PRINCESS OF CUPS

Fig. 56.1. Pamela Colman Smith, Knight of Cups, from the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, 1st ed. (London: William Rider & Son, 1909), chromolithograph.

Fig. 56.2. Josh Baird, Princess of Cups, from the Sego & Salt Tarot, 1st ed. 

PRINCESS OF CUPS : "1928: MINERVA TEICHERT: ARTIST, MOTHER, RANCHER"

_________________________________________________________________________

THE TRADITIONAL TAROT

KEY IDEAS: Attraction, Beauty, Charm, Creativity, Faithfulness, Following your heart, Grace, Idealism, Imagination, Invitations, Offering, Sensitivity, Rose Tinted Glasses, Warmth. REVERSED: Avoiding conflict, tantrums, turmoil, vanity.

ALTERNATIVE TITLE/S: The Prince of the Chariot of Fire, Lord of the Flame and Lightning, King of the Spirits of Fire, King of the Salamanders

CARD INTRODUCTION: The Knight of Cups is the ultimate romantic. The bohemian values of truth, beauty, freedom, and love motivate the Knight of Cups in all their quests. While this knight doesn’t move with tremendous speed, they make steady progress, and they care a lot about striking an inner balance on the journey. This is not the sort of person who’s going to sacrifice their well-being on the altar of success or completing the mission; they travel gracefully, always aware of the need to conduct themselves with dignity. This energy suggests focused, aligned progress, attention to detail, and idealism on the way to achieving a worthy goal. You might see a person with dominant Knight of Cups energy become a little carried away by drama, but ultimately, that’s the cost of doing business with this archetype. Emotions are often turned up to eleven. You can embody the Knight of Cups by listening to music that feels cinematic to you, whatever that might mean. This energy often comes with a sense of being part of some bigger story, something epic. Sink into a novel that sweeps you away. Daydream yourself into the plot and setting.

With the Knight of Cups, you have the mingling energies of Fire (the element associated with Knight cards) and Water (the element associated with Cups cards). Think of the cleansing heat of a sauna or natural hot spring for a sense of what this energy feels like.

Eden Gray’s The Tarot Revealed, published in 1960, gives the following description for the Knight of Cups: “A young man with light brown hair and hazel eyes, of high intelligence and romantic dreams. Love may come from him to the subject of the reading. He may also be the bearer of messages. May indicate advances, a proposition or an invitation.”  —Sara K. S. Hanks, Cottonwood Tarot

QUOTES:

1. "The only way to enchant is to be enchanted." — Anaïs Nin

2. "My imagination is a monastery and I am its monk." — John Keats (reflecting the internal sanctuary of the Knight)

3. "There is a romance in the soul of every woman who looks at life with her heart instead of her eyes." — Unknown

4. "The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." — W.B. Yeats

5. "I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone." — Rainer Maria Rilke

6. "To be a poet is a condition, not a profession." — Robert Graves (capturing the Knight’s "lifestyle" of beauty)

_________________________________________________________________________

SEGO & SALT TAROT

"I must paint, it's a disease." —Minerva Teichart¹

"A painting is finished when the story is told." —Minverva Teichert²

VISITING MINERVA: In the mid-twentieth century, a visitor seeking fresh cream in Cokeville, Wyoming, would find themselves at the Teichert ranch, the final outpost before the town gave way to the vast grazing lands of the West. There, they would be met by Minerva Teichert—a woman characterized by her white hair and signature headband—who balanced the grueling demands of ranch life with an unrelenting artistic drive. Depending on the hour, one might find her tending to the aftermath of a massive dawn breakfast, processing dairy, or feeding her large flock of poultry.

However, the domestic exterior of her home belied a professional studio within. Stepping into her high-ceilinged living room, the immediate sensory experience was the sharp aroma of linseed oil and the sight of massive canvases stretching across her walls. Teichert utilized every available inch of space to bring her visions to life. A visitor wouldn't just leave with their groceries; they would depart enriched by Teichert’s vivid narrations of her works—tales of indigenous ceremonies, the grit of pioneers, or ancient scriptural journeys—proving that for her, the act of painting and the act of storytelling were inseparable.³

Fig. 56.3. Unknown photographer, Minerva Kohlhepp, January 2, 1908. Photograph. Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert family and personal photographs, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University.

