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| 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. |
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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. |
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