Queens of the Tarot: Sex and the City Edition

The best way to learn the tarot is to see where the cards come forward in pop culture references. In this episode, we explore how the four protagonists of Sex and the City embody the four queens of the tarot deck, and how this can help us intuitively learn how to read the Court Cards

Our Queens/Protagonists:

• Samantha Jones as the Queen of Pentacles – her bold approach to life and confidence, work ethic, authenticity, and living her truth unapologetically demonstrates her practical manifestation in action

• Miranda Hobbs as the Queen of Swords – her analytical mind, pragmatic approach, cynicism, wit, need for control, and pragmatism reflect the intellectual clarity of the Queen of Swords

• Charlotte York as the Queen of Cups – her eternal optimism, romantic nature, traditional beliefs, softness, and emotional depth showcase the true nurturing nature of the Cups. All love is worth fighting for

• Carrie Bradshaw as the Queen of Wands – her risk-taking fashion, passion for life, her fiery refusal to settle for less than what she wants, and her creation of a life that is on her terms show the transformative quality of our fiery Queen.

• The shadow aspects of each queen provide deeper insights into character flaws and growth opportunities

• Court cards in tarot invite us to embody their energies and apply their wisdom to our own lives

Do you agree with my choices? How would you crown these Queens of Manhattan with the tarot?

Links:

My Links

Sex and the City Style

Analysis of Carrie Bradshaw

Background track is Big City Soul by Elliot Holmes

Chapters

• 1:32 Introduction to Sex and the City Tarot
• 5:01 Samantha Jones as the Queen of Pentacles
• 15:02 Miranda Hobbs as the Queen of Swords
• 28:56 Charlotte York as the Queen of Cups
• 38:51 Carrie Bradshaw as the Queen of Wands
• 53:24 Episode Wrap and Future Ideas

Transcript

Ashlie: 0:46

Hello and thank you for tuning in to the Wolfchild Magic Podcast. My name is Ashlie, your tarot reader, Colorado Mountain Witch, and overall wolf child, and I thank you for being here with me today. Wherever you are at tuning in and listening to this, I hope you are well. In today's episode. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. I got the idea for this episode the other night because I have recently started re-watching, well, not recently. I'm almost finished, actually, with re-watching Sex and the City Now.

Ashlie: 1:17

Back in the day, when I was in college, this was my favorite show. I loved this show. I watched it all the time. It was kind of like my comfort show. You know where you have something on in the background and you're not really watching it. You're maybe not even really listening to it, but because you know it so well, it's hitting you on a subconscious level and it just makes you feel better. This was that show for me back in the day. Now I am trying to get through it because I want to start up Wednesday and I'm also trying to finish Stranger Things.

Ashlie: 1:51

I have a few shows that I really need to plow through, but I got the idea while watching this show to connect the protagonists of Sex and the City Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte to the four queens of the tarot. Now, I am not the only one who has ever done something like this. I have seen other people talk about different, you know, spiritual aspects to the protagonist and to Sex and the City. But this is my take and I thought it would be really fun to do that with you today. But before we get into the episode, if you like this episode or any episode that I have put out on Wolf Child Magick, please engage in the algorithm ritual with me, because that is the best form of promotion of growth for this show, because it shows that you like it and therefore other listeners may like it as well. It is so appreciated. Thank you so much.

Ashlie: 2:41

So the way that I am going to break down my connection between the protagonist to the queen that I think they are most suited for or embody the most is based on the fashion. Of course cannot have a Sex and the City episode and not bring in the fashion. I'm also going to talk about who they are as a character like as a watcher watching this so much later. I think the last time I really went through this show was again back in college. I'm going to break down why I think they are this queen, or embody this queen, the most, based on how they engage with the other characters or how they just behave in the show, and I'm also going to touch on how their actions, their fashion, their lives, what they kind of stand for as a character, connects to me as a watcher and what that brings out of me, which is, of course, what the court cards do. They ask us to embody them, embody their traits, use them as a form of donning the characteristics that we all have within us and using that in our own lives and in our own selves to the best benefit for ourselves. So I'm also going to talk about kind of what they inspire in me as well.

Ashlie: 3:55

So I'm going to start with my very obvious one, and actually the one that kind of inspired or put the thought in my head to do this episode, and that is our beautiful Kim Cattrall playing Samantha Jones, and I think she is best represented as the Queen of Pentacles. Starting with the fashion, I do have an article listed in the show notes that kind of breaks down the different styles of our four protagonists and kind of talks about how the styling contributes to their personality and we know that the styling in this show was. As with any show or movie, it's intentional. Things are not done by mistake. The way that these women were styled for this show speaks to some of their deepest qualities. So, starting with Samantha Jones, we see that her fashion, her clothing style, is very work hard, play hard, which makes sense because that is her mentality. Samantha jones is an incredibly hard worker in the show. I would in fact say that she's maybe the most hard working, she hustles the most in this show.

