The Tarot of Eli 2: The Rider-Wait-Smith Tarot - Key 3-The Empress & The Tarot of Sacred Kingdoms-Key 3-The Empress.

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Creativity

Nurturing

Abundance

The Rider-Waite-Smith Empress card emphasizes the flow of life. Here she is both Mother Earth and Mother Venus shown by the planetary signs on both dress and love shaped shield with the Venus Astrological sign. The Cypress trees and pearls in the background are also sacred to Venus while the foreground wheat refers to the figure of the Empress as Artemis; wheat is a plant/grain sacred to her.

The crown of twelve stars on her head refers to the zodiac. The crystalline water flowing down from the right represents the water from which Aphrodite is born. This is a key continuous process whereby the pristine consciousness of the PRIESTESS gives rise to the unconscious-instinctual thought patterns of the EMPRESS. In her right hand is the Orb of the Sun, referring us to 6th Sephiroth on the Tree of Life, Tiphareth, the Sun/Son, who administrates the thought forms of the Empress as a denser and/or coagulated expression which we call manifestations.

Even illustrated on the Tarot of Sacred Kingdoms- the Empress is represented as the Path of Daleth-meaning-Door, as a shinning pathway leads to her, and she is standing before an altar of light and fertile plant life, implying she is the source of inspiration.

THE EMPRESS is also called the "Gate way to Heaven", as She is the transitional state of energy between the above and the below. The effect of this transition is from one into many, so the key to this card is multiplicity. This is shown by the many flowers, the lemniscate decoration on her crown, the moon in the background. She is the Yoni-Gate of all life.

The Yoni Yantra represents the divine feminine principle and is often associated with the goddess Shakti. Here's a brief overview:

1. Origin: The Yoni Yantra has ancient roots in Hinduism and is part of the Tantric tradition. It is typically found in temples dedicated to goddesses like Shakti, Kali, or Durga. The word "Yoni" itself refers to the female genitalia and symbolizes the womb or the source of creation.

2. Symbology:

   • Female Energy: The Yoni Yantra represents the divine feminine energy, the creative power of the universe, and the source of all life.
   • Shakti: It is often associated with the goddess Shakti, who embodies feminine energy, fertility, and the transformative power of the goddess.
   • Union of Masculine and Feminine: The Yoni is often depicted with the Lingam, representing the masculine principle, symbolizing the union of opposites, the balance of male and female energies, and the cosmic harmony.
   • Creation and Rebirth: It signifies the process of creation and rebirth, both on a physical and spiritual level. It is a reminder of the cyclical nature of life and the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

The Yoni Yantra is considered a powerful symbol for meditation and worship, allowing individuals to connect with the divine feminine energy, foster spiritual growth, and explore the mysteries of creation and existence.

Sheela Na Gig

The Empress is a Door, a gateway, and one may pass through a door in any direction, to pass through her on the Return Path, is to pass into Supreme Darkness. Therefore, the ancients often depicted this doorway to heaven as the exposed Vagina of the Great Mother, which is one-way birth and the other way the “Little death” or Petite Mort of the French.

Here before her, the worn and often battle-weary dead are ready to “pass over” as she commands power, sincerity, fertility, and reincarnation. The dual dynamic of the Door, has often been shown as Janua Coeli (meaning “gateway to heaven”) which is derived from the “Yoni gate” (vagina) of the Goddess Juno (later as the Roman Two-Faced god Janus) as a personification, Juno had two faces, each face looking in opposite directions. One face looking in the direction of birth and the other in the direction of death. In fact, the Latin word janua means door and the goddess Janua was reinstated by the Romans, as male and to have presided over communications and the affairs of men it was a customary practice to reinstate the mystery of feminine power as a male power. Yes, like they can give birth?!

Here then, as the Empress, Janua/Janus resided over the passage of ideas and affairs of a man. Originally, Janus was a Solar Entity, and THE EMPRESS is the Mother of the Sun, so the comparison is not only viable but pertinent as well. Thus, anything that can be said about Juno/Janua/Janus can be said about THE EMPRESS as well, even though she is often now anthropomorphic in form as Venus-Aphrodite- the Womb of life and death.

