The Empress

Meanings: Possibility, fertility, beauty, creativity and creators, art, a regal presence; can be representative of mothers, nurturing people in our lives, places which give us the chance to flourish, and places of great diversity where everything comes together to create a larger whole, connections with nature and the interconnections of the natural world; harmony, composition, abundance, grace, poise

When reversed: the shadow traits of a motherly figure, being overbearing, smothering, not giving things a chance to grow, tearing things down, subtle undermining

The Empress here is represented by a tide pool which is teeming with life, home to an array of creatures- often in their infancy. There are many creatures which begin life in the tide pools, and may only leave once they are big enough to make it out (survive) through the roughness of the rising tides over the terrain that is bumpy enough to isolate the waters of the pools. The dual nature of the tide pools shows the dual nature of the empress, upright and reversed: while upright, the Empress can project a gentle and fostering energy, while the reversed Empress represents the thrashing of those waters which at the same time give so much life: the smothering and the suffocating possible from nurturing which is out of balance and taken to its extreme. This card's colors take from the entire rainbow to honor how much is contained in the essence of the Empress.