to think, to ideate, and to conceptualize. She also loves to care for and nurture the ideas and concepts that she has thought up. She can be detached and clinical in her observations of all things around her.
Since logic rules her every move, the Queen of Swords can appear to be very distant. However, she might have gone through some very difficult paths in her life to become this way.
Although she is open minded and clear thinking, there is a line you just don’t cross with her. ‘Cause if you do, she’s gonna whip out that sword and cut you down with her precise and keen words. This is a lady who has absolutely no patience for BS. ?
Dress
If you observe, the Queen of Swords wears a cape that has clouds on it. Plus there are a bunch of butterflies on her throne and on her crown. It seems as if she has the ability of converting the confused mass of cloudy thoughts into something really creative and beautiful.
Notice the threads around her wrist? It seems as if she has broken a few bonds / rules / conventions in her past. She is definitely someone who has come up the hard way.
Surrounding
Around her, the wind does not blow all that hard. The thoughts don’t come in gusts – they are steady and clear. Even the clouds don’t reach up to her head! In the sky, we can see a single bird flying.
She has taken the idea and converted into something solid, sustainable and creative.
Upright Interpretation
So now, when we get an upright Queen of Swords in our reading, we can say:
- Someone who is very aloof, with a detached approach to life. She is very frank, clinical and keen.
- Someone who is displaying such personality traits in the situation around her.
- Someone who is very self reliant and independent.
- She is very open-minded, logical, creative, and can easily develop strategies.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Reversed Interpretation
When the Queen of Swords turns up reversed in your spread, then you can say:
- Someone who is opinionated, domineering, finicky, belittling, and unyielding.
- Someone who shows such personality traits in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is confused and unable to think straight and clearly. The lines become blurred.
- She can be hurtful, unkind and sharp tongued. She can also become very calculating and demanding.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Queen of Cups
Personality
The Queen of Cups is Water of Water. She is the embodiment of all that the element of Water has to offer, personality-wise. She is emotional, creative, feminine and a dreamer.
She loves to nurture and take care, and is a very romantic person. She can be shy, but she is emotionally quite sensitive.
Dress
The Queen of Cups has a pattern of waves on her cape. Emotions motivate and dominate this person. Feelings are of paramount importance.
Sometimes, however, she may tend to hide her feelings, or keep them suppressed for fear of them bubbling over. In the picture of the RWS Queen of Cups, her cup is closed – which to me often talks about suppressed, hidden or pent up emotions.
Surrounding
If you notice, the Queen of Cups sits right next to the water body. The pebbles on the beach are colorful and her throne is decorated with shells.
She likes creative, nice looking things. Delicacy appeals to her. She is very open and sensitive – sometimes to the point of being very vulnerable.
Notice her throne covered in sea-shell motifs and baby mermaids. She likes to take her feelings and emotions and delve deep into them. These inevitable form the basis of her creative endeavors. Her vulnerability is actually her deepest strength.
Since she is part of the Suit of Cups, her element Water dominates her surrounding.
Upright Interpretation
When the Queen of Cups appears upright in a reading, we can say:
- Someone who is very sensitive, emotional and feelings oriented.
- A person who is displaying such qualities in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is very creative, or interested in the creative fields.
- She is gentle and caring and nurturing.
- She appears to be very mysterious.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Reversed Interpretation
However, when the Queen of Cups pops up reversed in a reading, we can say:
- Someone who is hypersensitive and maudlin.
- Someone who is displaying such traits in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is going through a nervous breakdown.
- Someone wishy-washy.
- Someone who is unfocused, lazy and disorganized and unrealistic.
- Someone who uses emotions to take advantage.
- Presence of such a woman / person in your life.
Queen of Pentacles
Personality
The Queen of Pentacles is Water of Earth. Thus, she is a combination of emotions and practicality. She is someone who has struck a very interesting balance between her feelings and her materialistic desires.
She creates an environment of emotional and material security around her. She can be someone who is a great full time mother who also holds down a top-level full time job in the corporate world as well. She is organized, practical, and capable and loves her creature comforts. She can be a very nurturing person and can be very tender and caring.
Dress
She wears red and green – the colors of passion and nature. On her throne, we see a lot of fruits — a very symbolic representation of ‘being fruitful’. The Queen of Pentacles is a very capable person – she can really manage money and take care of the resources to deliver the maximum benefits. She is not money minded, but she does have an eye on the ball. ?
Surrounding
All around the Queen of Pentacles, we see the bounty of Nature. She loves being around plants and flowers. The little rabbit running around is a symbol of fertility.
Upright Interpretation
When the Queen of Pentacles comes upright in a reading, we can say:
- A practical, no-nonsense woman who is very nurturing and caring.
- Someone who shows such qualities in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is hardworking and also loves having fine material things around her.
- A person who is equally ‘at home’ in her garden, in her kitchen, and in the corporate boardroom.
- A work-from-home mother. A small business owner. A home-based business owner.
- A resourceful and pragmatic person, who can also be traditional and well organized.
- Presence of such a person / woman in your life.
Reversed Interpretation
However, if the Queen of Pentacles turns up reversed in a reading, we can say:
- Someone who has lost the delicate balance between emotions and practicality – either side may have won.
- Someone who shows such personality traits in the surrounding situation.
- Someone who is overly possessive of her material belongings.
- Someone unable to find the balance between work and home.
- Unable to manage her home-based business.
- Someone who is unwilling to adapt, and wants everyone to adapt to ‘her way’ of doing things.
- Presence of such a person / woman in your life.
Thus we can see that the Queens bring in a very interesting mature and feminine energy into the equation of the Court Cards’ hierarchy.
Your Turn…
Have you encountered these Queens in your life? What have been your experiences like? Any particular characteristics that remained stuck in your mind?
Do you identify with one (or more) of these Queens yourself? Which one(s)?
What did you think about these interpretations? Is there anything that I have missed out on?
Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
