E is for the Emperor & Empress

OK, so today's post focuses on two very well-known tarot cards: The Empress and the Emperor. These cards are the Mom and Dad of the tarot, and traditionally they break down along gender lines.

The Empress is a card of anything related to the feminine Divine, nurturing, and just feeling comfortable where you are right now. The ideas of fertility and abundance--both of which can be either physical or metaphorical--can also be themes that are explored with this card. On the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot decks, you'll see the Empress with a symbol of Venus, and astrologically this card can represent a Venus-ruled person (Taurus or Libra). She can also represent any strong female role model in your life, especially your mother; again, this can be biological or someone who has or is trying to assert a "mothering" or nurturing role in your life, whether you want it or not.

One possible related meaning I have seen is that for health, the female reproductive system may be in play when this card comes up. I remember doing one reading where a woman wanted another baby but was physically unable to have one. Another possible interpretation is a spiritual one: This card may fall for someone who is interested in walking a Pagan/Wiccan spiritual path, or who wants to learn more about it. Finally, this also includes pregnancy; many of my female clients kind of gasp when they see her come up. :)

Before I forget, with the Empress "abundance" is not necessarily a good thing. Anyone who has had an abundance of bills or an abundance of health problems will tell you that.

The Emperor is her male equal, and he represents Dad.  He's the father but he's more stern and motivates with a kick in the ass sometimes.

For me he has a much harder edge than she does. He's the organizer and the structure guy. He tells us to get focused and start putting one foot in front of the other, to begin to move forward with our lives. He counsels us to be careful with our money and to really know where it is going; a very common meaning for him is "Make a budget and stick to it!"

Like the Empress, the Emperor can represent any strong male figure in our lives, not just our fathers, but oftentimes issues related to our fathers will appear. 

Astrologically, the RWS version of the Emperor has several ram's heads on the card to symbolize the sign of Aries, the Ram. Now if you're thinking that it should be "Mars" since men are from Mars and women are from Venus, you would be correct. Mars is the ruling planet of Rams. 

Of course he also represents the masculine Divine in all of us as well. This is especially important for those who are following Wiccan/Witchcraft paths, because many of us come to the Craft from all-male pantheon. We discover the Goddess and are so enamored with being in her embrace that we forget about the God entirely, which is not the point. There needs to be balance between them.

For the most part, I've seen the Emperor tell us to stop screwing around and get everything squared away. The Emperor has a plan, and when he arrives that is your signal to put your plan in place and then take action to implement it.

Thanks again for stopping in...tune in tomorrow for my "F" post!