The Empress is card III of the Major Arcana in the Thoth Tarot. In a reading it speaks of fertility, love, beauty and abundance. In the Golden Dawn system it corresponds to the Hebrew letter Daleth, path 14 of the Tree of Life between Chokmah and Binah, the element Spirit and Venus in astrology.
fertility · love · beauty · abundance · nature
What does The Empress mean?
A time of growth and fertility: what you tend will bear fruit. Make room for pleasure, creativity and generosity.
Everyday meaning
Fertility, pleasure, material and emotional abundance. It points to gestation in the broad sense: projects that grow, relationships that flower, wellbeing and domestic harmony.
Psychological meaning
It embodies the ability to receive, nourish and enjoy life; the relationship with the body, with beauty and with the maternal principle.
Initiatic meaning
Path 14 from Chokmah to Binah, the letter Daleth (the door, 4) and Venus: the horizontal path joining the supreme Father and Mother. It is the door through which divine force becomes living form, the love that generates.
The shadow side
Ill-dignified, it signals dissipation, luxury, possessiveness, emotional dependence or stagnation in comfort.
The Empress reversed
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading:
Fertility is blocked or turns into excess: indulgence, jealousy, care that smothers. Direct some of the nourishment back toward yourself.
The Empress in love, work and spirit
In love
A warm, sensual, nourishing relationship; a possible wish for family or for a new emotional beginning.
At work and career
Creative and productive projects expanding, collaborative environments, earnings born of patient care.
In spiritual practice
Nature as temple: the divine recognised in beauty and in generation.
Kabbalah, astrology and the Hebrew letter of The Empress
Daleth ד (4) · path 14: Chokmah – Binah · Spirit · Venus
Crowley on The Empress
Crowley links the Empress to the alchemical Salt and to the door of Daleth; at her feet the pelican feeds its young with its own blood, and on the shield the white eagle: mother and bride, form receiving force.
Frequently asked questions
What does The Empress mean in the Thoth Tarot?
A time of growth and fertility: what you tend will bear fruit. Make room for pleasure, creativity and generosity.
What does The Empress mean in love?
A warm, sensual, nourishing relationship; a possible wish for family or for a new emotional beginning.
What does The Empress mean for work and career?
Creative and productive projects expanding, collaborative environments, earnings born of patient care.
What does The Empress mean reversed?
The Thoth Tarot is traditionally read without reversed cards: the reader judges from the cards around it whether a card is well or ill dignified. This is its ill-dignified or blocked reading: Fertility is blocked or turns into excess: indulgence, jealousy, care that smothers. Direct some of the nourishment back toward yourself.
What are the Kabbalah and astrology correspondences of The Empress?
In the Golden Dawn system The Empress corresponds to the Hebrew letter Daleth, path 14 of the Tree of Life between Chokmah and Binah, the element Spirit and Venus in astrology.
