Cosmic Tribe - Empress

Continuing our discussion of the cards ... here is my sense of the Empress:

WHAT DO YOU SEE? I see a woman who's throne is the center of a daisy. The daisy is one amongst a field of daisies in the sky. The woman's arms and face are lifted to the heavens. She wears a crown of 12 golden spheres. Her legs have become part of the field of daisies. She is one with nature and it is in tune with her as well. The has some soft clouds and the outline of the full moon (or earth?) is behind her. She has a mandala on her chest where her heart chakra is located. A bee has flown out of it and she has been gently wrapped with a yellow spiral formed by the bees flight from her heart chakra, to behind her back, to then in front of her.

WHAT COLORS DO YOU SEE? blue, white, yellow, gold, and green.

WHAT SYMBOLS ARE THERE? spirals representing cycles; blooming flowers representing growth and life; the 12 spheres of her crown or halo representing the 12 signs of the zodiac; the mandala representing the tapestry of the heart connection with its surroundings; the woman representing the goddess, mother earth; the bees symbolizing the process of pollenation and fertility.

WHAT HUMAN AND ANIMAL FIGURES DO YOU SEE? a woman and 3 bees.

DESCRIBE THE CARD IN TERMS OF AN EMOTION. HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT? Harmony.

To me this card is all about our connection with all of nature and the cosmos. It is about fertility, nurturing and growth.

Love & Light,

I especially like the way the Empress 'merges' with the field of daisies: Its like she is part of Nature, and Nature is part of her. Very synthesised, and together, and it seems like they are helping each other out, y'know: She's feeding the field, and the field is giving her energy.

However, I think she is quite passive... And I have always seen the Empress as active. But then again, most Empress cards are very passive anyway!

Kiama

Kiama (01 Mar, 2002 19:49):
I especially like the way the Empress 'merges' with the field of daisies: Its like she is part of Nature, and Nature is part of her. Very synthesised, and together, and it seems like they are helping each other out, y'know: She's feeding the field, and the field is giving her energy.

However, I think she is quite passive... And I have always seen the Empress as active. But then again, most Empress cards are very passive anyway!

Kiama

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Hi Kiama, I agree with you. I love the way she merges with the field of daisies. I have always perceived the Empress cards as passive as well. To me they are nurturing, growth, fertility, family, that sort of thing. I really love this deck!

Love & Light,

http://www.stevee.com/images/t.mjr.03.jpg

Another great card!

Wow - do you know, I have had and used this deck for so long and I thought I had studied all the cards so much, but I never noticed the bees that are around the daisies in her legs! I counted at least four if you look really carefully, plus the one that is being set free from her heart chakra.

This really emphasises the creative and fertile aspect of this card and I prefer the symbolism of bees rather than the use of pregnancy...

I agree with you, Kiama, that this Empress seems rather passive. But then I look again at those misty-looking spirals 'growing' from her hands. Now I'm thinking that maybe they indicate growth that occurs right before your eyes, without you even noticing it.

For instance, have you ever actually *seen* a regular houseplant growing? I haven't consciously witnessed it myself, but sooner or later I do notice that my little plants have nearly outgrown their pots!

Anyway, this is one of my favorites in this deck. (Someday I'll tell you about my other 77 favorites! ;D Oops...make that 79...I forgot about the other two Lovers! )

Peace,

Melvis

I'm more with Melvis on this one. I really don't see her as passive. I think she's creating! Her hands and face are raised to the sun and the spirals coming from her hands to me are growing. Of course this isn't a fast action card! LOL But I don't see it as passive at all.

And I love that she's one with nature literally. The merging of the woman with the daisys and the bees representing the fertilization process!!

Not to be rude or crass here but on a more physical level I like that Stevee chose a more flat chested woman as the Empress - which goes against most people's thoughts of a mother figure I know. LOL It just shows very eloquently that mothers come in all shapes and sizes. I like this card alot!!!!

> Cosmic Bump <

Hi, all! Time I caught up on this study group!

I'm with Melvis and Faunabay here - to me, she's more "active" than the traditional empresses and the air itself is thick with creativity - the primal spark is everywhere, resulting in a sea of daisies right off to the horizon. And I think that sums up Mother Nature pretty well - one day you look at your lawn and it's just green, but the next it's a miniature white forest (at least, my garden is!). It can't be a sudden thing and a lot of work has gone one before it "erupts", but that's how it appears.

To me she appears to be in a trance-like state - perhaps she's focusing on the spirals of creation.

Does anybody else see a face between the wings of the bee heading out of her heart chakra? It seems to be emerging from the Empress' thigh and as far as I can tell it's got its eyes serenely shut. Thoughts?

Empress

If the Priestess is the elder sister, the wilder, tougher one, then the Empress is the younger fairer sister, the one who sticks around home and takes care of things, and shoveling love and warmth over everyone and everything...

The image:
Just like the Earth is an essential part of the Priestess card, so is the Moon a very present symbol in the Empress' card. It's there, but it is not the subject of her focus, her attention is directed to the light and energy that is shed on her face and hands by the life-giving sun. She sits in the middle of an ocean of blooming and blossoming flowers, it is a richness of creation that very well stands for her being. Pure love of abundant creation, that's what she is, that's what she stands for. If her sister cherishes her mother's inheritage, but walks a different path anyway, then the Empress is as much of Mother Gaia as she could possibly be. She IS love of life, love of love and love of beauty, she is the love of the tiniest details, she is a caring touch and a caressing wind, she is everything that is beautiful, and also potential of all that may be created.

Colours:
Part from green, that stands for earth and ground, there is much white present in this image. White stands for purity, such as she stands for all potential, creation in it's tiniest detail as well as the greatest Divine and Universal plans. There is also light blue in this image, which makes me think of the fair love and caring that she has for everything that is life, creation and beauty. And her ability to see the big picture, yet not miss the tiniest little detail in it.

Symbols:
The moon: again it stands for femininity, although in this case it's not the dark side of femininity that is most central to her, that's why she looks towards the sunlight and doesn't lean on the moon like her sister does.

The crown of spheres floating around her head - stand for the cycle of the year, when live awakens, flourishes, and dies back into the ground to awaken again, if the Mother wills it to happen, next spring. Twelve spheres, twelve months in a year.

The bee that circles around her, stands for fertility, of humans, of nature, of ideas, of spiritual awareness spreading in the world... The bee seems to come from within her heart chakra, which could stand for love being the key to all "fertility" regardless of which kind.

Her posture, with her hands in the air, with the sun colouring them and her face in gold of abundance, is very sensual. Sensual, physical, earthly. As she honours beauty, creation, earth, she IS beauty, creation, earth. Her magic is creative, healing, loving.

The abundant mass of flowers stand for what it is, a tribute to life, abundant beauty and magic energy. The Empress is a part of it, to the extent that her physical being has melted into the nature around her.

Jenny-Li said:

Her posture, with her hands in the air, with the sun colouring them and her face in gold of abundance, is very sensual. Sensual, physical, earthly. As she honours beauty, creation, earth, she IS beauty, creation, earth. Her magic is creative, healing, loving.

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That is exactly what I was trying to say ... just a lot more eloquently put . Next to the Gill Empress I think this one is my favorite ... or is it the other way around? *LOL*