Queens are associated with inner and personal control, competency, maturity, introspection, self-awareness, nurturance, healing and fulfillment.  Cups are associated with the element of water, with emotions, love, pleasure in life, matters pertaining to the unconscious, intuition and inner planes.  The Queen of Cups may be devoted to the needs of family and friends, and at her best shows a radiant, compassionate heart.  She is intuitive and able to tune in to the emotional needs of others.  She's a dreamer who can turn her imaginings into creative activity.  Reversed she can symbolize someone who indulges in emotional outbursts and a martyr complex in a quest for sympathy.  She can also become manipulative on an emotional level if she is unable to channel her energies into a productive outlet.

"Your interpersonal interaction is highly evolved and fulfilling.  You experience your emotions deeply and allow others to feel theirs.  You are skilled at processing your feelings and understanding what is happening in your relationships.  You express a deep empathy and understanding toward others.  You have reached a strong level of maturity and depth with a relationship or emotion." - Gail Fairfield

The Paulina Queen of Cups looks like a gentle, kind woman.  One who will help guide us through our emotional difficulties and help us reach a safe place on the other side.  She beckons and welcomes us across the wide and seemingly difficult waters of emotion that can sometimes create turbulence in our lives.  She offers us the chalice of love, compassion and acceptance.  She sees our inner nature and welcomes us anyway.  Her head is cocked to one side as though she finds our reluctance and fears curious and wants to reassure us that she does not judge us.

Now the Spirit World Queen of Cups is of a different nature. She too can see inside us and understand our true nature.  However she is not quite as reassuring and comforting as the Paulina Queen of Cups.  In fact what this Queen of Cups does is look within us and allows our basest animal nature to physically manifest itself.  She is Circe best known from the Odyssey.  It is she who ensorcells Odysseus' men and adds them to her menagerie.  She does not transform them back to their original form until Odysseus becomes her lover and she falls under his spell. 

I have to admit that of the two versions of the Queen of Cups, Circe appeals to me more.  She is not being cruel, merely allowing people's true nature to manifest itself in their physical person.  It is not her fault that these men are greedy, gluttonous pigs.  Perhaps some time in her menagerie will teach them a lesson.  Of course it is equally likely that Circe learned a lesson from this experience too because the tale tells us that she fell in love with Odysseus who eventually leaves her to continue on his journey home. 

Perhaps both queens represent different facets of the nature of love.  Sometimes it is gentle and soothing, welcoming us with a hug and warm cup of cocoa.  Other times it is overwhelming and causes us to do things we might not normally do.  One aspect is not necessarily better than the other but we might be more comfortable with one expression versus the other.  I think for me the message is that despite my protests that I don't really have much desire for the Queen of Cups in my life, the reality is that she is already present.  I'm just not at ease with her gentler, calmer side.  I think we are starting to become more friendly as I mature but right now we are a cordial detente in our relationship.