Hanson Roberts - The Empress

[Lurea]

This cards depicts a pretty woman, who looks out of the card steadily. She has brown eyes. She is crowned with a wreath of flowers (daffodils?), and is holding a scepter. Is that the back of a large chair behind her? On her left shoulder is a heart emblazoned with the symbol of Venus. There are flowers adorning her cuffs and flowers and fruit around her, and before her are sheaves of grain.

The LWB has an interesting thought: "The Empress suggests the symbol of feminine productivity and action. By effectively mobilizing all her capabilities, she can create meaningful and noteworthy developments in her life."

The Empress means a number of things to me. She is the universal mother, the nurturer. I've had this card appear in some notable "Am I pregnant?" readings. TheoMo did a spread for me, and said he has had the Empress appear in answer to a hobby or activity question, when the activity is one that will be deeply fulfilling to the querent. (So perhaps the activity is nurturing to the querent?)

The Empress can mean a person in the querent's life-wife, mother, sister. Where the High Priestess is strong but alone, the Empress is strong within the context of her relationships with others. She isn't off somewhere meditating, but out in the real world, doing the real work of day-to-day life. She is ideas and dreams being brought to fruition, and the actions required to bring that about.

She has both positive and negative meanings. She is the nurturer, but also the need to be free of nurturing. She is feminine attainment, but also feminine manipulation. Mothering and smothering. Accomplishment vs indecision and inaction.

Light and shadow. She usually throws 'positive' for me, though, so I haven't had that much experience with her negative side. What does she mean for the rest of you?

 

[Sulis]

Where the High Priestess is strong but alone, the Empress is strong within the context of her relationships with others.

I'm not part of this study group, I don't even own the deck but I love what you've said about the Empress here Lurea_aure.

If you don't mind, that little gem is going in my journal

Love

Sulis xx

 

[fairyhedgehog]

I love the warmth of the HR Empress card. She looks regal but human, and ready to speak to you. She doesn't look particularly active to me.

Although Hanson-Roberts was my first deck and the one I learned on, I have used several other decks since so my ideas about the Empress aren't confined to this one card even if it is the one in front of me

For me, it's about motherhood and all that entails - the good and the bad. I think of the Whimsical Empress: the old woman who lives in a shoe. I only read for myself and when this card comes up for me I think about nurturing energies - who is looking after whom? Where do I need to give or receive more or less mothering? She reminds me of the Queen of Wands and the Queen of Pentacles, but Major Arcana cards have more force and a wider reach.

Sorry, I'm rambling, but these are some of the things that come up for me. And if I get stuck, I open a book

 

[Flavio]

Light and shadow. She usually throws 'positive' for me, though, so I haven't had that much experience with her negative side. What does she mean for the rest of you?

The mother of a certain querent used to appear as Pentacles or Cups Queen, but after a very hard divorce experience in that family, Queens dissapeared and the Empress took the place of the mother, who became the mother AND father (so to speak) of that family, it was amazing to discover how the Queens were not enough to represent all the new efforts and roles taken by this woman after the divorce the Empress showed her still a mother with additional "father" authority and responsibilities.

 

[Lurea]

Thank you, Sulis, for making my day!

Flavio, *great* example. I've often thought the Queens were 'lesser' representations of the Empress--glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

 

[tarotlova]

Yes I definately see motherhood when I get this card and funnily enough I got this card alot when I was going through my divorce, I never realised that Flavio until I read your post, but it was a comment from my brother who said I was a good mother when this card came up in a reading we were doing. I seem to get this card now when I am on the verge of creating some thing new in my life, it tells me that I'm on the right track, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction when I see this card and she looks satisfied to me too, happy with herself and life, I see the crown on her head as stars, the seeds/wishes of things that she has set in motion/planted. The symbol of Venus the love that she does it with, and I think that is a back of a chair, as it shows the support that she provides to others and that she can support herself, if the need arrises, some thing to tell a person if they are going through a divorce that there is and will be a life after the divorce and a better one, look at the abundance that surround's her, that's what your life will be like but it will take work before you can sit back and relax like the Empress. The scepter? not sure of the spelling guy's! that she holds also shows me that you can be The Empress of your own life and rule it well. Blessings

 

[Celtic Star]

Empress

I'm late gettin here but I see that there are lots-o-good interpretations of Mother Empress.

IMHO she is most definitely about mothering, motherhood, abundance but I think she also represents a natural earthiness as well. Look at her clothes, they appear to be of all natural material. She is surrounded by nature with her living wreath of flowers about her head.

In a reading, the Empress could mean many different things. For example, a more natural approach to parenting/mothering. She can have a negative side as well & could signify less mothering/smothering depending on the other cards present in the reading. I think it could also indicate a need to focus more on the body, being more physical or physically active.

I love the look on her face. It's pure serenity.

I see this card & picture oodles of kids climbing, crawling, playing, moving all over the place and she doesn't bat an eye. It's what she was built for & she does it with ease.

 

[Lurea]

Great thoughts, Celtic Star and tarotlova! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Flavio]

I've often thought the Queens were 'lesser' representations of the Empress--glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Just as Kings belong to the Emperor, the Knights to the Chariot and the Pages to the Fool... altough I've only experienced the example with the Empress-Queens.

 

[rachelcat]

Catching up with my HR study assignments!

She is a beautiful Empress, isn't she? So calm and regal, yet very approachable.

Influenced by other decks, I see the crown as a crown of 12 stars and the circle behind her as the round of the seasons. She is the ruler of the natural world. I also see the stars as fire and the pearl necklace as water. She rules the balance of both in the world.

Those aren't just flowers around her, they are grain and fruit going to seed, beautiful AND nourishing, and providing for next year's crop, too.

One of my very first readings for someone other than family was for a co-worker who was obviously quite pregnant. I got the Empress and Strength (T of the Sephiroth). The Empress in T of S is also obviously pregnant! So I told her she was going to be a great mother and she was about to get much more familiar with her own body! Not too hard to predict for someone whose tummy is out to HERE!