The Empress represents the union of opposites in the form of pregnancy and birth.. She embodies the power of creativity that the Magician directs and the High Priestess understands. The power of union of opposites is tremendous, allowing a sit does the potential to synthesize something new.
The power of love is a part of this synthetic potential. Love has remarkable creative, healing, and restorative power. Spiritual alchemy is part of the Empress’s power. She takes what is given and miraculously generates new life from it. Using a balance of the elements, she demonstrates the strength of her intention and desire.
The Empress may not be fully conscious of her own powers. Most women probably don’t dwell on the miracle of life, occurring second by second, with her body, and the Empress doesn’t dwell on her creative capacity. Instead she enjoys the potential to integrate Sun, Moon and planets.
"”To affirm what is true and will what is just, is already to create it; to affirm and will the contrary is to vow oneself to destruction … Every positive force in the universe has an exactly similar for of negative attributes."
"The Empress-woman herself is often as unconscious as others of her powers.It seems to her that everybody else should quite naturally share here enthusiasms.Being touched by Venus, this woman loves beauty in all forms and is often eclectic in her taste, combining things in a new and interesting way.
“But the Great Mother is not always the Good Mother.On a grand scale her negative devouring and smothering aspect is called the Terrible Mother.In fairy tales we meet her as the wicked queen or cruel stepmother who jealously tries to keep Cinderella from rising out of the ashes to meet her prince.
“But this witch, Hecate-like, wears many faces.If we treat her with civility she may show us a more civilized aspect.”
"She is the Thought,
Which spinneth the plan of existence,
That web of manisfestation
Which entangleth the minds of fools,
And giveth understanding to the wise
Who know the secret of its mystery."
"In her is concealed the plentitude of Tetragrammaton
And hidden in that Doorway of Perplexity
Is the Sun, who is from all and among all.
"This is the Gateway of life and form."
The Empress represents all the many faces of the feminine.Each woman we know will at one time or another express the personality of the child, the mother, the companion, the lover, the goddess, the destroyer, or the virgin. We continue to be astonished at the range of creative potential from the Empress, who is the very essence of the creative energy of the universe.
Sources
Zain, C. C., The Sacred Tarot. Los Angeles, The Church of
Light, 1936.
Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot:
An Archetypal Journey. York Beach, Maine, Samuel Weiser, 1980.
Case, Paul Foster, The Book of Tokens: 22 Meditations on the Ageless Wisdom. Los Angeles, Builder of the Adytum, 1968. Quoted with permission from Builders of the Adytum, 5101 North Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA. 90042; http://www.bota.org/. Permission to use Builders of the Adytum images in no way constitutes endorsement of the material on this site.
De Angelis, Roberto, Universal Tarot Deck. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2003. Lo Scarabeo has graciously granted permission for the use of the Tarot images on this site. Copying the images without their permission wuld be a violation of copyright law.
