The Queen of Cups is seen seated at her throne examining the decorative cup before her. There are cherubs carved into her throne, and she is surrounded by a mote of sorts. The queen pictured here is clearly daydreaming or pondering something in great detail as she seems distracted by the cup, its adornments, and its contents. The queen shown here is very romantically inclined and bit of a dreamer when it comes to love and relationships. She is creative, but quiet in her talents. The Queen of Cups is said to have excellent intuition, and is very attuned to her emotional side and the emotions of others. She can be a bit of a sap and often experiences tears, but these tears are not always related to sadness, but joy and rage as well. She can be seen as a participant in an affair and is extremely secretive about the goings on in her relationships. She is relaxed despite her surroundings and finds it easy to remain calm although she can be a gossip at times and cause unrest in others through this character flaw.
The court cards of each Minor Arcana Suit represent people, and the physical and astrological characteristics of a person as well. In the case of queens, there are astrologically significant details that should be made known. The queen of Cups is associated with the signs of Gemini and Cancer. The nature of the energy that is carried by the Queen of Cups is considered mutable for Geminis and cardinal for Cancers. This shows that these individuals are very accommodating and have the quality of flexibility in their energies when the individual being identified is a Gemini, and there is creative and ambitious energy within the Cancers described by the Queen of Cups. The elemental property of this particular queen, which is water energy, mixes with the energy of the suit she appears in: water energy. The Queen of Cups shows a doubling up of water energy, which embodies immersive energy. This indicates that the Queen of Cups in a spread is speaking to total immersion in emotional energy and thought. The physical characteristics often found to accompany a Queen of Cups individual include light eyes of grey, blue, or green, as well as dirty blonde to mid-level brown hair. It is advised that the querent pay attention to the woman depicted in the Queen of Cups that has these physical characteristics.
Although there is very little to go on in terms of an outright card meaning, the surrounding cards will be of immense influence and importance to the Queen of Cups and the interpretation of it.
The Queen of Cups in an Upright Position
The Queen of Cups in an upright position shows romantic love and where daydreams connect to the real world. The querent may be experiencing a relationship with someone they have always wanted to be with, and they are content to the point of tears about their new-found lover. This could also represent a woman who is finding herself fortunate enough to enjoy this experience. There is a feeling of , “It’s what I’ve always wanted!” in this card where the woman is extremely happy to have found the person she is after, and this may or may not be married man, which would depend on the surrounding cards and their meanings. Regardless of how she attains her cherished lover, the Queen of Cups shows a woman who gets very attached very easily and will be very hard to get rid of should the lover decide that the emotion is too much for them to handle. The woman depicted here is otherwise very kind and polite. Whenever a court card appears in a spread, it does not necessarily always signify a real human being, but a quality within the card that the querent needs to take up as part of his own persona or philosophies in order to experience growth and a better outlook on life.
The querent may be cautioned that such a woman is near. She may be the antithesis to the querent’s marriage, or be the querent themselves. Whatever the case, the querent would benefit by observing this card’s interpretations and evaluating how they deal with their emotions and relationships. The querent may be the emotional woman in the card or embody the very same qualities of kindness and a deep understanding of emotion. The querent may find that when they are in love, they are swept into a blinded and over-emotional situation where they cannot stop thinking of their lover. The querent may be very attached to their lover, or find that their lover is extremely attached to them. The Queen of Cups has an unending capacity for loving her romantic partners, and can show where the querent needs to utilize and take cues from the constancy demonstrated in this card.
The Queen of Cups in a Reversed Position
A reversal of a court card has an inverse meaning that corresponds with the court card it is attached to. The reversed version of the Queen of Cups doesn’t exactly show an opposite of her noble majesty. The interpretation here should focus more on the intensifying of the properties the Queen of Cups displays. The puddle she is surrounded by may be a puddle of her tears from over-emotional reactivity. The woman seen in the reversal of the Queen of Cups is seen as a wimp of sorts that often overreacts and is very needy emotionally. She may talk about her feelings too much and overdo many of her public displays of affection. It appears that this is really just her nature, but it may be pushing potential lovers away. She may get too easily attached and lovers may find her to be clingy and overbearing. There is separateness here that the woman shown is in need of. Otherwise she may find herself more commonly sitting amongst a pile of tears than in the arms of a lover, shedding tears of joy.
The querent may not encounter such a person, but they may need to examine where they are similar in terms of the qualities described in the interpretation of the Queen of Cups. The querent may need to give their lover some space, and find other ways of expressing emotion that do not affect others so much. The querent may need to stop gossiping about others and examine what they lack in themselves as opposed to pointing out the shortcomings of others. The Queen of Cups could also herald a time when the querent must work on their emotional self before pursuing the man of their dreams.
Key Terms
- Romance
- Dreams coming true in love
- Emotional outbursts
- Kindness and creativity
- Immersion