The Empress tarot card left to right: The RWS Deck, The Thoth tarot deck & The Gilded Tarot deck.
The meaning of the Empress tarot card is pretty much the first impression you get when looking at the card.
That is, The Empress as Mother Nature. The Empress as Mother Nature rules over the cycles of the seasons and the ebb and flow of life.
In tarot divination she's generally accepted to mean beauty, fertility, nurturing, motherhood, rhythmic cycles, good luck and success.
Note: I’m using the Rider Waite Smith deck here for my examples because it’s the most universal of tarot decks; but you can translate this to whatever decks appeal to you.
The Divine Mother & The Empress Card in Tarot
About 2 thousand years ago, the Christian church fathers did away with Isis and the reality of the Divine Mother.
At that time, Isis was venerated through many parts of the world where Christianity was beginning to take organized form.
Interestingly, her consort, The Emperor, along with large doses of his shadow aspects, was certainly a force involved with this development.
But of course, Divine Mother can’t be done away with! She still exists in human consciousness and is still venerated in some of the traditional religions such as eastern orthodox (Sophia).
She also makes Her presence felt as various Goddesses in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism.
Her world is soft, wavy and curvy lines whereas The Emperor’s is straight and linear.
In her world, anything that’s born and then dies, will rise again through reincarnation. In his world, we only live once because everything linear has a beginning and ending.
According to some accounts, the church eventually gave in to keeping the idea of Divine Mother in place.
This was partially accomplished with the Blessed Virgin, but She is more connected to The High Priestess.
The Divine Mother as The Empress of tarot is the mother that gives birth and sustains and nurtures the human race.
She’s the Mother who makes your breakfast, lunch & dinner and lends a caring ear to your problems.
Note: I’m discussing a universal archetype here; it's not about the freedom women may or may not have with choosing roles they want to play in the world.
The Empress & Her Consort
Together, The Empress and her masculine counterpart The Emperor, point to a deep truth about Life.
The Empress shows us how there’s something eternal within us that has no beginning or end and moves in rhythms and cycles.
On the other hand, The Emperor shows us how the personality and body that you identify with in this lifetime, will only live once. Like anything in nature, your fingerprint is unique and one time only.
He explains how all forms have a beginning, middle and end and are temporary like waves at the beach.
She shows us the timeless cycles of birth and death.
The synthesis of these 2 lessons is that You are eternal and beyond birth and death.
But the "you" that you think you are is a temporary conditioned and mind-made form.
What you really are is pure Beingness which is beyond anything the mind can conceive.
The experience of this is more in the wheelhouse of The High Priestess.
How a Doorway Corresponds with The Empress
Another interesting and deep connection with The Empress card in tarot is that she's associated with the Hebrew letter Daleth. Daleth means “door.”
Note: this is from Qabalah or Kabbalah in Jewish Mysticism. It's also known as the Tree of Life.
Life enters this world through the female “gateway” or door. It’s quite amazing and magical when you think about it!
And The Empress card in a tarot spread can suggest a pregnancy if reinforced by other relevant cards (Ace of Wands, Ace of Cups, 3 of Cups, 4 of Wands are some examples that would strengthen this message); but she most often speaks to creativity on the level of our creations.
It could be art, or a project, an idea you have. They too need to be protected in the “womb” and nurtured until they pass through the gateway and into the world.
In deep tarot work, this ability of The Empress to create is associated with the subconscious mind.
Our subconscious minds actually do the creating. Our conscious minds, symbolized by The Magician, impregnate the subconscious with seeds.
The Empress then nurtures these seed ideas to fertility and birth in the world around us.
If you think that what you’re seeing is not something you would ever choose to create, I don’t blame you!
But that actually demonstrates how unaware we are of our thought patterns much of the time.
Most of our thoughts are habit formations on repeat - until we look within and shine the light of Awareness allowing them to dissolve.
Death is also expressed as part of the cycles in nature. Doorways go can be seen as either an entrance or an exit.
But as I discussed above, it's really more of a revolving door.
The Empress tarot card as envisioned in the Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti
The Empress card as portrayed in the Haindl deck. Such a transcendent and beautiful piece of art!
