III- The Empress
Oh, the Empress. VS, I agree with you completely: "tricksy" really captures the expression on her face.
She wears her power very differently from the High Priestess. In the RW she looks so completely benign and goddess-like. She's a very different kind of goddess, here, with equal power to create AND destroy.
She's one with Nature; in fact, she IS nature. She creates life from her own body and she feeds life with her body (those breasts!). She's messy and not polite, like life. She's coarse and unrefined. She's "out there" - she is what she is, unapologetically. She's "in your face."
Unlike the High Priestess, who seems compassionate, the Empress looks like she's DISpassionate. She does what she does, regardless of what you think or how it affects you. She is the Mother of tsunamis and earthquakes as well as the harvest. Her power is truly impersonal - it's not about you, personally, it's just nature being nature, and nature will do whatever it does with you regardless of what you want or how you feel about it.
For all these reasons, the interpretation of this card seems quite different to me than the RW Empress. And, like Anna's other portrayals, much more expressive of the dark and light sides of this archetype.
It's not clear to me right now how I would interpret this card based on how I'm seeing it (without book interpretations). I'm going to have to sit with it more and see how it comes together for me. Maybe other people's interpretations will help me formulate my own. If someone drew this card in a reading, what would I offer them about it? What might it say to them about their own life/situation? I'm not sure. The Empress is withholding that information from me right now. She's letting me know that SHE'S in control, not me. Maybe I have to work harder to understand her, or maybe not work at all. Maybe it's right under my nose.
And then that checkerboard floor, clearly manmade in a scene that is otherwise completely natural. Black and white checks do not exist in nature, in fact are quite opposite from anything natural. Clearly a human creation, which her bare foot touches. Also, a floor like that would generally be found inside a dwelling or building, not outside in the middle of nature.
It seems incongruous, out of place, yet there it is.
I also just noticed what looks like 2 owls, one on her left arm and one at her feet. Owls generally symbolize wisdom, yet in reality they are wild and fierce birds. I had a close encounter with an owl once, and it actually scared the s... out of me! It had such strong predator energy, and it was looking at me like I was prey. Another expression of nature just doing what it does, completely impersonally.
Isn't it interesting, btw, (I also just noticed), that Anna places the Empress in the light of day, not darkness, when she herself (the Empress, not Anna) emanates a real sense of darkness. Again, the union of the opposites. Maybe that's also what the checkered floor represents, something about the union of opposites. (looking ahead, the Emperor is also on a black and white checkered floor, and Justice is on a black and white floor, too).
I feel myself getting mentally tired so I'm going to stop here, but I may come back to this later because it hasn't 'clicked' for me, although I see so much in it.
Looking forward to other impressions ...