Ashlie: 5:01

Miranda also has worked incredibly hard to get to where she is. She went to harvard law. She's a successful lawyer lawyer. Charlotte, obviously, was born into money. Carrie does work hard and also side note, there is no way that Carrie could live this lifestyle writing a weekly column for the New York Star, but that is beside the point. Carrie does work hard, but her job is also like she writes what she wants to write and she just puts out what she wants to put out. Writes what she wants to write and she just puts out what she wants to put out. Miranda does face sexism in her job because she's a lawyer. It's a very male dominated field. However, I would still give the edge to Samantha for a few reasons, because she also faces the sexism. She has to know what's trending. She has to know how to put on a whole bunch of different events, like events for the kids, like Kat Dennings, or events for you know, some more polished Park Avenue wives. And at the same time and they even had an episode on it a lot of Samantha Jones competitors are half her age. There was one girl who was trying to take her client list and Samantha Jones is still, you know, hustling and putting in the grind and she's having to do it in a very sexist, classist and ageist field of PR.

Ashlie: 6:18

Samantha Jones works incredibly hard and we see this in her styling because her clothing is actually very business focused, very business attired. The thing that I love about Samantha Jones, first of all, kim Cattrall in red is heaven to me, but we see with Samantha Jones that a lot of the playfulness in her clothing is either in the color choice or in the structure. The structure of her clothing is very shaped. It's a lot of straight lines. There will be some fun stuff done with neck lines or with the way that it's tailored or hemmed. The and she does also do an amazing job of playing with accessories. But she actually is much more I don't want to say simple, but it's a much more tailored look and that's because she is still very edged and no-nonsense. We also see it how Samantha Jones is no-nonsense in her life, where she doesn't want to have kids, she doesn't want to get married, she just wants to work hard and then again play hard and go to fabulous parties, live a fabulous life. So we see how her clothing speaks to the sense that Samantha Jones is very no-nonsense in both work and play work and life, I should say.

Ashlie: 7:37

But where we see the youthfulness, where we see that playfulness, that very carefree kind of other side of Samantha, is in the color choices. She wears a ton of bold colors and she's also very color blocked. She doesn't wear a ton of patterns. There's not a ton of prints. There is some in there of course, but a lot of the time she's in solid colors and they are incredibly beautiful. In the article that's listed, that pink business suit that she's wearing that's very reminiscent of like the Victoria's Secret pink. She just looks gorgeous.

Ashlie: 8:15

Kim Cattrall and Samantha Jones with. The fashion is structured, it is shaped and it's also fun, and that's what I love about the way they styled her is that it speaks to this boldness in her character. It speaks to this confidence that she has that she is just here, she is showing up in her life and she does not take any bullshit. But she also has this very carefree, youthful attitude to the world as well. Again, she's very work hard, play hard, and this goes into her character as well. She is bold, she is confident.

Ashlie: 8:51

I think Samantha Jones, especially watching it back now, was such a gift to us in this show because her character was a role model or a trailblazer in women manifesting their lives the way they want on their terms. Samantha Jones does not want a husband, she doesn't want kids, she doesn't even really want committed relationships. She wants to go to her job, hustle at her job, she wants to wear all the fabulous clothes and the fabulous accessories and then go out with her fabulous friends to fabulous parties and have fabulous dinners and drinks, like that's all she wants to do, and there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with women living that type of life. Women don't owe society, husbands and children and all of that bullshit, and she was such a marker in that she was an embodiment of that. Obviously, the main thing she also wanted was sex. She wanted all the sex that she could get, which, again, love for her. There's nothing wrong with that, and we need to do away with this still tabooed perspective that women having a healthy sex life equal to men or superior to men is wrong or bad, because it's not so.

Ashlie: 10:06

Her living her life this way, I think, is one of the main reasons why she embodies the pentacles, the queen of pentacles, because the whole suit of pentacles, from the pips to the courts. Yes, there's the finances and there's some of the physical stuff in there, but at the heart of it, it is more about how are you living a life that is aligned to your inner truth, a life that is aligned to your inner truth? How are you showing up and engaging in your physical world, honoring the truth that you need to honor? So for samantha, the truth that she needs to honor is that she's never going to have a man really committedly like yeah, there was richard wright and there was smith jared, but for the most part it's men do not take up a big space in her life. She doesn't have children. Her main things are sex and friends and work. So her actions completely align to that and she is unwavering in that. She will not sacrifice that. And she even kind of tried when she dated the woman and she just was like I can't do committed relationships because all we do is talk and cuddle and I want to have sex and I want to go have drinks and I just want to live this life. So she is such a beautiful embodiment of how we actually live in alignment with our truth, even when it comes at the odds or it's at odds with what society wants from women. The other reason why she makes the most sense as Queen of Pentacles to me is because she does lean into the, the physical of the financial. She's always shopping, she's always wearing, you know, chanel and Dior and Louis Vuitton. And in fact I just watched the episode it was so funny where, uh, she was hosting the party at Richard Wright's house and she didn't want Miranda to bring her infant child and she's like I can't get a sitter, I have to bring him. And Miranda thought that the way to sway Samantha into being okay with the fact that this infant is at this fabulous party was the fact that he was in Ralph Lauren.

