THE EMPRESS
2008 TPAB: Articles & Spreads, published by TWM Publishing
May 2008
A beautiful woman in her prime, often visibly pregnant creates and contains the potential for new life. Offering her body, her DNA, her essence, and her ingenuity, The Empress participates in the mystery of creation. She is the "stuff," the material required to bring the divine into form. Through her, the past and present combine holding a space for the future. If she is successful, her desires will manifest in the world unique unto her.
In a reading, The Empress is a favorable card to receive. She invokes the qualities of fertility, nurturance, motherhood, and fruitfulness as keys to assist the querent with his/her situation. We romanticize her and tend to focus the interpretation on the joy of creating and being a mistress of one's innovation. However, manifesting is not just mere imagination or desire; the process of creation holds as much peril as it does promise. If it didn't, we would all be blissfully creating the lives we desire instead of finding clever ways to divert our energy and resources away from our deepest longings.
Creation involves risk, patience, choices, endings, flexibility, faith, and a willingness to invite the unknown into our lives. When a woman becomes pregnant, there is no guarantee that she will give birth. There is no guarantee of who the child will become, what gifts and obstacles she/he will be born with, or even if the child will be a good fit for her/his family. This is also true for our brainchildren. An idea for a new life, new identity, new career, new business, or new invention may fail, take more than one try, totally disrupt our lives, and/or succeed in ways we never imagined. Our comfort with this process and our beliefs about ourselves as nurturing individuals affect our relationship with The Empress card.
In the dictionary, the definition of an empress is a wife or widow of an emperor, or a ruler of an empire. These are very different roles. As a wife, an empress is in a partnership, and she carries out her position by negotiating the desires of her temperament, culture, and husband. The empress and emperor are co-creators, and the success or failure of their empire, and their strength as a couple, depends on whether they work with or against each other.
As a widow, the empress has lost her partner and her former identity. She faces the task of reinventing herself as she moves through grief, doubt, and the impermanence of life. The empress is still creating in this role, but this part of her journey accentuates the abandonment, emptiness, and separation we encounter when creating from loss.
As a ruler of an empire, her role puts her in touch with her feminine power and her leadership abilities. In this instance, her actions are much more visible and extroverted than in the previous two situations. Each decision she makes affects the lives of her people and the health of her empire.
The archetypal Empress is the great mother, the transformation of the High Priestess after her unification with the Magician, the passageway that allows the soul to move between worlds, and the vessel that is dark, fluid, hidden, and holds life. She blends eternal and mortal life deciding which inspirations will manifest and which will perish. Alternating between the loving mother and the devouring mother, we humbly lay our intentions before her not sure which one we will meet and hoping she will find us worthy of her support.
When you combine the literal and archetypal meanings for The Empress, you get a glimpse of the forces that are working in your conscious and unconscious life. In the mundane world, creation starts with a spark, an inspiration, a conception, or termination of some sort. This creates a space for something new to begin and is an encounter with the archetypal mother. How you relate to her at this point depends on how you feel about the new direction your life is taking. Is this a welcome change or one that you did not choose? Are you the married, widowed, or ruling empress? Do you feel powerful or powerless? These are important questions to consider because even when The Empress is in the most favorable position, there is a gap between the vision and the materialization of that vision. It is in that void where our fears can overwhelm us, lead us away from our goals, or cause us to abandon what we started. How we fill the container that sustains our dreams is up to us. We can load it with fear, and delay our new life as long as possible. We can distract ourselves with addictions. We can take small, practical steps to ensure a successful outcome whether it involves researching your ideas, consulting professionals, or getting your body healthy enough to support your dreams. We can acknowledge the emptiness, the unknown outcome, with faith, tolerance, and wonder. We can trust the process and let it stretch us to become more than what we were.
The next time The Empress card appears in a reading, dig deeper to discover if the person sitting with you is thrilled or terrified to be at this next threshold. They may not know and are waiting to see the next step before making a move. Explore the empty space between creator and creation. We all hold creation within ourselves and are capable of bringing our gifts into the world. Reacquaint the querent, and yourself, with the unknown. Affirm it to be a place filled with wonder, possibility, and joy.
©2007 Lisa Finander
Other examples of Lisa Finander's writing:
- The Empress
- Strength
- Moon As Mapmaker: Exploring Your Inner Landscape Without Fear
- Entering The Castle: An Inner Path To God And Your Soul (Review)
- For Love and Money: Creating the Work You Enjoy (Interview)
