Queen of Cups

Minor Arcana · Cups · number 13 · Regina di Coppe

Upright

The Queen of Cups sits by the sea and gazes into her cup: a good, honest, devoted woman, with that loving intelligence that becomes almost vision. Waite calls her a perfect spouse and a good mother. She may be a real person who supports you, or the part of you that feels things before understanding them. If these days you are trusting an intuition, in love or at work, it is no accident: it is right. The card promises success, happiness, pleasure. The practical advice: listen to those who truly care for you, and allow yourself to look after someone without asking for anything in return.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage

«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

Reversed, the Queen of Cups is ambiguous, and Waite admits it: the accounts vary. She may remain a good woman, or be a distinguished woman not to be trusted, even vice and depravity. If these days a fascinating person draws you in and makes you uneasy at the same time, it is no accident: the cup may hold poison as easily as wine. In love, beware of emotional manipulation; at work, of those who use intimacy to extract information. It is an invitation to look past the charm. The practical advice: do not confide secrets to someone you have known briefly, and judge by actions, not by tears.

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage

«The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonour, depravity.»

Source

Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) Part III, § 2, The Lesser Arcana, Queen of Cups https://archive.org/details/a.-e.-waite-the-pictorial-key-to-the-tarot