In a chariot drawn by a set of steeds as black as coal, the lord of the underworld took Persephone by the wrist and insisted through her tears that she become his wife. “The lord of the dark underworld, the king of the multitudinous dead, carried her off when, enticed by the wonderous bloom of the narcissus, she strayed too far from her companions” (Mythology, Edith Hamilton). Demeter, the Goddess of the Corn, had lost her only daughter, that maiden of the spring.
That was the worst year for humanity, as nothing would grow. Demeter swore that she would never let the earth bear fruit unless she could see her Persephone. Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger god, down into the underworld to ask that Persephone be returned to her mother. Having no way to refuse the All Father he agreed, “and he made her eat a pomegranate seed, knowing in his heart that if she did so she must return to him.”
Come, my daughter, for Zeus, far-seeing, loud-thundering, bids you. Come once again to the halls of the gods where you shall have honor, Where you will have your desire, your daughter, to comfort your sorrow As each year is accomplished and bitter winter is ended. For a third part only the kingdom of darkness shall hold her. For the rest you will keep her, you and the happy immortals. Peace now. Give men life which comes alone from your giving.
Ruled by Venus, the Empress is the primal essence and the embodiment of life, the raison d’existence. She is the Great Mother Goddess incarnate in earthly, bodily form. The Empress archetype has been threaded throughout history, inviting us into a more receptive nature no matter your chosen gender. She is Ishtar to the Sumerians, Ceres to the Roman, and Madonna to the Christians. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is an iconic representation of this yin energy. First attested in 1552 the word Madonna literally translates to ma (my) donna (lady), and its meaning was primarily woman in Italian. She is that sacred tap root that anchors us into the person we are underneath it all, for receiving is all about being fully seen as our true selves.
As a recovering people-pleaser, I have struggled with the whole concept of receiving. There have been many times in my life where gifts have felt like curses, like the only reason that person is being nice is because they want something in return. I expect it to be lorded over me at a later date. It’s a shitty outlook to have of the world, but it often feels more true than the idea of a person simply being kind. That type of guilt is a cruel monster. The Empress in the tarot is asking that we expand this ability to receive, that we open ourselves up for a soul upgrade.
These concepts have seemed so bizarre to me in the past, so much that my next question was always, okay how? Most of the time I have no idea what I need nor how to ask for it. The Empress is all about taking what you believe in your heart, taking stars from the sky, and bringing them into fruition on the earth. She is fertility for people in the creative arts; she is one of abundance and nurturing. This is going to look different for everyone as we all take a myriad of approaches in expressing ourselves creatively. That is the epitome of this Empress energy, one that creates beauty out of our own feminine nature.
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou
Feeling joy helps us to create more joy in this life. And bringing our creative ideas into the open is the path that will get us to where we want to go. We are worthy of that, as it is our birthright. “Living alone and free as a tree and brotherly as a forest, that is our yearning!” (Nazim Hikmet) There is a bounty that surrounds us if we look for it hard enough. When we can look to all we have already created with gratitude, we can move forward and continue to build on this energy, thus creating even more abundance in our lives.
Mad love, Jenna
