Question by Terry: Will you tell of Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) and her drawing the Queen & Ace of spades While she was in the Tower?
Is it history or Folklore?
What was the full meaning?
What tarot cards do these cards parallel?
This is one of the true Mythology & Folklore questions I will post this day. I will give best answers, but I will ignore urls except as Sources.
I wish I could have had a room full of students as the two of you though it hard when I give the Best answers. Both of you should get 4.0 in finding what may lead you a bit higher in knowledge.
Best answer:
Answer by anatketani
Wow a lot of questions in one here! I don’t know a lot about Queen Mary 1 but I do know that she is sometimes associated with the teenage scare prank of Bloody Mary. I have heard it has something to do with her inability to conceive a child – miscarriages. I found this online but cannot vouch for it’s validity:
The queen’s life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession in the English monarchy and episcopacy and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots.
If she was using playing cards as a tarot reading (which can be done) then the Queen of Spades = Queen of Swords and the Ace of Spades = Ace of Swords.
The ace of spades would have meant self awareness, knowing all about your situation and your role in your own life. How aware she would have been if her inability to birth a child would affect her entire country!
The queen of spades is not to be trusted. She has two faces, a kind one to draw you in and then she can turn and cut you to shreds before you even know what is happening. She’s whip-smart and doesn’t let anything stand in the way of getting what she wants, and will use anyone or do anything to get it.
This reading seems to be about her and what her story will become, and how it will last throughout the centuries, so that even today we still see hundreds of “Bloody Mary” questions on YA.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Mary I, Queen of England, also known as Mary Tudor, reigned as queen from 1553-1558. During her reign in the tower a period of great turmoil continued in England, as she returned the country to Roman Catholicism. She was the Queen of Spades, a weak, sickly and ineffectual ruler, destined with bad luck. Though, it was not at her hands that the Protestants were cruelly persecuted, but through the old heresy laws which were revived by Act of Parliament. Still, she is called Bloody Mary for all those who were put to death during her reign. The card of death, the Ace of Spades, was fulfilled with her as ruler, and on Nov. 17th 1558 she succumbed to illness and died.
I believe her story is both history and folklore. The name Bloody Mary would denote an evil and merciless queen, when in fact it appears she was more of a puppet, and her conduct as queen was constantly governed by the best intentions.
Edit: The interpretation of the cards is that the Ace of Spades represents service under the crown. A reverse ace means death.
Edit: I grew up with the story of Mary Worth, aka Bloody Mary. It was said if you went into a dark closet and said three times, “I don’t believe in Mary Worth” that she would immediately appear and kill you. Somehow, I could never profess to not believing (or my friends either), was it fear that kept us from testing her, or a deeply seated knowledge that the entity was one which was best to leave alone?
Edit: I do believe in Mary Worth.