The Halloween Tarot - A twist on the traditional earth mother. Abundance and fertility of the mind, body, and spirit. Motherhood, nurturing, passion. - by Karin Lee, Art by Kipling West
Some key themes having to do with the third trump, The Empress are: motherhood, nurturing, fertility, abundance, pregnancy, wealth, creativity, and generosity.
We could view this Halloween Tarot version of The Empress as a look behind the pretty mask of The Empress. What exactly does it mean to be the very definition of femininity, to be the place of fertility and abundance? It is downright exhausting finally. It is a labor of love. But on the bad days you might sit on your chase with a vacant crazed look in your eye, mindlessly stroking a(your?) cat, involuntarily twitching every now and then, wondering how much more you can take of giving before you go completely batsh🦇t insane.
And no one even asked if this "created to be a bride" bride wanted a monster husband, or, particularly *that* monster husband. Nope. But she was automatically and immediately condemned for rejecting her would be role. Give a girl some time to adjust! It is an important decision! Should she just be impressed that this nameless monster is the only other reanimated corpse on the planet? He who, by the way, has already rather ungracefully stomped his way into some pretty serious ill repute?
Impress (v.1) is
from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike"). [OE]
In this respect the absolutely insane abundance of types of species and different habitats the earth allows for and gives time and space to, which allows for them to evolve and grow upon her body is amazing. The earth is the epitome of generosity. The earth is a heroic but underrated time spell of fecundity.
Shaddowscapes Tarot, artwork by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
We humans are beneficiaries of this great mother. Where else do we see any place for us in the universe to grow and thrive in such richness? There is nowhere. And perhaps this is a problem. It is too easy to take our fundamental roots, supports, and primal foundations for granted when they are doing an excellent job. The earth could make quite an impression by kicking us ingrates out. If she acted with such authority we might call her Empress Earth.
Empress is the feminine form of Emperor, from Old French empereor, from Latin imperatorum(nominative imperator), from imperare meaning "to command". An emperor rules an empire, a word which is also from Latin imperare, which is from an assimilated form of in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + parare "to order, prepare" (from PIE root *pere-(1) "to produce, procure"). So, we could say that an empire is a place that is in order. It is a place ordered to the end of production and procurement of a certain civilized lifestyle.
So, a male ruler or commander of an empire is called an emperor, and a ruler of an empire of the female gender is called an empress, however, the symbolic functionality of The Empress trump does not so much speak to a position of her being in command, or being a female version of Emperor, but rather it speaks to her nature as being the epitome of abundance and fertility. Therefore she is more of an Impress, in this sense, than an Empress.
With the number 3 (III) we get movement. It is not just a point or a line between two points, it is a trend, a direction, area, growth. If a person sees their reflection in a mirror, the reflection is a single image. The two are one. However, if another mirror introduced, the images become infinite. This is the magic of generation, like a flower that is fertilized and goes to seed. The Empress is the empire, the place, the space where fruiting takes place and is allowed to flourish.
More and bigger isn't always better however, there has to be a balance between creative potential and control. The health of an empire isn't determined by how vast it is. It needs to be big enough, but not too big, i.e., it needs to be balanced.
The Empress is associated with the sign of Libra "balance, pair of scales" which is a Venus ruled sign. Astrologically Venus has to do things related to attraction, love, relationship, harmony, art, and beauty.
Spolia Tarot - Artwork by Jen May
Venus is from Latin venus meaning "love, sexual desire; loveliness, beauty, charm; a beloved object." Venus was the Roman Goddess of love, sex, beauty, desire and fertility. Venus is related by PIE root *wen- (1) meaning "to desire, strive for," to other interesting words such as "venerate, venereal, venison, venom, wean, win, wont".
The symbol for Venus is depicted in some versions of The Empress. It is a cross with a circle on top of it.
The Empress[detail]
It is also used as a symbol for "woman" or female gender classification, and the cross mounted by a circle shape looks somewhat human in form. It can also symbolize the coming together or incarnation of "spirit" (the circle), into "matter" (the cross).
In ancient Egypt a similar looking symbol was called the ankh.
Ankh triplicity, indicates plurality - life +++
The form itself was made into physical objects that were used as protective amulets, in magical spells, and funerary practices. The ankh indicated a vivifying force or "breath of life", and was used as a hieroglyph representing the word, '-n-ḫ which had the meaning "life", "live", "nourish". Also, interestingly the word ankh was used for "mirror" during the Middle Kingdom, and handheld mirrors (of the polished bronze type) and mirror boxes were sometimes ankh shaped.
Egyptian Mirror Box from the Tomb of Tutankhamun c. 1333-1323 BCE.
"The association of the ankh with the mirror was no chance occurrence. The Egyptians believed that the afterlife was a mirror image of life on earth and mirrors were thought to contain magical properties." The Ankh, worldhistory.org
Mirrors, as pointed out previously, have magical generative powers when reflecting each other. It is nice to imagine each individual person as a mirror. We are all mirrors to each other. But by the nature of reflecting, it is from a place of reception and femininity that we mirror the other. It is a place of humbleness, yet a humbleness with the potential to be strength, like Christ crucified... and resurrected.
The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar . . . When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the Eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Ez 47:1,7-9
It is only when we truly see ourselves that we can fix ourselves. Without a mirror we can walk around with mustard on our face or lettuce in our teeth and never be the wiser. But it is all too easy to condemn the messenger because it doesn't feel good to see our own flaws and shadow selves. It is much easier to project and cast off our own unpleasant traits onto our mirrors and maybe slap a big old scarlet letter on her at the same time. Ahhh! Isn't it good to be one of the elite, the righteous!
The earliest examples of mirrors found in human history are black mirrors made of polished obsidian. However, obsidian is also used to create blades. Obsidian blades are some of the sharpest blades on the planet. The truth can hurt, but the origin of the pain doesn't go away when it is deflected as if it were an attack, it just ends up hurting someone else instead. And in the end death still awaits, and the dues will be paid. You might as well learn to look in the mirror and grow from the process.
Jean Peuget de la Serre, London 1639, The British Museum
And it is true that the consequence of bringing forth life is, in the end, to also be bringing death. If there was no mother, no earth, no life, there would not be anything to die. However, given the nature of the cycle (kyklos "circle"), which is that of nurturing, holding, keeping a place for, gestating, and regenerating, then, when there is death, there is also new life; a new day. This is the magic and mystery of The Empress and the manifestation of abundance. It is not about forcing, seizing, taking control, winners vs. losers, or good vs. evil. It is about allowing and giving the universe a place to flow into. It takes a special person to do that: The Empress. So, love your mother/mirror. And just as importantly, BE a loving mother/mirror. And this goes for everyone, man and woman alike. She is life.
There's no better time to embrace your shadow and conquer death! Look in the mirror and live abundantly! Even if what you see is a bit spooky! Happy Halloween! Happy Samhain!
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