LIVING ON THE EDGE: Minerva Teichert’s existence was defined by a striking duality; she existed simultaneously in two seemingly opposite worlds. She was as much a product of the rugged, unpolished American wilderness as she was a participant in the sophisticated realms of fine art and elite intellectual circles. Her life was a constant movement between the practical demands of a pioneer-style homestead and the elevated aspirations of a world-class painter, never fully abandoning one for the other.³

LIVING ON THE EDGE: "Minerva Teichert lived her life at the border between the rustic and the refined, walking with one foot in the frontier and the other in the circles of culture and high society." (1)

Fig. 56.4. Unknown photographer, Minerva Teichert on Horseback, January 2, 1908. Photograph. Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert Photographs, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University.

IN CHICAGO WITH VENDERPOEL: During her formative years in Chicago, Teichert studied the complexities of the human form under the tutelage of John Vanderpoel, a master draftsman whose technical expertise was legendary. Vanderpoel recognized her extraordinary potential, explicitly telling her that her artistic capabilities were limitless. It was also during this period in the city that she first encountered the profound emotional and social impact of large-scale muralism—a medium that would eventually become the hallmark of her professional career and her primary method for historical storytelling.³

MINERVA CHOSE ART: During a hiatus from her studies, Minerva Teichert became romantically involved with a reserved ranch hand named Herman, who did not share her religious background or formal education. This relationship met with strong opposition from her mother, who presented Minerva with a definitive ultimatum: she would fully fund Minerva's prestigious training at the Art Students League of New York on the condition that she abandon the prospect of marriage to Herman. Faced with this choice between domestic life and her artistic calling, Minerva chose the latter. In April 1915, she advised Herman to seek a different partner and departed for the East Coast to pursue her career in the arts.³

ODD JOBS: During her time in New York, Minerva Teichert fully immersed herself in the city's vibrant cultural scene, frequenting the opera, attending various concerts, and participating in the women's suffrage movement. To sustain herself financially, she took on a diverse and unconventional array of freelance work. Her artistic skills were applied in starkly different fields: she provided anatomical illustrations of cadavers for medical institutions and created drawings for children's literature. Perhaps most notably, she occasionally leaned into her Western roots by performing as an Indigenous figure, showcasing her skills in traditional dancing and rope artistry for audiences.³

A TRUE WESTERNER: When observers in New York questioned her deep-seated preference for painting arid, desert landscapes, Teichert explained that her identity was inseparable from the American West. She suggested that the essence of the frontier was a part of her very biology, metaphorically claiming that the ruggedness of the mountains and the vast, parched plains were "in her blood." For Teichert, her artistic focus wasn't just a choice of subject matter, but an internal necessity to honor the harsh yet beautiful environment that had shaped her soul.⁴

Fig. 56.5. M, 1897. Photograph. From Wikimedia Commons.

ROBERT HENRI’S INFLUENCE: One of the most defining forces in Teichert’s artistic evolution was the celebrated portrait artist Robert Henri. He instilled in his pupils a philosophy that urged them to "love reality, but abhor photographic representation," a directive that encouraged emotional truth over clinical detail. Under his guidance, she learned to favor expansive brushes and fluid, gestural strokes, avoiding the trap of over-refining a piece until it lost its life. Teichert successfully synthesized Henri’s technical advice with her mastery of human anatomy and large-scale mural painting, all while grounding the work in her own aesthetic of the American West.

Henri’s impact extended far beyond technical skill; he acted as a spiritual and professional catalyst. In a pivotal exchange, he questioned whether anyone had ever properly depicted the epic history of her heritage, asking, “Has anyone ever told your great Mormon story?” When she admitted the existing depictions were unsatisfactory, he famously responded, “Good heavens, girl, what a chance. . . . Oh, to be a Mormon. . . . You’ll do it well.” This conversation served as a turning point for Teichert; from that moment forward, she felt she had received a divine or professional mandate, stating, “I felt that I had been commissioned.”³

MINERVA, FAMILY & PAINTING: During her time in New York, Teichert attended a religious service where the speaker urged the young women in attendance to prioritize domestic life and marriage over professional ambitions, suggesting that true happiness lay in returning home to their partners. This message prompted a period of deep introspection for Teichert. She compared the sophisticated, ambitious men she had encountered in the city—whom she characterized as seekers of "glittering gold"—to the man she had left behind in the West. She realized that Herman, a humble rancher tending to cattle on the Idaho desert, was the individual most perfectly suited to her soul.

