--EXPERIMENTAL READINGS: "GARDENS FOR THE QUEENS "

If the four Queens had gardens, what would the gardens look like? Why would the Queens have them? What would they enjoy most about them?
If you read through the following you will discover how the general meanings of the Queens can be adjusted to answer these questions.
If you need to read up the general meanings of the Queens, just click on the link at the beginning of each paragraph.


>>THE QUEEN OF RODS has a garden that constantly changes, because firstly she doesn't have the patience to plan ahead a lot and to gather the expert knowledge needed for successfully raising plants. Often her plants don't survive very long. Secondly the garden constantly changes because the Queen of Rods is quickly bored when nothing new happens. She likes to follow spontaneously whatever inspirations she has. Hers therefore is a garden full of all kinds of different plants, many of them exotic and impressive.
The Queen of Rods wanted a garden because she likes to carry out projects, because she enjoys doing things which take a lot of willpower and stamina, because she likes physical work.
She worked in the garden herself right from the beginning. She didn't let others do much for her, she at least took part in all the steps necessary to build a garden: She was the one to shape the ground, tow rocks, build the garden wall, fell trees, dig the earth to prepare it for the plants and plant the plants. At the point where the garden was more or less finished, when it needed constant weeding and watering and attention to always the same little details, she began to lose her energy a bit. She began to veer between times of leaving the garden completely to its own devices and times of manically rearranging flower beds, planting new plants and so on.




>> THE QUEEN OF CUPS has a garden which is perfectly harmonious. She thought long about colour and shape before she planted flowers, bushes, trees and healing herbs, and before she created free spaces and hidden nooks. Her garden was created to make its visitors feel balanced and in peace, and to have a healing effect on their bodies and minds. She probably followed Feng Shui principles or similar, there are one or two sculptures in the garden which carry spiritual meaning, and there might even be a wind chime. There is also a lot of flowing water in the garden, e.g. in the form of a little brook or a fountain, or even a spring.
The Queen of Cups wanted a garden because through working with nature she feels connected with the universe, with life energy, with spirit.
She did not take part in or did not particularly enjoy preparing the ground for the garden, towing rocks, building the garden wall etc. But as soon as the planting started she was there with all her heart: When the Queen of Cups works in the garden she does it mindfully and with thoughts of respect towards nature, because she is deeply convinced that the plants will feel this and respond. She is convinced that letting oneself be touched by nature is a means of touching the source of wisdom and healing.



>>THE QUEEN OF PENTACLES has a garden spilling over with vegetables and fruits, berries, nuts and blooming flowers. It is spilling over with scents, colours, sensations.
The Queen of Pentacles removes plants which harm the other plants but lets everything else grow where it wants to. Hers is a garden extremely well cared for but it sometimes makes visitors feel numbed by its overabundance.
The Queen of Pentacles wanted a garden because she loves caring for things, nurturing things, providing a space in which things can grow, and she loves harvesting fruit and vegetables and turning them into delicious food she and others can enjoy. Her garden is a garden of plenty and abundance, of fertility and sensual delight.
The architecture of the garden, its design, wasn't of much importance to her, and neither was she interested in taking part in the building process. Her heart is in planting and especially in caring for the trees, flowers, vegetables, berries and fruit. She tends to overdo this, though: Sometimes she works in her garden so long and so hard that the work damages her back or her knees.






>>THE QUEEN OF SWORDS has a garden with a very clear, defined structure. There is none of the overabundance of the garden of the Queen of Pentacles, none of the joyous unruliness of the garden of the Queen of Rods, and there is none of the sense of the spiritual connectedness between human and nature as in the garden of the Queen of Cups. In the Queen of Swords' garden there is a lot of strictly cut lawn and only a restricted number of flowers. There might be a lot of stone flags or gravel even; hers looks a bit like one of the more austere Zen gardens.
For the Queen of Swords is not interested in harvesting fruit, she is not interested in the garden itself as a project, and she does not enjoy working in the garden for reasons of it making her feel connected with Nature or Spirit. She has her garden because it helps her rest and clear her mind and become focused again.
She was the one who planned the garden, having a very clear idea what she wanted and why she wanted it, but she paid other people to build it and had little interest to get involved in any digging or even the initial planting. Caring for the plants is obviously necessary, but not in itself something she enjoys. A thing she does take an interest in, though, is breeding special plants (like orchids). But she doesn't do this because she appreciates their beauty but because she enjoys intellectual challenges: She likes figuring out how things work.


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