TAROTThe Empress
Upright
Feminine energy, abundance, and plenty. Mother Earth and fertility.
Fertility, abundance, and productivity in all things.
The cycle of change; Summer.
Motherhood, caregiving.
Intuition
The Card is based on the Goddess Demeter, whose name literally means ‘Earth Mother’ (or perhaps ‘Grain Mother’).
Demeter raised mankind out of savagery by giving the secret of agriculture, making her not just the mother to some, but the mother of civilization.
Reversed
Failure through over or under caring for yourself and failing to allow yourself to grow.
Barren, empty, lack of growth in all things
The cycle of change; Winter.
Spoiling or restricting something by neglect or overindulgence.
Astrologia
Romance and relationships, harmony, pleasure, beauty, and attraction. Strong negotiator, usually amassing large resources. Charismatic with a natural charm. Can become materialistic or a people-pleaser. Prone to over-indulgence.
The Empress
The Empress is the elemental feminine, associated with growth, caring, fertility, and abundance. She is deeply tied to natural cycles and nurturing.
She represents the joining of Earth and Emotion (or in Tarot suits, Pentacles and Cups), leading to security and growth.
The card strongly emphasizes personal relationships, often pointing to family, marriage, and children. It represents successful partnerships based on mutual nurturing. The act of creation and growth in all things becomes easier with the Empress.
She takes her inspiration from one of the original Mother Earth archetypes.
Demeter
As the Greek Goddess of agriculture, harvest, and growth, Demeter symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and death via the seasons. She represents the link that ties mankind to 'nature as a cycle'.
Motherhood and nurturing are prominent in her story. When her daughter Persephone is abducted by Hades, Demeter becomes inconsolable, turning the earth from its previous permanent summer into a new state: winter. This myth explains the creation of the seasons. It illustrates both sides of the Empress, presenting summer and winter as parts of a cycle rather than strict opposites.
Another important festival of Demeter was the Thesmophoria, a women-only gathering. This involved the sacrifice of piglets during a fertility rite to promote good crops and many children (the root story behind it being another form of the abduction of Persephone). This is why we see a piglet near the child on the card.
Demeter and Demophon
Before creating the seasons, Demeter decided to show the male gods what it is to be a Goddess. She began the process of turning a human child, Demophon, into an immortal. Demophon is the child on the card. The process involved burning away the mortal part and nurturing the divine spark. We see this if we look closely at the card: Demophon’s head is bathed in fire, yet the child remains in a state of bliss.
Demeter stopped this process (possibly deciding humanity was not ready, or simply on a whim). Instead, she gave mankind a different form of immortality via agriculture, leading to a predictable life and the rapid growth of the human race. Not only is Demeter a mother to her children, she becomes a mother who raises civilization itself.
Finally, the abundance associated with the Empress is shown via a field of corn and ripe summer and winter fruit on either side of the throne.
Description and Symbology
A regal woman sits on a throne. She wears a crown with twelve spikes, representing the twelve months of the year. Behind her, the sky shifts from a summer morning on the left to a winter morning on the right. We also see the planet Venus, symbol of the feminine, bright in the sky.
A field of corn transitions from harvest to fallow. Around the throne, fruits change from the grapes of summer on the left to winter berries on the right. This progression represents the cycle of the farming year and the cycle of life itself.
Demeter holds a ripe fruit close to her belly. Her demeanor is designed to suggest pregnancy, rewarding those whose intuition looks for this classic Empress symbolism. We see three animals associated with Demeter: the piglet, the turtle dove, and the snake:
- The Piglet: Offered to Demeter as a fertility sacrifice, asking for a good crop or a fruitful marriage. It is a symbol of prosperity born from the gift of farming.
- The Snake: Represents fertility through rebirth (shedding its skin to be 'reborn as new'). It also reflects Demeter's chthonic, underworld connections. The snake is difficult to see on the Upright card, but becomes highly visible on the Reversal by design.
- The Turtle Dove: Associated with the harvest season, as well as love and fidelity.
