Empress, III

Em'-pris ~ The female ruler of an empire (or another type of imperial realm) or the wife or widow of an emperor.

• Number: III, 3
• Hebrew Letter: Daleth (or Dalet)
• Color: Emerald Green
• Element: Earth (primarily)
• Season: Spring/Autumn
• Chakra: Root 
• Humor: Black Bile
• Temperament: Melancholic (primarily) and, possibly, Phlegmatic
• Sense: Smell
• System: Reproductive System, Skin, Digestion

Note: The Empress is one of four Major Arcana cards having two elements, Earth and, possibly, Water. The others are the Magician, Death, and Judgement cards. The Empress represents a high vibration of unconditional love. When the Empress is upright, she's all about nurturance and abundance, and, when reversed, lower vibrations of negative emotionalism, which can be associated with Water. Even when a reader uses only upright cards, it's up to the seeker to intuitively discern whether the Empress is acting out of love or is reacting negatively to her circumstances. Therefore, two very different holistic approaches are used depending on the seeker's intuitive reaction and thoughts about the Empress. If the seeker is actively using their resources to pursue the highest good for all, their Melancholic nature has taken the lead. If they are stuck in a pattern of materialism, greed, or depression, their Phlegmatic nature is being represented.

Keywords

• Upright: Love, beauty, fertility, creativity, growth, harmony, or abundance
• Reversed: Problems with pregnancy/motherhood or insecurity​

The Lesson of the Tarot Empress is Nurturance

The Fool meets, accepts, and appreciates the loving, nurturing, feminine aspect of the personality.

Personality (Strengths & Weaknesses)

The Melancholic temperament is associated with the Melancholic/Red Taroscendence Personality (Earth).

The Tarot Empress Traditional Meanings

Your station and potential are fulfilled. You express your creative instincts so beautifully. How wonderful it is to be gifted with such abundance. Love, effort, and persistence have paid off. Life's truest gifts of family, health, and material gain are blessings in their own right.

You are and will always be the wife of your husband's dreams, a teacher of love, mother or nurturer of children, and perhaps a partial spell caster when it comes to the bewitchment you can place on your mate's heart.

Feeling alone in the absence of a mate, worries concerning fertility and futility, and concerns over the foundations of financial and material security may leave you shaken and insecure. These thoughts threaten you most when you doubt that you are loved, but when you know you are loved, your creativity and loving light shine the brightest.

The Tarot Empress Biblical Meaning

Regardless of her anxieties, the Tarot Empress carries God in her heart and never forgets to offer thanks to God for every abundance in her life, no matter how small. The Empress prays to be a blessing to others. She knows that blessings are to be shared on earth and are a measure of heavenly reward. But she also knows that without the flame of thankfulness in her heart and a passion for nurturing others, she and those she nurtures would be left in the shadows. Some say the Tarot Empress represents Mother Nature, symbolizing the union between God the Mother (feminine) and God the Father (masculine). Others say she is the feminine side of Jesus, the man who loved unconditionally and taught others to do the same. 

Keywords: Love, nurturance, beauty, fertility, creativity, growth, harmony, abundance, or problems with fertility (of any kind), pregnancy, motherhood, or insecurities.

Genesis 1:28 – Be fruitful and multiply.

The Tarot Empress in Health Readings

Nurturing fatigue (fatigue caused by over-caretaking) and sensory overload cause stress, leading to emotional heaviness and digestive stress.

Health issues could include the skin, the buttocks, problems with water retention (or dehydration), hormonal complaints, fertility or pregnancy issues, STDs, such as Herpes Simplex Virus, or weight gain.

Most of the Empress's problems stem from making poor decisions. However, love conquers just about all (on every level) where the Empress is concerned. 

Raspberry leaf tea, chamomile, and nourishing soups can be beneficial.

Tarot Meditation

In what ways can you express creativity or attract more abundance into your life?

Food Remedies

The Melancholic fares better on meat-containing diets. The Empress doesn't do well with spicy or processed foods. Stale, rancid, or astringent foods, soy, too many nuts (especially peanuts) and beans, nightshades, especially tomatoes, and eggplant, will bother the Melancholic temperament. 

Choosing Herb & Essential Oils

Basil, benzoin, black pepper, cedarwood, cinnamon, red clover, eucalyptus, frankincense, geranium, holy basil, lavender, lemon, myrrh, oak moss, orange, patchouli, peppermint, rose hips, rose absolute, rose otto, rosemary, rosewood, sage, sandalwood, turmeric, vanilla, vetiver, and violet leaf.

Stones & Crystals

Red garnet, red ruby, red jasper, red-brown tiger's eye, red coral, hematite, black onyx, obsidian, bloodstone, smoky quartz, jet, or a plain black pebble

Artwork: Lamia (artistically altered to prevent nudity) by John William Waterhouse, 1909