Queen of Cups - Intuition

The Queen is an influential, calm, stable, intuitive and compassionate figure. I love the description of this card in the hand book from the Mary Hanson-Roberts tarot deck."This queen drinks deeply from the cup of life."

This is one of my very favouite cards and for me I consider it to be an example of how I intend to live my life. For some, following one's intuition rather that their intellect as this queen represents, can be a daunting and frightening way of living, as there seems to be a lack of control and most people want to feel in control of their lives. We can have a modicum of control of our lives, in that we choose and control our own behaviours, no one else's.

I see letting go of control, as being a good thing, when it comes to life generally, because we can't control most things that happen in our lives. This has everything to do with acceptance, and living life on life terms and understanding the one constant in life is change, and we have to learn how to adapt to change.

            " Intuition is the treasure of a woman's psyche."

                                                        - Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Vasalisa The Wise - Egg Tempera - Catherine Meyers

Queen of Cups - "The Treasure of a Woman's Psyche"

I love the description of this beautiful Queen of Cups in the Essential Tarot by Rosalind Simmons who writes,
 "This queen drinks deeply from the cup of life." The queen of influence is calm, compassionate and intuitive.

Cups being connected to emotions, relationships, friendships and romance relates directly to this Queen, who lives her life based on her intuition instead of her intellect. There are many positive things about living this way, and it definitely has worked for me and continues to always be my default.

Understanding of course, that there needs to a balance between the intuition and intellect, sensing and paying close attention to what my intuition tells me, deepens my inner life. It's only when I don't pay attention to this it's then that I get into problems.

Especially in the past, I have found myself in circumstances with others, that are not healthy, and so I'm so grateful knowing today that I've a choice to live a better way. It doesn't mean I no longer make unhealthy choices, but I'm much better at making healthier choices.

Dr. Clarissa's Pinkola Estes says in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves, "Intuition is the treasure of a woman's psyche." Living intuitively doesn't mean becoming complacent and no longer pay attention because I've got it all figured out. Not at all the opposite is true. I strive everyday to pay attention to that intuitive creative spirituality, enabling me, much like the Queen of Cups me to 'drink deeply from the cup of life.'

Vasilisa The Wise - Catherine Meyers

Queen of Cups - The Red Tent

The Queens of Cups might bring to mind that awful mean Red Queen of Hearts that was in the story of Alice in Wonderland. She was a weird and scary one for sure. The Queen of Cups is nothing like that Queen fortunately. This Queen lives her life from the perspective in believing that it is better to be loved than to be feared, the polar opposite from the way the Red Queen of Hearts sees life.

I don't believe there are any solely good or bad cards in the Tarot decks. There is a positive and a negative to be found in life, and it is the same in the Tarot, because it is about the journey of life, told through the cards. The Queen of Cups can be self-indulgent and morally wayward if she lacks a development of her inner life that reflects her soul qualities.

I was happy to draw the Queen of Cups this morning. I see this card as an strong affirmation for me, as I identify so much with her, and the element of water. Being a person who has been involved in trusting, and deepening my intuition for many years now, I relate to the Queen of Cups, as I greatly value and follow my gut and my emotional intelligence over my intellect. During the times when I stopped trusting my intuition is when I went off the rails and lost my way.

Cups (Hearts)are represent the emotional, relationships, friendship and romance. The colour red is also associated with hearts, love, passion. In ancient societies red also symbolizes strength and female power.

Recently was told about The Red Tent which is now a growing contemporary movement based on the ancient tradition of women gathering during the time of their menses, or moon time, and women gather to support one another, their families, communities and the world at large. I can imagine the Queen of Cups sharing her strength and power through her own stories with her sisters all gathered to celebrate their strength and power, heart to heart in The Red Tent.

King of Wands - The Blueprint of Life

With the New Moon in Cancer, indicating emotional fulfillment. It is the astrological sign of the Great Mother, signifying intuition and emotion, brings with it on this day of the new moon, the King of Wands. It also brings to mind creative vocation and purpose, with lots of energy and growth.  It's rather like, finding  blue print of life in our life's journey.