Ashlie: 12:15

The other thing, the final thing I will say as to why I think Samantha is the best embodiment of the Queen of Pentacles is because she is also the most stable. Again, going back and watching the show, I'm like she's the only one who has no drama. Miranda is also up there in being no drama, but Miranda has some and she goes through all the stuff with Brady and Steve and you know she has it. And sometimes Miranda is dramatic in that she tries to overthink things and she ends up kind of putting what her heart wants or what her emotional needs are on a shelf and that leads to its own drama. Samantha is truly the most stable in that she gets what she wants, she lives her truth. She embraces all of these things that are coming, even when she goes through cancer, all of these things that are coming even when she goes through cancer. She embraces all of these things with a truly bold, confident, fiery spirit of I'm gonna get through this. I have already gotten through so much. I'm independent. That stability, that kind of no nonsense, as we talked about with her clothing we kind of see that with how structured and shaped it is. But the thing that it does in the show, and this is where it inspires me. I would want her to teach me her manifestation skills like how do you just get up and just not even think about all this other stuff that's happening in the world and just do you. And she is such a beautiful example of that. And and then at the same time, she's stable in it. She doesn't go off the rails in this pursuit of what she wants in her life. In fact, she's incredible at it. So that's what she inspires in me is how do you show up and manifest and just cut the bullshit. I love that.

Ashlie: 14:04

The next queen that we are going to crown is the Queen of Swords, and I can think of no better protagonist in this series from these four women to give that title to than Miranda Hobbs. I think she truly embodies some of the most beautiful aspects of the Queen of Swords, but, as we will see when we get into her character analysis, that she also portrays this edge and this side to her that we almost all have. Almost all of us have this side to us where we try to be so rational and logical and reasonable at times, because we feel that that creates a level of power or that creates a level of self-sufficiency and I know that I struggle with this a lot level of self-sufficiency and I know that I struggle with this a lot that when I'm dealing with certain situations, when I am trying to get to the answers, I'm almost not patient and that's a really hard balance because we want to get to the answers that we're seeking but we also can't rush things. There's also this element of this rational, reasonable, pragmatic, sensible approach to her that leads into this facade of if I know all of this or if I behave in this way, then I will have everything in control. And what we see that actually with her is that it dampens down some of her emotional vulnerability. We see one of her greatest character flaws, I would say and I say flaw not as a bad person, just she approaches a lot of situations in the show from a very cynical, pessimistic lens, like oftentimes she is the wet blanket. She's kind of the Debbie Downer in the group, because she can't imagine opening herself up to situations that have this kind of suspended, logical approach to them, like relationships like dating certain guys, like having children. You know she just wants everything categorized and laid out in a very structured fashion and relationships are messy, life is messy. Being a self-sufficient woman in any career field is messy. Having friends is messy. Just the human condition is not easy, and Miranda tries to make it easy through logic and sense, and that doesn't always work. We see where this kind of almost forces her to shut off in certain ways from situations that would really help her grow or would help bring out a softer side of her that we all want to see, and that's kind of her character growth that we'll get into in the character analysis.

Ashlie: 16:51

But first I want to talk about the fashion. With Miranda Hobbs we have a very sophisticated fashion, we have a timeless fashion and we have a very practical approach to her fashion. And all of this makes sense with who she is as a character. Miranda's fashion is in some ways quite similar to Samantha's, at least in the aspect that both of them have a very business attired focus to their fashion. So there's a lot of suits, there's a lot of pantsuits, there's a lot of jackets. A lot of the play is in the necklines and the hemlines, in the stitching, in the shoulder pads.

Ashlie: 17:34

Some of the differences, though, between Miranda and Samantha is that one Samantha really goes out with her colors. Again, she's a very bold and external character, whereas Miranda is much more introverted and internal and pragmatic. So Samantha is going to be very fun in her color choices. She's also going to play up in the accessories category to kind of add these pieces of flair. Like the accessories that Samantha wears often are kind of eye catchers, whereas Hobbes her sense of accessories it's very minimal. She'll very she will wear maybe a small set of earrings or a couple of necklaces kind of layered together, but everything is very subdued with her.

