Queen of Cups

All the cups cards are connected to Water, Briah, feeling and intuition.
The Queen of Cups represents the great mother of the deep sea, which is strongly connected to the major arcana of „III – The Empress „, „XIII – Death“ and „XVIII – The Moon„. The sea is a symbol for the depths of the soul and our subconsciousness. It’s blackness and bottomless waters hides our suppressed feelings, buried talents and all tendencies, we are afraid to look into.
When we compare the collective subconsciousness, to the physical sea (Binah in Assiah), we may observe, that unfortunately it is contaminated, radioactive, full of waste and dying. We can only start to grasp humanities hidden tendencies and may feel the comprehensible mood of this emanation of the great mother.
Her face is angry, sucking in all the grind and influences, we are not able to face on a conscious level. Like our subconsciousness, which absorbs all impressions and inputs, she is the ultimate passive principle. She receives everything but cannot express herself consciously or in an active way. As such, she suffers as much, as she is unknown and therefor terrifying.
It is said, that during initiation we must descend into the „depths of the well of the mothers“. Let’s translate, without ripping the veil of the mysteries. We have to face our inner fears and dark parts of ourselves (=the own subconsciousness) and deal which the topics that are hidden within. The will to serious contemplation is required. We must beware – what has been seen, can never be unseen, not everything within is pretty. Shadow work is a massy path to walk on. We must suffer, let go, or may even be at the brink of losing our mind. Nearly drowning, but prevailing is usually required, to finally learn how to swim. The three whirls in the lower corner of this card represent this process. We may study the connection with the major arcana card of „XVIII – The Moon“ and the association with somnambulism, ritual trance, intoxication and intuition.
In the lowest corner, the lilies and the flesh eating plant, along with the dragonfly give us an idea of the dangers, the brutality and the disintegrating forces involved (=“XIII – Death“ and putrefaction).
On the other hand, the same symbols represent beauty, tenderness and grace and the solution to this difficult process. The queen is protecting the holy grail, which speaks to us, about the quest of finding the yet unreachable „true will“ or purpose in life – (alchemical: fire in water). Only, after discovering and exploring the depths and getting to know the hidden self, we can truly find the buried, but necessary talents to take the next step. This card represents the great chance to „learn to swim“, which can never be unlearned fortunately.