Choosing to act on this realization, she returned home to marry Herman and establish a family. However, this was not a surrender of her artistic identity. Teichert managed a rare and difficult balance, refusing to let her domestic responsibilities or the physical hardships of ranch life stifle her creativity. Her commitment to her craft was so absolute that even severe obstacles—including a bout with lead poisoning and the eventual loss of her vision in her later years—failed to stop her from producing art.³

COKEVILLE MOV-INS: When Minerva Teichert settled in Cokeville, Wyoming, at nearly forty years old, she was immediately recognized by the local community as a distinctive and unconventional figure. Despite her eccentricities, the townspeople embraced her presence. Her appearance was striking, defined by a prominent mane of white hair that she consistently kept in place with a headband. When asked about this signature accessory, she would jokingly explain that the band served a practical, if impossible, purpose: it was the only thing keeping her intellect and thoughts contained within her head.³

FUNERAL FLOWERS: Minerva Teichert had a unique and touching ritual regarding the passing of community members in Cokeville. Following the conclusion of local funeral services, she would often collect a selection of the floral arrangements left behind. Within a few days, she would transform these fading flowers into a vibrant, permanent still-life painting, which she then gifted to the bereaved family as a lasting memento of their loved one. This practice eventually became so well-known and appreciated by her neighbors that they bypassed the funeral collection entirely, instead opting to deliver the bouquets directly to her home so she could begin her work.⁶

A BIG TIME MULTITASKER: Minerva Teichert was an extraordinarily prolific multitasker who primarily expressed her creativity through the production of large-scale murals. She often worked on these pieces in the brief windows of time available between her household responsibilities. According to her granddaughter, Marian Eastwood Wardle, Teichert was a "multitasker—big time," frequently stepping away from the kitchen stove to apply a few quick strokes of paint to a canvas around the corner. It was only after her children were tucked away for the night that she could provide her art with her undivided focus. On some occasions, she would even move the hands of the household clocks forward to convince her children it was bedtime earlier than usual, securing more quiet hours for her work.⁷

ALICE MERRILL HORNE HELPS SAVE THE RANCH: During the economic devastation of the Great Depression, the Teichert family found themselves in a desperate struggle to maintain their livelihood. In a pivotal moment, Minerva presented her artistic portfolio to Alice Merrill Horne, a prominent Utah art dealer and advocate. Horne immediately recognized Teichert’s talent and moved to support her, coordinating several high-profile sales and an exhibition that ultimately provided the funds necessary to "save the Teichert ranch." Horne's influence was instrumental in Teichert’s career; she eventually facilitated the placement of roughly 60 of Teichert's murals in various locations across Salt Lake City. Furthermore, Horne negotiated a unique arrangement with Brigham Young University. This deal allowed Teichert’s children, as well as other residents from her local community, to attend the university on scholarships in exchange for Teichert’s artwork—a testament to how her creative labor became a literal currency for her family's future.⁷

THE MANTI TEMPLE MURAL: In a remarkable feat of artistic endurance, Minerva Teichert completed the massive, 4,000-square-foot mural for the Manti Temple in only 23 days during 1947. The artwork depicts a vast global procession where the affluent and high-ranking members of society move forward while callously overlooking the impoverished figures at their feet. Her granddaughter, Marian Eastwood Wardle, explained that this imagery—featuring "beggars going unheeded" by arrogant onlookers—was intended to represent the concept of "man’s inhumanity to man" and the desolation of a "lone and dreary world." Teichert’s own correspondence reveals the immense pressure she faced; she noted to her daughter that church leadership had requested the project be finished "speedily." She took pride in the result, describing the work as perhaps the most rapidly executed mural of its scale by any American artist and expressing her relief and determination that the authorities were "thrilled" with the progress.⁷

42 BOOK OF MORMON PAINTINGS: Minerva Teichert viewed the visual depiction of Book of Mormon narratives as a divine calling, aiming to create a series that allowed the scriptures to "be read at a glance." By 1952, she had completed a comprehensive collection of 42 paintings, a project she personally regarded as her most significant professional achievement. Despite her enthusiasm and the artistic merit of the series, she faced significant disappointment during her lifetime; she found no willing buyers, and publishers showed no interest in including the works in printed materials. It was not until long after her passing in 1976 that these paintings received the recognition she had hoped for and began to be widely utilized in various publications.³

