The Empress represents the Mother Goddess, the source of all living things. She gives birth to the creative forces of nature and is rooted in the earth and material reality. For the first time on this journey, the hero encounters the emotional world of feeling. He must accept the physical laws working through his body and emotions, and learn to see the divine as a presence in all material things.
After the initial spark of consciousness and spirit of the Magician has been clothed in a soul in the High Priestess, it now takes on a body and becomes a physical being with a changeable emotional nature. The Empress helps the hero to value the material world, using her feelings to intuitively sort through what is needed and of practical value in any given situation.
The hero learns to discriminate based on values that are rooted in his feelings and emotional nature. He begins to understand that security comes through the senses, and by grounding himself in nature he can build a solid foundation for his life. Whatever is built in this way is inspired by natural laws and will be secure. The Empress creates through love and this is the essence of synthesis: to join the opposing sides of duality in a mutual recognition that nothing can come into being without love.
Keywords for The Empress:
- Sensuality
- Creativity
- Productivity
- Maternal instincts
- Fertility
- Synthesis
Read the whole series here
First posted: http://jessicadavidson.co.uk/2014/07/13/tarot-heros-journey-the-empress/
