The Empress - Tarot Card Interpretation by A. E. Waite

A stately figure, seated, having rich vestments and royal aspect, as of a daughter of heaven and earth. Her diadem is of twelve stars, gathered in a cluster. The symbol of Venus is on the shield which rests near her. A field of corn is ripening in front of her, and beyond there is a fall of water. The sceptre which she bears is surmounted by the globe of this world. She is the inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all that is symbolized by the visible house of man. She is not Regina coeli, but she is still refugium peccatorum, the fruitful mother of thousands. There are also certain aspects in which she has been correctly described as desire and the wings thereof, as the woman clothed with the sun, as Gloria Mundi and the veil of the Sanctum Sanctorum; but she is not, I may add, the soul that has attained wings, unless all the symbolism is counted up another and unusual way. She is above all things universal fecundity and the outer sense of the Word. This is obvious, because there is no direct message which has been given to man like that which is borne by woman; but she does not herself carry its interpretation.

In another order of ideas, the card of the Empress signifies the door or gate by which an entrance is obtained into this life, as into the Garden of Venus; and then the way which leads out there from, into that which is beyond, is the secret known to the High Priestess: it is communicated by her to the elect. Most old attributions of this card are completely wrong on the symbolism--as, for example, its identification with the Word, Divine Nature, the Triad, and so forth.

Divinatory Meaning: Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance.

Reversed: Light, truth, the unraveling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.

 

Tarot Card Intertpretations by A. E. Waite

Cards of The Tarot Major Arcana

The Fool  The Magician  The High Priestess  The Empress  The Emperor  The Hierophant  The Lovers  The Chariot  Strength  The Hermit  Wheel of Fortune  Justice  The Hanged Man  Death  Temperance   The Devil  The Tower  The Star  The Moon  The Sun  Judgment   The World

Cards of The Tarot Wands

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Wands  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Wands  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Wands

Cards of The Tarot Cups

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Cups  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Cups  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Cups

Cards of The Tarot Swords

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Swords  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Swords  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Swords

Cards of The Tarot Pentacles (Disks)

Ace, Two, Three, Four, and Five of Pentacles  Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten of Pentacles  Page, Knight, Queen, and King of Pentacles