So, if you’ve been hanging around here awhile, you know that I’ve been reading Tarot since I was sixteen (thirty years!) and Lenormand for the past two years. And while I originally, as a kid, used it “to tell my future” LOL, I now use it mostly for guidance. And writing, but that’s another post.
Today I’d like to talk about the Empress card and the lessons it has taught me. First of all, the Empress is Key 3 (of 21) – Major Arcana (major life themes/karma/big things) and she represents creativity, abundance, nurturing, motherhood, a mother figure, home and hearth, and, in some contexts, pregnancy. (She’s actually HUGE for pregnancy if the question is about that). The interesting thing about the Empress is that she is my personal significator card. See, the Tarot selects a card for you when you start reading. And that card will show up in a lot of your readings. And the Empress is totally interesting as my card because, well, I’m not really maternal, and I’m not a mother (except to a cat), but I am creative and I am all about home and hearth and I can be very nurturing. So it’s kinda like an inside joke. Here’s me, the woman the least likely to pop out kids, and I’m the Empress. Ha, ha.
But there’s another aspect to her. She’s also the Divine Feminine, counterpart to The Emperor, Key 4, the Divine Masculine. The Divine Feminine what, you say? Well…that’s all about us women owning our power as women and knowing our worth. Not letting anyone run all over us. Setting healthy boundaries. Being who we are — who we really are — without shame or trying to hide. Living our lives the way we want, when we want, how we want, and not apologizing for it. Owning it fully and completely. Being the Empresses we know we can be.
It’s not about entitlement, or being difficult, or treating people poorly. It’s just being comfortable in our skin, being healthy, and living an authentic, happy, and in my case, creative life. Because we only get one, right? Might as well live it the way we want, not how everyone else thinks we should. This is why I finally changed careers in 2017 when I was laid off from my job of sixteen years. I’d stayed there for the wrong reasons, for everyone else’s reasons, and was unhappy and dealt with abuse and toxicity every single day (and still am dealing with those wounds now, years later). I finally said, “Enough’s enough. I’m doing what I want to do with my life, what’s right for me.” And that’s how I ended up a freelance editor/author assistant. That was my path. And I feel as if that was my path all along. It just took me awhile to get there.
I recently bought a necklace with the Empress Tarot card charm on it, to always remind me of this. Lately I’ve had some issues taking care of my own needs, my own stuff, amongst work and all my obligations. And the Empress in me wants me to get back to my true self: the writer, the poet, the thinker, the photographer. Those parts of me have been neglected and are crying out for airtime. So I have heard the call and am taking some steps to bring that stuff back, even if it’s a little bit at a time. My soul needs it. Because I’m not living an authentic life without it. I’m not an Empress.
So, next time you feel lost and you’re unsure of what to do next, think about the Empress and what lesson she would impart to you. Are you living your most authentic life? Are you setting healthy boundaries, not putting up with crap, and knowing your true worth? And believe me, we all have worth, beyond measure. We are all Empresses, beautiful, magnificant creatures. We just need to shine. And get back to that place inside that tells us so. It’s there if you look. 🙂