Without a doubt, we are witnessing a tarot takeover. The intuitive practice has become a cornerstone in Gen Z and millennial pop culture (have you seen TikTok recently?) — and for good reason. A tarot reading can provide us with clarity, comfort, and guidance on some of our most pressing questions about life, love, and career, among other things. If you’ve just opened your first deck and drawn the Empress card, you’re probably confused.

To begin, you should learn the fundamentals of tarot before delving into the meaning of the Empress card. A deck contains 78 different cards, each with its own set of energies. The tarot deck is divided into two subsets: minor and major arcana, with the Empress card falling under the latter. These cards represent various archetypes and important life lessons. If the Empress card appears for you, it means that you can expect some good news.

What Is the Meaning of the Empress Tarot Card?

Tarot is heavily reliant on the practitioner’s intuition. While each card has a unique meaning, the spread (the arrangement of the cards you pull), the question you ask, and the way a card is pulled (whether upright or in reverse) all play a role in a tarot reading. Once you understand the energies and symbolism of each card, you can use it in the spread to answer your questions.

“The Empress is traditionally regarded as a person or period of time that promotes abundance, creativity, sexuality, and passion,” Laura explains to Bustle. “She represents a time when you can expect to achieve, prosper, be sought after for your wisdom, and wield power.”

What Does It Mean When The Empress Is Upright?

The Empress card is a lucky card that represents femininity. “An upright Empress, when pulled, represents a natural or educated leader who nourishes people and nature around them with tenderness and comforts.” “She represents the embodiment of female characteristics such as working well with children, being passionate and sensual, being a responsible parent, and being creative,” Laura explains. “It explores female passion in all of its forms: sexuality, fertility, and motherhood.”

If you draw the Empress card, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re planning to start a family. This card can be used to answer a variety of questions. If you asked a question about money and finances, for example, it could represent the creation of money through a new source of income. If it comes up during a career question, it could represent your passion at work or a boost in creativity at work. Overall, this card is positive, but it only tells one side of the story.

What Is the Meaning of The Empress Reversed?

Remember how I said it’s important how a card is drawn? The more you use your deck, the more shuffled it becomes, and you’ll find yourself pulling cards upside down or backward. When you pull a card backward, it can represent a variety of things. It can represent the card’s shadow side, or its unfavorable and adverse meaning, which is usually the inverse of its upright meaning. Depending on the context of the question and your intuition, the Empress in reverse can also represent the original meaning, applied to your inner self.

“The Empress in reverse represents detachment, emotional distance, being overbearing or controlling.” “She may represent creative blocks or other blockages such as infertility and being barren of passion, emotion, and consciousness,” Laura explains. Whether it represents the card’s reverse meaning or its upright meaning applied to your inner self, if the Empress card appears in reverse, pay close attention.

If you pull this card in reverse for love questions, it could represent your partner, feelings of withdrawal in your relationship, or a lack of passion. An Empress card in reverse, on the other hand, could represent your internal struggles with detachment in relationships or issues with intimacy.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing to draw the Empress card backward; rather, it serves as a reminder to be watchful of themes of detachment that you might be unconsciously or intentionally avoiding. Tarot is not meant to pass judgment on you (although it can seem like it at times). Its messages are intended to sharpen your intuition and assist you in digging deep within yourself.