78 Weeks: Empress

[ArwenNightstar]

World Spirit Tarot Empress

First Impressions : Waterfall represents feminity and receptivity and emotions. Yellow/Gold bird (7 brds total) makes me think of a Sun Conure which is light and love and joy to me. There are purple flowers at the top .. five, three, four. She is reclining on what I know as a Cleopatra couch or fainting couch or chaise lounge. A crook in in one hand. She is a shepardess? She is staring with cat-like intensity at me. In her right hand she holds a lotus. Might be pregnant, but definitely zaftig beauty. There are scales in front of her and what looks like an avocado lies halved in front. Ah! There is the flail. It is lying on the ground. So the symbols of Isis (the crook and the flail) are hers as well, but she chooses the crook over the flail. Large bowl of fruit is there as well. AN apple has fallen out. She appears to be on a rug of leopard sin. In the tree over her, a snake coils around the low-hanging limb to look at her. Cattails are at the edge of the pond with the waterfall and there is a dragonfly if you look closely.

She is all about fertility and abundance!

-LWB
A voluptuous queen reclines in the shade of a flowering tree, wearing her starry crown. She holds an Egyptian crook, the emblem of her role as shepherdess of the people. Around her are symbols of fecundity and authority: a flowering lotus, ripening fruit, scales and a flail.

The Empress is the Earth Mother, who creates and sustains life. Prolific and generous, she is the great provider. She pours forth riches from her body, the fruits and grains and greens of the earth, symbols of her deep love. She governs all things relating to motherhood: conception, gestation, birthing, and sustaining a child or other creative endeavor. She possesses an incredibly magnetism that draws everyone to her, especially animals and children, who instinctively trust her maternal spirit.

The Empress reminds us of the magic and wonder of our own bodies, and the miracle that we, like her, have the capacity to give forth and nurture life. Her power lies in her reverence for the physical world. She loves nature, and delights in indulging her senses.

Her sensuality encompasses both the gentle intimacy of mothering and the fiery passions of a lover; either way, the Empress lives her life through love. She needs to share herself to be herself. Her generosity is so boundless that it can be overwhelming, and her unceasing proliferation can at times generate chaos.

In a reading the Empress calls on you to love and care for yourself, body and soul. Follow your emotions and listen to your instincts. She also asks you to embody her qualities of nurturance, and give something of your own glory to the world.

-Keyword Compassion Mothering Nurturing Abundance Fertility Creativity

-Symbolic Imagery Lotus, Crook, Flail, Scales, Star Crown

 

[ArwenNightstar]

7/1/2004
In the World Spirit Tarot lies a beautiful Empress on a bench under a flowering tree. As on the Fool card, seven birds appear. Seven is a spiritual number and links this card to the Chariot, a card of personal growth and stability. The Empress looks to me like an island goddess. She wears a crown with several little stars, linking her to heaven, showing hope and the Empress’ personal shining.

I am working with the World Spirit as well.

 

[arachnophobia]

She has been on my mind.... and when I think of her a particular painting that I did some years ago comes to mind. I have decided that I will use this painting as a model for my Empress. I'll attach a photo. I want to make her more pregnant, and with a softer face (though not much - because she is an Empress after all). I want to add water, and some less Autumnal and more spring fertile symbolism. I may crown her in a wreath of flowers. But she is filling me as I write and it is a rich, powerful feminine energy, abundant and full of life. I think of maturation as well as new growth ... she is beginning, middle and end of the fertile cycle. Yet, she has within her, inherently, crone energy as well ... hmmmm! have to think about how I will communicate this symbolically. In birth we have old age and death. She is a card of cycles, and thus connected with the Wheel and the World, with the tarot as a whole. She is one aspect of the feminine, but because neither feminine, nor masculine are really (spiritually) inherently separated, she has elements of the masculine. I will keep the sun.

So Here she is ... in her pre-tarot conversion form.

