Tarot · The Major Arcana
The Empress
- Abundance
- care
- growth
The picture
A crowned woman sits on cushions in a field of ripe wheat, beside her a heart-shaped shield with the sign of Venus, and behind her a forest and a waterfall.
The meaning
The Empress sits in the middle of the wheat, and everything around her is growing. The tradition reads her as abundance, fertility in the widest sense, and pleasure in the senses. She stands for care, for beauty and for whatever you raise with patience. Ideas, gardens and relationships thrive near her.
Reversed
Reversed, she is read as a creative standstill, or as care that gives so much that nothing is left for yourself.
In love
In love she stands for warmth, affection and a relationship that feeds both people.
At work
At work she is read as a creative season in which projects ripen.
As your card of the day
You are allowed to feel good today. Treat yourself to something that pleases the senses, a good meal or a walk among green things.
The Empress is a reminder that growth takes time. Today, water what you have sown.
The Major Arcana are the 22 trump cards, from the Fool at zero to the World at twenty-one. The tradition reads them as stations on a life's journey: large themes that touch everyone at some point.
Picture: Pamela Colman Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, 1909, public domain (Wikimedia Commons).