MINOR ARCANA

Queen of Cups Tarot Meanings

The Queen of Cups is like the Queen of our emotional selves. She is the nurturer of our spiritual and emotional world and helps to remind us that self-compassion and allowing emotion to flow uninterrupted can be the most important gift we give to ourselves. Of course, she’s not always love and light, sometimes her emotions can make her act irrationally or be unable to see the logical, level-headed side of an argument.

The Queen of Cups is the card that tells us to look to our emotional world and spend some time caring for it. If we have a problem we’re struggling to solve, then the Queen of Cups indicates that we need to take a step back and assess how we feel and be accepting of those emotions in order to find the answers.

Queen of Cups Upright Meanings

In the upright position, the Queen of Cups is pure self-love and compassion. She is a card that is all about nourishment and vulnerability. Some of the key meanings of the Queen of Cups are:

Nurturing self
Self-love
Nourishment
Complete openness

In a lot of ways, the Queen of Cups is the mother figure of the tarot. Although there’s a lot of similarities with The Empress, the Queen of Cups is more about parenting the self, being open and vulnerable so that deep emotional connection can be formed and an exchange of love can flow easily.

Queen of Cups Reversed Meanings

In the reversed position, the Queen of Cups can move too far into that watery world of emotion, causing her to become sensitive and moody. The emotion she governs starts to overpower her and cause her intuition to be blocked. Some of the main reversed meanings of the Queen of Cups are:

Overly-sensitive
Blocked intuition
Smothering
Spiteful

In the reversed position, the Queen of Cups can easily become emotionally abusive or manipulative. Something we will often find ourselves inflicting upon our own wellbeing. Think about all those times you’ve been self-judgemental, or that voice in your head says horrible things to you. That’s the Queen of Cups in her reversed form.

Reading Queen of Cups in a Tarot Spread

Like all court cards, it’s best to approach the Queen of Cups as if she is a personality or mindset that is needed or that is already in play. See her as an injection of self-love and care that can help ease any pain or discomfort in a situation.

Of course, if the Queen of Cups feels more like an antagonist, it may be that the issue within the situation is being caused by unchecked emotions or irrational thinking. Check in with the internal world to make sure everything is balanced and things aren’t spinning out of control due to emotional impulses.

Queen of Cups as An Invitation

When the Queen of Cups appears as an invitation, it’s to delve into those deep murky waters within and just immerse yourself in what you find there. Don’t put up any walls, allow yourself to be vulnerable and for emotions to flow organically.

For Queen of Cups, this invitation could be the following:

An invitation to take some time out to show yourself some TLC
An invitation to do something that nourishes the body and soul, whether it’s exercise or a nutritious meal, do something that benefits your wellbeing
An invitation to drop any walls you’ve built and be vulnerable with those around you
An invitation to assess your emotions and make sure they aren’t causing you to act out of character

Queen of Cups as Sage Advice

The advice that the Queen of Cups offers is very similar to the kind of advice you would expect to get from a nurturing mother figure. She is there to comfort and reassure you.

Some advice Queen of Cups may offer is:

Always trust your intuition as it comes from a higher consciousness that is designed to steer you in the right direction
You can’t pour from an empty cup so make sure to always carve out time for yourself
Learn to trust those that are closest to you and open up to them when you’re struggling the most
If something happens to you to hurt your pride or your feelings, don’t stoop to cheap shots. Take the high road and act from a place of wisdom and maturity

Queen of Cups as a Lesson

A lot of the lessons that the Queen of Cups has to teach us are around treating ourselves as we treat others and also treating others the way we’d want to be treated. She is all about kindness, compassion, and love and shows us that we need to have an equal exchange with others in order to find balance.

Some lessons that Queen of Cups may offer you are:

A lesson in showing compassion to ourselves and to others
A lesson in managing our emotions and how much control we give them
A lesson in trusting our intuition and how to use it
A lesson in vulnerability and how to find it within ourselves

Queen of Cups as a Redirection

When the Queen of Cups appears as a redirection we are told to have a more caring approach, to be more understanding and open to things we may initially be very rigid against. To flow more openly and readily than we are at this moment.

As a redirection, Queen of Cups could symbolise a need to:

Be kinder to ourselves or to others that need it
Step back and allow things to progress naturally, don’t try to fix everything
Try to take a more objective view of the situation to avoid being too sensitive or taking things too personal
Open up instead of closing yourself off or trying to shrink away from the issue

Cups

The cups are the rulers of our emotional selves. They are the suit that tells us we need to look at our feelings, how we connect emotionally with other people and the outside world. The cups also help us to see where more emotion and feeling is needed, especially if there is a clear imbalance in the reading.

Having too many cups in a reading can indicate that emotions are high and you may need to implement a more grounded plan of attack to cut through it.

Queen of Cups Tarot Meanings - Elemental

Water + Water

The cups correspond with the elemental energy of water. The Queens also have an elemental energy of water, giving us a double water energy card.

This means we are dealing with an intense and powerful loving and compassionate energy. However this can also go a step too far and turn into obsession or overbearing tendencies if not kept in checked. The Queen of Cups is the ultimate nurturer but she needs a little help keeping things in check.

Queens

Queens within the Tarot deck are the nurturers of their suit. They want to make sure that you stay connected with matters of the heart in everything you do.

Queens can also play the role of mother in all its colours. This means it can be a compassionate and understanding mother, or a mother that feels she knows what’s best. Sometimes this type of mothering can feel overwhelming or suffocating, so it’s important to assess which other Tarot cards surround her and if they are supporting or conflicting with her.