The King of Wands is the Hero, a counterpart to the Heroine, embodied in the Queen of Cups. There is one very significant difference between Hero and Heroine. The Hero is looking back. The Heroine is looking forward.

According to Jungian, Maureen Murdoch, author of The Heroine's Journey, didn't feel that Joseph Campbell's book, The Hero's Journey addressed "the specific psycho-spiritual journey of contemporary women ."

Queen of Cups - ' This Is Love Not Fear '

The second Queen that has come up for me this week. The Queen of Cups is a very special one, because she is the Queen who represents the emotional life.

I am no intellectual. I do however have a deep thirst for knowledge, and life long learning, essential to my intellectual intelligence. Because I am person who has a stronger emotional intelligence, rather than intellectual intelligence, my emotional life is of great import to me.

 The workings of the inner life isn't about always wearing my emotion on my sleeve, but being able to know, understand and feel compassion, vulnerability and peace. I believe living a creative life is also manifested through emotional intelligence.

Today I saw this beautiful interview, done by Marie Forleo, with her mentor and Yoga teacher, Colleen Saidman. What she spoke about truly struck a deep a chord within me. I realized what she conveyed, was all that the Queen of Cups embodies and inspires, like the Queen of Cups, 'she allows beauty and sadness to touch her, as she knows this is love not fear.'

Queen of Cups - Emotional Intelligence

 Emotional intelligence is what the Queen of Cups possesses. She follows her intuitive, open heart before her intellect, and drinks deeply from the cup of life. Her emotional generousity defines her very loving nature. I wish more of us could be like the Queen of Cups.

Having emotional intelligence it has been said, is valued  by society. The reality is, it is not the primary manner in which the world is run, politically or socioeconomically. You don't have to look very far to see that we live in a world very lacking in this kind of intelligence. Governments in the Western world mostly provide lip service to the real needs of the individuals who are living with poverty, homelessness, mental illness, abuse, and a long list of other difficulties that so many struggle with everyday. I may sound jaded, but I am simply being realistic. Regardless I can certainly think of individuals who exhibit the character traits and values of the Queen of Cups, that I greatly admire, but still there are not enough of them. People who live life the way the Queen of Cups does I believe are seen as naive, foolish and fool hearty, leaving themselves open to being taking advantage of, headed for heartbreak, and nothing but folly. Living life drawing from emotional intelligence should not be equated with not using your intellect.

Reality is not all based on rational thought and concrete facts. There is much to learn from this beautiful Queen that we can all develop and deepen in our own inner lives and the depths of our souls.

One of the best books I ever read about rational and irrational thought  was Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance  by Robert Persig  as it changed my perception and my thought.

Queen of Cups - Emotion Vs Reason

I was once told I was like a ball of emotion. This isn't true. I am simply no longer afraid of my emotion, but I wasn't always this way. Today I am very grateful to be able express my emotion, because there was a time when I completely shut down my feelings for many years, and learned to do this at the age of five, due to my family circumstances.

 I also learned how unhealthy it is to suppress emotion as it eventually leads to repression, resulting in an inability to know you even have these feelings. It is if a steel door has been slammed shut where nothing gets out and nothing gets in.
Alcoholism is described as being a disease of the emotion. Being sober 20 years, I can attest to this.

The reason I love the Queen of Cups, is that she reminds me emotion is a good thing, balanced with reason. And like the Queen of Cups who relies on her intuition before her intellect. I believe this is a good way to live life. At some point we have to let go of reason, and make a leap of faith. We need to have faith in ourselves, in others, and a faith in the God of our understanding.

 I can't say feeling emotion is painless, because that would be far from the truth, unless I am crying tears of joy. More often than not, we experience emotion from painful things, like the death of a loved one. No one wants to feel pain. Our immediate response, and I will only speak for myself is fight or flight. In the past, I would want to take, what I thought, was the easier soft way, and run away. Thank goodness now, I strive to have courage in the face of fear. Having courage does not mean I am not afraid.

