The Empress: Nurturing Beauty
When I picked the Empress this morning, I thought it was probably one of the most straightforward cards — I’m a woman and very familiar with the myths of Aphrodite and Venus. Yet, in true female fashion it turned out she’s more complex. Despite the obvious Venus (love, beauty and sex) connection, she has elements of Demeter (the harvest), Athena (arts and creativity) and Hera (marriage, family and childbirth).
The other thing I uncovered while looking into this card is that while the High Priestess and the Empress represent two states of womanhood, the virgin and the mother, there doesn’t seem to be a card to represent a third state — the woman who is not a virgin and not a mother. I’m only three cards into the deck but will certainly look out for a representation of women who choose not to be mothers but are not innocent and chaste either. Stay tuned!
3. THE EMPRESS
What you see: The Empress sits in a lush garden with a field of ripe wheat in front of her and the stream of consciousness flowing through cypress trees behind her. Her hair is adorned with a wreath of myrtle and a crown of twelve, 6-pointed stars. She wears a robe decorated with pomegranates, seven pearls around her neck, and holds a sceptre with a globe on it. She sits on red cushions and at her feet lies a heart-shaped shield with the symbol of Venus.
What it means: The Empress is the Mother Earth, in a blooming garden surrounded by signs of fertility and femininity: pomegranates, fields of ripe wheat associated with Isis and cypress trees and myrtle sacred to Venus. The stream of conscious beginning in the High Priestess card continues into this card, symbolizing the connectedness of the two — the before and the after, the virgin and the mother. She also represents dominion over the cosmos — the twelve months and zodiac, and the earth — the globe. More symbols of Venus include the seven pearls and the symbol associated with the female.
The story: As a character, the Empress is the mother goddess, a symbol of love, fertility and nurturing. Where the High Priestess is connection with the inner self, the Empress is connection with nature, others and the material world. As an event, she symbolizes productiveness and fecundity. As a relationship, the Empress represents a period of growth and progress. As a sign, it urges action as it will be fruitful, particularly for creative ventures.
As part of the Fool’s Journey: The Empress is the nurturing mother; growth and development in early childhood years.
Reversed meaning: Famine and infertility; reversed, the card may indicate creative block, non-nurturing environment or a disconnection with nature.
In mythology: The Empress seems to be primarily drawn from the Roman goddess, Venus, encompassing love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. She shares with the High Priestess, elements of Isis (after marriage), the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and marriage, and also Freyja, Norse goddess with similar badass traits.
Potential (and obvious!) insights: Nurturing and growth is uniquely associated with women and motherhood, less so with fatherhood. And, it is powerful and important because without it the world would cease to exist. The Empress is a celebration of women because who run the world? Girls.
While we are on the subject of powerful women, it’s also cool to note that Gaia was Mother Earth and that she birthed everything, including the heavens and sky — Uranus. Uranus was her son…and husband, and that’s where it gets weird and icky and I stop reading Greek mythology for a bit!
My research sources:
A Complete Guide to the Tarot, Eden Gray, 1970
Tarot Card Meanings, Biddy Tarot
Deck: The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck®