Demeter holds a Torch in one hand. A slight cross at the top of the flame mimics the Torches held by the High Priestess (Hecate). This references the myth of Hecate helping Demeter locate and return Persephone from the realm of the dead.
This highlights a vital distinction between male and feminine archetypal powers. Male gods may promise power and wealth, but the Goddesses hold the keys to the most profound boons of all: birth, growth, and immortality. The Eleusinian Mysteries (a set of beliefs based around Demeter and Persephone) expanded heavily on this. We know very little about the Eleusinian Mysteries, as writing about them was punishable by death. However, we suspect they used the corn sheaf and seed as metaphors for:
- How a field is cyclically replenished every year, achieving a kind of immortality.
- The unbreakable bond between mother and daughter (Demeter and Persephone).
- The cyclical return of Persephone from the dead, mirroring how vegetation dies in the cold months yet resurrects every spring.
A pre-agriculture hunter-gatherer version of this cycle occurred via earlier egg-chick-bird motif discussed in the High Priestess card entry.
Initiation into this knowledge was deep and life-changing. Those who witnessed the final rite were said to become entirely free from the fear of death. Although a secret cult, membership in the Greek and pre-Christian Roman world was vast; most of the famous classical figures familiar to us today were likely initiates.
Christianity truly expanded when adopted by the Roman Empire, and the first Latin Bible was translated from Greek. Many influential early Christian converts were well aware of the Mysteries. Consequently, many core Western customs may be rooted in these ancient cults (Dionysus, Isis, Osiris, Mithras, and Cybele all had massive mystery traditions). Rather than being forgotten, they are likely hidden in plain sight today.
Empress Symbol
The Empress is represented by a scythe, as befits the Goddess of agriculture.
The Empress as representing cycles
The crown has 12 spikes representing the 12 months of the year. The background moves from summer on the left to winter on the right. The fruit around the throne consist of summer grapes to the left of the throne and winter berries to the right.
Ripe fruit
The Empress holds ripe fruit to her belly, representing fertility and possible pregnancy.
The Planet Venus
The planet Venus, planet of the feminine, hangs in the sky.
Demeter’s Torch
Demeter holds a torch, symbolizing her search for her daughter Persephone. The torch has the crossed staves, symbol of the Eleusinian Mysteries above it, making it begin to resemble Hecate’s Torch – which it may be.
Corn Field
The gift of agriculture (and therefore modern civilization) is a gift from Demeter, making her the mother of civilization.
Animals
The image contains three animals associated with Demeter; the piglet (fertility, prosperity), the turtle-dove (the harvest period, love, fidelity), and the snake (regeneration, immortality).
Demophon
Demophon was a young prince on whom Demeter began the process of turning into a God, by burning away the mortal part and nurturing the spark of immortality. She did this in anger against the male gods and their responsibility in the abduction of Persephone. She later stopped this process and instead gave mankind another form of immortality via farming and the safety of permanence.
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
A nurturing period in your life, full of emotional support and harmonious relations.
If relationships were a time of year, now would be summer; existing relationships will get stronger and grow, or for those who are single, there will be opportunities for new people in your life.
If you are looking to grow your family, now is a lucky time, and a lucky time in general for all family matters.
A period of your life with lack of support and imbalance through overbearing behavior or coldness.
If relationships were a time of year, now would be winter; relationships may contract and for those who are single, there will be few opportunities.
This is not necessarily a bad thing; the world is composed of cycles, and now is a time to grow inward and conserve your energy for the future.
Expect success through a resourceful attitude.
Things will move along better when you bring others with you; working as a team will benefit all.
Caring for others will reap benefits. Success through resourceful attitude.
Be wary of conflicts and an unstable work environment. The root cause will be a lack of resource and cut budgets, leading to possible layoffs or reduced growth.
If you are thinking of asking for promotion or a change in direction, the timing is off. Wait for a better time when you can see growth and opportunity before making your move.
A promotion of wellness, especially through good diet. Look to natural foods over fads.
Manual labor and doing work around the house may be the best exercise of all, and far better than the gym. It creates a better home and a better you!
A lack of nutrition may be occurring. Check what you are eating and whether you are putting other priorities before a healthy diet.
