One rank, four suits
The Queens in tarot
Mastery held rather than exercised. The Queens understand their element from the inside.
A Queen has the same command of the suit as its King and does not need to demonstrate it. Where a King directs the element outward, a Queen contains it, which is a different kind of authority and frequently the more useful one in a difficult spread.
Queen of Cups looks into a closed, ornate cup that nobody else can see into. Queen of Swords sits upright with the blade vertical and one hand extended: clear-sightedness that has been paid for. Queen of Wands has the sunflower and the black cat, warmth and independence together. Queen of Pentacles holds the coin like something living.
Two Queens in a spread says the situation is being understood by people who are not going to force it.
The four Queens
The same idea in four elements. Reading them side by side is the fastest way to see what the rank is doing and what the suit is doing.
Queen of WandsWands · Fire read the full meaningconfidence, warmth, charisma
Queen of CupsCups · Water read the full meaningempathy, intuition, emotional depth
Queen of SwordsSwords · Air read the full meaningclear judgement, honesty, independence
Queen of PentaclesPentacles · Earth read the full meaningpractical care, groundedness, resourcefulness
The rest of the sequence
Ace through Ten, then the four court ranks. Reading down this list is reading the minor arcana as one story.
Number crossed with element
This is the whole trick to the minor arcana. Forty numbered cards look like forty things to memorise and are really ten numbers crossed with four suits. Learn what a Five does and what Cups are, and the Five of Cups is constructible before you have ever read its page.
The lesson on the numbers, Ace through Ten teaches the sequence properly, and the one on the court cards covers the sixteen that need their own study.