heart shaped world
| fool | the magician |
high priestess | empress | emperor | hierophant | lovers | chariot | justice | hermit | wheel of fortune |
| strength | the hanged man | death | temperance | the devil | the tower | the star | the moon | the sun | judgement | the world |
She's bossy but somehow loveable. With 4 Queens in the deck why this separate, and seemingly superior Empress? Calling her The Queen wouldn't work, the idea of lineage would distract. This is woman in charge, woman on top territory, referring to where the feminine & yin aspects of life dominate.
Note, however, the absence of The High Priestess's pillars (and whatever they lead to).
This is the 'tamed' face of bountiful nature, mother earth, the provider, the nurturer. Not forgetting she still has a 'cruel' side capable of taking away and 'destroying' - of returning what man has wrought to its natural state.
The once all powerful Moon Goddess remains
acceptable as Mother Earth, worshipped discreetly at Harvest Festivals. The
Empress is a card for all of us people, she is the embodiment of our hopes and
ambitions, she is the spirit that makes all ships female. She is the
mother-sister-lover, femininity itself, where nature and nurture combine. She is the caring, protecting and rearing
side of us all, and represents parenthood at all levels. The Empress represents our instinctive
altruistic desire to care for others and indeed, to create families. Beauty is sought by The Empress who desires
everything to look as perfect as she strives to make it. In some positions and
contexts this can be excessive, can indicate a ‘nannying’ tendency and a fussy
or perfectionist trait.
