The Empress with Ethony

Welcome to the Real Life Lessons from the Major Arcana series. We've gathered together 22 of the best Tarot readers to share their personal stories and interpretations of the Major Arcana cards.

Discover new meanings and spiritual lessons behind the Major Arcana cards, through real-life experiences and stories. And watch as the Tarot cards truly come to life!

In this post, Ethony, a renowned Eclectic Witch and Tarot instructor, tells us how the Empress got her in touch with the Divine. Read on…

To download all 22 stories, click here.

WHAT THE EMPRESS TAUGHT ME ABOUT DIVINE CREATION

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When we think of The Empress in Tarot, many of us immediately connect to our mothers. While she is the Divine Mother and absolutely represents mothers in the world of all kinds, she has a deep spiritual energy to share with everyone.

The Empress has taught me a lot. I have embodied her since becoming a mother myself, I have transitioned into that role and embraced a lot of her energy through the last three years. She has taught me to honour myself as a mother and a creator. To take time to be wholly present with my child, and also tend to my sacred work in the world as a Tarot Reader, mentor and author. She has very recently been teaching me to take better care of myself as a creator so that I can be there for my family and for my community. Below are the four main lessons you can learn from this mother figure in the Tarot:

Embracing The Empress as a Creative Muse

The Empress is the Divine Guardian of all creative work. She can be a powerful Muse that we can call on through representation on our Altars, in ritual or meditation to aid us in bringing the work that we are here to produce, into the world. She is the spiritual connection of creation, she allows for divine creation to be birthed from Spirit to Earth. being artistic on empress ethony We see this through the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth. This energy and process is also mirrored when we create anything.

She is an archetype you can use and invoke when you are working on any creative endeavour.

She is the sweet and gentle breath of creation. She plants the seeds of ideas and tends over them tirelessly until they are able to stand on their own.

The Empress is also a protector. In the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot and all of the decks inspired by that iconography she has a heart shaped shield with the sign of Venus on it. Meaning, she protects through love. Nothing is more fierce and loyal than a mother protecting her young. There are ways you can bring this into your creative work.

Protecting Creative Work

The Empress wants you to have space and time for you to create. She wants there to be a sanctuary where you feel the energy for your work in the World to flow. These are the key elements for Protecting your creative work:

Silence – Keeping your work close to your heart while it is in development is a wonderful way to protect it. Don’t allow critical voices to tear down your ideas or sway you from expressing who you really are. Give yourself permission to keep these things to yourself while they grow.

Space – Having space to do your work and to create is essential. Whether it is the dream studio you want, a table at your local cafe, or under a tree in your local park where you can write your next blog post or novel. Find space, make space and give your creativity some room to breathe.

Time – I know this for a fact, creative endeavors take more time than we think they are going to. Some days we are in the flow and everything seems easy and other days everything goes wrong. Be okay with both and give it time, give the journey time and give yourself time to create, to grow as a creator and to just be a divine creation yourself.

Protecting Yourself as a Creator

Here are some ways that you can practically protect yourself as a creator and as the divine vessel of creation.

Self-Love and Self-Care Rituals – Self-love and self-care are talked about a lot, which is wonderful. It can be a little bit of an intangible concept, loving one self. Even if we say daily mantras and read all of the books under the sun around self care and self love, if we are unable to put it into practice when it comes to our creative work, then we are missing a large part of honouring ourselves. Set time in your calendar and make it happen. Here is one of the biggest things I have learnt about this, you have to CLAIM this for yourself because it is rare and unsustainable for someone else to hold you accountable for self care.

Compensation – Make sure that you are compensated for your work. How is this protection? This makes sure that people do not take you or your work for advantage. It makes sure that you are honoured. This is especially true for people who work in the arts but it is also true for those who are stay at home Mums. Mums who create a loving home and take care of their children deserve to be honoured for their work. That could be done through self-care time, getting a part-time nanny to help, or however she needs to experience support and validation.

Working Through Blocks

Not everyone has a positive and healthy relationship with their Mothers, which can in turn affect the relationship they have with the feeling and process of creation on all levels

While serious work may need to be done to help heal your connection with this source you can try some of these self evaluation questions in a journaling session to see if you can pinpoint some of your blocks.

When in your life have you felt that you could have been protected more?
How does being creative make you feel?
Are you afraid of being vulnerable through the act of creation?
What fears do you have around being a creative being?

I hope that some of the lessons that I have experienced and have been experiencing will help you to look at The Empress in a new way, and help you on your journey as a creative expression of Spirit in this life.

About Ethony

Ethony “My mission is to inspire people with the Tarot and to challenge the preconceived ideas about this incredible tool. Ever since I was gifted my first Tarot deck at the age of 15 I have been captivated with the world of the Tarot. Through my years of learning, reading the Tarot, teaching and being constantly inspired by the Tarot I am humbled and surprised every time I work with a new Client. I am constantly a student of Spirit. One of my greatest joys is watching people find clarity, illumination and personal epiphanies from being engaged with the Tarot.”