Western Tarot symbolism
Queen of Cups
The main account presents a woman seeming to see visions in a cup, but insists that she acts as well as dreams. It attaches loving intelligence, vision and wisdom to the card's upright meanings. Its reversed accounts already vary, and the additional list introduces further moral judgements and marriage assignments. Those descriptions reflect the period's gendered divinatory vocabulary.
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In the sources
The card account
LiteraryThe main account presents a woman seeming to see visions in a cup, but insists that she acts as well as dreams. It attaches loving intelligence, vision and wisdom to the card's upright meanings.
Comparing the lists
LiteraryIts reversed accounts already vary, and the additional list introduces further moral judgements and marriage assignments. Those descriptions reflect the period's gendered divinatory vocabulary.
Context & interpretation
The active library scan carries L. W. de Laurence’s name and reproduces material associated with A. E. Waite’s Tarot exposition. This entry follows that supplied edition’s card prose and supplementary lists. Historical divinatory assignments and period character labels are distinguished from the pictured symbolism and from independently supported judgements about people or future events.
Original passages
Source 1
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
her activity feeds her dream. Divinatory Meanings: Good, fair woman ; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence theOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, supplied de Laurence edition; card description, active reader leaf 107
Exact supplied-edition extracted passage actually read; whitespace-normalised quotation anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Image descriptions attributed to printed prose; no new full-plate visual inspection asserted.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0107
- Original scan leaf
- 113
- Recorded leaf number
- 113
- Current Reader position
- 107
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
Queen.—Sometimes denotes a woman of equivocal character. Reversed: A rich marriage for a man and a distinguished one for a woman. Knight.—A visit from a friend,Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: The Illustrated Key to the Tarot, supplied de Laurence edition; additional meanings, active reader leaf 150
Exact supplied-edition extracted passage actually read; whitespace-normalised quotation anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Image descriptions attributed to printed prose; no new full-plate visual inspection asserted.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0150
- Original scan leaf
- 156
- Recorded leaf number
- 156
- Current Reader position
- 150
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Ace of Wands
A hand from a cloud presents the suit's single stout wand.
Shared source pageEight of Wands
Flying wands carry the numbered suit into an image of swift motion.
Shared source pageFive of Wands
Five youths brandish staves in a scene described as mock combat.
Shared source pageFour of Wands
A garland joins four foreground staves beside a bridge and a house.