LOST & FOUND: Minerva Teichert’s prolific artistic career came to an abrupt end in the spring of 1970 after a fall from her porch resulted in a broken hip and a possible stroke. She never returned to her easel before her passing in a Provo nursing home in 1976. Ironically, a widespread "rediscovery" of her work by her community began almost immediately after her death. This renewed appreciation started with a small selection of her Book of Mormon illustrations appearing in a church magazine, which quickly escalated into a significant "flood" of interest following a formal profile that praised her style as being simultaneously "sophisticated in technique and style, yet simple and direct in content and impact." As her popularity surged, forgotten murals were recovered from storage areas and stages across the region to be restored and displayed. Her work eventually moved from obscurity to the covers of global manuals and the walls of international temples. By the centennial of her birth in 1988, her legacy was cemented with a major museum retrospective. Finally, her long-held dream for her Book of Mormon series—which she had donated to BYU in 1969 without any payment or guarantee of use—was realized in 1997 when the university hosted a dedicated exhibition and published a complete volume of the collection.³

THE MULTIFACETED LIFE OF MINERVA TEICHERT

• AUTHENTIC FRONTIER EXPERIENCE: Unlike many artists of her era who painted the West from a distance, Teichert was a true product of the Idaho wilderness. She possessed the practical skills of a seasoned rancher and once maintained a solitary homestead in the Idaho backcountry, where she next to a sidearm for personal safety.

• RESOURCEFUL SCHOOLING: During her time at the Art Students League in New York, Teichert utilized unconventional methods to fund her education. Her income sources included technical medical illustration—specifically drawing human anatomy for surgical schools—and performing Western-themed rope acts and dances on stage.

• A FUNCTIONAL TRADEMARK: Teichert’s habit of wearing a headband was born of necessity rather than fashion. Originally used during her stage performances, she found it served as a perfect tool for keeping her hair back while she focused on large-scale painting projects.

• CREATIVE RECYCLING: Operating on a remote ranch meant that professional art supplies were often a luxury. Teichert frequently improvised by using household materials such as wooden slats, scrap fabric, and heavy paper bags. Modern technology has even revealed earlier "lost" paintings hidden beneath the surface of her later, more famous works.

• FAITH-BASED CONTRIBUTIONS: During the Great Depression, when currency was scarce, Teichert contributed her artwork to her local congregation in place of monetary offerings. She remained proud of these pieces, occasionally reclaiming them temporarily to use as professional samples for city art dealers.

• A GUIDING MENTORSHIP: The renowned artist Robert Henri played a pivotal role in her career by encouraging her to document her unique cultural heritage. He famously suggested that she was uniquely positioned to tell the story of her people, an idea Teichert embraced as her professional life's mission.

• FORMAL ARTISTIC TRAINING: Teichert was a pioneer in her religious community, becoming the first woman designated to pursue advanced art studies in major cultural centers like Chicago and New York. She viewed this high-level technical training as essential preparation for her goal of visually chronicling history and scripture.

• VIVID AND PROLIFIC LEGACY: Known for her incredible speed and volume, Teichert produced thousands of pieces throughout her career. She was equally adept at creating small, intimate portraits and massive, room-sized murals, leaving behind one of the most comprehensive visual records of 20th-century Western life.

• PIONEER LINEAGE: Teichert’s resilience was deeply rooted in her family history. As the granddaughter of the well-known frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickman, she shared a direct connection to the early, rugged era of the American West, which informed her lifelong comfort with the challenges of frontier living.⁸

FROM THE VAULT: The article “From the Vault: Minerva Teichert’s Book of Mormon Paintings” from the BYU Museum of Art (MOA) explores the legacy of Minerva Teichert (1888–1976), focusing on her monumental series of 42 paintings illustrating scenes from the Book of Mormon.

Teichert, a prolific artist and rancher's wife, viewed her work as a divine calling. Influenced by her mentor Robert Henri, who urged her to paint the "Mormon story," she completed this specific series between 1949 and 1951. Her style is characterized by bold, theatrical brushstrokes and narrative "pageantry," often humanizing scriptural figures like Nephi, Sariah, and Alma. She had a unique ability to capture emotional depth, such as the tension in Lehi’s family as they departed Jerusalem in the painting Flight.

The "From the Vault" series highlights how these works, which were originally donated to BYU in 1969 as gifts-in-kind (sometimes even traded for family tuition), were largely stored away until a resurgence of interest in the late 1990s. Today, the MOA holds one of the largest collections of her work, ensuring her "visual testimony" reaches a global audience through exhibitions and study supplements. The article emphasizes that Teichert’s goal was to make the scriptures accessible so they could be "read at a glance," bridging the gap between historical frontier life and sacred narrative.⁹

