Queen of Spades

The Queen of Spades is, in cartomancy with a standard deck, the most ambivalent female court card: tradition sees in her a hostile, jealous or rival woman, a widow, or a woman marked by hardship. Outside cartomancy she is also known through Pushkin’s short story and Tchaikovsky’s opera. Modern readings readily soften her, seeing authority, clear-sightedness or chosen solitude. Like any card, she does not point to someone to be suspected without other evidence.