All that is Life on Earth and elsewhere is the providence of THE EMPRESS, as she builds life forms around the Spirit or Spiral Frequencies of Life, establishing the Laws of the Universe that have to do with restriction and formation. She is the Supernal Female Force of pure fruition. She is also Venus-Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. Love is the Law. She is the one all males seek and Love and hate, for she is the core of their life and their greatest desire and the Life-Death of all forms.

When this card shows up in a reading it reminds you to ensure your environment is conductive to growth and prosperity, so you can be supported. Hence, you can bloom in ways you may have yet to discover. The Empress within you gives you unlimited power to create and nurture the life you desire and create wealth in the Spirit-Mind-Body trinity of Self.

The Archetype of Mother is very pivotal to the process of self-understanding, especial to the male who seeks her. "Mother", is the extension of the Anima qualities; as Empress she is the nurturing qualities of Mother. She is Isis, wrapped in the robes of nature. She is the Ocean of Consciousness.

Symbolically, there is nothing but 0=2 and/or Father and Mother and through their interaction they produce the Son/Sun (Soul) who is the perfect balance of their "opposites" and who is the "Perfected Self". This can be confusing for those who expound upon sexual separation, for the "Son" in Western Hermetic Qabalah, is a Divine Hermaphrodite- a Sun of Creative divinity and not the sexual gender usually applied to the word "son". In Qabalah, the Sun/Son is seen as Adam Khadmon-The Heavenly Human.

The encounter with the Empress-Mother Archetype is inevitably emotional and direct, especially since we must honestly consider our own relationship with our physical mother. Although cultures have described this archetype in the most cryptic of language and/or graphic symbols, it is only by understanding and evaluating honestly, our unconscious materials relating to interactions with our own mother-both good or bad- that we begin to arrive at insights into the mysteries of "Mother". Such a transition of focus is often achieved through Meditation. One learns true love, through the adoration of Isis/Empress.

The images represented in both THE EMPRESS cards are an attempt to convey the concept of pure fruition. As an exercise towards this goal of understanding, the initiate must try to conceive of pure emotion, which is a feeling which has no subject or object, neither love nor hate, but which is the raw material of both; a kind of Lust without need of result. Armed with such an understanding, the initiate may begin to understand something of the Great Binah, The Great Mother Isis, THE EMPRESS, who is the Illuminating Intelligence or Birth Mother of Ideas through transitional state of Understanding.

All that is Life on Earth is the providence of THE EMPRESS, as she builds life forms around the Spirit of Life, establishing the Laws of the Universe that have to do with restriction and formation. She is the Supernal Female Force. She is also Venus-Aphrodite-Isis. the Goddess of Love. Love is her Law. The Luminous Intelligence of Chokmah, becomes the Illuminating Intelligence of THE EMPRESS, inferring filling up and emitting Light, thus bestowing the title of Mother of Light on the Great Mother.

As always, words make the reality of their meanings seem so simple, but in truth, the simplest words are the most subjective, such as IT, or I. One must cross the emptiness of want, of sense, of sight, before one can visit the Great Mother, who creates the I Am of us all.

When the Empress card is thrown:

• The querent is experiencing the principle of wise love.
• The power of owning your own inherited maternal and loving nature that resides within.
• There is an opening to all sensuality and delighting in luxury of the senses, as does a child, before they are taught to fear them.
• One finds comfort among the natural, having no need for control. 
• A surge of Creative imagination, as imagination is everything in our reality, this promises achievement and success in our goals.
• The querent may experience a high dedication to healing and nurturing. 
• Overall, THE EMPRESS represents happiness, stable relationships, growth, and fertility.
• Hard work pays off. 
• Love of luxurious things.
• Pregnancy and birth.

If ill defined by surrounding cards or reversed, it implies:

• Motherhood issues.
• Dissipation.
• Luxuries.
• Sensuality.

Thank you for your interest, comments, and supportive donations. Much appreciated! May you live long and prosper!

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