A beautiful "card" painting, mythos, and one of your few to which the photo manages to do some justice!

To which I would just add: the "Great Mother" or universal woman, as some have said, the essence of femininity, hence the idea of "cycles", menstrual/cycles and seasonal life-cycles, but whereas the High Priestess represents the "Maiden" idea, the Empress represents more the idea of "Mother" + "Crone".

The Whimsical Tarot gives a fresh perspective:

http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos/photo/105/7.jpg

i.e. woman in her mothering, or caretaking role; "Demeter" in Goddesses in Everywoman, i.e. the woman interested not so much in sex for its own sake, as sex for the sake of the sperm, i.e. this woman could become seriously obsessed with IVF, and its possibilities/probabilities of multiple births, should she find herself for one or another reason unable to conceive! She may even remain unmarried herself, not even particularly interested in the role of Hera, or wife, and express her mothering urge either professionally, as a teacher, particularly a kindergarten or primary school teacher, foster-mother or caregiver, or as a surrogate or "birth mother". She may also represent a single parent, who either abandoned the father or whom the father abandoned. No father appears in this picture, although the deck implies that father = "Father Christmas", i.e. daddy might appear only once a year, bringing toys, and even then, only if the kids have behaved themselves "well"! lol She may even represent a crone-like nanny, a grandmotherly or "Mary Poppins" type figure ;-))

The Voodoo Tarot gives a very different view:

http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos/photo/165/7.jpg

Like her consort Loco (the Emperor) she seems the main Goddess of the hounfor or sacred temple, Loco representing the Lord to her Lady; these two hardly ever manifest in states of trance or spirit possession, but their presence seems strongly implicit, even to the budding initiate of the loa (!), Ayizan's in particular in concern for ritual purity and a keeping an eye out for proper ritual proceedings. She also likes to get out and about in the market, a place dominated and controlled by women, as shown in this card, with her face veiled by her sacred frayed palm branches. i.e. she represents the Goddess as Matriarch among matriarchs? (cf. the "veil" in the High Priestess card, only whereas the High Priestess parts the veil to reveal mysteries, the Empress herself remains veiled in her mystery) ;-))

My own much earlier notes on her from the creation of my own deck:

"The Great Mother, or Empress: the great Love of the Father, for truly it seems not us the Father loves, but Her; 'little children, be on guard against false gods', and goddesses, i.e. those plaster Virgin Maries weeping tears of so-called blood – there seems nothing false about Her blood, that lines the juicy walls of her endometrium with capsicum red, nor about the juicy capsicum red of her vagina polycarpa, seemingly dentata, with its little rows of capsicum-seeds – nor about the horns of a bull to draw down the moon – the delicate hormonal interplays within everywoman that walks as a goddess in flesh and blood – she resembles a woman you could meet on any street, just as her consort, Pan, the Emperor, seems also a ‘regular bloke’ you could meet on any street – but have you looked into her face, and beheld the 'ancient face' (Mike Scott) of the Great Mother?" (Strabgely anticipatory of my much later encounter with the Voodoo Tarot it seems to me now!) ;-))

Very few have, really, it seems, because she does not show it often!

i.e. as the Fool wears the Hierophant on his/her head as "Master of the Head" (Higher Self or spirit-guide), the High Priestess, as woman officiating in the hounfor or marketplace, wears the goddess Ayizan on her head? WOW! I think that amounted to some kind of new 'epiphany'!!;-))

 

[gregory]

Empress – Revelations deck

First impressions
For some reason this card feels more in the RW tradition than others I have studied so far from this deck; there are the stars, the roses, the trees. It feels comfortable – though the underlying darkness of the reverse image is never far from sight, which colours the upright image in a way.

