Anna K 3. The Empress

Nemia

In her own words, Anna K. emphasizes the threatening and destructive aspects of the Empress.

http://www.annak-tarot.at/Anna_Englisch/arkana_gr_e/03_empress_e.html

I admit that this card is also for me one of the problematic cards of this wonderful deck, but I respect Anna K. for not giving us another dreamy young mother or pregnant woman. The Empress is a ruler, she's a mother (and as we know from fairy tales, every Mother comes with her shadow side, the "Stepmother" of fairy tale who is actually the Mother herself), she's a defender and a destroyer.

I find that here like in other decks, the Empress is too similar to the Queen of Pentacles. Actually, the Queen of Pentacles looks like the Empress' more sunny-natured little sister.

The black and white tiles floor in this deck appears like a chess board, connected to logic and structure (in the King of Swords, Justice, Emperor). Under her feet, these structures and order crack. Nature is coming back even if you drive it out with a fork (naturam expellas furca...). It reminds me of the old industrial buildings or train stations, once symbols of progress, where now green plants cover the human-made structures (like in the pictures made by a German photographer in the area where my grandfather worked).

Most depictions of the Empress forgo the difficult sides of this card. We prefer our image of motherhood and female rulership to be gentle, charming, cute and young. But just like I found something potentially sinister in Cate Blanchett's Galadriel (which is why I loved her interpretation of the role), there is something threatening in the Empress.

And chapeau to Anna K. for NOT sugarcoating this card. The Empress gives birth and destroys. You're lucky when you have her creative power on your side, but she's a powerful enemy. And she destroys with ease what the Emperor creates with an effort. All she has to do is wait.

She's the card of Venus, not only beautiful and sexy but also destructive and a trouble maker (Trojan War anyone?).

So I like this card because I find it difficult to like the woman on the card. She embodies not only what I like (and I feel connected to the Empress in many ways) but also what I fear. And we all resist and struggle when we see this card depicted in a threatening way. Touch everything but not the Mother archetype! Because if we can't believe in her total goodness and acceptance any more, in what CAN we believe...?

Yes, this deck is really great.