Ashlie: 18:24

The other difference between Samantha and Miranda is that Miranda is going to wear colors that are much more muted and earth-toned and jewel-toned. So again, you can see some of these pictures in the article that is linked. But we have here in this dark teal jacket and a brown long-sleeved dress. She looks absolutely gorgeous in that kind of mustard, sunflower yellow asymmetrical dress. I think this is the best she has probably ever looked in the show. I mean, she's beautiful here and this is one of the funnest outfits that we've seen from her. It's also one of the boldest. So I wish that they kind of took her there a little more.

Ashlie: 19:06

But again, from a character perspective, we see where this is her success and her limitation that she's a very corporate lawyer. So she's going to play to that. She's going to wear clothes that are very corporate appropriate and that are court appropriate. So these are going to be the jewel tones, the neutral tones, the earth tones, because those don't really stand out and you can pair and complement those colors with each other. It's not going to clash or create, you know, some colors or some things that are really chaotic and loud. Everything's gonna kind of mesh together and meld together and produce an overall pleasing piece within the fashion itself. Produce an overall pleasing piece within the fashion itself, even if it's not very striking or bold, or sometimes maybe even, you know, to her best look or to her aesthetic benefit, if I can say that. To say it another way, sometimes the clothing almost kind of feels like it's boxing her in, and that is something that we see with her character, where she works so much that she doesn't always get to explore these fun things that some of the other girls get to do. And then she has a baby with Steve and she just keeps kind of putting herself in this role of very adult, very mature, very grown up, but it also sometimes feels like it stymies that youthful aspect of her that we see so prevalent in Samantha and also maybe in Carrie.

Ashlie: 20:35

One of the final things that I want to touch on with Miranda's fashion, and this is going to again, of course, speak to her character. But Miranda is going to be one of those people that buys that one really nice jacket that's really expensive, but then she's going to wear that jacket and pair it with a different purse, a different skirt, a different pair of shoes. She's gonna spend ultimately less on fashion, but she's gonna look for more quality pieces, and the article sums this up very well, saying that, with the wardrobe password, less is more. Miranda's wardrobe is much more coherent and sophisticated. These are women who spend little and well focusing on quality, without being always seduced by the fashions of the moment, and one of the reasons why this speaks to Miranda's point of view and her character is that some of these trendy fleety things that we see Carrie absolutely get down on with fashion and colors and stuff. Miranda's gonna take a much more mature approach that focuses on fashion as a necessity, and so why continue to buy and invest all her hard-earned money on these things that she's not going to wear in two years, or three years or five years, because it's no longer trendy to do so. She's going to focus on quality pieces that will stand the test of time, and then she will. Also, as the article says, she's not afraid to experiment with more vivid colors, but tends to prefer a softer and deeper palette. And that's because, again, these are timeless, these are appropriate, these are things that she's gonna have to wear all the time. So she's gonna find those pieces that she loves and really wear them because, as a character, find those pieces that she loves and really wear them. Because, as a character, she's pragmatic, she's rational, she's logical and these are all rational, logical choices that we see.

Ashlie: 22:45

Looking at Miranda as a character is one that, looking back on it now especially, I think she she was kind of the one that no one wanted to be associated with. Like if you took the witch sex in the city character, you know one wanted to be Miranda, because she again is seen very much as the wet blanket. She is seen as the pessimistic one, the cynical one. She's also seen as the one that's no fun, when in reality she is the one that is probably the most adult out of all of them. I mean, again, samantha is even more grounded, I would say, than Miranda, because Miranda's logic kind of boxes her into a corner where Samantha's just like do what you want to do and ditch the drama and fuck all the bullshit and just do what you want to do, and it's kind of that simple. But Miranda's the one who's probably the most long-term thinking in the form of strategy, in the form of risk assessment. She's going to be the one that has the next 20 years kind of figured out, or goal set, or things dotted, you know, eyes dotted, t's crossed, things like that.

Ashlie: 23:51

Miranda, as a character now again looking back on it, because parts of the show haven't aged the best she's an amazing anchor. She's such a voice of reason, and her cynicism, her wit and sometimes even her pessimism are really funny, because, while the other girls, especially like Carrie, just kind of want to live in Delululand, miranda's the one. That is incredibly straightforward. She's going to just look at the situation, analyze it, assess it and give you her feedback, give you her advice. She's going to be a voice of reason.

