Golden Tarot of Klimt - study group - the empress.

now I must say that although most of you struggled with the fool , this is the one card wich was harder for me to understand.


the character is athena , the greek goddes. this article explains my concern wityh the card deeply

http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2006/07/gustav_klimts_pallas_athene_of.html

it basicly talks about how athena had kind of a more masculine feel to it , wich is seen in the card.


now the way I think of the card is of seemingly though woman with a soft side, you can see behind the chestplate a flowy long dress, you can see how delicatedly she holds her staff/scepter (?) Im ok with that. my main concern is the lack of nature in the card, I supose the gorgon head on her armor could represent the wilderness , the chaos , but it all seems pretty sterile still. how do you see this card? is that even an issue for you ?

we could compare this to the emperor , who seems much more relaxed. maybe it talks about how seemingly women have had to loose their femeneity to achieve power? how they work much harder for it? after all she is the empress , but to me this card is not " just the emperor wife" she is powerful by her own right, I doubt she's even the wife of that empeor XD she probably rules alone her own empire!


but still ...she seems so sterile X(


EDIT!: ok so , now after comparing the original painting and the cards I can see her eyes looks much softer in the card, maybe its just the size , but it looks kind of tender , and after rationalizing it deeply XD I guess the golden etching to the sides kind of evoke both the cereals and grains and the stream of water. do you see it too? or am I just seeing what I want to see? haha

Klimt's empress

If this is Klimt's Empress and she is the goddess Athena, this is truly one sexy goddess. I find it gripping that although the goddess is known for strategy, warfare as well as wisdom, she is clothed in red orange dress -- subtle yet chic.

"Though Athena was a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments.[13] The goddess only encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict." - source - Wikipedia

Here are my thoughts on her as Empress -- She does appear to look more aggressive than the Emperor. The emperor is quite masculine with part of his body showing and the reast of his manhood covered with a tapestry of interesting shapes. The Empress on the other hand wears only one color and wears a helmet, the one sign that she would be willing to protect herself and those who believe in her when she needs to. However, as an Empress, she prefers to rule with dignity, wisdom and craftiness and charm rather than war her way through. She, like her Emperor, also seeks to balance things out. If the emperor tries to achieve order between expanding an empire and putting a sense of order through law and structure, the Empress seeks to expand connections and relationships through chagm, wisdom and more feminine yet solid strength.