The Empress Card: Your Best Friend in the Tarot

Sep 25

This is the first in what may become a series about my favorite tarot cards. It’s so easy to find many, many sites which give you basic meanings for all the tarot cards, but I wish there were more people writing about their own personal relationship with their favorite tarot cards.

I definitely have my favorites, those cards that have come up again and again for me throughout my life. It’s so wonderful when you feel that the cards themselves are seeking you out as a friend. That you’re not begging them to work with you, but, instead, they are the ones who are saying, “Come on! Let’s be friends.”

And, for me, my very best tarot “best friend” has always been The Empress.

The Empress Card Meaning

You can find Empress card symbolism and academic-style picking apart of each card’s iconography in many places online. Just google it.

But let me share what The Empress card means to me, and what it tends to mean when it comes up in readings for my clients.

Lots of tarot pundits make a big deal of The Empress being the card of the mother, or the mother archetype, but that’s not how I see her at all.

(For those who want to see mother images in every adult female image, I suggest, instead, that they connect with the four minor arcana queens for this purpose.)

The Empress is the fullness of all womanhood, encompassing everything: the totality of your dreams, your talents, your challenges, and your dark side as well as the bright light within you. It’s everything.

It’s the everything that most societies try to kill in us. Yet, all of our potentiality and genius lives within us, waiting to be set free.

So, in that aspect, there is a “birth” element, but it’s the birth of ourselves, in all the wide range of our moods, desires, and gifts.

When The Empress appears (whether in a reading for a client or for myself), it’s as if The Goddess has just appeared, because she missed us and loves us so much. It’s because we need that reminder of who we really are.

The Empress in Reverse

What about those times when The Empress card appears in reverse in a reading?

There’s no general answer, since everything depends on the surrounding cards, what question you were asking, and so many other variables.

But.

The Empress is saying that she wants to live through you, but you’re not allowing her to do that. She wants to guide you, to teach you her ways, and show you all of the things you can’t see about yourself yet.

The cards surrounding The Empress in your reading will give you more about the “what” and the “how”. This is your own personal visit from the goddess, in whatever image you need from her most.

The Empress Card Meditation

Need some advice? Maybe you don’t have a female mentor or a woman you admire who can counsel you and guide you. If not, The Empress is always available. She’s that totally secure, magical friend and when you’re with her, amazing, fun, better-than-you-believed-possible things are always happening.

Want to contact The Empress in just three quick steps? The entire process can take as little as two minutes.

Get an image of The Empress card, either the card itself from your deck, or an image on your laptop or phone. Spend 30 seconds gazing at the card. Notice every detail about it. The expression on her face. All the things surrounding her. Look deeply into her eyes and let her connect with you.
Take a minute to listen for what she is saying to you. What is she saying? Can you write it down, or is it more of a feeling? Sometimes the light changes or you smell a fragrance, or you hear a sound.
If you have a question for her or need her support in some way, now is the time to ask. Ask your question, and now listen for what she has to say. Again, it may come in words that you hear in your mind, or through some other sensory experience that happens in your room or that comes in from outside. If you don’t experience anything right now, don’t strain. Thank her, send her your love and go about your day — but notice if The Empress contacts you in a powerful, loving way during your day. You’re likely to see a sign that answers your question, or shows you just what you needed to see or hear.

Hanging Out With The Empress

Once you’ve connected with The Empress a few times, using the technique above, and you feel that she’s with you, you can just start hanging out together. Take a walk while chatting with her (either aloud — if you’re in a forest or other non-public place — or silently). Have coffee with her in the mornings, and say, “What are we doing today?” “What music should we listen to?” “What adventure should we go on together?”

Want to be more like her? She’ll teach you.

Help From The Empress in a Tarot Reading

Shuffle your tarot deck at least five times. Now sort through the deck and find where The Empress is. The two cards directly in front of her and directly behind her (total of four cards) are her “court”. They represent the people that she has sent to help you in whatever you’re concerned about in your life right now. Keep an eye out for people in your life who have those qualities. They’re sent to you by The Empress.