Goddess Tarot - 3 ~ Fertility: Estsanatlehi

Estsanatlehi is the Navajo corn goddess chosen to represent this card.

For some background on her look here: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4456/navajo.html

This is one of my favorite cards in this deck. The blooming flowers would indicate birth and abundance. Also the green plants with red flowers would symbolize life and birth. I guess since she is Navajo that is why she is placed in the desert (a scene that isn't commonly associated with the Empress card since she is usually associated with life and abundance). However the artist creates a lively and flourishing scene despite the desert landscape. Her arms are out-stretched seeming to create a feeling of welcome and love....it almost reminds me of a mothers arms outstreched to greet her child with a big hug.

more

"Estsanatlehi

NAME: Estsanatlehi. also Changing Woman.

SYMBOLS: Spruce Mountain, hoops, the rainbow.

USUAL IMAGE: An attractive Native American woman at any age between 12 and 80, she most often is shown wareing a muti-color dress and a cloak made from white feathers into which white shells and large turqoises have been sewn, she holds four hoops.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The home was the main place of worship for Estsanatlehi as she was a goddess that was believed to deal closely with the public and as such did not make others come to her.

MAJOR TABOOS: Harm to children

RELATIVES: Coyote (step-father), Sun-rise and Sun-set (twin sons).

DETAILS: Estsanatlehi was the ancestral mother of the Navajo and Apache peoples, she is also called Changing Woman because she can change her age at will by walking into the horizon until she meets herself comeing back. Some of her other names are White Shell Woman and Turquoise Woman. The Navajo say she was born of darkness and dawn on top of Spruce Mountain, where Coyote the trickster finds her, a baby wrapped in clouds, surrounded by three rainbows and bound to her cradle board with sunbeams and lighting. She grows up in 18 days, feeding on sun, clouds, and flower pollens. Later she is impregnated by the Sun and a waterfall and has twin boys who hold up each end of the day, because of this monsters soon begin to seek them out to kill them. To protect them from these monsters she throws four hoops into the four directions, causing barrier winds to arise and keep the monsters away. She is the keeper of the Blessingway, ceremonies used by the Navanjos, Apache and some other tribes to create well-being in childbirth, puberty, house blessings and weddings. The ceremonies are also used to ensure that the people may walk in beauty."

Anjo

Oh, here's the site

http://texts.eldritchs.com/godandgoddess/ch_wom.htm

Here's my description of the card

As it was said before, it's strange that the creator of the deck has chosen the desert as the landscape to a card that's usually related to abundance. However, if you think about it, this woman is alos not an ordinary "Empress". She's quite young, she's not pregnant (I know, I know, not all empresses are pregnant...), she looks free and wild.

Now, if we think about it, noone said the empress didn't have to be sexy... since she symbolizes fertility (that's the name of the card) it would have to be a young woman, or else she woudn't be able to bear children.

About the landscape, although it's a desert, the fact is you can see lots and lots of flowers everywhere. We also see cactus (sp?) behind her, but even those have flowers. It's as if she's surrounded by one of the most beautiful aspects of nature: flowers. And the truth is that flowers appear almost everywhere, and that comes out in this card..

Her arms are totally open and I don't know why, I have the feeling she's dancing. Seems like she's celebrating the rise of the sun, and the new day ahead.

These were my 2 cents

Anjo

I love your descriptions of the card anjo and destiny.

It is summer here at the moment and the warmth and promise of this card resonate very much with me.

Estsanatlehi is a slender woman in a beautiful white dress and she looks completely fresh and at ease in this environment.

I love the way this deck is designed! It is as though we look through a window from this world to the world being described in these images. Estsanatlehi looks as though she is inviting us to explore this world, welcoming us in fact.

As I enter the card, the world seems quite magical. It seems as though it is in the evening and the world is beginning to prepare for the dark. The plant life breathes a little differently. Although it needs the light for life it possibly also needs the respite of the dark.

It is not quite dark yet. The sun is sinking in a glorious orange red dusk. The air already feels cooler, and the insect life celebrates the transition of day to night with its own particular chorus. Here, it would almost always be cicadas but I'm not sure about this world.

There is perhaps an ambient sexuality to this card which is fitting for the image of fertility.

Moongold

At first, this "empress" did not appeal to me- she seemed too young, too slender, too virginal...But little by little, she has grown on me. The orange palette of this card seems to be brimming with creative energy, very vibrant and abundant. I remember when I went to Arizona, at first, I hated the desert. It looked so bland and colorless... but after your eyes get used to the lack of grass, you start seeing flowers, tall cacti, interesting birds, mineral hued rock- and it has its own unique palette. Not that I would want to live there, but it does have its beauty. I see this young goddess as embodying the ability to thrive, to produce, to create in arid climates. We've all been there before- a disinterested teacher, a dull job, a boring routine. Yet even in these arid conditions, Estsanatlehi shows us that it is possible to find beauty- or create our own! She encourages us to pour out our fertility, even when nobody seems to appreciate it- because it adds to the beauty of life, and that is enough.

This card really speaks to me this month. The 5th was the full corn moon. The 1st was Lughnasadh, the grain harvest celebration.

I really like what Autumnsdaughter said about fertility in arid conditions. That really speaks to me. So much so that I need to dwell on it and maybe post more on that later.

I have the pocket edition, so it's hard to see even with a magnifying glass. Are her bracelets turquoise? Do we know what type of flowers and cacti these are? I have Ted Andrew's Nature Speak and would like to look them up. What is the bird?

I like that the empress is slim and that Gaia is fully saved for the world card.