The Empress Keywords: Creativity, Mothering, Abundance

The Empress Tarot Card Description

The imagery of The Empress depicts the fruitful cornucopia of Mother Earth. She’s overflowing with creative energy. Her surroundings depict luxury and abundance. She’s seated on plush and comfortable cushions, quite unlike the other seated figures in the deck. We see a heart-shaped shield by her side emblazoned with the symbol of Venus. We see wheat growing at her feet and a lush green forest, with a river running through it, in the background. The landscape is bursting with life and energy. The unity of Key I and Key II has created substance, or come to fruition, in Key III.

The Empress wears a myrtle wreath beneath a crown of twelve stars, which are thought to represent the twelve signs of the zodiac. Myrtle is a plant sacred to Venus and myrtle wreaths were commonly used in the ancient world. Some also believe that this is a laurel wreath. Her dress is adorned with pomegranates, representing fertility and wisdom. In her hand she carries a sceptre mounted by a globe, symbolic of her dominion over the natural world.

What The Empress Means In A Tarot Reading

The Empress is a card of fruition. Her appearance in a reading denotes fertility and abundance in your life. The Empress is in tune with the natural world around her and works in harmony with it. The number three indicates that you’ve reached the first stage of completion in a creative project. You’re feeling relaxed and comfortable with your progress and are feeling a sense of accomplishment as you enjoy the abundance you have created in your life. There is still more to do, however. It’s a card bursting with creative force and this is a great time for you to harness your own creative energy and continue with creative projects to bring them to the next level of completion.

The Empress Love and Relationships Tarot Meaning

Your relationship will likely be successful at this time and there is a strong possibility of marriage or other commitment. The Empress is a card of maternity and may reflect you in your loving, maternal role in a relationship.

The Empress Career Tarot Meaning

The project you’re working on will be successful. You will be creative and follow things through to completion. There is likely to be material success.

The Empress Reversed Tarot Card Meanings

The Empress Reversed Keywords: Lack of Growth, Creative Block, Lack of Progress, Infertility

What The Empress Reversed Means in a Tarot Reading

The Empress Reversed often indicates a lack of creativity. You might be trying to write something, to work on a project, to redecorate your home, or whatever you might be working creatively on, but somehow you just find your creativity isn’t flowing. This is something that, once you’re aware of it, you can try to solve. Keep in mind though that your own actions will quite often be the cause of the creative block. You might not be helping yourself to move forward. If you’re the cause of your inaction and lack of progress, this is something you can work to remedy.

It may also be the case that you have been working hard at something, but somehow you’re just not seeing results for your efforts. The Empress Reversed is reaffirming to you that this is the case, so now the question is what are you going to do about it. You’ll need to take some time out to reflect on what you might do differently. Perhaps you’ve been concentrating your energies in the wrong direction. The bottom line is that you can’t keep doing what you’re doing and expect a different result. Something will need to change.

There will also be times when The Empress Reversed refers to problems with fertility, pregnancy, or childbirth. Sadly, these are issues many of us will face at different times in our lives. You’ll come to the other side of this, but there’s no doubt it’ll be a difficult time for you.

The Empress Reversed may also point to a difficult or strained relationship with your own mother or a mother figure in your life. Her appearance in a reading tells you that this is having a significant impact on you and is something that you need to address. Perhaps you can resolve the difficulties and restore harmony to the relationship, but it’s equally possible that you need to establish firmer boundaries and protect your peace of mind.

It’s also possible that you need to harness more Earth energy in order to move forward and progress. It would be a good idea to work on attuning yourself to Earth energy and to work on incorporating more of it into your life. If you do, you’ll see benefits in all areas of your life.

The Empress Reversed Love and Relationships Tarot Meanings

The Empress Reversed can point to a difficult time in a relationship. The relationship might be co-dependent. You or your partner may be controlling and overbearing. None of this is healthy and you’ll need to consider how the situation might be improved, or if perhaps the relationship is too simply unhealthy and you need to move on. This won’t be an easy time for you, and you’ll need to give yourself a lot of time for self-reflection, healing, and progress. I think the main message you should take from this is that something needs to change and now is as good a time as any for you to make those changes. No matter how impossible it might seem to you right now, any progress whatsoever in the right direction will help you.

It’s also possible that there are fertility issues, or problems with a pregnancy. These are problems that may seem insurmountable, but have no doubt that better days are ahead. There’s no way to sugarcoat the profound sadness and stress these issues can cause in a relationship, but if your relationship is otherwise strong, you’ll find support in each other.

The Empress Reversed Career Tarot Meanings

As mentioned above, you may be feeling that your creativity isn’t flowing at this time. Something is stopping you from getting started on an idea, or a project, or whatever you’re working on. Or perhaps you’ve already started, but now you’ve hit a brick wall and can’t seem to move on. Attuning yourself to and working consciously with Earth energy will help you to make progress. See this as a temporary setback and work consciously with Earth energy to get you back on track.

The Empress Correspondences & Attributions