The Empress
Upright The Empress Keywords
UPRIGHT: Femininity, beauty, nature, nurturing, abundance
Upright The Empress
The Empress signifies a strong connection with our femininity. Femininity translates in many ways – elegance, sensuality, fertility, creative expression, nurturing – and is necessary for creating balance in both men and women. The Empress calls on you to connect with your feminine energy. Create beauty in your life. Connect with your senses through taste, touch, sound, smell and sight. Draw on these senses to experience pleasure and deep fulfilment. Treat yourself to a day spa, learn massage, enjoy a fine restaurant or spend more time with your partner. Discover different approaches to expressing yourself creatively, be it through painting, music, drama or other art forms. This may be the perfect chance to take up a new hobby that enables you to access this part of yourself.
The Empress signifies abundance. You are surrounded by life’s pleasures and luxuries and have everything you need to live a comfortable lifestyle. You are in a period of growth, in which all you have dreamed of is now coming to fruition. When the Empress appears in your Tarot readings, take a moment to reflect on the bounty that surrounds you and offer gratitude for all you have created so you can continue to build on this energy and create even more abundance in your life.
As the Mother Earth archetype, the Empress urges you to venture out into nature to ground your energy and be in flow with the earth. Take a trip to your favourite natural setting, be it a forest, beach, mountain or lake, and sit for a couple of minutes, hours or even days to breathe in the energy that surrounds you while marvelling in the beauty of your surroundings. Allow yourself the time and the space to enter a different frame of mind and receive the grounding spirit of nature into your heart and consciousness. When you do this, you can reach higher planes of consciousness.
When you are in tune with the energy of the Empress, you will naturally take on her mothering nature. You feel a strong urge to nurture and care for others, from a place of loving compassion and support. You see it as a gift and an honour to tend to others, and in doing so you, too, receive benefit. In a more literal sense, you may step into the role of ‘mother’, perhaps as the mother of a newborn, caretaker of other people’s children, or spending more quality time with your kids.
The Empress can also suggest pregnancy or birth. This may be an actual pregnancy or childbirth, or a metaphorical ‘birth’ of a new idea or project. Bring your creative ideas into being by nurturing them and supporting their growth. Allow those designs and their manifestation to flow through you, acting with compassion and love.
Upright Love Meaning:
Nurturing, supportive lover, sensual committed relationship
The Empress tarot love meaning stems from the element of earth. The person represented by this card can be loving, nurturing and caring, as has financial security or appreciative of beautiful, comforting things. Sometimes, the Empress can point to love and work coming together, either with a co-worker, or perhaps a new business venture.
When it comes to relationships, this card also heralds a stable, serious and committed relationship. Because the card also represents motherhood, sometimes it can also signal marriage or pregnancy, or at least a new family, in whatever form that means for you.
Upright Career Meaning:
Nurturing colleagues, freshening up office, creative period at work
Your career right now may be enjoying a boost right now. You may be more creative and passionate than usual, and putting all your ideas to work in your projects. Since the Empress is related to nourishment and nurturing, it may also suggest that you’re feeling particularly nurturing and generous when it comes to your workplace as well. You may be working on making a more harmonious and welcoming office, whether that means being supportive of coworkers, or putting a new coat of paint at your home office. Having the environment to do your best can certainly give you even more momentum. Sometimes, this card can also point to another person in your workplace that has these qualities.
Upright Finances Meaning:
Material comfort, giving, sharing material wealth, generosity
The Empress is abundant both creatively and materially, so this card can point to a comfortable financial situation. You may also be feeling very generous with your money now, wanting to nourish your friends and family with your abundance and good luck. It is certainly a good time to share what you have.
Reversed The Empress Keywords
REVERSED: Creative block, dependence on others
Reversed The Empress
Reversed, the Empress encourages you to make self-love and self-care a priority. Now is the time to bring your loving energy and focus to yourself, especially if you have been giving away your personal power by placing too much emphasis on another person’s emotional or material needs, thus neglecting your own. Book a girls’ weekend, go for a walk on your own or start a creative project that’s just for you. It is essential that you fill your cup and care for yourself so you can then take care of others without resentment.
You may also crave a stronger connection with nature and Mother Earth. Now is the perfect occasion to spend even just a few hours in a natural setting such as a beach, park or garden. Breathe in the radiant energy as you’re surrounded by nature’s beauty and take time to notice the little things: an ant racing along on the ground, new leaves budding on the trees, or the rich purples and greens of the flowers and plants.
The Empress reversed can suggest that you are feeling a creative block, especially in ‘birthing’ a new idea or expressing yourself creatively. You may worry whether it will be a success or if your work is appealing to others. For now, don’t bother about what others think. The important thing is that you are allowing your creative energy to flow, even if it means keeping your newest creations private to you only (and even if they look like a three-year-old created them!).
The reversed Empress may call your attention to issues around body image. Are you your biggest critic when it comes to how you look and the shape of your body? Learn to love your body again and give thanks for the lovely curves, lumps and bumps. Rediscover your beauty, inside and out.
In your relationships, you may take the ‘mothering’ role too far, becoming overprotective, co-dependent and controlling. If this resonates, it is time to shift your focus from the mother-child relationship to an adult-to-adult relationship by creating independence, trust and loving compassion.
Reversed Love Meaning:
Lack of self-worth, jealous, clingy lover, lack of progress in love
The reversed Empress Love tarot meaning can represent a partner is too smothering, controlling or alternatively, unable to express their feelings. The card can also signal that one's self-worth may need a boost. Without feeling worthy of being loved, it doesn't matter who you are with, you may have difficulties maintaining that relationship.
If you're in a relationship, the Empress in a love tarot meaning can be encouragement to spend some quality time together, and care for each other. Give yourself a treat by having a date at a restaurant, or a walk holding hands. These moments will bring you two closer together.
Reversed Career Meaning:
Feeling insecure at work, not growing skills, stale job
Your career may be feeling stale, tedious and unfulfilling right now. It may feel that you’re making little progress when it comes to developing your skills and abilities. The work is monotonous, and perhaps you’ve already mastered what you can do in this position. You may feel that others don’t appreciate the work you’re doing, further adding to your frustration. At times, this card also can point to a feeling of being insecure when it comes to your career. This may also be causing the other problems you’re experiencing. It’s important to take the time now and sort out which of these are problems that require an external change, like switching jobs, versus an internal one, like developing better confidence and communication skills.
Reversed Finances Meaning:
Feeling insecure about finances, despite being stable
Since the Empress is generally a great card to have with finances, even in the reversed position, she still signals a comfortable amount of financial stability. However, in reverse, she may suggest that despite you having enough, you may still feel unstable. Sometimes, this can come from growing up in poverty, or is just the nature of being self-employed. You may have to do some internal work to understand why this is so; and what you can do to change it. Continue to be responsible with your finances, and it’s likely you’ll be fine.