3. Empress. Creativity.

3 – Creativity – Inner Divinity

The Empress is the third numerical in the Major Arcana of the tarot, the arcana itself representing the soul’s path. In traditional packs, she is represented by a feminine figure, in lines with Venus; where the high priestess is usually associated to the moon in that regard. 

The empress represents divine creativity, an inherent trait inferred as the grace of the kinder, beneficent, almost maternal nature to her. The creativity comes from within, as the authentic response to an open approach to the universe. 

In that regard, The Empress represents the characteristically feminine aspects of consciousness, the lunar illumination, which merges rather than separates.

Who creates, preserves, nurtures, conserves, and organizes growth and development – all with conscious awareness.

Here, in this card is the sign of patience and gentleness to wait until the time is ripe for action. The strength which nourishes and sustains. There is sweetness, passion, love and a playful invitation to dance the throes of existence away in an embrace of consciousness.

The golden dawn calls the Empress archetype as The Luminous Consciousness. It is the substance of that speaking silence (or brilliant flame) that is the instructor in the Secret Foundations of Holiness and of their (stages of) preparation.