Leisa
(From the Book)
"What nature itself has begun, that is brought to perfection by Art."
--Rosarium Philosophorum (pg. 28)
The Empress brings us into contact with an another aspect of the Geat Goddess. She is the Mother Goddess, the Earth Goddess, the embodiment of fertility. She nurtures three kingdoms in her womb--animal, vegetable, mineral. In the image here, the child represents the animal kingdom. The vegetable and mineral kingdoms are represented by the vegetation and rocks surrounding the Empress.
Alchemically, the Empress represents the alchemical vessel, which nurtures the creation of the philosopher's stone. She continues the process of dissolution of the prima materia, begun by the High Priestess.
Her number is three, the first complete number, representing a beginning, a middle and an end. In mythology, Mother Goddesses are portrayed as having three aspects: virgin, mother and crone; birth, life, death. The Mother Goddess creates life, nurtures it, and destroys it, ensuring the unending cycle of all things. The Greeks considered three to be the mother of geometry, because first figure, a triangle, is comprised of three sides. Thus, the threefold Mother Goddess is the mother of the physical world.
The drawing is inspired by the female figures in Anatomia auri, 1628, by Johann Daniel Mylius.
Tarot wisdom: The Empress signifies the potential to bring forth great abundance, the bounties of life, a spiritual flowering. She is grounded in the earth, and therefore in the material world, which helps us keep our center as we probe the spiritual planes. However, we cannot take this abundance for granted. The alchemical womb must be watched and tended, lest it abort, and we be forced to start anew.
"What nature itself has begun, that is brought to perfection by Art."
--Rosarium Philosophorum (pg. 28)
The Empress brings us into contact with an another aspect of the Geat Goddess. She is the Mother Goddess, the Earth Goddess, the embodiment of fertility. She nurtures three kingdoms in her womb--animal, vegetable, mineral. In the image here, the child represents the animal kingdom. The vegetable and mineral kingdoms are represented by the vegetation and rocks surrounding the Empress.
Alchemically, the Empress represents the alchemical vessel, which nurtures the creation of the philosopher's stone. She continues the process of dissolution of the prima materia, begun by the High Priestess.
Her number is three, the first complete number, representing a beginning, a middle and an end. In mythology, Mother Goddesses are portrayed as having three aspects: virgin, mother and crone; birth, life, death. The Mother Goddess creates life, nurtures it, and destroys it, ensuring the unending cycle of all things. The Greeks considered three to be the mother of geometry, because first figure, a triangle, is comprised of three sides. Thus, the threefold Mother Goddess is the mother of the physical world.
The drawing is inspired by the female figures in Anatomia auri, 1628, by Johann Daniel Mylius.
Tarot wisdom: The Empress signifies the potential to bring forth great abundance, the bounties of life, a spiritual flowering. She is grounded in the earth, and therefore in the material world, which helps us keep our center as we probe the spiritual planes. However, we cannot take this abundance for granted. The alchemical womb must be watched and tended, lest it abort, and we be forced to start anew.