When you ask about love

Really,  asking about love is one of the most common questions I get,  and the cards are so accurate when it comes to feelings.   

I did a reading a while ago (I never give real times or names,  to protect your privacy,  but I do give the real cards)  and the woman drew -  

Wheel of Fortune / Queen of Cups / 6 of Swords / Ace of Cups

So there's a journey here.  She's spinning right now,  the wheel is moving,  it could stop anywhere,  but at least it's change.  She's not stagnating.  There is a warning about the Queen of Cups,  who can sometimes get lost in her own dreams/ desires and not look around clearly enough.  And then there is the sadness of the 6 of swords,  a moving on with sorrow.  No one wants these cards! But all this difficulty leads to the Ace of Cups,  the card she really does want,  a yes to love,  a yes to emotional intimacy. 

So the message for her was,  she needs to go on this journey,  she needs to let go of some of her dreams/ fantasies,  she needs to let go of her past relationship and really let herself move on.  I tell people that the 6 of swords is a moving on with sorrow,  but at least it's not being stuck with sorrow!  And then,  and only then,  once this hard work is done,  does she get what she really wants. 

People sometimes get upset with this kind of news - they want what they want,  but they don't want to do the hard work to get it.  And then it won't happen.  The cards and karma are relentless like that.  And she looked into my kind tired eyes and saw that there was no escaping the work of letting go of the Queen of Cups and the 6 of swords,  but it would be worth it.  And she sighed and agreed.  

(These disney tarot cards are cute,  but I wouldn't read with them,  they didn't feel serious/nuanced enough.  Though I did like Ariel as Queen of Cups,  a girl willing to give up her voice in order to get her legs,  is a girl who needs to look at the costs of her dreams!)  

Beauty

I had a reading a while ago for a young woman who was genuinely beautiful.  I don't mean sweet and nice,  but head turningly gorgeous.  Not an issue I've had to deal with in my own life.  But I could see,  while talking to her,  that it wasn't a total gift.  Of course,  certain things are easier,  when you are beautiful.  You are more memorable,  people give you advantages and gifts.  But people may also want things from you,  and you are not sure of their motives. And then,  people may fall in love with you... 

A very nice young man had strong feelings for her,  and she was feeling guilty because she didn't love him back. But I looked at her and said, you are not a doll on a shelf to be bought with the most love.  His feelings are his to deal with,  you don't have to reciprocate and you don't owe him anything other than a kind but firm no.  She looked at me surprised and then nodded,  sometimes she did feel like a doll that men yearned to own,  and it was hard to say no to what felt like genuine feelings on their part,  but weren't there on her side.   Just because some one offers you something, even if it something genuine,  you are not obligated to take it.  

Queen of Cups

 When you look at the Queen of Cups, the woman entranced with the fantastical cup that she has created, it is a warning from the cards not too get too lost in your own thoughts, to make sure your fantasies match reality. 

 But that can sound a bit judgmental.  I found this amazing mosaic by Irina Charny,  (I just love her work!) and to me it just looked like the Queen of Cups.  Here the Queen is losing herself in her own music,  and that just felt to me like a much more loving way of viewing her.  

 I just have to edit this because I saw this beautiful Queen of Cups by Robert Scott - the artist whose deck I bought through Kickstart a while ago (he's yet to finish it,  but it's definitely going to be worth the wait!)

and this is what he writes about her:
"The Queen of Cups represents the role of water in the context of water; the emotional center of the court cards. She is kind, affectionate and comforting. She is perfectly accepting - receiving others without judgement of any kind, and stands for calm reflection and introspection. She is the queen of the still pond, the surface of which is a mirror. The Queen's own nature is hard to grasp, for when you gaze into her depths, you only see yourself."

Lots of queens

I’ve gone through the cards individually and am now looking at what groupings of cards mean – what does it mean if you draw lots of queens? Drawing lots of any card intensifies the message of each individual card. If you draw lots of Queens it can mean that there are a lot of women in your life, or a lot of feminine energy. It may mean you want more male energy to balance all these Queens or that each queen is a different aspect of yourself.



The Queen of Wands is fiery and sensual, The Queen of Swords is intellectual and can be cutting, the Queen of Cups is intuitive and empathic and the Queen of Pentacles is grounded and nurturing. And all these Queens relate to the Empress, who is fertile with possibility. I always stress that the court cards are really complex and need the context of your individual reading to make true sense of them. (of course, that applies to all cards, but court cards in particular!)

Queen of Cups

The Queen of cups gazes into the fantastical cup she has created. She has all the beautiful cups qualities we’ve met before – she is loving, nurturing and empathic. But she can also have the cups frailties: she can be hypersensitive, volatile, needy. Often a healer, counselor or psychic, this is a woman who seems to know what's wrong even before you open your mouth. I read somewhere that Princes Diana was a perfect Queen of Cups, and that really crystallized this card for me.

I always tell people when they get this card that this woman needs to look up and see what is going on around her, rather than gazing so raptly into the cup of her own making. She is capable of great emotional depth but has to be careful not to fall into her own fantasties.

The Inner Child cards show the Queen of Cups as the witch Glinda the Good from the Wizard of Oz. I read her more as a fairy godmother – incredibly, magically helpful, but also with strange controlling limitations (why did Cinderella’s carriage turn back into a pumpkin at midnight, why couldn’t it have retained its form for the entire night? You can see I’ve given way too much thought to that fairy tale, but the limitations of the fairy godmother always interest me… )