LWB
She is mother of all things. She nurtures all within her grasp with her generous giving nature and her overabundance of joy She brims full of life and life revolves around her

This card represents the strong creative force within oneself to bring forth life. This energy gives fuel to grow and expand any current projects or ventures. Artistically, the energy will guide you to produce endless images and ideas. Careerwise, creatively engaging projects will move along with ease. In the home environment, you will explore decorative tasks and gardening with delight.
In an individual, this card represents a strong maternal character who often provides for you and urges you along these creative paths. This person gives unconditionally for your growth and nurtures your needs to the best of his or her abilities.

In situations, this card heralds a positive creative growth. You may be surrounded by creature comforts and material wealth. In relationships3 love and fertility can be found in abundance and sometimes can also be embodied in pregnancy.

Reversed
She is lost in the wilderness of despair. The joys of life escape her. She runs away from love and hides in the mountains and the rock faces of loneliness.

The reverse of this card represents a creative block found within oneself. The sorrow felt is self-inflicted as the measure of your happiness is quantified by the lack of production. Projects are started in vain, canvases remain blank, and the home feels more like a hollow vessel that is barely warm.

As an individual, the reversed card embodies someone lost in the wilderness of his or her own self. The self-pity this person feels for him- or herself is due to his or her blocked creativity. Growth has taken this person to the path of extreme despair and self-affliction.

In a situation, this card symbolizes a hindrance in the creative flow of a project or a t&sk. In a relationship, one partner or both experience frigidity, sex without love, or even an unwanted pregnancy or abortion. In terms of material wealth, this card forecasts the shadow of poverty and financial difficulty.

Traditional meanings:
Upright:
Action, development, accomplishment, mother/sister/wife, evolution.

Reversed:
Vacillation, inaction, lack on concentration, indecision, anxiety, infidelity.

Images and symbols (from LWB)

The warmth of the sun and the golden fields of wheat and grain indicate growth that surrounds the empress.

The background shows a waterfall cascading from a lush forest, which illustrates the gift of life flowing through nature.

This water changes the path of life and erodes away things of old. The flow of water represents change, which comes from the continual flow of life.
The warm hues add to the radiating beauty of the empress’s kindness and joy as she basks in the glory of the sun.
The moon in the background represents the empress’s connection with the symbol of womanhood. Stars crown her head for she is the mythological Ishtar/Eoster.
The world represents nature, which sits in her lap. She lays it under her bosom, for she is the mother of nature— she is Mother Nature.
The dark purples and blues of the reverse help mask the desolate background of the empress’s anguish.
The rain lines indicate a veil, which clouds her path to happiness. Nature has turned against her, and she tries in vain to seek refuge under her drenched robes.
Her face is carved by the anguish of her tears and sorrow.

My impressions
Upright
She looks quite jocular, Stars crown her curly brown hair and stream into the sky. Wheat, trees, lush grass and waterfalls in the background, with flowers and a brilliant sun. It is all very fertile. She holds the world in her lap, and a sceptre in her right hand; her left hand is spread wide – a gesture of openness ? Behind her head is an oval filled with what look like roses – the handbook says it is the moon.

Reversed
The reversed figure has none of the fecundity; there are bleak snow covered mountains and sheets of purple rain and the background on her left is fractured, as if by lightning.,. Her clothes are dark; her hair is grey and lank; her right arm is raised – she is either shaking a fist at the world or trying to protect herself from the rain (as the book suggests.) She looks desperately unhappy. Maybe she is actually barren. She seems totally involved in her own misery.

As I said – this card feels more traditional than some in this very unusual deck, even though the reverse image cannot be ignored and in a way therefore colours the whole card. The upright image is in particularly

All the cards from this deck can be viewed here.

