"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller
The Empress is the Great Mother, pregnant with possibilities, representing the beginning of all life. She encourages you to touch base with your feelings more and to think less. She reminds you to connect with your natural elements, allow hope to spring eternal, engage with what you create, welcome that which change brings.
We are in a universe of cause and effects. This card appears to remind us what we have in our intentions in terms of what we want. This can be granted if we allow the flow of this particular energy within us, allow her to gently force us with love to renew or review any of our major plans.
The Empress is the more gentle energy, the female archetype. Approaching her will give you more presence in your activities. For that which you have been looking for to achieve, she is saying be gentle but firm about it because time will show you that there is a very fruitful harvest of promise coming up.
Be brave and work on your heart energy as this is the symbol for the ages as we see it now. She stands for maternity, love and mercy; at the same time she's a symbol for sexuality and emotion. She is the harvest of pure feeling, all those emotions all rolled into one, but in a way it makes sense to connect with this energy.
The Empress is passionate, reminding us that when we embark in things that we are not very sure of, that it is OK that we use trust to do so, because this trust comes from feeling passionate about what we will engage in.
This is where we learn to deal with life and its cornucopia of events, how we cope with life on an emotional and heart basis. We can also become more prepared for what it is that will come to us in terms of how we feel about that very aspect. This could mean great satisfaction, a time for reflection on the path where we are, engaging in the possibilities of what is out there for us.
At times of unbalance we may feel overly emotional and somewhat out of present time. We may feel that we are more reactive in an overly emotional manner. This could also be a reminder that we learn to deal with greed or being obsessive about what we own, when objects are not what make us who we are, but that it is in the strength of who we are to ourselves.
In a reading this card is also the follow-up of the Magician and the Fool and this combination is incredibly powerful as it explains how we learn to create that which we are focusing on. In a reading we can look for devotion in what we believe in and or maternity connecting us to Mother Nature.
Getting out in and connecting with Mother Nature is also a good way to find the internal maternal sacred feminine aspect that we all have in us as the Divine Nurturer. Go within and start creating something new that celebrates your wholeness. Pay attention to love, trust, and fulfilling contracts of the heart and of the material world. Remember to celebrate your abundance and to express gratitude.
When we are out of Balance: When the Empress will highlight our fears of not having enough, jealousy, feeling too lazy to follow up the creative flow, the opposite of nurturing and caring. Disregard for others, abandoning responsibilities and loved ones. Learn to be a better nurturer or caretaker. When seeking answers about one's self, the card may indicate motherly worries about people or projects. It may raise the question of too much mothering or over protectiveness.
Medicine: Remember birth, growth and development of the self in a nurturing way - take responsibility for yourself. The Empress represents fertility of ideas and of well-being in our daily lives. Learn to express from the heart love and care. Respect yourself and feel worthy of the good things that come your way. It may also be a reminder to the seeker that patience and persistence are necessary when nurturing growth. Celebrate the traditions that make you you, but keep the balance to not let it become ritual, as this can steer you away from your heart and love .
Mantra: I AM ABUNDANTLY BLESSED.
