The Empress
A
stately figure, seated, having rich vestments and royal aspect, as befitting a
daughter of heaven and earth. Her diadem is of twelve stars, gathered in a
cluster. The symbol of Venus is on the shield which rests near her. A field of
corn is ripening in front of her, and beyond there is a fall of water. The
scepter which she bears is surmounted by the globe of this world. She is the
inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all that is symbolized by the
visible house of man. She is not Regina coeli, but she is still
refugium peccatorum, the fruitful mother of thousands. There are also
certain aspects in which she has been correctly described as desire and the
wings thereof, as the woman clothed with the sun, as Gloria Mundi and the
veil of the Sanctum Sanctorum; but she is not, I may add, the soul that
has attained wings, unless all the symbolism is counted up another and unusual
way. She is above all things universal fecundity and the outer sense of the
Word. This is obvious, because there is no direct message which has been given
to man like that which is borne by woman; but she does not herself carry its
interpretation.
In another order of ideas, the tarot card of the Empress signifies the door
or gate by which an entrance is obtained into this life, as into the Garden of
Venus; and then the way which leads out therefrom, into that which is beyond, is
the secret known to the High Priestess: it is communicated by her to the elect.
Most old attributions of this tarot card are completely wrong on the symbolism -
as, for example, its identification with the Word, Divine Nature, the Triad, and
so forth.
Original text by A. E. Waite. This
edited text © 2005. Please note: all applicable material on this website
is protected by copyright law and may not be copied without express written permission.
The Empress