The Essential Tarot Queen

Published by Alison Cross on

So the Knights are clanking around in their armour, fighting for whomever they agree with THIS week….the Pages are running upstairs and downstairs, all excited at the newness of the world in which they find themselves.  What about the Tarot Queens – where do they find themselves historically in this box of jewels that we call the Tarot Court?

Back in the day, women were handy to have around in much the same way as it’s good to have all your chessmen on the board: Daughters were useful for marrying off into strategic alliances, wives were good for bringing legitimate offspring to the game.

Valued as equals? Not really.

If you read through the lists of Queens from late Medieval to mid Renaissance Europe, there were very few who ruled alone, by design.  Oh sure, there were some exceptions (Elizabeth I).

And some Queens were widowed into power, but the majority of perfectly clever and able young Queens were used as pawns in power games and had to develop ingenious ways of cultivating and exerting their power. Most commonly they exerted their power through a man: their husbands (as a Queen), their brother or their children (as a Queen Mother or a Regent) or through their own court culture.

Queens were acutely aware that their power could be thwarted – by death, divorce, a lack of male offspring, the arrival of a new daughter in law, a Prince coming of age. Thwarted.  That’s a great word. I think I’ll use it more often.  Our Tarot Queens are emotionally attuned to their situation and are experts in successful interdependency πŸ™‚

Even the glorious Eleanor of Aquitaine got married.  Twice. She was one hell of a gal as this excerpt with Sian Phillips as Eleanor  in ‘Ivanhoe’ shows.  I would be totally terrified if this woman was my mother, never mind my Queen.

For me, this roundabout way of finding and expressing power defines the difference between the energy of the Tarot King and that of the Tarot Queen. The Queen must create and manage the outlets for her own abilities – this is why Queen energies are associated with teaching and helping others.  To illustrate – The Queen energy is the TEACHER of music, the King energy is the MUSICIAN.

Yes, even though the Queen is a perfectly good musician herself, she is somehow channelling that energy in a non-direct way.  If she was the musician herself, she’d be a King.

From history, we see Queen energy is:

  • Teacher
  • Helper
  • Guardian
  • Covert Power (as opposed to ‘overt power’, rather than anything sinister – like House of Cards)
  • Interdependency

What’s your take on the energy of the Queens?


Alison Cross

The Tarot's Court Cards are my specialist area.Β  They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ....

2 Comments

Alison Cross · 17th February 2014 at 2:16 pm

Thwarted is a great word. I've actually used it in a facebook post that I've scheduled for next month. I wonder how often I can sneak it in without the page owners realising?! lol! Those are great words for Queen energy btw πŸ™‚

Ellen · 17th February 2014 at 1:22 pm

My queens are also creative, mature, persuasive, intuitive, understanding. One queen perhaps more then the other but I think every one has some amount of these qualities.
I had to look up Thwarted πŸ˜€ I

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