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The Empress: vision, creativity and patience

March 17, 2017

The Empress – from the Sakki Sakki Tarot Deck

The Empress

The Empress has been appearing lately in my last two full moon tarot readings for Virgo and Leo. And she is popping up in other ways as a guiding goddess right now. I’m still working through all this wonderful energy! So thought I’d do a deep dive into The Empress, her powers, how she is showing up for me right now and share this with you as I work through.

In this first post of two on The Empress, we explore her appearances recently in tarot spreads and the symbolism of The Empress in various tarot decks as an insight into her meaning for us.

In the second post to follow, I’ll be sharing thoughts and intuitive writing on the messages of the Empress to help growth in creativity and healing for me and for you at this time.

The Empress appears – Full Moon Leo, Jan 2017

The Empress has been appearing pretty frequently in my daily guidance draws but has made cameos appearances in my last two Full Moon tarot readings – for Virgo and Leo.

She first appeared in the Full Moon in Leo Reading with the Sakki Sakki tarot deck in the final position around:

What positive energies will come to fruition from this Full Moon?

I made some intuitive notes around:

It’s the right time to birth creative potential and plant seeds for the future.

It was also a lunar eclipse coinciding with the Leo Full Moon so the shadow side of creativity and self-expression and our doubts were also in there.

Revisiting the insightful Leah Whitehorse’s writing for this Leo Full Moon accessed via Mystic Mamma, these words jump out and sing to me:

Sometimes you have to go out there and show what you’ve got or stand up for what you believe in. The skills and talent you have are yours and yours alone. No one sings or paints like you. No one has your own special way of seeing the world. That’s what makes you unique and extraordinary…

Sometimes it’s about showing what you’ve got regardless of all the fear. Shine as you were meant to shine. This isn’t a rehearsal. Giving the best of yourself can be a great gift to the rest of humanity.

This thought is part of the DNA of Quiet Writing and my life’s work and passion – shining a quiet light, shining as we are meant to shine, helping others to do the same. And writing this and into this. So it’s a great message to come from this reading and confluence of the constellations.

The Empress reappears – Full Moon in Virgo, Feb 2017

Leah Whitehorse notes about the Leo lunar eclipse:

As Leo often represents the entertainer, I feel like this eclipse is like a pilot episode of a new drama series – a taste of things to come.

So it seems to have turned out with the Empress appearing again in my Full Moon in Virgo tarot reading in prime position, now setting the scene and focused on:

How can I seek the greatest vision of myself?

My intuitive notes:

So I can seek out that greatest vision of myself just by being myself, celebrating what I love, relaxing into the creative process. I can connect with nature and spirit, allowing the vision to gently emerge over time, living it as I go.

Along with the other cards from the reading, I worked up a page with the cards and key messages with these words as the summary:

Raw, yes, – I never could cut in straight lines, and it’s messy but that is not the point. Or maybe it is – just being raw, real and ready, authentic not perfect! I love those words that connect with uniqueness, shining and showing up. And patience to self-nurture, learning as I go, feeling into my vision as it emerges.

Exploring The Empress and her many guises

I love seeing how the symbols and imagery of The Empress plays out in different interpretations and I use this to guide and weave in with my impressions and intuition. It’s rich fuel for the fire and such brilliant learning. And I’ve developed this sense further through the fabulously wise and rich 78 Mirrors e-course I worked through recently with Susannah Conway.

I mainly work with six tarot decks so here is The Empress in her guises across these six decks:

1. Rider Waite Tarot
2. Robin Wood Tarot
3. Sakki Sakki Tarot
4. Fountain Tarot
5. Dame Darcy Mermaid Tarot
6. The Wild Unknown

Here is The Empress as she appears visually in each of these decks:

Top row left to right: Rider Waite, Robin Wood, Sakki Sakki

Bottom row left to right: Fountain Tarot, Dame Darcy Mermaid, The Wild Unknown

Here are the standout images, symbols and thoughts for me from these different decks and their interpretations:

Rider Waite

The Rider Waite tarot Empress is solid, front facing, with a mature growth and sharing focus around her. Pomegranates feature on the robe of the Empress, symbolising the “eternal renewal of life” according to The Book of Symbols. In ‘The Pictorial Key to the Tarot’, Arthur Edward Waite refers to The Empress as “the fruitful mother of thousands”.

Robin Wood Tarot

In The Robin Wood Tarot, The Empress is spinning, with images of green and gold and a basket of produce at her feet. The imagery symbolises fertility, growth, competence and security, weaving a sound future.

Sakki Sakki Tarot

The Sakki Sakki Tarot Empress, speaks to me directly with her orange robes and richness. According to the Sakki Sakki Tarot guidebook, she symbolises the “mother of all, creativity, femininity, fertility, abundance, Mother Nature.” In essence, the mother of all creations whatever they be: “a baby, business or the world itself”.

Fountain Tarot

The stunning and ethereal Fountain Tarot Empress appears to be standing in a pond or pool, cloaked in gold, her rainbow energy around her. She is abundant creation and from the Fountain Tarot guidebook…

invites you to water your new creation with love and patience.

Again that theme of creativity, passion, what you love, nature and patience connecting. I love these words from the Fountain Tarot accompanying book:

As the ultimate mother, she will nurture you through the unique moments of each particular stage of growth – through the cycles of life, death, create and destruction. Relax into the safe glow of her embrace, and begin what there is to begin. Now is the time to act.

Dame Darcy Mermaid Tarot

The Dame Darcy Empress is all about mermaids, feminine energy and the pearls of wisdom to be found in the depths of the sea and elsewhere. It’s a message about exploring those depths, going there and speaking of them.

The Wild Unknown

And in the beauty of The Wild Unknown – a deck I have been working with a lot lately – the energy is all about trees, growth, reaching out branches, creation, nature and the mother. The Empress is described as:

the mother, or goddess of the tarot

She emphasises maternal relationships, connecting with our feminine side and especially nature, encouraging us to get outside to ground ourselves and activate our senses. I am finding this is really critical to forming vision, needing that quiet space in nature to find myself and hear my inner voice.

Image from Shutterstock via pexels.com

Stay tuned for the second post on The Empress….

…in which we weave all this rich material together as she starts to appear more actively to me through channelled messages and night thoughts with intuitive writing guidance! Exciting times!

Your turn – would love to hear your thoughts about The Empress…

What’s your favourite Empress image and symbolism?
Has The Empress appeared for you with any special messages?
Has this piece stirred anything for you?
What card is showing up for you lately with special messages?

Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts here or on Instagram or the Quiet Writing Facebook page where I’ll post a link to this post.

Do share to stimulate this beautiful and powerful feminine energy in the world!

Thought pieces and references:

Symbols in The Empress Tarot card – Janet Boyer – is a fabulous deeper dive into the symbolism of the Rider Waite Smith Empress card – fascinating reading!

Leah Whitehorse’s beautiful blog Lua Astrology

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You might also enjoy: Dance to a new beat – Full Moon in Virgo

creativity planning & productivity

Planning for a productive 2017

December 27, 2016

2016 and the Six of Swords

Like many people, I’m reflecting on 2016 and planning for a more productive year in 2017.

This year has not been the easiest of years. It’s been something of a threshold year, a year of transition as the Six of Swords has continued to pop its head up to remind me. There’s been a series of shocks, wake up calls and disappointments. There’s also been some very proud moments and shining lights pointing the way ahead. And recent times have been full of quiet intuitive work that is laying deep foundations for a different future.

The Six of Swords image of traversing water with a whole bunch of cargo in tow speaks volumes. As Monicka Clio Sakki explains in Playing with Symbols:

The Six of Swords can also mean that you will go through a period of evaluating your past, putting aside any stress, anger, resentment and pain you may have experienced. You will come to realize that because of those painful experiences you can now advance. Gather what is most important to you, and make the choice to flow into the passage that is now in front of you. The wind is in your favour, and original thinking will take you far.

A different future

The phrase ‘a different future’ keeps coming to mind suggesting that I need to make change to get the outcomes I am seeking. For too long, I keep doing the same thing and expecting that things will change. It’s clear that the work needs to start from deep within. Another card that keeps stopping by is the beautiful Sacred Pool from The Enchanted Map deck. It seems to often arrive reversed, in what Colette Baron-Reid calls ‘the protection position’, reminding me:

Dimming your light serves no one. Turning away from the truth that is reflected in the stillness of the Sacred Pool keeps you in denial, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

There’s no denying there’s been a sameness to my goals year after year for a while now. However 2016 has been a year of finally breaking through and beginning the crossing that is taking me to a different place. This heralds an exciting year in 2017 where real change takes place and that original thinking bears fruit.

Planning for a productive 2017

I’ve been preparing for a while now but the next period into early January offer a perfect opportunity to reflect on 2016 and to plan for 2017. Mercury Retrograde currently also favours this period of reflection. I’m keen to learn from the past to create this different future, gathering together the critical pieces to take forward. The spirit of Quiet Writing and its various aspects of writing, introvert strengths, process, connection and intuition is the heartbeat of the future. It is the summary of my passions and Core Desired Feelings I wish to share from my corner of the world to yours:

creative, intuitive, flowing, poetic and connected

My ways of planning a productive 2017 will focus on 4 key interlinked tools and strategies:

1 Reflecting on 2016 learnings and mapping the landscape for 2017

There’s great power in reviewing the learnings from the past and working out what to take forward. We can easily forget some key happenings and focus on the negatives. We need to step back and look at what we have learnt over the experience of the whole year, not just more recent events. Taking a special day or a few hours to dive deep, reflect and consider future plans is exceptionally valuable as we transit the line between years.

I highly recommend Unravel your Year 2017, a free annual workbook, developed by Susannah Conway that guides you through reflections on 2016 and planning for 2017. This will be my fourth year of working through this process. So it will be great to see where I have made progress and where I am setting the same goals over time and not getting anywhere (cf above Sacred Pool). Time for some breakthroughs this year I believe.

2 Setting a Word for the Year

There’s also positive and quite enigmatic energy to be drawn from setting a ‘Word for the Year’. Again, this will be my fourth year in finding a word that acts as an intention for the year’s focus. This year’s word was WRITE and here I am writing now and focusing on writing, my life’s passion, as a central tenet of the way forward.

I’m still reflecting on my word for 2017 though I have an inkling of what it might be – more on that and reflections of my previous words’ impacts in a future post. Finding a guiding word for 2017 is covered in part in the above workbook. I also recommend Find Your Word for 2017 – also developed by Susannah Conway – as a way to work through this. It comes via a free 5 day email class you can do at your own pace with excellent resources. There’s also a private Facebook group where you can connect with others working through their word-finding processes. There’s fabulous energy engaging with others on their word journeys.

3 Seeking a Goddess to guide you in 2017

Having a goddess to guide you through the year is also a powerful experience. Amy Palko is offering 2017 My Word Goddess Readings for the 6th year running. This is the second year I’ve chosen to work intuitively with an accompanying goddess. My first year has been full of insights and connections to word of the year and overall planning around theme and intention.

Amy creates the goddess readings through a special intuitive reading also helping to choose possible words as a touchstone for the year. The goddess guiding me in 2016 has been the Lady of Beasts with a focus on what I want to nurture in my life. Creativity, writing, introvert strengths – these have all risen to the fore as productive areas to invest time and energy. This is all in line with my word of the year and plans.

My guiding goddess for 2017 is Pele – Goddess of Irrepressible Passion and Hawaiian volcano goddess of fire, so watch out! I’ll be looking for a bit more fire, energy and action in 2017 and my word of the year and plans will reflect this. I’ll be excited to dive into this exploration and reflection in more detail in the coming days. Amy’s goddess readings are available until January 31st (Cost 25 GBP) at the above link.

4 Intuitive Tarot and Oracle work

And there will definitely be some intuitive tarot and oracle work over the next days to usher in the new year as positively and wisely as possible! The Ace of Wands has been making striking appearances already, echoing that sense of beginnings, initiation, ignition and creation.

The next posts will feature reflections on 2016, plans for 2017, my word of the year and goddess and oracle/tarot work as it unfolds and how it all fits together into an exciting and productive year ahead for Quiet Writing. And of course there’s a year-long journey of opportunity ahead to weave word, spirit and intention together.

Would love to hear about any special ways you are reflecting on 2016 and planning for 2017 or any plans you already have underway! Do share your thoughts in the comments.

Thought pieces

The labyrinth symbol: I was drawn to this labyrinth symbol, chosen at random from a page of planning images. I’ve always loved a labyrinth symbol but it was great to cross check to find that it is the perfect image for this planning journey:

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. It represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world. (from Crystallinks.com)

This spiralling into our centre and then channelling this light forward into our work in the world in new ways is the essence of planning. I like that it is ‘a meandering and purposeful path’ not necessarily a straight line.

Labyrinth photo via rzwo via Visual Hunt

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