3 The Empress III
‘Allow yourself to be beautiful and all the rest will follow.’
THE BUDDHA
Personification – Psychology
The Empress is a vivacious character who personifies charm, grace, beauty, creativity or fertility (Sun). Empresses are dedicated to nurturing and nourishing others and making them feel good about themselves, and so are often greatly valued, loved and respected.
Their social identity can be either the well-regarded or highly creative woman or the primary matriarchal guardian, mother or mother figure, whose self-validation (Sun) or sense of wholeness and completion (World) derives solely from their physical fertility and reproductive accomplishments (Pages).
Mother figure or not, Empresses experience great life satisfaction and often share their good fortune with others, whom they treat with great kindness, love and affection, which is key to the Empress’s inner and outer success.
The Empress’s primary concerns in life are love, happiness and harmony; marriage, love-making, enjoyment, amusement, charm, delights, pleasures, pleasantries, deliciousness, sugary or indulgent food, fine wines, art, design, creativity, music, concerts, dance, dancing parties, sociability, sensual pleasure, perfume, scents, decorations and ornaments, all forms of comfort and prosperity promotion, accumulated wealth, ornamentation, fine clothes and accessories, jewels, gems, precious stones, make-up, beauty, fashion and womanly products and experiences.
The Empress’s complete immersion in the joys of life and unrelenting pursuit of pleasure and sensual fulfilment (9C, 10C) are often experienced in highly civilized or agreeable surroundings (9P, 10P). Unless flanked by destructive cards (Tower, Death, 3S), the Empress is a maker of relationships – one who listens, appreciates, unconditionally accepts, understands and responds to others’ needs (6P).
While some archetypes devote their time and energy to the forceful pursuit of rule and domination (Emperor), the Empress rules and dominates via attraction (Lovers) and accommodation (Temperance). Chinese strategist and philosopher of the Zhou dynasty Sun Tzu once wrote, ‘Success is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose,’ which gives an idea of how we might effectively apply Empress energy to contentious, difficult or challenging situations. Indeed, the highest, purest expression of this energy, in which the archetype wields the greatest power and influence, can be seen in all the Empress’s loving, kind and tender-hearted words and actions, motives and agendas.
However, if the Empress is all heart and no head, they can overindulge or be too obliging to those around them. Also, sometimes the Empress themselves can be spoilt by having had too much of a good thing, and so be prone to a kind of ‘gilded cage’ syndrome, where lethargy, boredom, laziness and procrastination (4C) rule their thinking.
Undoing any fixed expectation or deeper sense of entitlement (Moon, 1S) often involves much pain and suffering, so the higher the ego climbs (Sun, KW, QW), the harder it falls for this elevated archetype (Tower). If left unchecked, the Empress’s pretentions, pride, prejudice, vanity or queenly behaviour can be their downfall (Tower, Death, 10S). Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, made such a faux pas, which cost her her life, when she replied to a call from her starving people for more bread with ‘Let them eat brioche.’ Whether these were her actual words or political anti-monarchic spin, the queen’s past vanity, prejudice and pretentions gave the people cause to believe her capable of saying them.
Spirituality and Philosophy
Being primarily concerned with the superficial, material or sensual aspects of life (KP, QP, KnP), the Empress can have only skin-deep spiritual awareness. However, this archetype’s core spirituality can be excavated and expressed via creative pursuits and endeavours.
By remaining out of touch with harsh, unpleasant or obscured realities, such as the poverty of others, the Empress puts themselves at a spiritual disadvantage, though, for their rose-tinted outlook makes it difficult for this archetype to look at or confront their own unlikeable shadow aspects.
Unless more active and assertive cards are present (Emperor, KW, QW, 10W, KS, QS), this wholly passive archetype always takes the path of least resistance in life. However, in their internal battle to subdue and integrate the ego, their passive approach does have a key spiritual role to play. ‘The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting’ is Sun Tzu’s description of the Empress’s application of the passive female principle to bypass male ego-activated intentions.
Thus the Empress’s influence can help us accomplish great spiritual feats when we allow things to happen by simply tuning into the vital life-force energies that surround us, rather than attempting to own and control them with our ego.
Personal Life
The Empress indicates mature, sincere, unconditional love and acceptance, romance and attraction; a diplomatically balanced and harmoniously allied marriage or relationship (2C, 10C); feeling loved, irresistible, worshipped and adored; having several admirers (8W) or sensual fun and pleasure providers (KnP, KnC, 2P); overflowing with sweet and sincere feelings (1C); providing emotional comfort and security (10C); sweet, deep, true love and commitment in relationships (2C, 10C); someone looking out for you, making sure all your wants, needs and desires are fulfilled; a very pleasant, loving, caring, content or rewarding relationship (9C).
As a partner, the Empress can be highly appealing, attractive, sexual, fertile, delightful, charming, elegant, virtuous, graceful, polished, refined, cultured and liberally minded, with strong, exalted feminine graces or highly civilized feminine values.
The Empress is the agent of magnetic attractiveness, charm, passive possessiveness and incoming energy, used both consciously and unconsciously to draw in a mate (2C) or to matchmake for others (Magician). In its most positive expression, this archetype signifies the wife, the committed mate (2C) and those in counselling and advising roles, such as friends, family or professional marriage or relationship counsellors (High Priestess, KC, QC) who help to strengthen partnerships.
In its most challenging expression, the Empress represents smothering or motherly lovers (Lovers, Moon) or the limitations and restrictions (8S) of searching for a true heart connection (1C, 2C) when moving only in the small social circles of the highly privileged few. When partners fail to meet the Empress’s status, class or wealth standards, this archetype needs to assess whether allowing their emotional comfort to be affected by social or material concerns really is the true path to love and happiness.
As a layout crossing card, this archetype can indicate, for both men and women, the selecting of an ultra-attractive life partner, either due to their looks, wealth or status, as a form of self-flattery. Unless a couple’s love can grow, change and penetrate further than merely skin deep, over time, when this attractive and flattering mirror image of the self begins to show its illusionistic and transitory nature, the ‘love spell’ will fracture and eventually break (Lovers, Tower).
Professional Life
Whether meeting the highest outward standards or keeping up appearances, the Empress indicates great success in the broadly creative industries: home comforts, family planning (3P), parenting, business deals, negotiation, diplomacy, creativity, art and design, literature, entertainment, high-end leisure or luxury services, beauty, femininity, nature, farming and fruitfulness in food, flora, fauna production (7P).
This archetype can indicate a flourishing business or much-admired project, even the best in show or a showpiece. Being the centre of attention, on display for all to see and admire (Sun), the Empress can also represent fashions, trends, image-conscious professions, branding and advertising (8W).
By their highly creative endeavours and infectious passion for their work (KW, QW), the Empress reaches the top of their