The Queens: Modern RWS Tarot Card Meanings
The four Queen cards of the Rider Waite Smith tarot, (1909).
Queens: RWS Court Ranks explained
Queens are the internal masters of the tarot court. They represent the feminine, attuned, and self-aware embodiment of their respective Element.
Where the Pages are the spark and the Knights are the action, the Queens are the being. They have fully integrated their suit's energy and now embody it, influencing their surroundings through their presence rather than by force.
Historically, they are the mature rulers who govern from a place of wisdom and internal power. Psychologically, they represent a mature persona, an internal state of being, or a fully developed aspect of the self.
How to Read the RWS Queens in a Tarot Reading
As People (Querent or Others)
When a Queen appears in a reading representing a person, it often points to a mature individual (of any gender) who has mastered the qualities of their suit. This person's power is internal and magnetic. This is the charismatic and confident leader (Queen of Wands), the deeply empathetic and intuitive counselor (Queen of Cups), the sharp-witted and objective intellectual (Queen of Swords), or the nurturing and abundant provider (Queen of Pentacles). Unlike the action-oriented Knight, the Queen does not need to chase anything; their power comes from who they are, attracting what they need through their own well-developed character.
As Situations or Events
As a situation, the Queens represent the atmosphere, influence, or internal state surrounding the query. They are less about a single, fast-moving event and more about a sustained condition. The Queen of Wands brings an energy of confidence, charisma, and inspired leadership to a project. The Queen of Cups creates an atmosphere of emotional safety, compassion, and intuitive understanding. The Queen of Swords signifies a situation that demands objectivity, clear boundaries, and honest communication. The Queen of Pentacles points to a state of stability, nurturing, material abundance, and a connection to the physical world.
As Traits To Embody
When a Queen appears in the advice position, it is a call to be rather than to do. The card advises you to embody the internal mastery of the suit. The Queen of Wands asks you to be confident, to step into your charismatic power, and to lead with warmth. The Queen of Cups encourages you to trust your intuition, to be compassionate with yourself and others, and to lead with your heart. The Queen of Swords advises you to be objective, to set firm boundaries, and to speak your truth with clarity and authority. The Queen of Pentacles' advice is to be nurturing, to ground yourself, and to build a stable, comfortable, and generous life.
RWS Queen Card Meanings
Click on a Queen card to learn about its Rider Waite Smith meanings (upright and reversed) in depth.
Additional Notes: RWS Queen Rank
Waite's Divinatory Queen Rank Meanings
A.E. Waite, in his 1911 text The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, describes the Queens as mature female figures who personify the characteristics of their suit, often in relation to their environment or moral nature.
For the Queen of Wands, he states: "A dark woman, countrywoman, friendly, chaste, loving, honourable." For the Queen of Cups: "A fair woman, good, fair, and honest; beloved by... a good wife and mother." For the Queen of Swords: "A widow, sadness and embarrassment... mourning, privation, separation." And for the Queen of Pentacles: "A dark woman; opulence, generosity, magnificence... A woman of dark complex... a good, kind, readily."
Collectively, Waite's interpretations cast the Queens as archetypal women defined by their suit, representing different facets of mature femininity, from motherhood and loyalty to grief and opulence.
Astrological Correspondences: Golden Dawn vs Popular-Modern
The astrological associations for the court cards are complex, with two primary systems in use. In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, from which the RWS deck derives, the Queens were elementally associated with Water. They represented the "watery part" of their suit's element. Thus, the Queen of Wands was "Water of Fire," the Queen of Cups was "Water of Water," the Queen of Swords was "Water of Air," and the Queen of Pentacles was "Water of Earth." This system positions the Queens as the receptive, emotional, and internal expression of their Element's energy.
A more popular modern system, however, often links the Queens to the four cardinal signs of the zodiac, which reflects their role as initiators and rulers of their domain. In this common modern interpretation, the Queen of Wands is linked to Aries, the Queen of Cups to Cancer, the Queen of Swords to Libra, and the Queen of Pentacles to Capricorn. The individual Queens, like the rest of the Tarot Court cards, also have their own astrological correspondences, discussed in their respective articles.