If someone mentioned the word subconscious mind to you, it would probably conjure up a vague and mysterious feeling - like something you could never touch or actually be aware of.
So let’s define it this way: the subconscious mind is simply the thoughts that you aren’t looking at in any given moment.
Subconscious thoughts are also set up to be more or less automatic like the ones that run your body.
Where this can be a problem, is when it comes to your mind's programming because they are mostly limitations placed upon your creativity and joy.
Perhaps those thoughts were helpful at one point in your life, but they no longer are. The solution is to observe yourself closely so that you can free yourself from them.
Tarot is a powerful way to look into the mirror of your subconscious mind in order to gain insight and clarity about your underlying motivations.
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The Empress & Venus
The Empress tarot card is also associated with the planet Venus from astrology.
This lends more even more flavour to the meaning. Art, beauty, sensual pleasure and even sexual passion can be connected to The Empress.
The Empress Card Symbolism in The RWS Tarot Deck
I’m looking at The Empress from the RWS deck as I type right now. Again, whatever tarot deck resonates with you right now, is fine.
But most of the same general meanings will be applied to your deck, because the RWS Tarot deck is the template for most modern tarot decks.
The first thing I notice is the golden wheat at her feet. Again, this points back to creation and fertility from seeds planted consciously (or unconsciously) in the subconscious.
The wheat grows in abundance. It’s also golden in colour which suggests both prosperity in the material sense as well as spiritual power.
To me, this golden wheat at the feet of The Empress also suggests her influence on creating society since agriculture was a large influence with creating human societies.
The idea of spiritual power is repeated by the golden halo around her head and the crown of 12 stars.
The 12 stars of course, relate to the zodiac.
Tarot’s Empress is seated upon a throne which shows her power and rulership over nature.
The glyph for Venus is on the side of her throne; again, suggesting beauty, sensual pleasure, art and even sexual passion.
Sexual Passion & Tarot's Empress
Sexual desire can of course be connected with fertility and creativity.
If you’ve been paying attention so far, you’ve probably noticed the main meanings connected with The Empress tarot card are those of fertility, creativity, beauty and abundance.
These can all be viewed under the umbrella of motherhood.
The point I’m trying to make with The Empress representing the activity of the subconscious mind, is that The Empress is an archetypal force within you.
Yes, she’s “outside” of you in nature and in life cycles. But fundamentally, she’s within you.
That’s why it's important to be aware of the seeds you plant and nurture in order to create your life experience.
This whole process is initiated with The Magician card.
The Empress card from the Thoth tarot deck by Aleister Crowley & Lady Frieda Harris
I often say of the tarot archetypes that they’re woven into the fabric of the Universe. And since you're a microcosm of the macrocosm, they are also woven into the fabric of your Beingness.
The Empress & The High Priestess
This idea comes from Paul Foster Case. That is, there's no essential difference between The High Priestess and The Empress cards in tarot.
The High Priestess represents the virginal state of the cosmic subconscious as it is in itself.
The Empress is an expression of the productive activities of the same subconscious after it’s been impregnated with seed ideas.
These seed-ideas emanate from the self-conscious level of The Magician.
The Number 3 & The Empress Tarot Card
The Empress in tarot is numbered 3. The number 3 is meaningful in many cultures and traditions.
Some examples include the Holy Trinity from Christianity, Sat-Chit-Ananda from Hindu scriptures, the 3 Jewels of Buddhism, etc.
The most fundamental number 3 connection is with the ancient archetypes of father, mother and child: seed planted in womb or earth and nurtured along, yields harvest - or “child.”
I just realized that even in human pregnancy, the stages of development are called trimesters.
The Empress tarot card numbered 3 makes total sense!
A Few Keyword Meanings for The Empress
- nurturing through to fruition
- fertility
- abundance
- beauty
- creation
- sensual
- motherhood
- pregnancy (with ace of wands, etc.)
Questions To Contemplate with The Empress Tarot Card
- Are you connecting with the power of your creative energy?
- Are you prepared to face obstacles in order to bring your “child” to life? Because no pregnancy is that easy.
- Are you in touch with your core values and desires? Or are they the desires of your parents, your spouse, friends or society?
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Go to the previous card in The Fool’s Journey: The High Priestess