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	Number	3
	Element	-
	Planet / Sign	Venus
	Astrological Decan	-
	Associated Dates	-
	Season	-
	Direction	East
	Hebrew Letter	Daleth (Door)
	Universal Principle	-

Basic observations: The Empress sits upon a softly cushioned stone bench. Beside the bench is a heart shaped stone shield with the symbol of Venus upon it. She is seated in a field of corn. In the background there are cypress trees through which a river runs and flows into a waterfall. She wears a white dress decorated with slices of pomegranates showing their seeds. Upon her head is a tiara of twelve stars and she holds a sceptre in her right hand which is mounted with a globe at the top.

The Empress and Numerology

Three expresses the law of trinity - the union of two parts which create a unique whole. The power of three can be expressed in many ways - mind, body and spirit - mother, father and child - past, present and future. Three relates to the Empress (3), the Hanged Man (12/3) and the World (21/3).

The Empress is a pure three (3) and represents the ripening of a phase in life such as the end of a pregnancy or a creative project nearing completion which brings joy and growth into our lives. Three indicates that which is completed, or has reached the end of a phase - when one phase ends, we then begin another - having completed one particular stage in life there is always movement into another phase of life. So at the end of a project we must move on to the next one. At the end of a pregnancy we move into the state of being parents.

The Empress and Astrology

The Empress is associated with the planet Venus - the planet of love and harmony. Venus is the universal sign for the female and the feminine. She is the only female Planet in our Solar System and brings her “yin” nature to the table. She makes things flourish.

The Empress and Mythology

Venus (The Empress) is associated with Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite was known to entice both men and the Gods.

She is also associated with the archetypal Eve in the garden of Eden who tempted Adam after eating the forbidden fruit.

The Empress and The Kabbalah

The Empress is associated with the Hebrew letter Daleth (ך ) which means ‘door’ as the passageway through which all creation emerges.

The Empress Article by Polgara

The Beatles song ‘All you need is love’ perfectly expresses the sentiment of this card. The Empress is the Goddess of Love as Venus or Aphrodite. The heart shaped stone shield has the symbol of Venus upon it and the cypress trees in the background are the sacred trees of the Goddess Venus. The Empress expresses love in all its forms.

The Empress represents our ability to give love both to ourselves and to others. Think of the excitement of falling in love and the thought of that person being in love with you – there is nothing on earth as joyous as that feeling of falling head over heels. She is about beautifying yourself for the sheer pleasure of it and attracting the opposite sex.

Whether male or female the Empress represents your feminine side – your ability to nurture people, ideas or projects to fulfilment. The water symbolises our emotions, our instinctual feelings, natural responses and passions. The force of the waterfall shows how powerful emotions can be.

Reversed the Empress could indicate issues with your appearance and problems with relating to the opposite sex. Beware vanity and self indulgence or being over/under generous with your love. Reversed she could also indicate a need to become conscious of our feminine side or men who idealize women and have a totally unrealistic view of how women should look and behave. She could also indicate that your true nature is being inhibited by yourself or someone else.

The Empress is also about sexual love and the enjoyment of physical pleasures (which may lead to pregnancy). Coincidentally, whilst writing this article a program was on TV dealing with female circumcision – a disgusting practice carried out by certain societies to prevent females enjoying sexual love – a perfect example of the Empress reversed. Sex is the natural physical way to express your love for another and why anyone would want to deny someone this beautiful experience is way beyond me (and the Empress).

Her white dress symbolises the purity of love and the slices of pomegranates revealing their seeds on her dress are symbolic of fertility. With love everything blossoms and grows.

She represents mothers and motherhood – whereas the High Priestess is the spiritual mother of the tarot, the Empress is the Earth Mother – the nurturer, the comfort giver – she represents unconditional love. The Empress represents your relationship to your mother or your own experience as a mother.

Reversed the Empress indicates issues with your own mother or being a mother yourself. An example would be empty house syndrome. But all children grow up and leave home eventually, leaving us time to pursue our creative ideas (another facet of the Empress) which were perhaps put on the shelf when we first started a family. Reversed the Empress can indicate that you or your own mother is overprotective or possessive.

The Empress sits in a field of corn representing the fruitfulness of the earth and encourages the growth of all things. She indicates abundance, the birth of a child, creative ideas, projects, inventions. All creativity involves love – we wouldn’t write poetry, paint a portrait, decorate a room, plant a garden, etc., unless we loved doing these things. The Empress expresses our need to beautify our environment via these creative outlets.

Reversed the Empress could indicate that our creative processes are being denied – either through lack of time, fear that our ‘creative ideas’ won’t be good enough or it could be another person who holds us back and prevents us expressing our creative side.

The sceptre she holds is mounted with a globe of this world indicating that her rule is over the entire earth. Her tiara of twelve stars represents all the signs of the zodiac and indicates her ability to nourish the earth and all it’s people with love.

The message of the Empress is simple: give love, receive love, feel love, express love – love is what makes the world go round.