The Empress Tarot Card: A woman sits on a comfortable red throne wearing a white dress adorned with pomegranates. She wears a golden crown with 12 stars and a pearl necklace; she holds a wand of clear crystal, crowned by an orb. Surrounding the empress is a field of wheat and an evergreen forest with a river running through it. The symbol for Venus is painted on her throne.
The visuals of The Empress card contrast 180 degrees with The Emperor card. The Empress is the complete embodiment of the Divine Feminine, whereas The Emperor is the complete embodiment of the Divine Masculine. This is seen in the fluidity of the clothing and throne as well as the lush green of The Empress versus the rigidity and stark background of The Emperor.
The pomegranate in the left hand of the man in The Emperor card is golden, whole (uncut), and singular, reflecting focus and containment. The pomegranates in The Empress are bountiful, and as they are split open for all to taste, their color is red to reflect the abundance of life-giving energy available from the Divine Feminine. The wheat field, red throne, and green forests represent the same principles of abundance, life, nourishment, and wellbeing.
The river in the Empress card differs from that in The Emperor, as well. In The Empress card, it nourishes the greenery and wheat fields, and falls into a pool, thus providing life to the animals and people living around it. In contrast, in the Emperor card, the power of the river is emphasized - the river is a piercing force sculpting the mountains - influenced by the willpower of the emperor.
In a sense, The Empress is the higher octave of the Strength card, in the same way The Emperor is the higher octave of The Chariot. In the Strength card, The Divine Feminine is seen in her ability to soothe the raging heart and passions of the lion with her loving care. But she has not completely embodied Universal Wisdom as she has in The Empress. This Divine Wisdom is represented by the empress’s pearls, her crown, and her orb-wand.
Her pearls represent words of wisdom and love and her starry crown shows that she has embodied the knowing that the entirety of physical existence can be found within her. The number 12 is symbolic of wholeness (12 months, 12 zodiac signs, etc.). It is a wholeness which is the synergy of the sum of its parts. In the Hindu, Taoist, and Tantric traditions of the East, when discussing The Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine aspects, the Masculine is the unified force of silence and willpower emanating from the infinite, whereas the Feminine is called the ’10,000 things.’ It is the united force manifesting as the infinite expressions of life everywhere. The empress has mastered this awareness of life existing as the 10,000 things, and that each of those 10,000 things is her!
The orb wand is also a feminine symbol as it is short, whereas the masculine wands are long. In addition, the orb at the top represents the wholeness of life as well as the womb. Together they can be viewed as the birth canal and womb. But looking deeper, we can glean something more. As the wand is crystalline, it also represents The Divine Feminine’s ability to see deeply and intuitively into the heart and soul of her subjects. As she has given herself in totality to the fabric of life, she has gained abilities as an oracle, seer, and healer. She is able to follow the threads of interconnected life to see deeply into the fabric of karma, cause and effect, and even into the future.
Association with Venus: The Empress card is associated with the planet Venus. Venus is known as the archetypal feminine aspect of love, and reminds us not only to love others, but also of self-love. The sigil of Venus, after all, is reminiscent of a mirror. It reminds us to look into ourselves to find the emanations of the infinite. It reminds us that to love others, we must love and be willing to see ourselves, first. Not in a narcissistic, self-first, kind of way, of course. Rather, in the same way as the entire universe exists in a grain of sand, so is the gateway to knowing this abundance witnessed through our own soul, not by looking outside ourselves.
When to use the Empress Card: If your body, heart, or soul are feeling dehydrated, shut off from their source, inflexible, sad, or lonely, it is time to remember and reconnect to the Divine abundance of The Empress. When something inside you feels isolated and alone, The Empress will guide you back to the light of connecting authentically with life.
The Empress not only provides nourishment, it does so in a very warm Earth-Mother kind of way. She is not detached from the world as The High Priestess is, she is in it, of it, and represents the blood pumping from its very heart. In addition, when you need deep insight into yourself and your inherent interconnection with all life, or you want to develop your psychic abilities, or abilities as a healer, The Empress is the place to turn.
About the Pendant:
- [Material]: Stainless steel + acrylic
- [Size]: Chain length 60cm(23.62"), pendant width22mm x high 39mm x thick 2mm(0.87" x 1.54'' x 0.79'') or width 29mm x high 51mm x thick 2mm(1.14" x 2.01'' x 0.79'')
- [Color]: Silver
- [Print Position]: Double-sided printing - Image is printed on both sides of the pendant.