As well as self-neglect, over-indulgence of the wrong foods may be an issue.
There will be a connection through the divine feminine, pointing to belief as something that nurtures you in some way.
It may be the growth of new ideas in yourself that support your current aims in life, or a change in attitude.
It may be putting the past behind you as a phase you had to go through. In all cases, you will start to reap benefits in the changes you have made.
This card points to a disconnection through lack of emotion, coldness and emptiness, and this is coming from you. It may be a time to reflect on where you are in life, and consider the future more than the recent past.
There may be an over-emphasis on death. If you have lost someone or a period of your life is coming to a close, you should realize that life is always like this; it works in cycles, and there is a better future ahead.
Expect and aim for stability in finances, over unsustainable growth or sudden get-rich schemes.
Go for a dependable income that makes your family and relationships grow through stability, vs. anything that favors anything else.
This is the best way to make the most of your wealth at the moment, as it will quickly convert into happiness and fulfillment.
You may see a lack of money or resources available to achieve your goals.
Worse, if you have money, it is not being used for happiness or personal growth. A time to check your aims and whether you are wasting resources to be ‘seen as successful’ rather than spending it on what really matters.
Yes, through fertility, abundance, caring nature.
No, through lack of resources, lack of love.
Reading the card
This deck takes the view that the Major Arcana refers to you. The Minor Arcana represent your 'outer world' (other people and external events), while the Major Arcana represent your 'inner world'. Therefore, even if you are male, drawing the Empress means you are currently driven by a strong feminine archetype. The Major Arcana only refer to a person other than yourself if a Minor Arcana card sits nearby in the spread, indicating that someone else is modifying or blocking your inner state.
The Upright Card
The Upright Empress focuses on growth and abundance. Plans will work out simply because you are in a period of plenty. Now is an excellent time to grow relationships, passion projects, or creative endeavors.
The Empress governs the cycle of life. If you were previously unready to take a leap into a new phase, now is the time to move forward.
The Empress is about the cycle of life. If you were previously unready to take a leap into a new phase of your life, now may be a good time.
The Empress also suggests tuning into your feminine side. Intuition, compassion, seeking balance over competition, and remaining receptive all play a part. However, the inner strength of the Empress should never be ignored. Like the Emperor, she is a leader, not a follower.
This archetype holds a significant connection to fertility and new beginnings. Whether you are considering new relationships, literal children, or creative projects that are your 'babies', the Empress predicts success.
The Reversal
As already mentioned, the Empress governs the cycle of life. If the Upright card represents the plenty of summer, the Reversal represents the natural transition into winter.
You may experience a period lacking in growth. This might feel unexpected, but it is actually a natural part of the cycle. It signifies that things will progress more smoothly later; now is simply not the time to force a harvest.
There may be a feeling of unfamiliarity, a coldness in the air, or a perceived lack of help. While this can represent a disconnection, it is often the Empress reminding you that life naturally ebbs and flows. This time is an ebb. You must pause and conserve your energy.
Alternatively, the Reversed Empress can represent a genuinely unbalanced situation rather than a natural ebb. There may be a level of control or 'over-nurturing' coming from you, or directed at you.
Like the High Priestess, the Empress is high on empathy, but this empathy is geared toward knowing 'the right time for things', rather than the High Priestess's focus on 'inner feelings and secrets'. With a Reversed Empress, always consider your timing. Is it off?
Finally, a level of inflexibility can occur here. Is your time over, and is it someone else’s turn to shine? If so, your time will come around again, but this is not it. Conserve your roots and bloom another day.
Card Design Process
Prior to this deck, an alternative design based on biblical figures associated with the earliest Tarot decks was attempted. The Empress seen here is one of the very few cards that survived the transition to the current design. If you notice distinct 15th-century religious art undertones in her image, you are not mistaken.
Final Words
This card represents nurturing feminine energy, balance, abundance, and harmony through intuition, creativity, and a deep connection to nature's cycles.
It also holds a particular affinity for fertility and higher concepts relating to the feminine divine and immortality.
