The Empress (III) is the third tarot card of the Major Arcana and is the embodiment of feminine power. She portends a need to embrace our feminine side, trust our intuition, and prioritize our emotions and passions over logical thought.
Nature, focusing on vibrations and physical activity, are all connected to an Empress influenced reading. The Empress has a substantial nurturing and maternal influence. Therefore her appearance in a tarot reading is an excellent omen for those looking for harmony in relationships or starting a family.
The Empress visual depiction and symbolism
On the Empress tarot card image, a beautiful, crowned woman with blonde hair is covered in a gorgeous silky dress. She sits in a relaxing natural setting on a divan made of luxurious pillows and flowing red velvet.
- The 12 star crown on her head represents a connection with the mystical realm and the natural world (the twelve months of the year and the twelve planets).
- She is wearing the silky dress patterned with pomegranates, a fertility symbol, just like the veil in The High Priestess card.
- One her divan, there is a symbol of Venus, the planet of love, creativity, fertility, beauty, and grace – the essence of the Empress.
There are a peaceful aura and tranquility around the Empress card. It is reinvigorated by nature’s energy from the trees, wheat springs, and water.
- The beautiful, lush forest and winding stream signifies her connection with Mother Earth and life itself.
- The golden wheat springs in the foreground reflect abundance and prosperity.
The Empress Keywords
Keywords are excellent means to memorize the Tarot card meanings, so before we jump into the Empress’ more profound implications, let’s look at them here.
Upright Keywords: Femininity, beauty, creativity nature, nurturing, abundance
Reversed Keywords: Disconnect from femininity, Creative block, dependence on others, neglecting own needs
Now that the Empress’s visual components and keywords are taken care of let’s progress into her meanings in love, relationships, career, money, health, and spirituality.
The Empress Upright meaning
The Empress upright signifies a strong connection with our femininity. The feminine side gets expressed when you embrace your sensuality, fertility, creative energy, and emotions. It lives in both men and women, and it is necessary together with masculinity in creating a balance within us.
The Empress upright calls you to connect with all your senses to experience pleasure and deep fulfillment. The Empress carries intense maternal energy in it, so it is a potent sign of pregnancy. However, it doesn’t always mean an actual pregnancy, but a metaphorical ‘birth’ of a new idea, business, or project.
Love and Relationship
When the Empress shows up in a love and relationship reading, it is a sign that your feminine energy and emotions are high. You are likely going to be attracting both men and women to take a closer look at you. This will boost your confidence, allowing you to see yourself more in the way others see you. As someone exciting with a lot to offer. If you are single, welcome this heightened attractiveness and take advantage of it. Whether you are looking for it or not, the Empress is a good sign that love is coming your way.
For those in relationships, the Empress is a sign of romantic times that will glue you closer together. Your connection with your partner will become more profound and sincere. As the Empress is a maternal card, there is a significant chance that your relationship will evolve to parenthood when you see it in your tarot spread. The Empress also carries a lot of emotion, which will add spice to your relationship. Just be careful to keep those emotions in balance because they can quickly go overboard.
Money and Career
The Empress tarot card money and career meaning have a lot to do with being creative. It encourages you to be playful and to express yourself in various ways.
Now is the time to come up with new ideas, projects, and even new businesses. Combined with the Empress’s nurturing side, your heightened creativity assures you that the new initiatives will substantiate successfully if you feed and support them.
And don’t be afraid to explore more unconventional ways to make money. Today there are opportunities in many places if you start looking around. If you possess skills that others want to acquire, you can teach them either in person or even online. That is an excellent way to make money on the side. If you feel like you are not that creative, you can start a side hustle that doesn’t require special skills, like buying items from yard sales and selling them online.
Health and Spirituality
The Empress is a sign of heightened intuition, so listen to the signs that your body and mind are sending you. If something is a bit off, you should see a professional about it and not wait for it to go away. The Empress is also a sign of a desire to nurture and take care of others. Therefore, the Empress is an excellent omen of pregnancy.
When it comes to spirituality, the Empress has a deep connection to nature and intuition. She promotes kindness and the search for beauty and happiness in your life. You can do this by connecting yourself with all your senses. Expressing yourself through art is a great way to communicate with the Universe and mother earth.
The Empress Yes or No Upright
Suppose you ask the Tarot question that could result in a Yes or No answer; the Empress is leaning towards Yes. The Empress calls you to emphasize your emotions over logical thought. If your heart says Yes, it is definitely a Yes.
The Empress Reversed Meaning
The Empress showing up reversed signifies that you have been either overly committed or somewhat disconnected from your feminine side. This will bring an imbalance between your masculine and feminine energies to your life. This could lead to insecurities or letting your nurturing instinct take over and focus on others while neglecting yourself. Or alternatively, you might have been too focused on earthly possessions and mental aspects and neglecting your emotional and spiritual side.
The Empress reversed is a reminder that now is the time to reconnect to regain balance. Lose the insecurities, and take some time to focus on yourself as well.
Love and Relationship
The Empress reversed in love and relationship readings is usually a sign that you let your feminine side take over a bit too much. It can come out in the form of emotions or a tendency to nurture others. If you are already in a relationship, look if you treat your partner more like a mother than a partner would. This role could either drain your energies or reduce the relationship’s feelings if it goes on for too long. The reversed Empress can also sign that the other is growing too dependent on the other in your relationship.
