The Empress 3
Let’s play today.
With synchronicity, another of Jung’s principles. In some previous cards there’s been a bit of active imagination. Today, I’ll switch it up.
The Empress is feminine power. Feminine sensual power is painted all over the card in the Rider Waite Deck. The Empress is Venus in Taurus and yet is often considered as a fire sign. Synchronistically, the news is showing an anchor reporter doing a bungee jump. This is a particular kind of Empress who takes such active athletic risks.
My first connection with this card is from the Rider Waite Smith deck. The Empress is Venus in the sign of Taurus. Venus is the ruler of Taurus. Later in the journey of the major arcana we may meet Venus, ruler of Libra, when we reach the Justice card, the 8th of the Tarot major arcana.
Venus rises from the ocean, so the mythology says. The Empress wears a black and white gown and if you look carefully at just under where the front knee would be placed, there appears to be the symbol of black Lilith, a black crescent atop the cross of matter. The crescent denotes the mind and the cross denotes matter. Lilith is an archetype of a woman who thinks for herself, does not conform to the expectations of patriarchy,
Rising from the ocean reminds us of the Hans Christian Anderson story of The Mermaid. The Little Mermaid gains and loses from a place where there is desire well met or unmet. In Hans Christian Anderson story adapted by Disney, in order to meet the love of her life she loses her voice.
As Venus, she is the Goddess. Venus is born of the sea and of violence male god to male god. Ouranos is murdered by Zeus, his son, and when castrated his semen spurts into the sea. From this, the seafoam, Aphrodite, or Venus as she was conceived of in Rome, was born.
She is the Ruler. Her Rulership is something that cannot be resisted. Everyone around her attends to her every need, want and desire. The Mermaid has to conform to a new world and suffers. The Empress does not need to conform. She grows into her strongly powerful role.
The Empress is often considered to be the card of the mother. Her sensuality is akin to a woman pregnant with life that will perpetuate humanity. The Black Lilith glyph also gives her the broad, revolutionary options of being a woman choosing her own path. Historically the Rider Waite Smith deck was published in 1909. The story of suffrage, the women’s right to vote was deemed a revolution in 1909 as women protested to gain the vote universally in the U.S. a sign of Lilith’s independent perspective.
TIGER TAROT
Tiger Tarot by Lori Field
I touch the card and feel pulsing, strength and fierceness.
Who am I becoming? With her, the Empress’ guidance and modeling, a woman will become a person with a strong center . A solar plexus of self confidence and ability to be oneself, authentically. Something denied many women who are born from the maiming of men. Trauma ridden men often behave to create traumatized women.Perhaps when both women and men are healed of the power struggles to control the world, we will all be able to grow into our authenticity.
Two tigers’ heads are the Tiger Tarot Empress’ headdress.
The Empress is a woman of color.
Synchronistically, I write this article in February, Black History Month and I consider the untold stories of black women.
Betsey Stockton, a little known woman, born in slavery, educated by her adopted household who gives birth not to children but to schools for children of color, first as a missionary and teacher to the last Queen of Hawaii’s children. Betsey was chosen, perhaps because as the only woman of color in that missionary journey, she could model for the Queen’s children, also considered ‘colored.’
The news tonight talks about another woman of color who took down the racketeer Lucky Luciano. Her name is Eunice Carter. Her parents fled Atlanta after the race riots in 1906. She was only the second African American woman to graduate from prestigious Smith College with a B.A. and an M.S.W. Additionally, she gained a law degree from Fordham. She worked with women who were arrested for prosecution and noticed that their lawyers were the same lawyers used by mobsters. That information supported her ability to be effective as the first African American woman and one of the first black persons to be a part of the NYS District Attorney’s office.
The Empress’ face is framed by lace.
Left Hand on belly she wears an Elizabethan dress. Is she feeling a baby kick? Or other generative evidence that her line will thrive?
Right hand on a lily that appears to be a tissue or a tissue that appears to be a lily. Lush leafy greenery fills the frame. When I blow up the picture it is actually a white handkerchief outlined with lace. She does not hold it with the wave of surrender, the handkerchief is for her service. Even the dress has motifs of green growth.
A row of pearly white buttons, delicate and expensive, are detailed down her center front. A nod to the sea from which her ruling mythological persona, Venus was born. Red flowers at either side of her waist attesting to her sensuality. Finally, a pink butterfly in the right hand corner of the card. Both the roses and the butterfly are symbols of loving creativity and transformation. The Tiger Tarot recently birthed itself during a time of change and transformation we identify as “The Pandemic” a modern day version of the Elizabethan plague.
The direct gaze and the soft and firmly decided lips provide a look of no nonsense strength.
The Motherpeace Empress
Motherpeace Tarot Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble
Our Empress on the Motherpeace looks soft. She lies alluringly on the earth, mother and empress to us all in the ancient form of Gaia, an earth goddess known for power prior to the patriarchal takeover of spirituality.
In the 80’s when the Motherpeace deck came out we had a series of songs that celebrate feminine power. Among them are: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper; Express Yourself by Madonna; Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carne and a host of others.
Often the Venus theme in art is seen in what is ironically known as Venus on the half shell, the painting of Venus by Botticelli.
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli
This Venus is a display of the planet exalted in Pisces. Pisces is where Venus is worshiped and adored. This connects Venus to the mermaids of our imagination and the myths and legends about them.
The Mother is an archetype often associated with the Empress card and the father is the Emperor. Venus is about, love, partnership, and our values. Often sharing the same values as a partner leads to compatibility.