QUEEN ESTHER: The Church News article tells the story of Betty Curtis Stokes, who at age 19 served as the real-life model for Minerva Teichert’s iconic 1939 painting, Queen Esther. Living just doors away from the artist in Cokeville, Wyoming, Stokes was chosen by Teichert for her "grace and nobility." The article captures a 92-year-old Stokes reflecting on the experience, noting the striking and enduring resemblance between herself and the biblical heroine depicted on her dining room wall. Teichert was known for using neighbors and family members as live models, often dressing them in elaborate costumes to bring scriptural and historical figures to life. Beyond the aesthetic choice, the painting carried significant weight. It was one of three works created by Teichert in response to disturbing letters from her son, who was serving a mission in Germany in 1938. His reports of the horrific mistreatment of Jewish people moved Teichert to paint Esther as a symbol of courage and a protector of her people. Stokes's recollections provide a personal window into Teichert's process, showing how a small-town girl from Wyoming became the face of a queen who has inspired viewers for nearly a century. Today, the painting remains a centerpiece of the BYU Museum of Art's permanent collection.¹⁰

JOHN A TEICHERT: Born on November 1, 1928, in Cokeville, Wyoming, John A. Teichert was the youngest child of the celebrated artist Minerva Teichert and her husband, Herman. His childhood was defined by the transition of the family ranch from Idaho to Wyoming and the rigorous labor of a town dairy. A standout athlete, he played on a 1946 state championship basketball team before attending Brigham Young University and serving a 2.5-year mission to Finland. Upon his return, he married his wife, Dorothy Black, in 1953, just one week after graduating with a degree in Geology. His professional life began with the U.S. Army Topographic Engineers, where he conducted surveys in the Presidio of San Francisco and the Alaskan wilderness. After earning a Master’s Degree from the University of Utah, John navigated a diverse career as a geologist for Anaconda Mining and a materials engineer for the Utah Road Commission, eventually logging missile sites in the Midwest. He spent thirty years as a division water superintendent in Cokeville, serving on numerous boards including the Bear River Commission. Beyond his technical expertise, John was a vital steward of his mother’s artistic legacy, providing historical context for her murals and paintings. A devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he and Dorothy served as senior missionaries at the Washington D.C. Visitors’ Center and as temple workers in Logan. Known as a "gentleman cowboy" of unwavering integrity, John passed away at home on March 8, 2019, at the age of 90, leaving behind a sprawling posterity of 44 grandchildren and 57 great-grandchildren who carry forward his family’s pioneering spirit.¹¹

AUTHOR’S NOTES: While at an art festival in Southern Utah in 2009, the year I began working on the Sego & Salt Tarot, I met John Teichert, Minerva's fifth and last child. He was a really sweet old man who loved to talk about his mother. He lived with his wife in Mt. Carmel, Utah until he died in 2019. I mention this only because for some reason meeting him was really important to this project. John was born slightly after the family moved to Cokeville. The infant in the card image is meant to be John. Technically, the painting of Esther was painted when John was about 11 years old.  

_________________________________________________________________________

ENDNOTES                  

1. Minerva Teichert, Letters of Minerva Teichert, ed. Laurie Teichert Eastwood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 1998), [Page Number].

2. Minerva Teichert, quoted in Marian Wardle, Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 2007), 48.

3. Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008, Painting the Mormon Story; Minerva Teichert, Letters of Minerva Teichert, ed. Laurie Teichert Eastwood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 1998), 75.

4. Minerva Teichert, quoted in Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008, https://magazine.byu.edu/article/minerva-teichert/.

5. Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008, https://magazine.byu.edu/article/minerva-teichert/.

6. Burke Teichert, quoted in Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008, https://magazine.byu.edu/article/minerva-teichert/; Minerva Teichert, Letters of Minerva Teichert, ed. Laurie Teichert Eastwood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 1998), 182.

7. Marian Wardle, Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 2007), [Page Number]; Wardle, Minerva Teichert, [Page Number].

8. Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008, Painting the Mormon Story; Minerva Teichert, Letters of Minerva Teichert, ed. Laurie Teichert Eastwood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 1998), 42–82, 122–154.

9. BYU Museum of Art, "From the Vault: Minerva Teichert’s Book of Mormon Paintings," Brigham Young University, accessed March 30, 2026, https://moa.byu.edu/; Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008.

10. Sarah Jane Weaver, "The Story Behind Minerva Teichert's 'Queen Esther'," Church News, August 11, 2015, https://www.thechurchnews.com/; BYU Museum of Art, "Queen Esther," https://moa.byu.edu/.

11. "John A. Teichert Obituary," Schwab Mortuary and Crematory, March 2019, https://www.schwabmortuary.com/; Peter B. Gardner, "Painting the Mormon Story," Y Magazine, Winter 2008.