The Empress Upright: Every mother with a new baby knows how it is: each cough heralds the onset of pneumonia, every pimple must indicate measles. You have the doctor on speed dial and you call at midnight in a panic, only to find her annoying blasé. Doesn’t she understand? Your baby sneezed twice! The darling could have the plague! The doctor, of course, understands perfectly: your baby is fine, it’s you who needs a sedative. But she isn’t too worried even about you–after all, she’s dealt with many new mothers and knows that, in the end, most of them either calm down or take up heavy drinking (which renders them unable to operate a phone).
Hera, the lady on our card, was queen of the Olympian gods and the patron of marriage, married life and childbirth (her Roman name, Juno, gives us the name for June, still the favorite month for weddings). As such, she’s the perfect symbol for the empress card, which indicates a new beginning. Before you start panicking, I should point out that this doesn’t necessarily mean a marriage or a baby in the pipeline. It can, of course, but it can also refer to the start of a new job, relationship, big project or business. However, it definitely indicates a time when the querent feels unusually anxious. Like a mother with a new baby, you believe you have to constantly watch over your darling or it is sure to die a horrible death. But Hera has seen a lot of babies, and knows that yours is perfectly healthy. Calm down, keep a watchful eye and please stop calling! She’d like to get some sleep.
The Empress Reversed: Upright, Hera. mother of the Olympian gods, symbolizes the good side of motherhood—the caring, nurturing, protective side. But reversed . . . think Mommie Dearest. This card highlights Hera’s less attractive qualities: jealousy, possessiveness, and over-protectiveness. One of her symbols was the peacock, because its plumage symbolized the hundred-eyed giant Argos. He helped Hera keep an eye on things, or more often, on people–like her cheating spouse Zeus. Okay, any woman married to Zeus would have a right to be tense, but Hera made paranoia into an art form. She put snakes in the crib of baby Hercules (one of her husband’s many bastards) and chained poor Io (his mistress) to a rock. Being over-protective of her handicapped son Hephaestus, she arranged a marriage for him to the beautiful Aphrodite, despite the fact that ‘Dite much preferred his hunky brother Ares. Not too surprisingly, the marriage wasn’t known for wedded bliss. The Empress reversed is warning that maybe you are a little too involved with your current project, whether it be a child, a business or a relationship. No one can control everything, much less everyone–it’s only a recipe for frustration. So put down those wire hangers and relax.