The Empress's energy is all around us, how do we tap in?

Since Mother’s day is approaching, I thought we would talk about the quintessential mama!

The Empress, card #3 in the Major Arcana is often seen as pregnant, abundant, and creating. She is also at peace with herself and her power to create. She is SHE-the feminine, she is the creative sensual force. She is the Mother archetype. The Creatrix.

She is surrounded by lushness; her lush pillows, and her red velvet. One of the cushions has the symbol of the planet of Venus on it which mirrors her themes of love, creativity, fertility, beauty, and grace. She is also surrounded by lush nature, abundant wheat, and water.

She is the yin to the Emperor’s yang (which we will cover next month). There is a complimentary balance here. Balance in that we need the abundant creative force of this Empress' energy balanced with the stabilizing and containing force of the Emperor. They support each other, and he is often seen as the father of the deck.

The mother archetype we see represented in this card reminds us also to have balance. As we create we must also know when to let things bloom, when to let them have space, and when to set them free. As moms we can nurture, love, and protect. However, we also need to not be over-controlling, overprotective, critical or hovering. This holds true for everything we create and birth into the world; even this blog post, there is a point I must just hit publish, and let it have its time in the world. An artist finishes a painting or sculpture, and shares the work with the world, at some point the work is finished and it stands on its own.

Think about how the mother is seen too. We all have an idea of what the mother is supposed to be. We all have our feelings about our moms and if she (or any caregiver really) met the mark.

And from a caregiver’s point of view we have our ideas of how to mother and nurture. Love is instinctual, natural, and from personal experience, a mother’s love is amazingly strong and deep. When I had my first child I was honestly amazed at how natural this felt and how deep. I am sure this is true for a father too.

While the mother is usually seen as the nurturer, she can also be the opposite. She could be perceived as overbearing. Like I said, everything needs space to breathe and grow, this goes for your kids, friends, or partners. I have a friend who is a guidance counselor and she calls this overbearing type of parents “helicopter parents”. Again it's about balance right? Love and nurturing without suffocation. Not codependent love. In some cases a mom can be hurtful, neglecting and even abusive. All archetypes and experiences in this life can show up in many ways.

These negative expressions of Empress/mother energy would be seen in the reversals of the card.

When the Empress shows up reversed, she may also be showing us blocks in our creativity. She may be reminding us that we NEED self-care and that we NEED self-love. She is showing us that we may need to reel in this energy of caring for others and direct it inward. We may have been depleting ourselves. We may need to spend time out in nature, this is less of a suggestion as it is a NEED. Spending time in nature may reconnect us to our roots. And help us to unblock this creativity and love.

We also may be blocked in our creativity because we are concerned our ideas may not be embraced, or our contribution and projects not valued. As Elizabeth Gilbert says so eloquently in Big Magic we must create for the sake of creating, even if no one ever sees it, if you feel the need to create do it, let your soul sing (I highly recommend that book by the way). Make sure you are caring for yourself as much as you care for others. Don’t be codependent. It's not good for anyone!

When The Empress shows up in an upright positions, she is encouraging you to tune into your abundant, creative, sensual world around you, to do something nurturing and or creative, to access this part of yourself. You have what you need to create and birth your dreams and ideas into the world, and if this includes children that too! Even if they are not your kids biologically, you can be this person. Step kids, nieces, nephews, and god kids I love all mine. Again this is a point in our lives where we can take on these roles, as caregivers, nurturers, and support. That mom energy doesn’t actually have to be female or biological. This is an energy of building community and caring for all of its people.

When we are doing readings, and this card shows up, look to the cards around it. There is always a story to knit together and it all influences the meanings of each card.

if you are looking to tap into your creativity you may want to put this card on your altar, meditate on it. Bring this energy in!

We also see this energy of cooperation carried into the number three cards in the minor arcana.

The Three Of Cups shows us community, support, and celebration among friends.

In Three Of Pentacles, we see us finding our guild, our group that can help us create a stable work and community space.

When we get to the Three Of Swords the cooperation and community have crumbled and turned to heartache. The energy of this card is about this synthesis bringing us to heartache, disappointment. What this card can teach us is about finding what made us so sad, what broke our heart and triggered us intellectually, and with this knowledge we can grow further.

The Three Of Wands shows us in pause, the looking and longing for this connection and possibly the next step to it.

We often see the energy of the majors reflected in the minor/suited cards. So we see this creative energy carried over through the entire deck.

When you see empress what feelings does it evoke? I would love to know and you can leave a comment below.

*The deck used in the photos is the Smith Waite Centennial Deck

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