What if I don't believe in God, and what if I find it hard to have faith you ask? I remember it being said, that if you don't believe or have faith then borrow someone else' faith. That made a lot of sense to me, because others can give you if not a complete faith of your own, well it can at least give you courage to go on. Those who have been through worse things than ourselves, can inspire us to believe that if they can make it through, perhaps we can too.

People who have been through hard times in life, are often more compassionate, and can cry with those who weep. Like the Queen of Cups, they drink deeply from the cup of life, and are emotionally generous. They can impart this to others, so we in turn can pass it on, and give it away to others.
It is in giving that we receive.

This emotional generousity is compassion, and can make our world a better, kinder place, that will bring tears of joy, and the tears that heal.

Queen of Cups - ' Drinking Deeply From The Cup of Life '

Relying on her intuition before her intellect, The Queen of Cups ' drinks deeply from the cup of life. '
I identify strongly with this Queen, because of her capacity for deep feeling emotion. She embodies an open heart, intense passion, and heralds the deepening and the development of the inner life.

I have never been much interested in intelligence quotient, as I have come to believe that an emotional quotient is far more important in life. I say this because I had a living problem, living life on life's terms. From the early age of five I learned to suppress, and then repress my emotion. In doing so, resulted in developing what I'll call, a disease of the emotion, and my heart was closed up tight.

Being hurt was the very thing I feared, which inevitably, happened over and over again, and it became a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

After twenty years of hard learned lessons, I now have an open heart and I've  learned balance it with wisdom, which has enabled me, like the Queen of Cups, to drink deeply from cup of life, and for that, I am deeply grateful.

The Queen of Cups - The Feminine Heroine

Oh she's a grand lady, the Queen of Cups. She's loving, fertile and an emotionally generous woman. She drinks deeply from the cup of life. Her emotions and sexuality flow like water and both are intense. She lives in the inner world of feeling, bottomless and unfathomable. She is beautiful Helen of Troy, the women in the card of the Lovers. I like to think of her as a feminist, and understanding that the personal is political.

This card is very timely and fitting for me, as I am reading a book The Heroine's Journey that speaks of this Queen who represents the deepening and development of the ultimate feminine soul qualities of the individual, her inner life relies on her intuition before her intellect. The Queen of Cups lives the Heroine's Journey.

So much of our identity comes from our mother, in positive or negative ways. Society's perception of the feminine has been distorted, based on a masculine perception, both historically and culturally. This is often why so many women perceive themselves, without confidence or belief in themselves, and not wanting to fully embrace their real identity, because their identity is not masculine. Understanding the Queen of Cups within ourselves, can help us to embrace our real feminine nature.

The Heroine’s Journey by Nazim Artist

Queen of Cups - Intuition

The first and favourite book I read as a child, was Lewis Carroll's, Alice In Wonderland.
Yesterday with two of my favourite little friends I watched Tim Burton's 2010 film, that depicts Alice as an adult. It was very well done, and once again I was enchanted by the story.

 In the Lewis Carroll book, one of the most vivid characters I remember that I was disturbed by and fascinated with, was the Red Queen of Hearts. Her personality was mean, cruel, audacious and ridiculous. She was a nasty piece of work; full of resentment, jealousy, a megalomaniac and really has a predatory  nature. The mean Red Queen is like a  " natural predator of the psyche. "

There is a quote from the Red Queen when she said. " It is better to be feared than loved.” She was the exact opposite of the Queen of Cups of the Tarot, who is benevolent, intuitive and loving.  Her depth of feeling and imagination  is really unparallelled in many ways, to any other card, in that she drinks deeply from the cup of life, relying on her emotion before her intellect. Her emotion and sexuality are intense having water and the Zodiac sign of Scorpio, being the major influence. The Queen of Cups follows her gut instincts and intuition and her imagination is vivid, resulting in the expression of her strong creative spirit.

Bluebeard - Egg Tempera on Wood Panel - 12"x12", Catherine Meyers, 2011