Tarot Talk
We have yet to talk about Court Cards, and the time has come. This month, we will talk about the Queen of Pentacles, but first a bit of ground work regarding the Tarot “royalty.”
A Tarot deck has 78 cards. There are 22 Major Arcana cards, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. There are 56 Minor Arcana cards that are customarily grouped into four categories or suits that represent the four elements (sometimes called “Pips” or “Pip Cards”), with numbers from Ace to 10; the Minors usually deal with day-to-day issues.
The Court Cards are actually a part of the Minor Arcana, acting as a representation of the family unit. Individually, the members of the Tarot Court represent particular personality traits, traits of people, places and events in our lives. These cards can also tell us about our own personality, and how it is perceived by others. Thinking of my Tarot cards as people, with each card having an individual personality, is one method I have used with success in order to connect with my cards. This is particularly appropriate for the Court Cards, as they are the most human of all the cards in a Tarot deck. Even the illustrations for the Court Cards show humans in the majority of Tarot decks. Generally speaking, there are three different ways that Court Cards can speak to us in a spread: they can indicate personality traits of our Seeker or someone affecting the Seeker; they can refer to actual individuals in the Seeker’s life, including the Seeker; and they can refer to the general aura or atmosphere of a place or situation.
Court cards offer us these descriptions of personality traits and of different ways of being or acting, so we can make use of these styles or avoid them, whichever is appropriate. Of course, the trick is to know which message is being given in a particular spread! One way to become more confident in determining this is to learn about the Court Cards themselves, and how the personality of each Court Card interacts with its particular suit. Many times if you break a particular Court Card down to its rank and correspondences, you will understand its message. Let’s get started.
Instead of numbers, Court Cards have rank. The lowest ranking Court Card is the Page, the messenger or intern or apprentice who is still learning of life and living, but who is also good at dealing with the unexpected. Next comes the Knight, the representation of strong, focused and even excessive manifestations of his suit.
Both the Queen and the King represent mature adults. The Queen manifests her suit in a feminine or yin or inner way, and the King manifests his suit in a masculine or yang or outer way. This manifestation does not necessarily correspond to gender; a man can be represented by a Tarot Queen if he has a strong inner focus, and a woman can be represented by a Tarot King if she projects a strong sense of authority. Since we are talking about the Queen of Pentacles today, we already know that our Queen will manifest her suit in an inner yet mature manner. Our Queen is not so much concerned with results as with the enjoyment of just being in the world and surrounded by her element. She is associated with feelings, relationships and self-expression, she is relaxed and natural. The Queen expresses her suit from the inside, setting the tone without imposing it; she embodies the qualities of her suit, rather than acting them out.
Our Queen’s suit is Pentacles. The suit of Pentacles (also called Disks or Coins) corresponds with the playing card suit of Diamonds, the cardinal direction of north, and the element of Earth. In its natural state, the element of Earth is cool and dry. Like Water, when amassed Earth has weight; it is able to bind together or shape the other elements. Water and Earth bind together to make mud, and a lake is shaped by the Earth that supports it. Earth energies are tangible, stable, and practical, and they are slow to change.
This suit is about the physical, earthly world, our physical bodies, and everything we need in order to maintain those physical bodies, including health and exercise. Pentacles cards talk about fertility, prosperity, and the wealth that can bring both physical shelter and mental and emotional pleasure. Pentacles cards can show a possible outcome or end result of our efforts, the product of our labors; they can give information about material manifestations of all kinds. These cards can represent discipline and diligence, and an interest in quality rather than quantity, but they can also indicate the influence of greed and avarice, and the lack of any ability to access or be aware of resources.
However, Earth is not the only element that corresponds to our Queen. In the Tarot Court, the suit of the card has an elemental correspondence, and the rank of the card has an elemental correspondence. Pages correspond with Earth, Knights correspond with either Air or Fire (depending on the deck), Queens correspond with Water, and Kings correspond with either Air or Fire (depending on the deck). Since we are talking about a Queen today, we are also talking about the element of Water.
In its natural state, Water is cool and wet. When amassed, it has weight, and it tends to gather or pool at the lowest place. Because of this tendency, Water creates its own roadways or channels, and it prefers to use those already-in-place channels if it can. Water is used for cleaning and purifying, and Water can be a carrier for other substances. For instance, we can dissolve salt or sugar into warm Water, and use that concoction for other things. A body of Water can be calm and deep, or it can be dangerously churning and filled with powerful currents.
All Queens represent the element of Water, as well as the element corresponding to their suit; this means that our Queen of Pentacles presents a Watery version of Earth. Water and Earth are friendly to each other; both are cold and both bind or hold things together, so they both support and encourage stability. You could say that the emotions (Water) support the physical senses (Earth). We know a lot about our Queen already!
Like the other cards of the Tarot, Court Cards have astrological correspondences. Our Queen of Pentacles corresponds with the cusp or joining point of the signs of Sagittarius and Capricorn. Sagittarius is a free spirit who is drawn to the truth, loves freedom, prefers to be optimistic, and is very spiritual in nature. Capricorn is determined, productive, ambitious and rule-oriented, and also quite sensual. All of these traits apply nicely to our Queen. Of course, Queens can manifest in an unbalanced way, too, and the Queen of Pentacles can be disorganized, rigid and unbending, pessimistic, or greedy.
Because they are Minor Arcana cards, Court Cards also correspond with a sephira on the Tree of Life. The Queens correspond with the sephira of Binah, along with the Threes of the Minor Arcana and the element of Water. The Queens sit at the top of the Pillar of Form; Binah, representing the Sacred Feminine and the Womb of Life, offers shadow and contrast, which in turn gives us shape and form. Binah restricts in order to provide a springboard, and that restriction can also be its downfall if it becomes greed. The energies of this sephira are the purest of receptive energies.
Let’s recap! The Queen of Pentacles presents Water of Earth. In many ways, this Queen manifests the energy of The Empress of the Major Arcana, but in a more approachable and accessible way. The Queen of Pentacles is very good at sustaining and nurturing all kinds of life. She is often materially wealthy, but she values the wealth she is surrounded with built through kindness and generosity more than any coin. This Queen can be very nurturing, possibly to the point of being stifling if that nurturing is unbalanced. Her goals are usually centered on the home, her family and loved ones, and on keeping them healthy and secure.
Our Queen represents people who are nurturing yet strong, people who enjoy being surrounded by cozy, warm and safe things and people. She represents those who have a knack for making others feel comfortable and safe and nurtured. She can represent a good business person who succeeds without hurting others, or a teacher who strives to light within her students that special spark of enthusiasm for learning and growth. The Queen of Pentacles can represent places that are nurturing and that foster healthy growth, such as hospitals or schools, and she can represent events or ideas that present opportunities for learning, for connecting with ourselves or with others, or that allow us to manifest a dream by building a healthy foundation.
The Queen of Pentacles is practical, approachable, and down-to-earth. She does not mind working hard, for her own benefit and for the benefit of those she cares about. She is good at manifesting dreams, and she has the patience and determination to make things happen. She prefers dealing with the expected and the known, and thus does not deal well with the unexpected. She may not be good at thinking outside of the box, and she may not like to take chances. Our Queen has no problem expressing her love, however, and she has simple yet important ambitions: honoring all life, ensuring the welfare of those she loves, the quality of the world around her, and the success of everything she focuses on.
And that, my friends, is the Queen of Pentacles!