[M-Press]

well, just as an anecdote, I received an email today, from a company called M-Push....

The Empress: her Magesty was the result of many unexpected accidents. I had sketched out her dress, but then "something" happened, and a part of it was gone, and what remained just asked to be left alone. She was among the first 4 cards and she too, helped define the style of the deck. Many people tell me that she reminds of Klimt-and I quiet think so too. I love Klimt... I didn't have him in mind when I did this card, but we never really know what impressions participate in the creative process.
I like how she looks like a woman, and like a woman to be as well. Depends on who sees it. Once I showed it to a group of girls, 11 y.o, and it was amazing the things that they saw...

[Tesseljoan]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but I'm very excited to see a sakki-sakki study group.. so I decided to -though a bit nervously- jump in!

I have owned the deck for a very short time (it arrived two days ago), and I love every bit of it. This is one of my favourite cards at the moment. I love the gentleness, the coseyness of that dress. In her hair I see a pattern that is repeating, but grows larger the more it goes to the right hand side of the card. To me this represents the growth that she is the centre of. The pattern reminds me of representations of plant cells under a microscope -at least that's how I used to draw them in school... Which makes me think of the Empress' meaning as Mother Earth, also symbolized in the wheat surroundig her.

[Imagemaker]

I love all those little Klimt-like shapes on the Empress' glowing dress. The orange makes me happy just to look at it.

I see wheat in the yellow shapes against the black--which means fertile soil and the means to make bread and feed others. Her crown is there but not huge and important--other things are more important to this Empress than the trappings of her position.

The three black arches in the background make me think of doorways--3 choices?

[M-Press]

Just wanted to show what the three arches are made of...

[Tesseljoan]

Originally Posted by M-Press

Just wanted to show what the three arches are made of...

That leads me to a question I've had for some time now.... I can see this shape elsewhere in the deck, on the nine of swords for example, but I'm not sure whether it's always significant. I haven't dug deep yet on this similarity yet, but my first instinct says 'no'... but I was wondering what you guys think of it?

More musings on the card (based on some intuitive writing I did on the card):
She is so gentle and yet strong, she'd be a soft pillow to land on. Heich led me to the thought that she has the feeling of a womb. It also struck me that she is one with the earth underneath her. The little, sometimes crystal-shaped, some blob-shaped things, are to me minerals and salts from the earth, foods basically. She takes them from the earth and uses them to nurture herself..

O, and I completely overlooked the Ankh the first time! Not only a symbol of life and fertility, but also the endless cycle of birth and rebirth.

[M-Press]

Originally Posted by Tesseljoan

That leads me to a question I've had for some time now.... I can see this shape elsewhere in the deck, on the nine of swords for example, but I'm not sure whether it's always significant. I haven't dug deep yet on this similarity yet, but my first instinct says 'no'... but I was wondering what you guys think of it?

thanks for this Tesseljoan... i think this point is very interesting... Regarding the Sensitive -Inks (the black and while ink washes that are all over the deck), they are always significant. I have picked them very carefuly, and they rae matching to the armosphere of teh deck, and teh message it gives, but most of the time, the decision to put them there, is an aesthetic one.

So, regarding the Empress, and that specific part that repeats itself in 9 of swords, I can tell you is is accidental, but then again, is it really...
My trigger for my insight was in your question. Now i look at the 9 of Swords, and I see my mum standing by the door in the corner, looking at me, and I'm in total grief.
But that too, is personal. Someone else might make a different connection. The connectin I made is because I'm a person looking at it, with new eyes, and has nothing to do with me creating the deck. I come in this study group that way, anyway...

Now, i'm wondering, what other connections people can make. I guess it IS significant if you can find a link that talks to you, and passes you a message. The creator's intentions are no longer relevant...
thanks again for this...

[Imagemaker]

I guess it IS significant if you can find a link that talks to you, and passes you a message. The creator's intentions are no longer relevant...

It works this way in poetry and fiction, too. Readers point out amazing messages and connections that the writer (especially me) never intended or considered. It makes the work live and speak, instead of being a piece of history.

[M-Press]

I think it's **very interesting** this came up under "The Empress", because it's just like that: you have a child (a piece of art, a poem..), and then although you can guide it, and help it spread the wings, you actually have no controll of what it will do, or whom it will become... This what makes it being alive, that is not programmed to be a certain way, but it has a life of it's own. And this is ever evolving-always in process.
Oh, it's so wonderful! (and it lets the creator live in peace...!

[crystalball]

I love this deck...and the Empress is one of my favorite cards. M-Press, would you explain the significance of her hair?

[M-Press]

Hello crystalball,
The Empress is one of my favorite cards too... I like both the visual as well as the meaning...
As discussed above, you'll see that the meaning that you have for the hair is as relevant as mine... Sometimes I don't even remember the meanings first intended, other times I do, but I like to make up new ones...
As Imagemaker well described: "it makes the work live and speak, instead of being a piece of history".
What do you see in the hair crystalball??? What is real hair for you? Your hair? Someone else's hair? The ideal hair-do?.....