Minor Arcana, the Cups

Queen of Cups

The Queen of Cups sits on a carved stone throne at the very edge of the sea in the version Pamela Colman Smith drew in 1909, a jewelled gold crown on her head. She gazes down at a tall, ornate cup with a lid, held low over her knees, and small carved children sit on the throne all around her.

What Waite wrote it means (1910)

Divinatory meanings: Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother.
Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonour, depravity.

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London, 1911), p. 200. Read it in the chapter

Beautiful, fair, dreamy—as one who sees visions in a cup. This is, however, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream.

Waite's description of the card, from the same book.

What's in the picture

The lidded cup. Her cup is the only one in the suit with a lid. It is shaped like a little church, with a cross on top, and two small winged figures perch on its arms as handles.
Her gaze. Her face, in profile, is turned down toward the cup. Waite called her one "who sees visions in a cup".
The crown. Her gold crown is set with round jewels and sits over braided fair hair. A red jewel fastens her robe at the throat.
The hands. Both hands hold the cup's foot, low over her knees, instead of lifting it up.
The sea children. Small carved children sit on top of the throne at both corners. Low on its side, a third child among wavy lines like water raises one arm.
The shell. The back of the throne curves over her head in dark ribs, like the inside of a large shell, framed by a pink stone arch.
The robe. Her long white robe is drawn with wavy blue lines, as if water were running through the cloth. Near her feet the lines run on into the real water.
The pebbles. At her feet the shore is covered in round coloured pebbles, green and orange, on yellow sand. The water comes right up to them on the left.
The far shore. Across the water on the left stands a pale cliff with a green top, under an open blue sky.

The card in brief

In the deck: Card 49 of 78
Arcana: Minor Arcana, Cups
Number: Queen
Element (Golden Dawn): Water
Title in Book T: The Queen of the Thrones of the Waters
Drawn by: Pamela Colman Smith
Planned by: Arthur Edward Waite
Published: London, William Rider & Son, 1909
Scan: Pam-A printing, c. 1910, Wikimedia Commons

In the old books

Book T (1912)
A Very beautiful fair woman like a crowned Queen, seated upon a throne, beneath which is flowing water wherein Lotuses are seen. Her general dress is similar to that of the Queen of Wands, but upon her crown, cuirass and buskins is seen an Ibis with opened wings, and beside her is the same bird, whereon her hand rests. She holds a cup, wherefrom a crayfish issues. Her face is dreamy. She holds a lotus in the hand upon the Ibis.
She is imaginative, poetic, kind, yet not willing to take much trouble for another. Coquettish, good-natured underneath a dreamy appearance. Imagination stronger than feeling. Very much affected by other influences, and therefore more dependent upon dignity than most symbols.
Book T, “A Description of the Cards of the Tarot”, The Equinox I.8 (London, 1912), pp. 163–164. See the source
Papus (1892)
A fair woman, a friend. The woman loved. The Mistress.
Papus, The Tarot of the Bohemians, tr. A. P. Morton (London, 1892), p. 312. See the source