The Empress Tarot Card’s True Meaning
The Major Arcana in Tarot Cards represents a journey, inner and outer, and we can even think of the journey as the growth from conception, to infant, to adolescent, young adult and wise man/woman. There are many ways to think if the Major Cards, and this a very popular and easy-to-understand perspective.
If we think of the Major Arcana in this way, the Empress Cards is the part of our maturation that symbolises our experience of “Mother”. She is the ultimate mother archetype, a universal symbol for everything that represents nurturing, love, sensuality, feminine and abundance. She is a classic symbol that everyone can connect to!
Symbolism of The Empress Card
The Empress card is rich in symbols and one of the easiest cards to understand in the Tarot. It depicts a beautify and voluptuous woman, seated on a throne, with lush fields of wheat all around her.
We can quickly see that the Empress is a woman of power, passion and purpose. She’s wealthy in all ways, and clearly lives in a state of fertility and abundance. The wheat fields affirm her fertility and ability to grow, nurture and harvest her creative efforts, whether it’s by having children or through creative projects.
Her throne has a Venus symbol on it, which is the planet that is linked to this card. The planet Venus is about beauty, love, passion, pleasure and harmony. The Empress is the idealised image of the earthy Feminine – she is the balance to the High Priestess Card, the two side of the Sacred Feminine. The High Priestess is the side that is spiritual, whilst the Empress is the side that is earthly and worldly, representing the human side of the Female energy.
Her dress has pomegranates on, the same as the High Priestess, which is all about fertility, pregnancy and birth. This card often comes up when we are mothers, or want to be mothers.
Her crown of stars – there are 12 stars – resent the “12 tribes of Israel”. This is not necessarily religious, but just shows how fertile she is, that she has 12 sons! She is, therefore, “The Great Mother” of all.
General Meaning of The Empress Card
Everyone wants this card in a reading! There are few – if anyone – who don’t just adore the message of this fertile and abundant card!
The most common meaning for the Empress card is pregnancy and birth. If your hoping to start or grow your family, this is an extremely positive piece of news. It’s also known as the “love” card, and via indicate meeting someone special, or a period of passion and sensuality in your current relationship.
It’s also a card that can signify financial improvements as well as a period of general earthly pleasure. Eat, drink and be merry is the message of this card – enjoy your human existence!
Meaning of The Empress Card in The Past
The Empress card in the past position of a three-card tarot reading shows that you may have recently birthed a project or a little human in your life. You became the mother of something important, which is still having a very big impact in you in the present moment. However, you may also have experienced a phase of wanting to be a parent, which is now behind you and you have to focus on new things and leave that dream behind (for now).
You may have also recently had a fantastic financial period, which is helping to support you right now in something important. And, finally, you may have struck up a relationship with someone wonderful whom you feel very attracted to.
Meaning of The Empress Card in The Present
Oooh! Are you ready to get the news? At this very point in time, you might incubate a little human being of your very own! Pregnancy is often a big sign in this card when you get it in the present! You may also be birthing a creative project very close to your heart right now. In some way or another you are becoming a “mother” energy – maybe even to a fur baby!
It’s a time where you have to be very grateful for all the abundance you have, a time to be very connected to nature and its rhythms. Its’ a time to mother yourself, perhaps, and to enjoy the sensual delights of life. You can enjoy your food, now, go dancing, go shopping or do your hair. This is a very creative, lush time of life that you should fully enjoy!
Meaning of The Empress Card in The Future
If you are hoping to conceive or get pregnant in the future, then this card is a positive suggestion that what you are wishing for will come true. Now is the time to prepare for a time of fertility, and get your body ready to incubate life. Maybe you need to prepare your body for this stage of life.
If you have been working on a creative project, music or art-wise, the future holds very good news for you, and says that your project will be well-received and generate good money for you. You’re about to go into a period of wealth and material gain, so whatever your situation is now, you can look forward to it improving!
Finally, you may soon meet and fall passionately in love with someone gorgeous, wealthy and sensual!
Meaning of The Empress Card in Relationships
This is an extremely desirable card to get in any relationship question! Whether male or female, you’re about to meet someone very important to your life, someone passionate, sensual and gorgeous! If you’re already attached or in a relationship, then this is a good time to start thinking about starting a family or growing your existing family – yes, another baby!
You may simply enjoy a period of greater connection and pleasure together, a period of romance, play, and abundance – of enjoying the “good life”. Your physical connection may grow and be strong over this time, and you may feel more in love than ever!
In any spread, this is a very positive card in relationship readings, and asks you to step into your sensual self, to not be afraid to be passionate and connected to your pleasure, to revel in your feminine energy, or in the feminine energy of your partner. This is not a time to hold back, but a time to fully enjoy all the pleasure that love has to offer!
Meaning of The Empress Card in Career
If you’re a creative, them this is a simply fantastic card to get in the career position! This is a great time to launch any creative or passion project – you can expect a great reward for it, materially or otherwise. This is a time where you can hunker down and truly access all your creative inspiration, whether it’s musical, artistic or otherwise. Cooking, dancing and all nature arts are favoured, so invest and move ahead with purpose when you get this card in a career reading. The world is your oyster at this point, and you’re in a space of total abundance and flowering. How lucky you are!
Meaning of The Empress Card Reversed
When you get the Empress reversed, it can indicate that you’re a little lacking in the self-love department, and that you’re just not feeling the abundance of life or love right now. It’s a sign for you to see what you do have and to be grateful for it.
You may need to find ways to nurture yourself, such as a long bath, a period of journaling, walking in nature or getting creative so you can get in touch with yourself. If you are hoping to fall pregnant, this may not be the right time – but don’t worry, there can be a better time! maybe your body needs little more love before it can carry human life. You may even be suffering from a creative block, and need to find a way to let that creative energy flow – once again, by relaxing in nature, eating good food and taking the pressure off of yourself.
Summary of The Empress Card
The Empress is a card that speaks to joyfulness, abundance, creativity, pregnancy and birth. It’s about getting in touch with nature with your body and with the beauty and joy of human life. It speaks to eating well, to artistic projects and to being caring and nurturing of yourself and others around you. It’s the card that represents the idea of “Mother” in her highest form, and represents a time of mothering in your life, whether with your own children, your pets or your friends and partner.
This is a very positive card, and reminds you that you are here to enjoy a human existence. It brings wealth, comfort and sensuality, as well as beauty, harmony and peace. Its’ a card of fertility in all ways – what can you create more of in your own life?