Question about when a card represents a person

ficbot

Hi everyone, I am fairly new to this (the tarot in general and the forum too!) and apologize if I make any mistakes or if this is not the right way to ask this :) Anyway, I have the RWS deck and have spent awhile trying to learn the meanings. Then I got a book on tarot spreads and the first one I tried was about contacting a loved one. I am a bit confused about what happened :)

Basically, the first question was 'who am I speaking with' and the card I got was the queen of cups. I had a very strong feeling right away that this card represented my late grandmother, with whom I was very close. I read the description in several books, and this only reinforced it. It sounded like my grandmother exactly.

Since then, I have been doing the daily draw and gotten the queen of cups a few more times. I cannot seem to get past this interpretation that it is my grandmother. So what does this mean? Will the queen of cups always mean 'my grandmother' when it comes up? Will my grandmother, conversely, ever 'appear' in the readings as a different card depending on the situation?

Maybe it was too early for me to try a proper reading. I just seem a little stuck on this. I feel like I have to be open to interpretations for this card that are not 'oh look, here is Grandma!' because it might not always mean that. And I feel like if she does try and reach me in other ways depending on the context, I need to be open to recognizing that too...

She passed about two years ago, and since then I have had several dreams about her, and one experience regarding her which cannot be explained rationally. I also have many of her belongings, including furniture and things she had made by hand. I definitely still feel her presence in my life and think she is still looking out for me...
 

Nemia

The Queen/Cups can represent your grandmother, but the card can also represent the values and qualities that remind you of her or she stood for, or the part of you that resembles her, or the card can appear without connection to her. Tarot cards are quite complex, and you build up over time your personal associations.

Court cards are especially tricky since they can represent concrete people, their influence on your, or aspects of your character, or how you react in a given situation.

Take it easy and in baby steps. Keep reading the cards and studying them, write a journal. Over time, you'll find that your reactions to the cards become clearer. It's really a skill that develops over time, like getting to know a very complex person.

You'll keep the association to your grandmother in your mind when you see this queen, but don't limit the card to this association. That would be my advice.

Andrea Green's book about card meanings has some kind of simple rule for the court cards:

If there's only ONE court card in your reading, then it is usually a person.

If there are TWO or THREE court cars in your readinng, then they are usually all representing aspects (energies) of the situation.

If there are lots of court cards in your reading, then they are usually parts of yourself.

(Andrea Green, True Tarot Card Meanings - I understand that this is a nom de plume for Marcus Katz and Tali Godwin)

I don't use this rule but I found it interesting. There are some interesting books about the tarot court; it's usually thought to be the most difficult part of the deck to learn ;-)
 

m4sc

ficbot said:
Hi everyone, I am fairly new to this (the tarot in general and the forum too!) and apologize if I make any mistakes or if this is not the right way to ask this :) Anyway, I have the RWS deck and have spent awhile trying to learn the meanings. Then I got a book on tarot spreads and the first one I tried was about contacting a loved one. I am a bit confused about what happened :)

Basically, the first question was 'who am I speaking with' and the card I got was the queen of cups. I had a very strong feeling right away that this card represented my late grandmother, with whom I was very close. I read the description in several books, and this only reinforced it. It sounded like my grandmother exactly.

Since then, I have been doing the daily draw and gotten the queen of cups a few more times. I cannot seem to get past this interpretation that it is my grandmother. So what does this mean? Will the queen of cups always mean 'my grandmother' when it comes up? Will my grandmother, conversely, ever 'appear' in the readings as a different card depending on the situation?

Maybe it was too early for me to try a proper reading. I just seem a little stuck on this. I feel like I have to be open to interpretations for this card that are not 'oh look, here is Grandma!' because it might not always mean that. And I feel like if she does try and reach me in other ways depending on the context, I need to be open to recognizing that too...

She passed about two years ago, and since then I have had several dreams about her, and one experience regarding her which cannot be explained rationally. I also have many of her belongings, including furniture and things she had made by hand. I definitely still feel her presence in my life and think she is still looking out for me...
Click to expand...

First of all, from my experience there's nothing rationale about energy. Reading it can feel like your working in tangents sometimes but remember practice makes perfect.

To me, reading Tarot is another method of reading signs in a clear and controlled format. If I keep turning over the same card on a regular basis It means I need to pay extra attention to the lesson of this card.

If you're feeling that you're grandmother is represented by the Queen of Cups and you keep pulling her up then try drawing another card to clarify what message she wants to share with you.. she may just be happy that you've decided to interact with energy, she may have knowledge to share with you or she may be a reinforcement that you are on the right path as The Queen of Cups represents in intuition in one of its purist form. The lesson of Queen of Cups to me is about opening up your mind-body-soul to other vibrations, in turn increasing your intuition capacity.

Intuition is key.

Hope this helps
 

ficbot

Nemia, that is good advice on what it means when a court card appears. I appreciate that :) It was a seven-card spread and I should have written it down. I do want to keep a journal; that is one of my reasons for using the tarot cards. I will write down the 'big' spreads from now on!

M4sc, I like your idea to draw another card to clarify. I think sometimes, when I do things like this, I *want* to connect with her, so that might color things. Like, my aunt (who is very spiritual and uses a pendulum regularly) will say things like 'it was a sunny day and she always liked the sun, so I knew she was with me' and that can feel like reaching sometimes :) So I have to be careful that I am seeing what's there and not reading into it because I miss her and want her to contact me.
 

magicjack

Connecting the Queen of Cups to your grandmother is a very good way to understand and explain the personality of the Queen of Cups. I suggest you do this with all the court cards to help get to know them better. In your personal readings, it can very well mean it is your grandmother for the most part. When reading for others, it obviously can't mean your grandmother for them but it can work two fold. It can mean whatever to them and also a secret to you the reader that your grandmother has come to you to help or connect with the reading. I often see messages like this in a reading not just for the querent but for me as well. She could very well be one of your spirit guides letting you know she is with you at the time of the reading.
 

HOLMES

ah

lots of good books these days have good descriptiions of court cards,
and one thing that helped me read the books
understanding the court cards
The Tarot Court Cards: Archetypal Patterns of Relationship in the Minor Arcana
Tarot and the Tree of Life: Finding Everyday Wisdom in the Minor Arcana

and a good book 78 degrees of wisdom, or Spiritual Tarot: Seventy-Eight Paths to Personal Development..
will have good court cards descriptions as well.

eventually you will get over the idea of the queen of cups being a grandmother, but the association may server you well in your years to come as a tarot reader example when it shows up and you feel that it is a grandmother energy then say the queen of sword for a grandmother might be needed at the time.

what you should do now is go through all the tarot card and put your own meeting to them. I did that with the books for most of the cards.

what I was really stuck on was that courts had to be people, and minor arcana had to be events. the court books help me see the courts could be myself, pages could be messengers.
there is a big tarot world out there for you, and it may seem daunting but keep at it,, and you will find your way.
 

ficbot

Holmes, thank you for those recommendations. I only have a few books right now and am just starting to branch out for other ones. Many people recommend the 78 Degrees one; alas, I could not find an eBook version. I definitely plan to keep learning!
 
Six of cups and Six of swords 3 of pentacles and the devil as feelings