The Empress is the complete embodiment of higher femininity within the deck and must be considered in her partnership with the masculine Emperor. She is Hera and Freya, and all the married goddesses of the male high Gods of their respective pantheons. She is also, considered in an exalted sense the Shakti of Shiva. This should give the reader some indication she is not all sweetness and light. The myths surrounding this goddess suggests she can be petty, spiteful, and vindictive while also being the long-suffering victim of her male god’s infidelities and long-standing bad behavior. She is a lower reflection of the divine feminine than that which is in the Godhead and may be assumed to have the flaws of femininity that come from her position slightly closer to Malkuth, the material embodiment of woman.
That said, her position in the tree of life is above the abyss, while her counterparts is lower, and her number of three shows that she is the more exalted symbol and closer to the resolution of the spiritual development process than the Emperor, who could be compared to Zeus, both Odin and Thor, and even Hephaestus. Earlier decks have tried to find affinity between this card and Venus, assuming desirability and sexuality to be her primary characteristics. This is wrong. She may be the Venusian paramour of the god, but to us she is much higher and connected as much to the mother as to the ideal lover.
Once again, the Crowley card can help us decipher some of the deeper meanings of the symbol hidden in previous versions of the card. First, The Empress is holding a lotus, this has long been regarded as a symbol of the yoni and its position at the center of the card belies its significance. Next, the two phases of the moon are intended to represent the lunar cycle. This lunar symbolism is also key to understanding the pelican at the bottom left of the card. In legend the mother pelican was thought to pierce her own breast to feed her children from her blood. The regal shield shows her as the counterpart and equal of the Emperor and is also the first appearance of the white Eagle. In the back hidden behind her veil, the white obloid is an egg. The bird perched above on right is the dove of spirit, the Holy Spirit.
This card is of the mysteries of the vagina. This is really the point in Crowley’s deck when he begins to reveal the hidden mysteries and should be considered the first alchemical card. The alchemy of life takes place in the vagina, and this is why Nicholas Flamel had to have a female counterpart to create the Philosopher’s Stone. The Crowley deck, and to a lesser extent previous decks all contain an alchemical manual, but Crowley’s made this very explicit. These same themes will be revisited, and techniques expounded and expanded throughout the rest of the Trumps, and in some cases in the small cards.