 

[Rosanne]

The Empress is Card 3. Why is she card 3? I have pondered that for the Empress week. This card is Gimmel and it means bridge/reward/link/camel. I have tried to express those meanings with a flying bridge gated at one end and linked to the World of The Empress at the other. I have festooned the bridge with banners to show this is our reward. The flying bridge is supported by the black and white pillars that is customary on the High Priestess. Here is the link association. The Empress is the Earth! Carbon the fourth element is given the number 3. The dance of our galaxy has stopped for a moment with the Astronomy statement Venus [exalted in Venus:Water].
In The World of the Empress at the end of the Bridge Shows all the usual correspondances of the Empress. Her knees form the Palette of creativity with the Embryo within. The Beehives are constructed out of 'Beehive Matches' box here in New Zealand. I do not know whether they are worldwide They the light the flame with in you to create. The poppies, while a usual symbol of the Empress, have special meaning downunder. They are the symbol of the Anzacs who fought together in the first World War and grow in the fields of Flanders. We wear them every year to remeber and remind us to create a World without War here on Earth. Fulgours third line of his Exaltation Poem is on the hair band of the Empress. I hope you enjoy my third card and you are welcome to comment upon it in the thread 'My Aleph of the 78 Week study'. Have a good day in your part of the World! ~Rosanne

 

[Strange2]

Tarot of the Four Elements

The Empress, from the Tarot of the Four Elements:

Reception - first impressions:
A full-bodied naked woman with blue skin, she squats with legs apart, revealing a red yoni. Her legs are covered with white stars, her skin with white dots.
In her abdomen is a multi-colored wheel-like circle, with 3 blue-and-white spokes converging into a golden yellow center.
From the palms of her upraised arms emanate spirals, which multiply and appear all over the image.
Her smiling face with a white dot in the center of her forehead is similar to the face of the Moon on the bottom of the Magician card, and like the face of the Priestess. Yet the face and figure is much more human-like than on the previous cards, representing an increased connection to the incarnated world.
Her hair is Medusa-like tendrils.
The background is in earthy green tones.

Integration - snippets from the book:
Squatting in a birthing position; her red yoni, or vulva opening, anchors her to the root chakra on the physical plane, the earthly gateway to incarnation.
The awakened divine feminine sits in her primal birthing position, offering you a mirror of the sacred "birthing" that is happening in your life.
The Empress supports the foundation of your life in every way.

Keywords: manifest; love; be plentiful; grow flowers; dance; love your body; eat good food; share your riches with the world.

Transmission - overall effect:
The stars on the spread legs of the inviting Empress are a reflection of the source from which we came, the stars of ecstasy we see in the sexual joining of one to another, and even the stars of pain we see when we are hit on the head.
Her blue skin with white dots is reminiscent of the both the sky and the ocean, sources of mystery, depth, and beauty.
The spirals show the eternal expansion of life, from the One to the Many, and back again.
The multicolored wheel in her abdomen also symbolizes the diversity of life, nurtured and empowered by its connection to the source.

The Empress is both the entrance and exit of Creation.

Synchronistically, I am reminded of this Empress by the lyrics from a Beatles song I just played:

The deeper you go the higher you fly
The higher you fly the deeper you go

Your inside is out and your outside is in
Your outside is in and your inside is out
So come on come on
Come on is such a joy!

 

[Pipistrelle]

Up until last week in this 78 Weeks study, I felt like I was really connecting with the cards on a new level. My aim was to ignore everything I'd ever read about a card and start from scratch, to find what it meant to me - based on the image, numerology and using the keyword on each card as a "way in". With the Magician and the High Priestess, I felt I reached a core understanding of each card which I think will help me improve my reading ability.

However, this week, the fertile Empress has left me feeling rather barren.
Yes, I've made notes and studied the card, but there has been no connection yet, no "aha!" moment, no sudden amalgamation of all the separate approaches.

So the upshot of all this is, I have nothing to report. Yet. However, just as when I was studying the High Priestess I would return to add extra comments to my Magician notes, I'm hoping that studying the Emperor will allow me to connect with the essence of his queen. So I'm moving on.

I will return...

Pip

 

[rcb30872]

I have already done this using the Radiant Rider-Waite deck but I have recently acquired the Golden Tarot of Klimt and wanted to do this using this deck.

