The Empress, who is sometimes represented with full face, while her correspondence, the Emperor, is in profile. As there has been some tendency to ascribe a symbolical significance to this distinction, it seems desirable to say that it carries no inner meaning. The Empress has been connected with the ideas of universal fecundity and in a general sense with activity.
3
Major Arcana
The Mother
The Empress
You are a force of creation, love, and abundance. Life flows through you, nurturing all that you touch. You are the mother of possibility.
Standard: Nurturing yourself and others. Bearing fruit. Celebrating your body. Bearing (literal or figurative) children. Reveling in luxury. Mothering those around you in positive ways. Enjoying your sexuality. Getting things done.
Reversed: Overindulging. Being greedy. Smothering someone with attention. Debilitating someone by being overprotective. Inhibiting productivity by obsessing on productivity. Being overcome by addictive behavior.
Keywords
Fertility
Productivity
Ripeness
Nurturing
Questions to Ask
- What would a concerned and capable mother do?
- What can I do that would emphasize growth?
- How can I celebrate my own sensuality and sexuality?
A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot