The Empress Tarot Card

The Empress tarot card speaks to you of the gestation of your creative works. Inside of you there are creative expressions that must be birthed and it is vital that you give time and effort to these babies or the consequences can be dire. Having said that, it makes a lot of sense to be patient and calm as we grow our ideas into fully-fledged “creative babies” ready for birthing into the world; being stress and anxiety ridden is no good for Mother (you) or Baby (your work).

The pomegranates on the Empress’s dress represent fertility and as in the High Priestess tarot card, the gestating mother’s determination and focus to grow and nurture the idea until it is ready to be brought out into the world. In front of the Empress grows a field of golden wheat, representative of the previous work she has done, now ripening – an abundance of realised ambitions come to fruition.

The Empress Tarot Card = Abundance

Abundance is probably the single most important keyword associated with the Empress tarot card. The Empress is the symbol for living in abundance and there’s no doubting that she is quite the lush as she sits in her open space, just beyond a private woodland. A stream runs out from the woods and empties over a small waterfall near her feet. The stream that runs through the tarot speaks of the unconscious mind and the journey to personal fruition (self-actualisation). And this is the message of the Empress, right near the beginning of the tarot card journey: that we can go the distance, that we can birth our ideas and that we must.

Once you are pregnant with a notion, like a real mother-to-be, there is no going back. When my partner was great with child she would sometimes feel despondent – being pregnant is the longest nine months of your life! But while the going was long and tough, in the end, that kid was coming out, no two ways about it.

Same goes for your self-expression. The Empress tarot card reminds you that you are pregnant with ideas that must find their way into this planet. If you do not nurture and nourish your creative self-expression, this energy will out itself in ways less ideal, most likely as physical sickness or psychological issues such as depression or a bitter heart.

A Life Fully Self-Expressed

Most creative people like you have had the experience of “working for the man” in some capacity (school, a job) and hating every moment of it. The reason we feel so put out in these situations (especially when we are young and have not learned the subtle arts of ninja self-expression) is because we feel so inauthentic when we put on the school (or fast food franchise) uniform or the neat casual office attire. Something inside us rebels, we feel we are wasting the time we have been given to live a life fully self-expressed.

We feel this because we are wired to seek recognition for the spark of life that lies at the heart of who we are. Is this simply monkey behaviour (seeking acceptance from the tribe in order to survive) or a higher manifestation of our purpose? In this case, I believe it is the second. We have been sent here to, as Steve Jobs put it, put a dent in the universe, and if we do not give expression to our existence we suffer internally until eventually, we seek acknowledgement in less healthy ways, even when consciously, we do not want to do this.

It is not our conscious minds that are running this particular show; this is our higher purpose at work. If we fail to nurture and birth the self-expression we were created to be a vehicle for, things go awry.

However there is no need for you to panic! It is not as dramatic as all that if you realise that allowing your self-expression to unfold does not need you to become famous or hugely “successful” in wordly terms. These may be part of your mission, but if you can hold these ambitions lightly and pay attention to the business of doing your work, whatever that may be (making art, starting a business, serving others in whatever manner you find fulfilling) then your higher mission for self-expression is fulfilled and in some way, the way you are meant to, you have made your contribution to the positive evolution of life on Earth.

The Battle of Two Wolves

An old man told a young boy the story of how inside every person’s mind, there are two wolves battling it out for supremecy. One wolf is fearful, anxious and desperate. The other wolf is calm, confident and content. One sees life as a battle over scarcity; the other sees the world as an abundant place, full of bounty, everything he needs.

“Which one wins?” asked the boy.

“The one you feed” came the old man’s reply.

The Empress tarot card implores you to set yourself up as she has, with cushions propping up your back, legs slightly parted, ready for the eventual birth of your creative baby. Her secondary message is that meantime, be content. Make like the Empress and sit fully present in the moment, enjoying the yellow glow of the sun, the signs of plenty all around. Be abundant. Nurture and bring forth into the world your good works and fulfil your higher mission in this lifetime – to live an authentic, fully self-expressed existence.

P.S. I am currently drawing tarot cards to write about them as they come up. Interesting that I drew this card today, seeing as I just wrote about it in this post on living in abundance.