Ashlie: 24:30

The problem, though, is that, like in one of the early episodes season one or two miranda keeps getting mad that all the women talk about are dating and sex and guys and drama, and she's like we're four beautiful, smart women in New York City we can't think of anything else to talk about other than boys. And the girls are just looking at her like she's gone crazy. And Miranda gets up and leaves and they kind of have a fight because she's tired of Carrie just complaining and talking about Big all the time, because Carrie's just getting consumed by the enormity of big and which is all very well and true. But then we see Miranda walking down a street one day and she's kind of on our high horse like she's kind of like I have it all figured out. And then she sees her ex with his new wife and he's the one that he left Miranda for this woman for, and he completely broke her heart and she falls apart, runs down into the subway, I think, and she just completely loses it, which shows that she's not feeling her feelings. She's looking at everything through such a mental, logical point of view. But that's where the queen of swords comes into shadow is when we don't allow ourselves to feel the messy feelings, feel the ugly feelings and just let that be part of the process of how we create a deeper understanding and wisdom around these situations. Miranda doesn't want to do that because it feels let's just get straight to the wisdom part, the answers part. But we have to go through the messiness and the weeds of the you know again the human part, the answers part. But we have to go through the messiness and the weeds of you know again the human condition and the situations in our life in order to get to that.

Ashlie: 26:14

What Miranda inspires in me is truly this sense of just getting more of my shit together. I mean, I'm not a very, you know, dramatic or over-the-top person. I really just like want to be at home. I'm very introverted as well. I just want to kind of do what I do and what makes me happy. But I'm not very good at thinking down the road. I'm not good at looking at things only logically. I'm a very emotional person. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I've been this way my entire life.

Ashlie: 26:49

I do not have a poker face and while I would never want to change myself to be like Miranda, because I would never want to become so hard and so pragmatic, in that sense I value at how Miranda looks at everything as a mountain to conquer or a situation to overcome. She looks at everything of how will I get through this, what are the strategies, what are the risks like. She's so good at separating out the details and finding her her way through it. She's incredibly smart, she's so intelligent, she's so beautiful. And that is definitely something that she inspires in me is just kind of growing up, sacking up and looking more long-term. I'm very much someone who exists eternally in the present moment and even Grizzly sometimes is like babe, we have to start thinking about some of these things long-term and I just really struggle with that because it's just hard for me. So that is what Miranda inspires in me is looking at the world through a much more narrow, at times, lens, but a lens that serves to help you survive in a harsh and bitter world. That's not going to do anything for you oftentimes. Harsh and bitter world that's not going to do anything for you oftentimes.

Ashlie: 28:10

Now we are going to move on to our sweet and beloved Charlotte York, who is crowned as our Queen of Cups. She makes the most sense to me as the Queen of Cups because, while I choose and often don't like to read the cup suit as romantic love, because sometimes it just doesn't apply and some people just don't ever want romantic relationships, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. She makes the most sense to me as the queen of cups because she is this complete romantic. Yes, her privilege of being born into wealth, her beauty, um, her skin color, I mean, all of these things contribute to her wealth. So it's maybe kind of easy for her to look at the world through such rose-colored glasses. But at the same time, charlotte maintains this innocence of hope. She constantly refuses to settle, she refuses to back away from what she knows and her heart of hearts to be true in her own truth or some of the truths in the world. Some of it is not true.

Ashlie: 29:17

But what I love about charlotte york is that, while she is probably one of the characters that I identify with the least, she encourages this softness to the group. Whereas, just like we talked about with Miranda, where she is incredibly cynical, where Samantha Jones is very, um, maybe kind of crass and crude, like the oil to Charlotte's water, where Samantha Jones is more about sex and Charlotte is more about romance and love and then Carrie's just absolute chaos, charlotte brings this softness and this gentleness to the group that I just really love. We also see that because she is such an emotional person and she loves so deeply even her friends, that I'm just thinking of the scene in the movie, the first movie, where big stands carry up at the altar, which is just one of the worst things to ever do to a person, but we see the, the she-wolf in charlotte come out because she's so protective of Carrie, she loves her so much, and whereas Carrie is just falling apart in this scene rightfully so Charlotte completely stands up and defends her and shows this sacred anger that it's almost kind of shocking. It's kind of it's moving and it's. You just have to see the scene, you have to go and Google it. But she shows this ferocity that we never see from Charlotte and that actually is so beautiful because that is her heart's pain for her best friend speaking through and how she's acting. Same thing towards the end of the first movie, when Charlotte is pregnant and she sees Big in a restaurant and this is like the first time that they've had contact since the wedding and she just goes to bat again. She gets so angry and she gets so emotional in this scene that she actually causes her water to break, which we would never, obviously, encourage. That is the beauty of Charlotte York, and I know that I said I was gonna start with the fashion for all of the girls. But I think Charlotte just kind of deserves this natural lead-in to her emotional self because she, she just kind of is that, that pure and that gentle and that sweet. When she like, that's her normal baseline, but when she needs to she will definitely, you know, come out swinging for those that she loves. And it's beautiful. And one final little scene moment is when carrie names or dedicates her book to charlotte and calls her the eternal optimist. Because this is when Charlotte is really struggling to find a husband and she's been through all of these relationships. I think at this point she's even been through the divorce with Trey and yet she still has hope, she still has this optimism that things will work out in life and she has this approach that love is worth fighting for, whether that's platonic love of the love she has for her friends or the love that she hopes to manifest with a romantic partner. That is the most beautiful gift that Charlotte gives to the show and that the Queen of Cups gives to us. Is that love is truly worth fighting for.

