Pamela Colman Smith · RWS deck
The Minor Arcana
Queen of Cups
Neshamah in Briah
- Suit
- cups
- Rank
- Queen
- World
- Briah
- Soul level
- Neshamah
- Position
- Home
Neshamah, breath and understanding
Neshamah is the breath of life and the understanding it gives. Queens are home in Briah, work down into Yetzirah and Assiah, and reach up one into Atziluth.
Upright
Flowing. Understanding generating from identity: depth, intuitive comprehension, the womb of form. This is the Queen at home, where understanding and creation are one act, and what she knows she knows from inside.
Misdirected. Depth that drowns, absorbing others' feeling, or comprehension never given form.
Reversed
Blocked. Depth sealed off, unable to feel or know what is felt.
Flooded. Absorbing everything and everyone, depth with no boundary.
The image
A queen sits on a throne carved with shells and small figures at the edge of the sea. She holds an ornate lidded cup in both hands and looks at it. Her feet are close to the water.
Learn how to read Queen of Cups in a spread
This page shows you what Queen of Cups means. Knowing how to read it — how it shifts next to the other cards, what the reversal is really telling you, and how to turn a spread into a clear answer — is what the RWS Decoded course and book teach, card by card.
