Every single person in my birth family is a 3 Empress Life Path/Soul Card. She is deeply embedded in my genetic make-up as well as in my personality. The Empress breathes through me every second of every day of my life… So rather than describing her, I decided to channel her:
Don’t call me fickle. I know I may appear that way to you, just like nature with its changing seasons or the vast seas with their sudden storms. The truth is I am life and life is change. When you change you embrace me and you embrace the 3 in the 13th Arcana, Death.
I have no patience for those who fear me or who try to enslave women because of their fear of me. Nor do those who call me a harlot receive any grace from heaven, for they are the people who seek to enslave the very essence of love, out of which everything that is is born.
I cradle a baby on one arm and hold my mirror in my other hand. Make sure the apron strings are cut before you give birth yourself, or it is me you will see in that mirror instead of your own reflection.
I am passion personified. My passion is beauty. Beauty is my passion. I am a nebula of beauty, giving birth to one new thing of beauty after another – dotting existence about with stars, adorning myself with them. All my children are beautiful and you have no one but yourself to blame if you cannot discern their beauty.
My weakness is a lack of patience. The Hanged Man is my shadow and he makes sure that I persevere until whatever I am birthing has passed the birth canal.
The Emperor is my husband. Without him, my children would dance the dance of chaos. We only fall out when he stifles my children and makes them stop dancing altogether. He is my beloved and I am the vessel for his passion.
I love to give and my gifts are many: Spiritually, I grant you the ability to synthesise the basic elements of existence to give birth to something new. (I will let you in on a secret: creation never knew joy until I came along; Without birth there would be no joy.) My gift to your intellect is an open mind. My heart-gift is the ability to forgive. Sadly most people know me only for the gift I grant the world of form: the shape of woman.
Men who are still in the process of separating fully from the mother and integrating their anima sometimes suffer from what is known as the Madonna-whore complex. This complex makes men categorise women into stereotypes. Women are either seen as chaste and in need of protection or unchaste and in need of punishment. Archetypally, the Madonna resembles the High Priestess and the whore The Empress. However, this resemblance is quite superficial.
The Empress teaches us how to nurture ourselves and others. People with an overabundance of Empress energy may be either extremely fickle and vain or smothering.
People with repressed Empress energy may lack creativity and suffer from frigidity as well as infertility.
Correspondences
Element: Water
Planet: Venus
Archangel: Anael and Chamuel
Chakra: Heart chakra, sacral chakra
Colour: Spring green, rose pink, magenta
Crystal: Chrysocolla, rose quartz, emerald, rhodochrosite, green tourmaline pink tourmaline
Body: The neck, throat, cervix, the pregnant womb, thyroid, thymus gland, palate, cheeks, lips
Exercise: Sensual dance of any kind
Stance: Holding one arm as if cradling a baby and the other as if holding up a mirror to the face
Magickal Tool/Ingredient: Copper cauldron
Associated Major Arcana Cards (through numerology): The Hanged Man, The World/Universe
Associated Minor Arcana Cards: All card associated with the Venus (these are the minors to use in the Healing Key Spread).
- 4 of Wands (Venus in Aries). Healing by completing that which has been started.
- 2 of Cups (Venus in Cancer) Healing by lovingly nurturing self and others.
- 7 of Cups (Venus in Scorpio) Healing through gaining clarity, turning away from addiction and detoxing.
- 5 of Swords (Venus in Aquarius) Healing by walking away from toxic relationships.
- 9 of Disks (Venus in Virgo) Healing through acting on the fact that one deserves the best in life.
The Empress Through The Elements
Being aware of your own Elemental balance is key to working with the archetypal energies of the Tarot.
The Empress corresponds to the Element of Water. However, by virtue of Venus ruling the earthy Taurus and the airy Libra, as well as being able to seduce the Fire signs, she can have an appealing expression in all Elements if she so chooses. Also, let’s not forget that she is the Mistress of Synthesis.
