Bohemian Gothic Tarot

QUEEN OF SWORDS

Lighter or more conventional meanings

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

She was above the middle height of women. I shall begin by describing her. She was slender, and wonderfully graceful. Except that her movements were languid - very languid- indeed, there was nothing in her appearance to indicate an invalid. Her complexion was rich and brilliant; her features were small and beautifully formed; her eyes large, dark, and lustrous; her hair was quite wonderful, I never saw hair so magnificently thick and long when it was down about her shoulders; I have often placed my hands under it, and laughed with wonder at its weight. It was exquisitely fine and soft, and in colour a rich very dark brown, with something of gold... There was a coldness, it seemed to me, beyond her years, in her smiling melancholy persistent refusal to afford me the least ray of light.
- Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla.

There is an interesting postscript to this card. The cross made of human bones and skulls is based on a photograph taken at the Ossuary at Sedlice, in the Czech Republic. This bizarre ossuary decoration was composed in the 19th century, using human remains that mainly dated from the times of the plagues of the Black Death in Bohemia. It's been frequently pointed out by commentators that outbreaks of vampirism often seemed to coincide with times of plague in Europe. The link between the two fears has been used by some modern film-makers, most memorably Werner Herzog in his Nosferatu - when the coming of the vampire signals a horrendous outbreak of the Black Death. In bringing together the image of a vampiric young woman, with the bones of the Sedlec Ossuary, we are therefore continuing in an established, if somewhat disturbing, tradition.

Some further ways to consider this card

I saw a large black object, very ill-defined, crawl, as it seemed to me, over the foot of the bed, and swiftly spread itself up to the poor girl's throat, where it swelled, in a moment, into a great, palpitating mass. "For a few moments I had stood petrified. I now sprang forward, with my sword in my hand. The black creature suddenly contracted towards the foot of the bed, glided over it, and, standing on the floor about a yard below the foot of the bed, with a glare of skulking ferocity and horror fixed on me, I saw Millarca. Speculating I know not what, I struck at her instantly with my sword; but I saw her standing near the door, unscathed. Horrified, I pursued, and struck again. She was gone; and my sword flew to shivers against the door. "I can't describe to you all that passed on that horrible night. The whole house was up and stirring. The specter Millarca was gone. But her victim was sinking fast, and before the morning dawned, she died."
- Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla.