“She is above all things universal fecundity and the outer sense of the Word.”
—Arthur Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1909

See the video blog on this topic here.

To say the Empress is a fertility goddess archetype isn’t quite capturing the depth of her essence. When Waite describers her as “universal fecundity,” he is bestowing her with the possession of not only the ability to be fertile, but to produce and reproduce in plentitude.

It’s the difference between a woman who has one or two children—she had to be fertile enough to become pregnant and therefore had the ability—and the fecund woman who would be the mother with thirteen children.

No, the Empress is more than just fertility. She is the be all and end all of a nature/mother/love/fertility goddess. She isn’t just the mother of new life personified; she is the action that brings about new life personified. Even more, she is the energetic force that drives all creation and growth through all through all seasons through all the years—she is the force that turns that seasonal wheel.

She is the action and the result of productivity, creativity, nourishment, and all the beautiful necessary nature the earth and cosmic forces provide us.

Goddess Symbolism

She doesn’t stop there. She is identified in direct association with the Roman goddess Venus, as represented by her symbol emblazoned on the heart next to the Empress’s throne.

Venus is the goddess of beauty, gardens, love, and springs, with roots as a vegetation goddess for the Italic peoples. She makes perfect sense as a recognizable archetypal choice to depict the role of the Empress. For Europeans of the 20th Century, Venus was the quintessential goddess of fertility, love, and procreation—a lasting influence trickling down from the Renaissance masters. And let’s be honest, she’s still a common pick as the archetypal goddess to represent anything related to fertility.

I would argue, though, that while her symbol gives a nod in Venus’s direction, Pamela Colman Smith chose for her Empress to encompass more. When I saw my first Empress card, I remembered Flora—Roman goddess of flowers and fruitfulness. One of the Roman goddesses who is at the side of our beloved Venus in some pretty prominent historical works of art. See below:

The Botticelli Connection

Two paintings by the same artist sprang to mind from that first time I sifted through my first deck and saw her. These paintings are so widely known and admired today it is hard to imagine that for a couple of centuries they were all but lost to public awareness. It wasn’t till the 19th century when a group of artists who called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood—due to their interest in returning to the detail, color, and complex compositions of the Italian artists who came before Raphael—rediscovered the bygone works of Sandro Botticelli. If not for this group of English painters, poets, and art critics, these phenomenal examples of Renaissance mastery might have been lost to us forever. However, not only was his fame resurrected, but his work was so celebrated (again) that the Uffizi Gallery in Florence now has two wings dedicated to Botticelli.

What does all of this have to do with the tarot, you may be asking?
Stick with me, we’re making our way there.

By the 19th and 20th centuries, it was customary and an expected part of an artist’s’ formal education to take “The Tour.” This meant traveling to Italy and hitting all the big spots—Rome, Florence, and Venice. to start—and see all the work of all the great Renaissance masters.

The Uffizi first opened its doors to the public as a museum in 1769 (prior to this it was a private residence for members of the Medici family, yes… that Medici family). The building has a rich history with ties to the masters of the Renaissance and their preeminent patrons. This would have been—and still is—a must-see for any artist making their tour. To this day, it is quite common to see artists sitting with their sketch pads capturing their own impression of history’s masterpieces.

At this point in my research, I have not come across a specific source to confirm with absolute certainty that Pamela Colman Smith visited the Uffizi and saw these paintings, but there is convincing evidence that she did. (And if she didn’t, she had to be familiar with them from a traveling exhibit or reproductions.) It may be that I haven’t uncovered the right biographical information, yet. Or it could be this was so commonplace that Smith didn’t leave much that specifically mentions her training for us to know for sure.

A Little Bit About Pamela Colman Smith – Artist

Smith was not classically trained in Europe, she attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, and did not finish there. Still, it is highly unlikely a woman working as a “jobbing” artist and illustrator who came from an affluent family known to travel would not have made the rounds. It was difficult enough for a woman to sustain a career as an artist at this time, she would have needed even more proof of her legitimacy than her male counterparts. Knowing her history and the work of those who came before her would have made all the difference to her ability to gain patrons and be paid for her work.

Her biographers have noted that through correspondence and other sources she confirms using her experience in theater to inform her work. For instance, she is quoted writing to a friend, “the stage has taught me almost all I know of clothes, of action, and of pictorial gestures.”[1]⁠

Her Queen of Cups tarot card is a near exact replica of the Sola-Busca tarot card that was on display at the British Museum at the time she was working.

Considering that when divine inspiration did not strike for other cards—or a friend wasn’t nearby to model—Smith turned to her own experiences and historical references, it is not a giant leap to suggest that this card was inspired by well-known classical artworks.

And it does not seem to be a coincidence, either, that Smith’s Empress looks so much like Botticelli’s Flora in his La Primavera or the unnamed flowery goddess who swoops in with a robe in The Birth of Venus.

In fact, I believe that the symbol of Venus being present but not a part of the Empress’s attire or physicality herself is in keeping with referencing these paintings. Smith knew people in her day would recognize the apropos and she is saying. “Hey, we’re not talking about just another Venus goddess here, we’re looking at the graces and the nymphs and the other springtime goddesses who abound with fruitfulness and populate the vegetation of Venus’ Garden.”

Venus is the patron goddess to gardens, the Empress is the garden.

Goddess Symbolism Continued

The pomegranates on the Empress’s dress make an interesting, and as always, layered statement too. Searching every source on symbolism I have at my disposal, the pomegranate has been considered a fertility symbol as long as human beings have been around to eat the fruit. Open it up and the bounty of seeds scream fruitfulness, and it is reinforced by the shape of the inside that looks especially womb-like.

In the Grecco-Roman mythological history, it is a fruit sometimes associated with Venus, but not the primary attribute used to identify her. For that, Venus (or Aphrodite) is usually shown holding an apple, especially a golden apple. No, these pomegranates suggests another goddess associated with spring, nature, growth. One we’ve already met in the High Priestess card.

This is confirmed by the grain at the Empress’ feet, for Persephone is the goddess who is more often represented with the pomegranate as she ate the twelve seeds that doomed her to forever be bound to part of the year in the Underworld. Her mother Demeter is the goddess of grain.

Persephone was represented by her common attribute in the High Priestess card too, but unlike with our mistress of mystery, here with the Empress we are looking at Persephone’s role in the seasons. In the story, when Demeter is mourning the loss of her daughter to Hades, the vegetation dies, and the world is plunged into winter. When Persephone is allowed to rise again, and mother and daughter are reunited, the frost thaws and we have the plant life necessary for life springing forth again.

Who is Demeter aside from being Persephone’s mother? How does she have the power to stop the growth? Well, she is the is the goddess of all crops and specifically of grain.

See the connection?

It is this aspect of fertility, creativity, and productivity that the Empress stands for. The driven, soul-purpose act of creation. Creating the kind of life you want, but also the kind of life you need to fulfill your life’s purpose.
The pomegranate also ties the High Priestess and Empress together as the two sides of the same goddess—the great goddess, the mother goddess, etc.

The High Priestess is that darker, more passive, mysterious aspect of feminine nature. In her space, the pomegranates are behind, on the veil as a direct reference to the part of Persephone’s story as a goddess who crosses realms and therefore knows what’s on the other side. The Empress wears her pomegranates, showing that she is the side of the goddess who is known. She who is of the earth and the worldly realm.

The Mary Connection

This reinforces Waite’s assertion that she is “the outer sense of the Word.”
With the High Priestess we had the embodiment of the secrets behind how life happens, and the Empress is the life happening and what we learn and experience as living beings. As Waite also explains, she is not the Regina coeli—Queen of Heaven—she is the refugium peccatorum, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Catholics know the subtle difference between the Mary who is blessed to be the mother of Jesus, but a human, earthly woman all the same. And Mary who is elevated to the Queen of Heaven, almost on par in status as her resurrected Messiah son. She is elevated to holy mother of us all, the vessel for divinity. Both are the doorways to life on earth, but one brings about physical reality (Blessed Mother) and the other possesses pure divinity (Queen of Heaven).

I will dive deeper into the symbolism related to Mary and whether or not Smith seems to agree with Waite’s description in the next post about the symbolism of the Star Crown the Empress wears.

Long Story Short (Ha!)

In what may be simpler terms, the High Priestess is associated with any and all goddesses of the triple moon, magic, wisdom, and the underworld.

The Empress is in the realm of nature, fertility, and love goddesses.

The High Priestess is the yin side to feminine energy, the Empress is yang.

Two sides to the same goddess.

Archetypes for the dual aspects of the feminine side to life.

Notes:

1. Stuart R. Kaplan et al., Pamela Colman Smith: The Untold Story (Stamford , CT: U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 2018), 364.

References:

Kaplan, Stuart R., Mary Katherine Greer, Elizabeth Foley O’Connor, and Melinda Boyd Parsons. Pamela Colman Smith: The untold story. Stamford , CT: U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 2018. – https://bookshop.org/a/101141/9781572819122

Matyszak, Philip. The gods et goddesses of greece et rome: A guide to the classical pantheon. London ; New York: Thames et Hudson, 2022.

Nozedar, Adele. The element encyclopedia of secret signs and symbols: The ultimate A-Z guide from Alchemy to the zodiac. London, UK: HarperElement, 2008. – https://bookshop.org/a/101141/9781667200767

Rosenberg, Donna. World mythology: An anthology of the great myths and epics. 2nd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994. – https://bookshop.org/a/101141/9780844257679

Waite, Arthur Edward. The pictorial key to the tarot. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. – https://bookshop.org/a/101141/9780486442556

Image Credits:

The Birth of Venus. (2024, March 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus

The Empress (tarot card). (2023, December 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empress_(tarot_card)

Primavera. (2024, February 13). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primavera_(Botticelli)