Her least appealing face is found in fixed Air (Aquarius) as seen in the 5 of Swords. This is because fixed Air can be concerned with ideas/ideals to the point of not considering the heart. Truth is more important than how it makes people feel. If The Empress asked the 5 of Swords if her butt looks big in the new emerald green silk dress she just bought, the 5 of Swords would let her know if that was the case. This approach is lost on someone so concerned with grace, beauty, charm and love.
Remedies to increase the Empress energy in your life:
- You can make a Tarot essence to increase The Empress energy, using the Empress card of your choice, along with any of the crystals above.
- Place the Empress card or a piece of rose quartz over your heart chakra to become more compassionate. See Appendix C for the Tarot Healing Meditation.
- Use the Empress card essence as a fertility tonic or place the card over your womb if you wish to conceive.
- Place The Empress over your third eye to fertilise your mind with new creative ideas.
- Create a Tarot essence of one of the associated Minor Arcana cards (see above for uses).
- Take a hot bath, scented with rose and patchouli. Add one of the crystals mentioned above to the bath water.
- Decorate your bedroom luxuriously to put you in the mood for romance.
- Go for a full body massage.
- Buy a new perfume.
- Forgive your mother – for everything.
- Spend time in nature.
- Plant something. You don’t have to have a garden – potted plants work just as well.
- Randomly flirt with someone.
- Be generous with compliments.
Affirmation: “I am limitlessly abundant and creative.”
Grounding/Balancing/Banishing
- Spending time in nature always harmonises the Empress energy, whether it is in overdrive or too low. There is no such thing as spending too much time in nature and it cures a plethora of ills.
- Wear dark blue/navy to calm the mind if you are experiencing creative chaos and can’t seem to finish what you have started.
- Work on relationship boundaries. The Venusian Empress is sometimes a people-pleaser.
- Place the Empress card in a bowl of sea salt over night to purge yourself of any toxic energy remaining in your energy field after romantic involvement with someone who has taken advantage or otherwise invaded your boundaries. Safely dispose of the salt in the morning.
LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS
As opposed to the mysterious and somewhat aloof High Priestess which often represents an unreachable ideal in a love reading for a man, The Empress (the Mother archetype) represents a nurturing and loving presence in his life. Surrounding cards could provide clues as to whether or not his relationship with his own mother is casting a shadow over his current relationship.
To a woman, The Empress card can indicate a greater need to nurture herself. This could be the woman who ‘loves too much.’ It can also indicate pregnancy – especially if the Ace of Cups, The Sun or the Page of Pentacles is found among the surrounding cards.
Nurturing is one of the main themes for a love reading that includes The Empress but she also has another side… Let’s not forget her connection with the flirtatious and passionate goddess Venus!
Her emotions can be fickle both when it comes to her children and the men in her life. One the one hand she can be jealous and smothering while demanding maximum freedom for herself and on the other hand she can be completely devoted and an expert at bringing out the best in everyone around her by nurturing their creative talents.
The Empress has a passion for creativity and beauty. It is usually a good omen if she shows up in a reading for a date or at the start of a new relationship. In a reading about a date, it would be good to do something that celebrates the senses such as a classical concert, a gourmet meal or a walk along the river on a moonlit night when the Jasmine is in bloom. Or perhaps all three. Watch out though – The Empress is prone to overindulgence!
Sexually, The Empress loves to be pampered. A luxurious massage with rose- or patchouli-scented oil could be the best start to a wonderful evening of sensual indulgence. The same warning as for the High Priestess applies here as well – do take precaution if you do not wish to conceive at this point in time! The Empress is a symbol of fertility in all of nature.
Female infidelity can be indicated with the combination of The Empress and The Devil or the 7 of Swords.
Problems conceiving could be indicated with the reversed Empress. Always consult your GP as the cards are not meant to replace a medical diagnosis or treatment!
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