Carpe Diem #188, The Empress (III) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have drawn a new card for you from the Tarot-deck. Today we share haiku on The Empress (III), the sister of The Highpriestess (II).
Let us look closer to the card of The Empress (III):

The Empress sits on a throne wearing a starry crown, holding a scepter in one hand. The Scepter is representative of her power over life, her crown has twelve stars representing her dominance over the year, and her throne is in the midst of a field of grain, representative of her dominion over growing things. And in the background we also see a stream (as seen in almost all the Tarot-cards).

she is Mother Earth
in the middle of the fields
she sits on her throne

The Empress is mother, a creator and nurturer. She can represent the creation of life, of romance, of art or business. The Empress can represent the germination of an idea before it is ready to be fully born. The Empress is often associated with Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love, and indeed the R.W.- deck brandishes her symbol upon a heart-shaped bolster. The Empress is also often interpreted to be Demeter, goddess of abundance. She is the giver of earthly gifts, although at the same time, she can be overprotective and possessive. In anger she can withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped: Due to her fury and grief, Demeter keeps the Earth cold and barren until Spring when her child is returned to her.

But what is her connection with the Kabbalah? It wasn't easy to find a connection with the Kabbalah, but after some research it looks like that The Empress is connected with Eve, the first woman on Earth. Eve is seen as the Mother of all humans. She (Eve) is responsible for all the suffering of humans since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. And here the connextion is clear, because in the Tarot, The Empress is the inferior keeper of the Garden of Eden as The Virgin Mary is the superior keeper (and healer) of the Garden of Eden.


inferior keeper
guardian of paradise
she ... mother of all


As we look at the Kabbalistic 'glyphe' 'The Tree of Life', The Empress is placed in Malkuth the 10th sephira in which all elements are flowing together. So The Empress can rule Fire, Water, Earth and Air, but not Spirit (or Ghost) which is the fifth element. That's in the power of The Highpriestess.
She, The Empress, can also have a connection with Binah, the 2nd sephira in which creation is manifest, she is as said the mother of all!
The twelve stars in her crown are by the way symbol for the 12 months of the year, therefore she can be seen as the keeper of the seasons. She has through that bond with the seasons also connections with The Hanged Man (XII) and The World (XXI) two other cards which will be part of this month later on.


the empress
expulsed from her paradise
ruler of the seasons

Source: The Empress (III)

The first Tarot-cards (Trumps) The Magician, The Highpriestess and The Empress (or the first three Arcana of the Tarot), i.e. the arcanum of the true way or mystical spontaneity, the arcanum of revealed truth or gnosis, and the arcanum of transforming life or sacred magic. This can be said also as: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14: 6). Sacred magic is therefore the Tree of Life, inaccessible to arbitrary fool-hardiness, but manifesting itself in the whole history of mankind by the agency of those who know how to say: "Behold the servant of the Lord, I will do according to your word" (Luke 1: 38)

Well ... I hope you liked this episode of Carpe Diem and I hope for sure that it will inspire you all to compose wonderful new haiku.

This prompt will stay on 'till May 7th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will draw our next Tarot card, The Emperor (IV), later on today to share a new episode with you all around 10.00 PM (CET).