The Empress is the third card of the Major Arcana in occult Tarot decks. Symbol of work and efficiency, radiates resolution and determination. Persuasion, affection, vanity and seduction are some of the associations to this archetype. It brings together all women: the mother, the wife, the daughter. Discover the meaning of The Empress in the Tarot, the indications it gives when it comes upright, reversed or combined with other cards and its possible application to the various facets of life and everyday issues.
The Major Arcana number tells you what stage you are in for a particular situation or problem. Ask the Tarot your question and interpret the Arcana according to its number and its position in the deck. These cards follow a storyline that tells of the spiritual travels taken from the innocent wonder of The Fool to the oneness and fulfillment of The World. In other words, these cards tell the story of humanity's spiritual evolution into enlightenment and individuation - when his life experiences are complete, he returns to zero, The Fool. Despite the divinatory meaning of the cards, think of the Tarot as a journey. If you look at the cards that come out in this way, with each question you ask, it becomes easier to intuitively interpret the cards and see their messages as a life story.
Index
The Empress Tarot Card Description
- Major Arcana III
- Zodiacal Affinity - Venus
- Keywords - Persuasion, affection, vanity, seduction, action, care, protection, development, female vitality, sexual pleasure, abundance, compassion, creativity, maternal instinct, life satisfaction.
- Key Expressions - Centered on beauty and art, in harmony with the natural world, life dedicated to pleasure, awakened from a sensual point of view.
- Advice - Create your own abundance.
- Reversed Meaning - Financial challenges or fertility problems; creative blocks; unbalanced relationships.
The Illustration
The Empress represents a female figure with white hair bearing a crown. She is seated on her throne, looking solemn but affable and calm. In his right hand, he has a shield with an eagle drawn on it, and in his left, a scepter with a globe topped with a cross. She is seated facing forward, with her knees apart, in a solemn, hieratic posture.
The blue tunic, which she wears over the red dress, is interpreted as the need to protect the energies of passion. The scepter, with the globe surmounted by the cross, means that, on earth, the law of matter prevails and that the spirit must accept it. It represents the dominant force of nature over all things.
The archetype of The Empress is related to the maternal image as the one that gives life. In the Tarot, this card symbolizes the instinctive wisdom of nature and the need to value the physical body, which must be cared for and nourished in order to enjoy the pleasures of life.
He warns against the risks of living only with the head and the intellect, disconnected from the body. For Numerology, the number 3 symbolizes harmony, balance and artistic expression. The tension that existed in number 2 dissolved and there was a positive evolution to the next level of consciousness. According to the order of the Cabal, The Empress it corresponds to path number 14 on the Tree of Life: the wisdom of understanding.
The Symbology
The Empress symbolizes the creativity and the maternal side of the woman's essence and is also the archetype of abundance, fertility and sensuality. In the Tarot, The Empress is about the natural world, art, beauty and, on the negative side, greed, possessiveness and excessive indulgence. This is the card of conception and fertility indicating that something new will be born: a new life, a new project, a new affective or friendship relationship.
The Empress Tarot Card Meaning
Upright Empress Tarot Card Meaning
- Upright Love Meaning - Nurturing, supportive lover, sensual committed relationship.
- Upright Career Meaning - Nurturing colleagues, freshening up office, creative period at work.
- Upright Finances Meaning - Material comfort, giving, sharing material wealth, generosity.
The Empress reveals the need to protect life, to look to others with compassion and to show solidarity. In love, friendship and family life it means the generation of life - a new baby has been or will be generated or the family receives a new member through marriage or adoption, for example.
It can also indicate the birth of a new idea, a new project. In financial terms, it suggests comfort, prosperity and abundance. In terms of career, it is a good time to embrace new challenges, pursue a vocation or even change course.
Reversed Empress Tarot Card Meaning
- Reversed Love Meaning - Lack of self worth, jealous, clingy lover, lack of progress in love.
- Reversed Career Meaning - Feeling insecure at work, not growing skills, stale job.
- Reversed Finances Meaning - Feeling insecure about finances, despite being stable.
When it appears in the reversed position, The Empress suggests blocks or resistances. Even with effort, in the past or in the present, the results obtained may not be the expected ones. It warns of the need to look at the facts and make a realistic analysis of what motivates this deadlock situation.
In love, it reveals some distraction: the person may be receiving signs of affection that they simply do not see or cannot recognize. In family life, you can feel left out or forgotten.
In financial terms, this card could be a sign of difficulties. In his career, he suggests patience, communication and understanding in order to avoid unnecessary problems and confrontations.
The Empress Combinations with Other Tarot Cards
When combined with The World, it predicts emotional fulfillment. With The Tower or The Moon, alert to negative feelings such as frustration, inner conflicts and broken relationships. With The Hanged Man, alerts to the need to lower emotional defenses and to be more spontaneous in love life. The happiest combinations for The Empress are those with The Sun, the aces of Wands, Cups and Pentacles and with any of the jacks (or pages) of the Minor Arcana.
The Major Arcana Tarot
The Major Arcana, or Great Mysteries, are seen as symbols of great issues, moments or people. Each card represents a human archetype, evoking the most varied feelings, moral positions and behaviors.
- 0 - The Fool Tarot Card Meaning
- I - The Magician Tarot Card Meaning
- II - The High Priestess Tarot Card Meaning
- III - The Empress Tarot Card Meaning
- IV - The Emperor Tarot Card Meaning
- V - The Pope/The Hierophant Tarot Card Meaning
- VI - The Lovers Tarot Card Meaning
- VII - The Chariot Tarot Card Meaning
- VIII - The Justice Tarot Card Meaning
- IX - The Hermit Tarot Card Meaning
- X - The Wheel of Fortune Meaning
- XI - The Strength Tarot Card Meaning
- XII - The Hanged Man Tarot Card Meaning
- XIII - The Death Tarot Card Meaning
- XIV - The Temperance Tarot Card Meaning
- XV - The Devil Tarot Card Meaning
- XVI - The Tower Tarot Card Meaning
- XVII - The Star Tarot Card Meaning
- XVIII - The Moon Tarot Card Meaning
- XIX - The Sun Tarot Card Meaning
- XX - The Judgement Tarot Card Meaning
- XXI - The World Tarot Card Meaning
Reading, Meanings and Interpretation of the Tarot Major Arcana
Tarot is used as a tool for self-discovery and self-knowledge. In this sense, more than guessing the future, it serves to read and interpret all the elements of our life: it describes the current moment, clarifies the motives, desires and intentions, pointing out the path and the energies present in our life.
The possible readings for each Tarot card are practically infinite. There is no unique interpretation for each card, for each layout of cards or for each reading method. Tarot is based on intuition. Each person who reads the message of a card, or a set of cards, intuitively unravels the meaning of the card's message and how it connects with their own reality and circumstances of life.
The word "arcana" comes from Latin and means "secret" and, in the Tarot, the Major Arcana are considered universal, symbolic and figurative: they are considered symbolic of great issues, moments or people. They are archetypes, that is, they represent the most diverse feelings, moral positions and human behaviors. When they appear in a reading, it indicates an important event or decision, whether practical, spiritual, or emotional. They also establish correspondence with the astrological signs and planets.
