III The Empress - 'Earth Mother'

After spending some time in the mystical realms and experiencing the mysteries of the Divine Feminine with The High Priestess, The Fool comes back down to Earth and meets another crucial female archetype: 'The Empress', numbered 'III' in the Major Arcana. In a complete reversal from The High Priestess' ethereal essence, The Empress exudes grounded Earthbound energy in its purest form. She is the Womb, the Cradle, the Giver of Life. She is Mother Nature.

'The Empress' from the Tarot of Mystical Moments 

THE EMPRESS - Earth Mother

KEYWORDS 

Mother Nature. Life. Fertility. Earth. The natural world. Nature's bounty. Abundance. Serenity. Poise. Mother. Motherhood. Pregnancy. Giving birth. Maternal instinct. Womanhood. The female gender. Sensuality. Natural beauty. Ecology. Nurse. Midwife. Royalty. Upper class. Socially influential woman.

Natural imbalance. Disconnect from nature. Gender imbalance. Rejection of femininity. Disquiet. Anxiety. Overprotective. Smothering. Jealousy. Insecurity. Inflexible. Selfish. Fake. Unnatural. Superficial. Shallow. 

THE LIGHT 

The Empress is the quintessential Mother figure. She is Gaia, Terra, the Earth Mother. She embodies fertility and beauty. From her womb all human life is born, as is all fauna and flora. The bountiful gifts of nature are her creation. For this reason, she is often portrayed as a heavily pregnant woman, or surrounded by the magnificent diversity of nature. In many modern decks, she is often depicted as both. She represents the natural world, the endless cycle of nature's seasons, femininity, motherhood, poise and serene confidence.

'The Empress' variations
From left to right: the Accurate AF Tarot, the Ellis Deck and the Naked Heart Tarot

The Empress is nurturing and caring, generous, forgiving and kind. She's also a fierce defender and protector when called upon. She loves fully and unconditionally. Her soft, motherly approach stands as the perfect complement to the authoritarian and uncompromising rigidity of her mate and counterpart, 'The Emperor'. Her traditionally female attributes reflect the apparent contradiction that many women are intimately familiar with. The idea that women are these physically fragile, beautiful creatures, yet paradoxically strong and resilient enough to carry and give birth to new life.

In a reading The Empress can represent the feminine gender, motherhood, a mother figure in our life, pregnancy or the desire for pregnancy. She urges us to get in touch with our feminine side, regardless of the gender we identify with. 

She also represents abundance, sensuality and life's simple pleasures. Good food, good wine and loving, healthy relationships. Everything about The Empress calls us back to nature and to reflect on our place in the natural world. A reminder to do no harm to the Earth's ecosystems and to not abuse the soil that literally feeds us. The Empress' energy can be felt in many occupations such as nurses, nannies, midwives, environmental scientists, as well as climate and animal activists.

THE SHADOW 

In her shadow aspect The Empress tends to be insecure, overly protective, overbearing, even selfish. She can be too grounded and unable to think beyond her immediate physical concerns and needs. She finds it hard to let go, to symbolically cut the umbilical cord. There's a sense of general imbalance, disquiet and anxiety. All the positive attributes of this card are strongly diminished. Think of all that's lost when a beautiful, vibrantly colorful painting is photographed in black and white. 

Like Mother Nature herself, she can become a destructive force when she's no longer feeling the balance she needs to thrive. She's slow to anger, but will eventually lash out if pushed too far. She's prone to jealousy and petty, immature behavior. She can be shallow, superficial and fake.

The shadow Empress can be a sign of a host of underlying issues such as infertility, chronic fatigue and feeling unwell.  Rejection of femininity, gender identification problems and body dysmorphia are also found on The Empress' shadow side. There might be unresolved conflicts with a mother figure, or motherhood in general. Look to nearby cards and tune into your invaluable intuitive skills to pick up on the negative aspects of this card.

'L'Imperatrice' from Giulia Ronchetti's Tarot

LITERALLY 

As Tarot can sometimes be extremely literal, The Empress can obviously represent royalty, the upper classes or a woman in a position of high power. This individual will possess the character traits, positive or negative, described in the previous two sections of this post.

TAROT ACADEMIA 

Looking at Rider-Waite-Smith inspired decks, it's very interesting to compare the first two female figures on The Fool's path. The High Priestess seems ethereal and emotionally distant, The Empress motherly and affectionate. They're both archetypes of feminine energy, as is evident by the pomegranate symbology that is often carried over from one card to the other, but they fulfill very different roles. One nourishes our soul, the other caters to our Earthly needs.

I'm fascinated by how The Empress evolves from an almost purely spiritual being into a serene, grounded entity. The Divine Feminine becomes the Earth Mother. I see her as the personification of the Goddess described in many modern Pagan religions, such as Wicca. A supremely holy, yet infinitely relatable persona.

In the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot, The Empress' evolution is symbolically apparent by the placement of the veil separating the realms. Contrary to The Priestess, who places herself behind the veil, The Empress is directly in front of it. She is still linked to the spiritual world as indicated by the two crescent Moons by her side and the veil that drapes parts of her throne. The color palette in these two cards is also a genius way to symbolize this transition. We move from esoteric shades of purple, to the vibrant green, pink and gold. 

The contrast between more recent decks and the old Marseille or Italian Tarots could not be more stark. Originally, both The High Priestess and The Empress were depicted as stiff authority figures, differing from their male counterparts, The Emperor and The Pope, solely by their gender. 

This gradual artistic progression throughout history was a very welcome change and it's still in constant motion. I'm always amazed at the various ways modern Tarot deck creators expand on these gender archetypes. I'll get more into this subject in The Emperor card study post.

A more royal looking 'Empress' from the Mystical Tarot

AN EXERCISE 

The Empress is a great card to explore your feminine side, your relationship with your mother and your feelings about womanhood and motherhood in general. Shuffle your deck, find The Empress and the two cards on either side of it. Lay all three on the table, The Empress in the center. Shuffle again, pull two additional cards and place one directly above and one directly below The Empress. 

The card on the left represents the past, what you've let go of. The one on the right represents the future, what you're working towards. The card above represents what you fear, what has control over you. The card below is your subconscious, your true self. 

Focusing on the female gender and experience, analyze what the cards are telling you about yourself. Do you identify with The Empress in the center, or is she a representation of someone else? Let your intuition speak and help you clarify your thoughts.