The Weekend Tarot Reading … on Monday — July 8, 2013

By Sarah Taylor

The Queen of Wands cuts an interesting figure. She seems demure, and yet as the feminine guardian of fire she is wholly at home in her erotic energy; her expression is peaceful, impassive, even — yet she is flanked and backed by four lions, two teeth-bared, two sparring, and a single black cat. Is she a witch? She certainly holds the makings of a broom.

If the Queen is a wise woman who is at ease with who she is, then she is a witch. If she is a person who understands the necessity of balancing spirit and nature, then she is a witch. If she is someone who embraces the feminine instinct, even when it calls forth the darkness, then she is a witch.

The Queen has reached a stage in her own evolution where she has integrated the three stages of the feminine: she is maiden, ready to birth; she is mother, nurturer of her children; she is old woman, whose voice is her own.

As co-ruler of the suit of fire, she knows that the fire within and the fire outside are interdependent: life needs her creativity, and creativity needs to be sustained by life. The sunflower that she holds is not rooted in the ground, but in her. It’s as if they both feed each other. The black cat symbolises the intuitive part of her nature: a somewhat untameable and indefinable quality that has its own laws. Black cats are mysterious, sometimes a source of superstitious fears. That black cats are associated with witches says more about how we see these two creatures than it does about who they really are.

Both black cat and witch are the disowned feminine who has been consigned to the darkness. In the Queen of Wands, dark and light are integrated: the cat sits, at home, at the Queen’s feet; the sunflower represents the body of light after which it is named — but here it is in its feminine form, bound up in the vestments of the natural world.

I see the Queen of Wands as the more human embodiment of the archetype of Strength. Both are linked to the zodiac sign of Leo, but whereas Strength refers to a pure state that is impossible to draw into us completely — we cannot become an archetype — the Queen’s life is an honouring of the archetype. This is important as we consider the two cards that flank her, because she is the key to the reading; it is her wise, creative power that enables her to shed the light of discernment on both. Notice, too, how she interacts with them: how cards interrelate is as telling as their separate interpretations.

The Nine of Cups is the card at left. I often refer to it as the ‘smug’ card, and I see it no differently this week. I cannot ignore the self-satisfied smile on the merchant’s mouth, the way he shields his heart with his hands, his elbows and knees spread much like some creatures ‘puff’ themselves up to look more imposing than they are.

Cups are emotions — often they are the ‘suit of love’ in the tarot — and here the merchant is potentially blessed with a large number of them, and yet instead of interacting with them, he has them on display. “Look, but don’t touch.” He reminds me of the man in the Four of Pentacles, holding on to what he has for dear life, but to the detriment of his own, for he is unable to move anywhere. When we let go of love as a possession, it can then fly free as the Ten of Cups, which celebrates the resultant inner marriage — a dance of liberation.

For now, though, there is a sense of something needing to move in order to get the energy flowing again — the merchant is staying put; so are the cups. How the energy flows lies in the interaction of the Queen with the Nine.

Look at the way her body is turned from the scene to her left (as us, facing the card), her wand held against it as if casting the authority of her creativity as a spell in service to allowing the card no influence on her. The Queen’s wisdom draws a clear boundary. It allows the Nine of Cups to be what it is while she gives herself the space to be who she is separate from it. She is not interested in love for show.

On the other side, however, it is as if the Queen is offering the sunflower she holds to the figure in the Five of Cups. It feels like an act of grace and empathy — a giving of herself in a way that doesn’t diminish her. There is a quote from the Text of A Course in Miracles that comes to my mind when I see the Queen of Wands and the Five of Cups side-by-side.

Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. They are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less.

The Five of Cups can be a more difficult card to consider than the Nine of Cups — and yet there is an authenticity to the emotions (the Five) that isn’t available when one separates oneself from them (the Nine). The figure in the Five of Cups is hunched over in an act of grieving. Yet here, the cups are spilled at the feet of the Queen, who in turn offers the light and nourishment of a sunflower. There is solace.

There is also something else: the Queen is looking towards the figure, but not at the figure. She is offering something to him, and also looks beyond him. Solace and comfort, but disinterest (which is not the same as ‘uninterest’ — it’s worth looking the two up).

And the reason for this? Perhaps it is because the Queen sees past the figure’s immediate focus, and into the space that lies behind him, and off the card. This is the terrain that we reach through the two cups that stand at his back. They have his back. They are leading elsewhere, away from his current feelings. The Queen can see this. In her wisdom, she sees the bigger picture.

In spite of this, my attention returns to the Queen as the most important aspect of this reading. She is the calm, assured, integrated centre of a reading that is enclosed by contrasting emotions. She, like the cat, is unruffled, neither self-absorbed in smugness nor in sadness. She is centred, whole, a creative force that radiates. This is the energy that draws me back; it is a drawing back to Self.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Nine of Cups (Jupiter in Pisces), Queen of Wands (the watery aspect of fire), Five of Cups (Mars in Scorpio)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.