This article is an excerpt from my new book, The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism, which can be preordered now. It will be here at the end of December and I will be mailing out the preorders on the last week of December and the first weeks of January, 2018.

The book is an updated and expanded version of my book, Alchemy and the Tarot, and my book, The Tarot, History, Symbolism, and Divination, which the American Library Association said may be the best book ever written on the Tarot. (The new book will be covering more than twice as much information as both books). It will contain numerous chapters on ancient magic and mysticism, updated information on alchemy and the history of the Tarot, and it will cover The Alchemical Tarot cards, but also The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery, the Waite Smith Tarot, and The Tarot of the Marseilles. And it will have basic information on the Lenormand deck.

To preorder the book go to this page:

New Book! The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Neoplatonism

The Queen of Cups

The Marseilles Queen of Cups sits on her throne under a canopy, with her
crown and scepter. She holds a large cup on her knee, and it is the only one
in the suit, other than the Ace, that has a lid. Although she is gazing intently,
she cannot see what is inside. It seems that she is contemplating a mystery.
Etteilla’s Queen of Cups is a similar figure with a sealed cup, but she is leaning
forward and more intensely staring at her cup. Etteilla calls her “a woman
above reproach.” Book T says that she is “imaginative” and “poetic.” Waite
agrees with Etteilla and calls Smith’s Queen a “good fair woman.” But he
also refers to her “as one who sees visions in a cup” (Waite, p. 200).

Smith’s Queen of Cups is influenced by the Sola Busca Queen of Cups,
who sits on her dolphin-armed throne, but also by the Marseilles Queen, with
her lidded cup. Smith’s cup is an elaborate gold vessel, with extensions holding
angels on each side and a lid surmounted by a cross. It looks like a Catholic
ciborium, the covered vessel that holds the hosts during the mass. As Waite
said, she is contemplating the contents of her cup and experiencing visions.
This Queen is clearly connected with Water and the Unconscious. Her
throne is facing the edge of the sea, and there is a fish lying on the ground by
the side. Her cape is decorated with waves and has a shell for a clasp. The
throne has a scallop shell carved at the top with fishtailed children supporting
it, and another carved on the side. They are Undines, the Water elementals.

On The Alchemical Tarot’s Queen of Vessels, a crowned mermaid, bearing
a sealed vessel, skims the surface of the Water. She is at home in her element.
Unlike the Lady of Vessels, she does not need to stand. She can swim and
she can travel below the surface. She is a relative of both the Knight of Vessels
and his fish. She carries her sealed vessel to its destination but has no need
to open it. She knows the vessel will open when the time is right. The hook
on the lid may be thought of as a question mark, denoting a mystery.

The Queen of Cups in The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery is intently
contemplating her cup resting on the table. The cup’s lid displays a seven-
pointed star, the symbol of the mystery. Instead of a subtle hint, there is an
actual question mark on the side of the cup. The Queen is pondering a mystery
but she is also comfortable with not knowing. A true mystery is not a riddle
but something that defies logic and explanation. The Queen knows that the
truth will be revealed in time or that it is not something that can be revealed.