Ashlie: 32:49

Looking at the fashion of Charlotte York. Now we see that she, like Miranda Hobbs, finds the pieces, finds the colors or finds these items that work for her and she's going to play into that even more. She's not going to be a risk taker like Carrie. She's not going to have this edginess like Samantha, because Charlotte, as beautiful as she is, she's not very bold. She's bold in certain moments where you know her emotions are being challenged, like again for the love of her friends. But she's not just bold. In general she's actually kind of the damsel in distress and she kind of wants to play up more of the binary gender roles, not to say that she doesn't have an open mind to certain things. But she very much wants to be the sweet park avenue princess and she dresses like that. Because she dresses like this. We're going to see this in the colors that she wears and also in the structure and in the shape of her fashion with With the color choices or the color palette.

Ashlie: 33:55

She, like Miranda Hobbs, is going to opt for a more neutral and natural color tone because these are much more traditional. They're also much more appealing across a different array of people. Just neutral tones are much more flattering on people and it's also easier to pair and make an outfit, choosing from a bunch of neutral toned items than trying to pair like Carrie does, sometimes successfully, sometimes not successfully. This one print with this print with these shoes I mean Carrie, as we will get into her fashion is just kind of chaos, which speaks to who she is as a character. But Charlotte is going to opt for a more neutral, softer, more feminine color palette.

Ashlie: 34:44

In the article that I have listed we see some variations in pinks, like there's a powder pink, there's a baby pink, there's one that's like a very pastel pink that almost leads into like a salmon or something. I don't know. I'm not really good with color names. We see white, we see black and we see gray and an off-white. So the color palette is not where Charlotte plays, because she wants to again stay in this complementary color scheme. Stay in this complementary color scheme and then she'll play the feminine up more in things like ruffles, bows, ruching. She's gonna use the structure of the clothes to be the feminine touch, like that pink thing in the middle. Oh my god, I could never be seen in that. Not trying to be mean, she looks beautiful in it, but it's got this very ruched and ruffled hemline, it's got these big old buttons, and then it's got the pencil skirt and then she's got the pink matching kind of purse. So we see the playfulness and the feminine side in the color palette but, more importantly, in the details of her fashion.

Ashlie: 35:59

One final thing I want to say before I talk about what she inspires in me is that Charlotte is, as I said, the most positive. She's the sweetest of all of the girls in this foursome, but she's also the most conservative. She holds up these very conservative values, meaning things like you should be very careful about who you have sex with, because if you have sex before you get married, then the person's not going to respect you, which is that one is utter nonsense. But regardless of whether I agree with them or not, I appreciate that Charlotte stays true to this emotional understanding that she has with the world and that she hasn't let these three much more modern women change her. She's very strong and brave in that aspect because she gets made fun of a lot from the other girls and she continuously stays the same. She doesn't let what others say deter her from approaching the world, one with these rose-colored glasses, but also in what she believes to be right intuitively. This is how she shows up in the world, this is how she makes decisions, from this emotional, intuitive anchor, and she doesn't let these women change her when it could be very easy to do so, because they all kind of have this more modern, single, independent, self-sufficient woman approach and she is much more conservative in the waiting for my knight in shining armor aspect. So while that is not something that I would ever do, I do appreciate that she has not changed who she is, despite who she hangs around with and what their beliefs in the world are.

Ashlie: 37:51

Okay, now we have to move on to the star of this show herself, miss Carrie Bradshaw, who is absolute chaos. Like watching this show again, like it used to be Charlotte, who kind of rubbed me the wrong way sometimes because I was like, oh my gosh, just like get up with the times, girl. And now, watching it back, I'm like Carrie is such a problem character. She has many beautiful aspects to her and I almost in a way, hate to attribute her to the Queen of Wands, because the Queen of Wands is just bright and radiant and unapologetic and exuberant and just has this zeal for life, you know, just has this kind of passion and this drive which we do see in Carrie. But there's so many character flaws with Carrie Bradshaw that I almost in a way hate to connect her to the Queen of Wands. But I think she is a in many ways, a perfect representation of this card, in the good and in the bad.

