From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
The Empress
Meanings
Matriarchal Authority. Fertility, creation, nurturing love. The Earthly Feminine. Collaboration, co-operation, working together. The earth’s natural abundance and balance. Emotional intelligence.
Reversed (?)
Bare earth. Barrenness, drought, apathy, weakness. Abandonment or neglect.
Description
A gentle-looking woman meditates, surrounded by symbols of fertility: flowers, corn, grapes, wheat and other produce from a bountiful harvest. A plump hare sits amidst the harvest.
This is Demeter, the "Earth Mother." She may be pregnant, suggesting the beginning of a new project, the forming of a practical plan.
Artwork
- Bountiful harvest: HEEM, Jan Davidsz, The Eucharist in Fruit Wreath, 1648, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
- Hare: DURER, Albrecht, Young Hare, 1502, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna.
- Body, hat: RIJN, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van, Saskia as Flora, 1634, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
- Face: GREBBER, Pieter de, Mother and Child, 1622, Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem.
- Roses: EVERDINGEN, Caesar van, Bacchus with Nymphs and Cupid, c.1660, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
- Scythe: ROMANELLI, Giovanni Francesco, Ceres, c.1660, private collection.
- Hair: RUBENS, Pieter Pauwel, The Duke of Buckingham, c.1625, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence.
Members
78 Friends members who have chosen this card as their Significator...
As an historian, I love being able to study The Empress's gown for details.
And the plump hare is a delight!