III - The Empress

LWB
Intelligent, practicality, power and feminity

My Impressions
In one card there are three separate images, or in around about way. The main one, or the obvious one, portrays a woman which has a headwear which looks like a helmet a gladiator or a warrior would wear, in whch the way her arm and her hand is positioned gives the impression that she is holding a lance or a spear. Around her neck, or at least the neck of her dress, there appears to be something that can be considered to be a totem, of a woman who is poking her tongue out. In the other hand there is a naked woman, with her arms stretched out to the sides on the palm of the hand. (If I could only put an attachment here, then you can all see what I am trying to describe).

Looking at all aspects of these (above) you can see a woman that is quite capable of fighting her own battles and as a result can be seen as independent. Then you would see the side that is fun loving, perhaps a bit silly, with a good sense of humour. The naked woman shows her feminity, and perhaps another way of looking at this, despite the fact that she can be seen as powerful, independent and capable, she can also be a bit vulnerable. The vulnerable side is something which is not apparent, or at least not obvious, to other people. Perhaps it could be that small part of her which may represent doubts, fears and insecurities, that may possibly get in her way of achieving what she wants to achieve.

Bec

 

[yakn]

Card III The Empress

The Mother of Nature- relaxed yet alert in her very comfortable flowing gown, eated on her throne with soft over sutffed cushions.
Her crown is filled with starts.
Her expression soft.
The waters flow to her.
Her throne foundation is a heart with the symbol of womanhood inside of it. Even the back cushions or foundation cushion is covered with that symbol.
Her septar is raised in her right hand ruling fairly with love and abundance.
Surrounded by Nature
the stream flowing to her
the golden grasses
the sun shining
Fertile Motherhood.

 

[LixiPixi]

78 Week Study - Card 3

Golden Tarot - III The Empress

First Impression/Description:

A young woman sits on an elaborate golden throne. In her lap sits a baby playing with a musical instrument. It looks like a harp of some sort, but many times smaller. On her head, she wears a band of wheat (not exactly a crown). Her legs are draped in a blue cloth to match her shoulder wrap. Is she cold? The baby she holds is nude, so I imagine it can't be too cold. She appears to be pregnant or just recently given birth. Is the baby she holds hers or one that she's just taking care of for the moment? The throne she sits on is adorned with flowers (Iris?), topped with an arch of fruit, two cherubs, and two angles. At her feet, two white rabbits romp and play.

The number two seems significant to this card. The rabbits representing fertility; tending to the baby representing a nurturing woman. The fruit representing a bountiful harvest; cherubs representing love and innocence. The angels representing blessings, and the throne representing leadership.


Metaphors

Mother knows best.
You and me and baby makes three.
The fruit of our loins.
It takes two.
Two's company, three's a crowd.
A woman of means.
To each her own.

LWB: Matriarchal authority. Goal-oriented, but concerned about the means used to achieve success. Collaborative, cooperative, willing to compromise in order to achieve a satisfactory outcome. Fruitfulness, fertility, and abundance. The bounty of the earth. Happiness and good fortune. Creativity.

Reversed: Withering away of bounty through neglect and inaction. Weakness and indecision.

Numeral - Threes: Collaboration, growth, togetherness, union, fruition, socialization, cooperation, result of the twos, fulfilled, expectant.

Suit/Element - Earth: Grounded, practical, realistic, dependable, stubborn, cautious, persevering, possessive, productive, frugal.

Mode - Major: Describes "why" - a cause, a lesson to learn, archetypal energies, spiritual influences.

Astrological - Venus: Love, sensuality, sexuality, harmony, beauty, union, earthly pleasure, a love for "genuine" things.

Final Impression:

The Empress is a loving, caring woman. She finds pleasure in her home and family. She takes care of them even after they leave the nest. She is practical in her choices, never quick to judge, never quick to spend unnecessarily. She is dependable, always there when you need her. She is one to give the best of advice. One to comfort and love you through thick and thin.

The Empress says to me.....whatever you need (within reason), I am there for you.