Ashlie: 38:54

There is so much that could be said about Carrie Bradshaw and I just do not have the time in this episode, so I'm going to link another article. It is a sub stack and it is titled Fashion and Culture as Armor. I was reading this and actually found it to be incredibly insightful around the character analysis of Carrie Bradshaw, so I am going to have that linked for you if you would like to read that or follow up on that. But let's first talk about the fashion of Carrie Bradshaw. Because it's Carrie Bradshaw, we have to start with the fashion. So if we look at the fashion of Carrie Bradshaw, we see that she is truly the risk taker of the bunch. She is not afraid to take risks, she's not afraid to try different things and she's not afraid to let the fashion kind of move her. She's kind of caught up in this organic process of letting the clothes kind of become something bigger, which is why I think she speaks so beautifully in some ways to the Queen of Wands, because being a risk taker in fashion is something that is actually kind of hard to do If you walk out of the house.

Ashlie: 40:09

Most of us constantly wear and rely on the things that make us feel incredibly comfortable, because that's what gives us confidence. If we look at the article with the pictures, we see the white dress with the huge flower. Although, to be fair, she looks stunning in this photo. She is gorgeous, and to anyone who says that Sarah Jessica Parker is not a beautiful woman, you can just go get bent. I'm sorry. She is such a beautiful, beautiful woman. We see her in the next photo playing with two different types of prints. That should not go together, but somehow they do.

Ashlie: 40:45

We see the Christian Dior newspaper dress, which is one of my favorite outfits from the show, from the whole show. That outfit is truly one of my personal favorites. But then we see her in this incredibly ugly black nightgown looking thing with those horrific shoes and even the pink top and the white tutu. The iconic outfit that's in the intro for every episode just does nothing for me. But we see that she is gonna take swings, she's gonna swing and sometimes she's gonna have outfits that are total home runs and then she's gonna swing and miss.

Ashlie: 41:25

And that's what I love about her in relation to the fashion aspect is that she is willing to be bold. She's gonna be fiery, she's be feisty and she's also not going to let what society tells her is fashionable, even from the fashion world that she looks up to, that she respects, that she follows, that inspires her so much she's not even going to let those people influence how she dresses. She's going to buy the things that she loves to the point of excess, which we'll talk about, but she's going to buy the things that she wants and then she's going to create something entirely her own, completely unique to Carrie Bradshaw, which I think is one of the reasons why she makes so much sense to be the Queen of Wands in a very good aspect, because she's a trailblazer and that she is going to leave a fingerprint that is entirely unique to her. And even if someone replicates it, it's not going to be the same, because she gives this energy to the fashion that just cannot be replicated. That just cannot be replicated.

Ashlie: 42:39

If we look at now her character, I will say again she just has not aged well as a character and she's incredibly narcissistic. Some of the beautiful traits, though let's start with some of the beautiful traits is that she's very fiery, she's very spunky, she's constantly looking for fun, which I do think is very Queen of Wands energy and that she doesn't want this stale, stagnant life. She has shown and this is one of the most beautiful parts of her character she has shown that she's not willing to settle. Now, the way that she goes about that is incredibly problematic, but it is beautiful for a woman to not, nor ever, settle for certain things in life. We shouldn't have to, because women have been settling for far too long. There is still this societal norm that women should be happy with just being wives and mothers, and that is not to say that if you are a wife or are a mother or a housewife or whatever, that there is anything wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

Ashlie: 43:40

It comes down to choice. Some people choose the Charlotte York lifestyle, where they want these traditional things, they have these values and they want to live that way. Nothing wrong with that. Others want to live this more exciting, adventurous lifestyle, like Samantha Jones or Carrie Bradshaw, where they will not settle for this life that becomes routine, that becomes, in their view, stagnant. Other people would consider it stable, but in their view it becomes stagnant.

Ashlie: 44:13

Now again, the way that she goes about getting to this is often incredibly problematic, with the most obvious being when she is with Aiden and Aiden loves her, he adores her, and Aiden is stable. He's not constantly in and out of her life like Big. He's not jerking her around like Big. He's not emotionally manipulative like Big. Aiden is there, aiden is present and he wants her in his life. But what he can't give her is a lot of this adventure and a lot of this excitement.

Ashlie: 44:52

Like there's the one episode where she has to go dancing because Aiden wants to stay home with a bucket of this excitement. Like there's the one episode where she has to go dancing because Aiden wants to stay home with a bucket of chicken watching the game. And she comes home and she's trying to wake him up because they went to the gay bar. And she's trying to wake him up because she's like I've had this really fun night and I'm not tired and let's have sex. And he's like I'm tired, I'm already asleep and she gets mad at him and then, of course, she cheats on Aiden with Mr Big multiple times and that is where her not settling in and of itself is a beautiful thing, but the way she goes about it is incredibly destructive. And this is where the Queen of Wands can get into some shadow aspects. When it becomes excessive, when it becomes impulsive, when it becomes, um, very destructive to the self or others because you are so in this spiritual sense of not backing down, being fiery, being this beautiful light in this world, but when it forces other people to dim their light or you suck up all the energy, which she does a lot with her friends that is when it becomes destructive.

