THE EMPRESS

"She wears the universe as her jewelry."

Rider Waite Tarot

Pamela Coleman Smith

1909

Earth – Venus

- upright -

· Emotion

· Passion

· Gentleness

· Sensuality

· Fertility & Birth

· Nurturing

· Growth

· Creation

· Abundance

· Nature

· Comfort

· Self-Indulgence

· Generosity

· Satisfaction

· Insecurity

· Instability

· Overbearing

· Negligence

· Smothering, Clingy Love

· Lack of Growth

· Lack of Support

· Alienation

· Retreat from Feelings

· Creative Block

· Dependence on Others

- Reversed -

Earth – Venus

Rider Waite Tarot

Pamela Coleman Smith

1909

- upright -

· Emotion

· Passion

· Gentleness

· Sensuality

· Fertility & Birth

· Nurturing

· Growth

· Creation

· Abundance

· Nature

· Comfort

· Self-Indulgence

· Generosity

· Satisfaction

- reversed -

· Insecurity

· Instability

· Overbearing

· Negligence

· Smothering, Clingy Love

· Lack of Growth

· Lack of Support

· Alienation

· Retreat from Feelings

· Creative Block

· Dependence on Others

Indication:

The beauty you see in others that attracts you to them is a beauty you carry within yourself.
You are in the process of unfolding and evolving your femininity.
You are surrounded by beauty and abundance.
Now is the time to take care of your own well-being and enjoy yourself.

Question to Ask:

Is there a beautiful, strong woman in your life from whom you’d like to learn?

Affirmation:

I am beautiful.
I find pleasure and harmony in myself.
I express richness and abundance through my creativity.

The Empress, a woman, winged, crowned, seated, and uplifting a scepter with the orb of the world at its end: her sign is an eagle, an image of the soul and of life. She is the mystical quintessence of the triad – plenitude, fecundity, nature; she is spirituality, immortality, the Queen of Heaven.

— ELIPHAS LEVI, The Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic (1854)

Andrea Piccini Tarot

Andrea Picini

1979

01. The Empress represents motherhood, love, and gentleness. At the same time, she signifies sexuality, emotion, and femininity. The Empress is pure emotion.

Her feminine power is expressed in all forms, boundlessly sexual, creative and nurturing. Her energy flows unbridled. She exudes abundance, beauty and the glorious pleasure of the senses. She points to the exquisite splendor of the natural world, the sunlit leaf, the ink-black night. She rules over both the earth and sky, she celebrates both the body and the mystic mind. She demands connection with and attention paid to the gifts of taste, touch, scent, and sound. She calls forth for joyous birth and evolution. Creation, in all its expressions, are in her domain.

02. The Empress calls you to connect with beauty and bring happiness to your life. Understand yourself and get in touch with your sensuality so that you can attract life circumstances to bring happiness and joy. She is a signal to be kind to yourself, and to take care of yourself. Until we learn to experience the outer world completely, we cannot hope to transcend it. Therefore the first step to enlightenment is sensuality. Only through passion, can we sense, from deep inside rather than through intellectual argument, the spirit that fills all existence.

Create beauty in your life. Connect with your senses through taste, touch, sound, smell, and sight. Draw on these senses to experience pleasure and deep fulfillment. Treat yourself to a day spa, learn massage, enjoy a fine restaurant or spend more time with your partner. Discover different approaches to expressing yourself creatively, be it through painting, music, drama, or other art forms.

The Muse Tarot

Chris-Anne

2020

Dreaming Way Tarot

Rome Choi & Kwon Shina

2012

03. When you are in tune with the energy of The Empress, you will naturally take on her mothering nature. You feel a strong urge to nurture and care for others, from a place of loving compassion and support. You see it as a gift and an honor to tend to others, and in doing so you, too, receive the benefit.

In a more literal sense, you may step into the role of ‘mother’, perhaps as the mother of a newborn, caretaker of other people’s children, or spending more quality time with your kids.

04. The Empress could also mean the birth of a new idea. Owing to the good fortune that surrounds this card, you can be sure that such situations and projects will end successfully in your life.

Discover and bring forth those ideas that have been clinging to you and make sure that you devote yourself to accomplishing them. This card is a sign that they are going to be successful and well taken care of.

Ukiyoe Tarot

Koji Furuta

1988

Voyager Tarot

James Wanless & Ken Knutson

1985

05. As the Mother Earth archetype, The Empress urges you to venture out into nature to ground your energy and be in flow with the earth. Take a trip to your favorite natural setting. Breathe in the energy that surrounds you while marveling at the beauty of your surroundings. Allow yourself the time and the space to enter a different mindset and to receive the grounding spirit of nature into your heart and consciousness.

Tarot of the Golden Serpent

Sebastian Haines

2013

The Motherpeace Tarot

Karen Vogel & Vicki Noble

1981

- Turn Around -

06. Reversed, the Empress can signify a retreat from feeling, either rejecting your emotions or attempting to suppress your desires. You might be neglecting your own needs. The Empress encourages you to make self-love and self-care a priority. Now is the time to bring your loving energy and focus to yourself.

07. A reversed Empress could also mean that you are relying on others to take care of you and make decisions for you. You need to work towards removing this influence on your life and build confidence in your own actions. Always try as much as you can to ensure that you solve matters on your own.

08. The Empress Reversed can suggest that you are feeling a creative block, especially in giving birth to a new idea or expressing yourself creatively. You may worry whether it will be a success or if your work is appealing to others. For now, don’t worry about what others think. The important thing is that you are allowing your creative energy to flow.

09. On the other hand, when turning upside down, the Empress can mean a new intellectual awareness, especially the solving of some complicated emotional problem by calmly thinking it through.