I pulled this card a few minutes after reading denamaria’s story. I’ve got Pluto transiting my 5th house, so the Pluto-Moon vibe resonates anyway. Not that I’m out looking for it.  To be honest, it makes me want a nice, long nap. But I don’t have to go looking. I’ve got one daughter far away and I miss her like crazy. Still the same very old news sorting out feelings about parenting gone awry. I’ve got mothering on the brain.  And what do I get but another mothering card? Good Lord almighty.

The Empress is the ultimate mother. In some decks, she’s depicted as pregnant. She three of the Major Arcana—threes are always centered on creation. In this especially beautiful version, she’s welcoming gifts from the “Wandering Spirits,” depicted as butterflies, bringing her an ivy and flower crown.

Last night, I’m sitting in front of my mother’s circa 1960’s sewing machine I last used 30 years ago, feeling mildly woozy from the flashback factor, shocked I still remember exactly how it operate it. It’s got her energy all over it; even the sewing box is the same one she had back then. (Told you, my folks are frugal.)  I think about what I got and what I thought I was missing growing up, not sure how much of what I thought then was right and how much was illusion.

Parenting is just a flash, a snapshot in time. You do the best you know how to do, and—if you’re me—it never quite feels like enough. You look on your kids’ successes and failures with pride or disappointment, forgetting they are just as responsible for their own outcomes as you are for yours. At some point, though, the traditional role of mother has to give way to the new roles, more appropriate for a woman whose offspring has grown up and are making their own decisions, for better or worse. At some point, the relating has to switch from parent-child to adult-adult.

The Empress reminds me that nurturing, maternal energy comes in many forms. I care for friends, for the people I work with, for my husband, and people I come in contact with every day. I can participate in “mothering” by offering warm, supportive energy, regardless of how transitory the exchange.  I am still creating, growing, and doing. I’m just glad there aren’t any diapers involved.

What are some of the ways you express your Empress energy?

Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

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