Card III, Major ArcanaThe Empress tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedThe Empress in shortIn short
The Empress is growth and plenty. She sits at ease in a garden, ripe wheat in front, a waterfall behind. Care for what's growing, in your life and in you, and enjoy what it gives back.
- Abundance
- Nurture
- Fertility
Piece oneThe waterfall
Behind her a stream drops through the trees in a blue waterfall. The water keeps the garden alive. Waite calls her the Earthly Paradise, Eden here on earth.
"She is the inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all that is symbolized by the visible house of man."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe water keeps her garden alive. She is earth in full growth, and dry earth bears nothing. The stream feeds the dark trees behind her and the wheat at her feet. It's the one moving thing on a card where everything else ripens in place.
Piece twoThe Empress
She sits on a red cushioned throne in a white dress covered with red pomegranates. A crown of white stars, a sceptre topped with the globe of this world. Waite gives her twelve stars and calls her the fruitful mother of thousands.
"Her diadem is of twelve stars, gathered in a cluster."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereShe is the card's centre: a mother, a queen and the season of plenty in one body. The stars in her crown put her under the sky, and the globe on her sceptre gives her this world. The heart-shaped shield names her love. The wheat at her feet shows what that love grows.
Piece threeThe shield
A heart-shaped shield rests beside her, marked with the sign of Venus: a circle over a small cross. Waite names the sign. The rest you can see: she's a queen of love and of the body.
"The symbol of Venus is on the shield which rests near her."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe shield names the love she rules. The sign of Venus ties her to beauty, the body and desire. Shields are made for war, yet hers leans in the grass among the wheat, unused. Nothing threatens this garden, so the heart can be put down.
Piece fourThe wheat
A field of ripe wheat grows in front of her. Waite calls it corn, the old English word for grain. It's harvest time: what you planted has grown, and there's enough to go round.
"A field of corn is ripening in front of her..."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe wheat is her proof. Everything else on the card promises growth; the ripe field shows it has come. It grows at the front, closest to you, so the harvest is the part you can reach. The waterfall behind her fed it, and her shield rests in it.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
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The waterfall
Cool blue-green water against a cream dress full of red pomegranates: cool and warm, water and fruit. Water pours all through the deck. On The Star a kneeling woman empties two jugs into a pool and onto the land. In Temperance an angel stands with one foot in a stream, pouring from one vessel to another. Here no one pours. The water comes on its own.
Also in -
The Empress
Warm cream dress on a red-orange throne: milk and bread, and seeds packed into every pomegranate. Her partner is The Emperor, next in the deck, also crowned, also holding a sceptre. Hers rises from a garden. His throne stands among bare orange rock. Her crown of stars returns on The Chariot, where a single star sits on a young driver's head.
Also in -
The shield
Soft sage green with a darker green sign: green for growing things and for the heart. The Venus sign returns in the Nine of Pentacles, printed in red all over a woman's gold dress in her vineyard. The heart shape returns in the Three of Swords, red and pierced by three blades under rain. Here it rests whole on the grass.
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The wheat
Deep gold against her cream dress: gold here means harvest and bread. The grain stands in front of her, closer to you than the throne. Its gold matches her sceptre and her hair, so the queen and her field share one colour. Dark green trees behind and ripe gold in front give the card a whole season, from growing to cutting.
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
The EmpressUpright
Abundance and growth. Something you planted, a project, a relationship, a family, a home, is ripening. Waite's words: fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days. The card is about comfort, pleasure and the body's good things: food, touch, beauty, rest.
Waite adds a quieter side: the unknown, the clandestine, difficulty, doubt. Growth often happens out of sight before it shows. Nurture, be patient and generous, and enjoy what you made without rushing the harvest.
The EmpressReversed
Waite's reversed meanings turn bright: light, truth, the unravelling of involved matters, public rejoicings. A tangle comes clear and hidden things come into the open.
He also gives another reading: vacillation. You might not know what to grow, or you care for everyone but yourself. Choose where your energy goes, and look after the gardener too.
Yes or noYes.
A warm yes, especially for anything that needs to grow: a project, a family, a relationship, a home. Give it time and care and it will bear fruit.
The Empress in your lifeIn your life
Love
Warm and affectionate. Love grows with care. It can also point to pregnancy or wanting a family.
Work
Creative work pays off. Grow the project slowly and look after the people around you.
Money
Comfort and plenty, built over time. Enjoy it, and keep some seed for next year.
Health
Rest, good food, time outside. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Find the sacred in nature, your body and ordinary days. Sit in a garden or under trees.
Advice
Feed what you want to grow, and wait.
As a person
Warm, generous, sensual, caring. Often a mother figure; people feel at home with her.
Past, present, future
Past: something you planted. Present: plenty to enjoy and look after. Future: a harvest, a birth, or a project that bears fruit.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Number
- III
- Hebrew letter
- Daleth
- Astrology
- Venus
- Element
- Earth
- Upright
- Fruitfulness
- Reversed
- Light
QuestionsCommon questions
Yes, one of the warmest in the deck: growth, abundance and care. Waite calls her the fruitful mother of thousands.
Affection, comfort, a relationship that grows. It can also point to pregnancy or wanting a family.
Yes, especially for anything that needs time and care.
Waite describes twelve stars gathered in a cluster, the crown of a daughter of heaven and earth.
Venus, in the Golden Dawn system, the same sign you see on her shield. Its Hebrew letter is Daleth.
Waite calls her the Earthly Paradise and the fruitful mother of thousands. Above all she's universal fecundity: life that grows and gives.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Hebrew letter, sign and element: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
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