Queering Tarot's Queens: Reclaiming Our Labor
Part four of four in the Queering Tarot’s Court Cards series. Check out part one, Queering Tarot’s Pages, here. Read part two, Queering Tarot’s Knights, here. Read part three, Queering Tarot’s Kings, here.
A black and white hand holding a scroll with a flower on a purple and pink grainy background.
When tarot lovers attempt to contextualize tarot's Queens, they often point to interiority.
Sources may say that Kings deal with the external world, leaving the Queens to think about the internal world. Modern tarot readers and scholars have attempted to upend this context. Some have disregarded the role of gender in tarot entirely.
I suspect that many of these attempts to "modernize" tarot come out of empathy, warranted or not, for tarot's Queens.
The main assumption about gender in tarot is that it must be prescriptive rather than observational.
I, unlike other contemporary tarot scholars, believe that tarot views conditions as they are. The archetypes are a thermometer. As conditions change, so too will the archetypes.Perhaps the archetypes will multiply.
We're not there yet.
I write this one year after the repeal of Dobbs. The ruling forces people, most of them women, to bear children whether they want to or not. It forces them to do labor, without material support, to aid a corrupt state.
That's the world we live in. Other people may want other things from tarot. I hope they get what they want from the cards. However, I turn to tarot for strategies and choices to make in the face of heavy opposition.
Look, I have been personally victimized by gender my whole life. I have lived across the gender spectrum, within Blackness. I have tried, failed, tried again, and only recently succeeded in having much needed gender surgeries. Like, no one can say that I love binary gender or whatever.
And yet, gender as a white supremacist construct, exists today in many of the same shapes it was created to hold. I can't bury my head in the sand and pretend that those oppressions don't phase me.
Tarot's Queens are an uncomfortable reminder of how far we haven't come. It's a discomfort that will exist until patriarchy is only a memory.
Labor & Labor
How do we understand tarot's Queens in a world that hates women and gender minorities? Can we do so while accepting that the Queens are neutral signifiers that we can apply to people of any gender and situations?
The older considerations of external versus internal power are helpful here.
Of course, the Queens speak to the labor of running a household. Yet, their power is more than the traditional sphere of influence open to women.
The Queens are asked to work behind the scenes, out of sight. They may come up when you're working to get things just right before announcing a project. You may find a Queen when you're nurturing an idea into something that works.
More than any other set of cards with a face, the Queens work.
Purpose With or Without Payment
The Queens show how work can align us with purpose.
The checks may not be rolling in yet. We may still be figuring out how to do what we set out to do.
When the Queens show up with a King in a non-romantic reading, power is on full display. There can be tension between those who do the work and those who talk about it. There can be a realization that those who get credit aren't always those who got things done.
Much of the work of life is unseen.
Workers sweep the streets at night while no one is watching. Babies grow to children due to the constant labor of their parents, often their mothers. Crops grow from the dark of the dirt and the mystery of the seed up towards the sun.
All this happens outside of our sight lines.
When the Queen is around, it's time to think of what you would do if you knew you couldn't fail. Such an answer always guides us closer to purpose.
Image: A Black person with vitiligo and curly hair smiling wearing a jean jacket. The text says "What's your liberation tarot archetype?" and "Take the Quiz" in lime green, On the computer screen in front of them is the Quiz
Queen of Wands
The Queen of Wands loves to be seen.
They're by far the most popular of the monarchs depicted in the court cards. The cat at her feet says they’re well aware of the dual nature of her power.
They're in touch with the power people see, for which they’re known. They're comfortable with the mysteries they are in touch with, as symbolized by the black cat.
They perform social labor, and grease the social wheels. I like to think of the Queen of Wands as the graceful power in their suit. The King of Wands goes everywhere thinking they're the shit. The Queen of Wands sits in that knowledge without having to rub it in everyone's faces. They simply know!
That's real power. It doesn't need to be bragged about or begged for. It just is.
Queen of Swords
The Queen of Swords is the only Queen not traditionally associated with reproductive labor.
In fact, they are historically called upon to talk about people who don't want children. They also represent single parents, witches, and infertile people.
They're also found at work. It is the Queen of Swords, not the King of Swords who beckons their subjects forward for counsel. They're as no nonsense as they come.
They're essential for those who want to speak truth to a crushing power. I find the spirit of the Queen of Swords when I must address a doctor dismissing my medical concerns, or a boss who won't pay me a fair wage.
Their work is honesty. They cut through the bullshit and aren't afraid of conflict. Good advice for any queer.
Queen of Cups
The Queen of Cups is a psychic softy.
They probably do the most work that they shouldn't. This can include their partner's and friend's emotional work. They may clean up messes other people made.
This is not great. All this messin' around can keep a misaligned Queen of Cups from their purpose.
In fact, these distractions are the point. I say this as someone extremely Queen of Cups coded. Many times, a Queen of Cups person has a destiny or purpose that's different from what they were told they should do.
They may be an artist, or an intuitive, or just someone built for a softer world than the one in which we live.
They're mission needs to be to find a way to let other people hold their own shit. They need to stop seeing themselves as a victim of what people put on them, and reclaim their ability to say "no"
Queen of Pentacles
The Queen of Pentacles is the most naturally purposeful Queen.
They'll pinch a penny 'til it screams. They are great small business owners. They know how to make things grow through careful attention.
When the Queen of Pentacles is around, all things run smoothly. But the Pentacles are a conservative suit. Not necessarily politically, but in temperament.
They aren't big on taking risks, even ones that would prove beneficial. There's something very stationary about the Queen of Pentacles. They're not always interested in making a project grow, so much as they're interested in making it last.
This can be important energy, or a stumbling block depending on what you're building. There are times to maintain, but also times to expand.
Make sure you're investing in the correct option for what you want.
Image: A Black person with vitiligo and curly hair smiling wearing a jean jacket. The text says "What's your liberation tarot archetype?" and "Take the Quiz" in lime green, On the computer screen in front of them is the Quiz
Further Thoughts
hey, i'm cyree jarelle. I run Temperance Queer Tarot. I help queers, feminists, and leftists connect with their intuition using tarot and cartomancy. More on me.