AUTHOR’S NOTE: My recent post on the numerical “transcendence” of the second number in the two-digit trump and court cards inspired a few thoughts on the nature of the tarot Queens (with the rest of the court cards to follow). This essay and those in progress build on the observations of a previous post that applied Alejandro Jodorowsky’s model of “decimal equivalency” (linked below for reference).

One way to consider the numeration of the Queens is as the thirteenth card in their respective suit; another is as the third card in the suit’s court-card sequence. According to the premise of “numerological counterparts,” these assumptions tie them to both the thirteenth trump, Death, by direct correlation, and the third trump, the Empress, by “transcendence” of the second digit.

In divination, the Queens are associated with patience, contemplation, forbearance, wisdom, nurturing and similar ideas of a benign complexion. The number Three is also about growth, expansion and opportunity, so the Queens’ correspondence to the Empress is perfectly understandable. These qualities make her a more-or-less sympathetic figure, depending on suit.

However, the Queens’ association with Death takes a bit more thought. As a harbinger of dramatic developments, this scenario reminds me of the old Chiffon margarine commercial that shows a queenly woman standing under a stormy sky with thunder rumbling in the background, expressing her displeasure at being duped by the margarine’s supposedly butter-like flavor (as a margarine-hater I never believed it): “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” It also suggests the motionless but watchful composure of a spider in her web, particularly when it comes to the Queen of Swords, a symbolic “death-dealer” who is not to be trifled with.

The Queen in hierarchical royalty was sometimes viewed as “the power behind the throne” who was capable of manipulating the King to her own ends, a role that joined the kindly bearing of the Empress (“3”) to the conniving machinations of the Magician (“1”) in the number “13” (especially if she allied herself with an opportunistic clergy). She had devious ways of being ruthless when required without exposing herself to retribution. Like Death, there was an inevitability to her actions that the King (unless he was Henry VIII) was relatively powerless to contravene.

The maturity of the Queens renders them dependable in most situations requiring the gentility of the Empress, but with a “hard edge” of implacability symbolized by Death that makes it advisable to never take their gracious disposition for granted (it is notable that the Golden Dawn assigned them “Brooding Power”). The Queen of Wands or Swords can change her mind in a heartbeat, while the Queens of Cups and Pentacles are more deliberate but no less exacting in their demands once they settle on them. Crossing these formidable ladies usually brings dire consequences of the “iron fist in a velvet glove” variety. (My own mother was a dour Scots/Irish Queen of Pentacles who was not the affectionate “Empress” and never got the memo about the “kinder, gentler” part. The stories I could tell!)

The Court Cards as “Decimal Equivalents”