If you have children, the reversed Empress tarot card could also be a sign that you’re being overprotective or controlling with them. Or alternatively, you are giving them everything they want and letting them run your life. Try to find a balance by trusting and allowing your kids to make mistakes. Also, safeguarding your children from experiencing frustration and disappointment can be troublesome in the long run. It will lead them to become spoiled and ill-mannered.
If you are single, the Empress reversed can sign that you are not allowing potential partners to enter your life at the moment. Something is avoiding you to see them, or you are having problems to express your emotions at the moment. You might be feeling insecure about yourself and thinking negative thoughts about yourself. Lose them and start seeing yourself like others are seeing you. As the beautiful soul that you are.
Money and Career
The Empress reversed in career-related issues is a sign of creative blocks or boredom. This could be a challenging time for you to come up with ideas or express yourself creatively. You might be filled with self-criticism and self-doubt. The Empress inverted advises you to fight these insecurities by trusting yourself and allowing your creativity to flow.
The Empress reversed can also indicate that you are not enjoying your current work. You are finding it unfulfilling and grave for something more creative. You should take a moment to figure out where this feeling is coming from. Is it just insecurities you are experiencing, or are you needing to find an external solution to your problem, like finding new work?
Regarding your finances, the Empress reversed is a pretty neutral card. Everything seems to be acceptable in that area. Still, your internal emotions drive you to feel insecure about the abundance of money in your bank account. Have faith in yourself, and if you continue to make responsible choices, you will continue to be financially sound.
Health and Spirituality
The Empress reversed tells you to take a moment to listen to your body and mind. You need to take some time for yourself and rest to give the best version of yourself to the world. Exercise and do pursuit things that make you feel good. Your both mental and physical being will be all the better for it. The Empress reversed is a cynical card in pregnancy questions as it points to challenges.
Regarding spirituality, the Empress reversed in a Tarot reading indicates that you are finding it hard to connect with your intuition. This has a profound effect on other areas of your life, as you feel a growing need for other people’s opinions. Finding a way to reconnect with your intuition and inner wisdom could be a key to unlocking issues in your life.
The Empress Yes or No Reversed
The Empress reversed is not clear if you ask a question from the Tarot that could result in a Yes or No answer. It is leaning to yes in the upright position, but in the reversed, it calls you to take some time for yourself and observe what your intuition is telling.
The Empress important Combinations
The Empress and the Emperor
Having them side by side is the royal combination of the tarot deck. The Empress and the Emperor are the embodiments of both the female and masculine archetypes. They represent opposites but, at the same time, complementary energies. When their relationship is in balance, their whole empire will be happy.
To me, seeing them together is a reminder of duality and its presence in our lives. Whatever issue we are dealing with, there are two sides to it, and we can learn from both. This combination is also about balance and the fact that we need masculine and feminine energies to make things work.
The Empress and the Judgement
Judgment calls for awakening. The Empress encourages us to get in touch with our feminine side, and perhaps our nurturing side. This combination is bringing me to think that it has to do something with a reflection on motherhood. Is now the time? Or, perhaps there have been some issues with the seeker’s mother-child relationship that needs to be resolved to find balance in life.
The Empress and the Magician
The Magician is a card of manifestation and new beginnings, and the Empress the climax of female energies. It is also an excellent omen for creativity and the ability to nurture anything you start.
This combination gives a signal that whatever new you are facing at the moment, it will turn out to be a success as long as you remember to embrace and nurture it.
The Empress and the High Priestess
Could this be a combination of best friends? Both powerful and beautiful women who are in touch with their female energies and intuition. The High Priestess encourages us to tap into our inner wisdom and the Empress to get in touch with our feminine side.
Having them combined, I see that in the present moment, female energies are essential. I see them encouraging to tap into our emotions, feelings, and intuition rather than logical thought.
The Empress and the Temperance
Temperance reminds us to seek balance and indulge in moderation. Perhaps the combination with the Empress is a sign that you are embracing your feminine side, but you should balance it out a bit.
The Empress – Element, Astrology and other associations
Here are the usual associations with the Magician tarot card.
- Element: Earth
- Planet: Venus
- Astrological sign: Libra
- Key dates: Fall
The Empress as a personality
The Empress is the mother archetype of the Tarot deck. She is feminine, kind, nurturing, and loving. She is prosperous and has excellent motherly instincts that sometimes can go a bit overboard in caring for others.
Her feminine glow is what attracts others. It doesn’t only come in the form of beauty, but it is the feminine energy and wisdom that draws people close to her. She loves girly and feminine things as well, and emphasizing that side is essential to her. That’s why her wardrobe and home are filled with fashionable clothes and items.
The Empress as feelings
The Empress is the embodiment of female beauty and emotions. It brings out the feminine energy in us and makes us feel beautiful, warm, fertile, and nurturing. It is a card of creation, so you may think that now is the perfect time to manifest the ideas that I have been holding. The Empress wakes up the motherly instinct in us and encourages us to take a parenting role.