Ashlie: 46:02

Speaking of destructive habits or destructive aspects to Carrie Bradshaw, like her fashion, it's beautiful that she is such a risk taker and also that she's just so passionate about fashion. It becomes a problem and it creates this destructioner. And also that she's just so passionate about fashion, it becomes a problem and it creates this destruction in her life when she's constantly without money. I mean again, like we said at the very beginning, there's no way she could live the life that she does, working and writing one weekly column for the New York Star. There is absolutely no way weekly column for the New York Star? There is absolutely no way.

Ashlie: 46:37

But even if in this fictitious world that works, she constantly spends money the minute that she has it on a new pair of shoes, and she is chasing these ideals and these aesthetics so much that oftentimes she's unaware of who she is as a person. And with the Queen of Wands, the Queen of Wands is so aware of who she is as a person and this is again where the aspect of Carrie becomes a little flipped that the fashion is not what makes Carrie Carrie. Carrie is so chaotic, though, that she constantly needs the fashion to speak for herself, because she doesn't always have that energy and that that fire in her to do the job for her, and she often wants the fashion to speak for her, in a way like when she was trying to get shoes to impress Natasha, who was Big's girlfriend. And we see where the facade is falling apart in some ways that a pair of shoes is not going to make Big change his mind and date you, not Natasha. So, while we see these beautiful traits with Carrie of having this fire, having this energy, this charisma, this zeal for life and wanting all of these adventures and using her job as a way to engage with the world that leads to personal transformations, which is very beautiful. We often see where this is also kind of hanging on by a thread as well, and that's the juxtaposition of Carrie is that on one hand she's great, but on the other hand she's just kind of always and consistently falling apart.

Ashlie: 48:29

One final thing about Carrie Bradshaw that again, on the surface is beautiful but when it comes to execution it becomes a huge problem is Carrie has such a life force and I think, again, that's where she makes the best example of the Queen of Wands is because the life force in her is undeniable. She is living her life. There is never a dull moment with Carrie. She has this fire, this energy in her and she's so immersed in living her life. She doesn't want a dull life because she's not a dull person. Again, that's a beautiful character trait to have.

Ashlie: 49:05

The problem becomes or the problem happens when it completely consumes her to the point where she can't engage mindfully with the people around her, or it creates these expectations that because I'm living my life this way, you should support me in living my life this way. Like constantly buying shoes, she has no money and then she gets mad at Charlotte when Charlotte will not give her $20,000 so that she can, you know, get her apartment back after her and Aiden broke up. That is insane. That is such an insane way to engage with not only the world but with your friendships. Your friends are not there to financially support you, there to financially support you.

Ashlie: 49:59

And the other thing about it that that's beautiful but becomes incredibly problematic is that Carrie's zeal for life again is undeniable, and having this thirst and this willingness to just live and experience and be in this world is an incredible thing and be in this world is an incredible thing, but she seeks it in almost all the wrong places. She seeks it from a man who consistently treats her bad, not even treats her bad, but actually diminishes her as a person. Mr Big is one of the most problematic characters in any show I have ever seen, but in some ways he's very upfront about it. He tells her from the beginning that he's not very much a commitment guy and that he just wants to fool around and just live this kind of bachelor life, and so that fact about him becomes a conquest for her, this hunger for life becomes. I am so immersed and in love with this man that this is my goal, this is my conquest, and I have to conquer this in him because I need that. For me it's so. It's such a problem.

Ashlie: 51:09

What Carrie Bradshaw has always inspired in me as a character is this sense of never settling, this sense of having this ferocity and this fiery spirit. That is how she moves through life. She can't be analytical, she can't be overly emotional, but what she is is incredibly passionate. What she is is incredibly hungry for this life that she seeks. And again, while it comes out in very problematic ways, the endearing aspect of the truth of it is there and I don't want to diminish that in any way. It's just more of the way it comes across. The execution is where the problem is, and also most of us would not engage with situations that way. It just makes for good tv. So carrie has always inspired in me this confidence or this willingness to consistently show up and be in your life, to not let your life pass you by, and I think that that's a beautiful thing with her, and no amount of the shadow side of her diminishes that as well. So that is the episode.

Ashlie: 52:20

I really hope you liked this take on bringing the four protagonists in Sex and the City to the four queens of the tarot. I really enjoyed this. I think I'm going to start doing this more with some other shows, with some other characters. If you want me to break down any characters from your favorite shows or movies, let me know, and I think that this could be a really fun series that we do. I would like to thank my patrons Deb Guy, bobby McDermid, lisa Zimmerman, nicole Smith, tracy Lanham, kim Hartnett, lisa Zimmerman, nicole Smith, tracy Lanham, kim Hartnett, chris Rhee, miranda Snow, colleen Toohey, charlie Ruggles, shannon Konendyke and Makai Rose. Thank you.