Thoth Empress Tarot Card Tutorial
My new YouTube channel is: Thoth Tarot Videos. Clicking on the image below will give access to the YouTube Video for the Thoth Empress Card.
(ii) Thoth Empress
The Thoth Empress as a woman in the world gives forth milk for the infant, whilst the Cosmic Empress nurtures the Universe with the milk of Spiritual Light. We can see her acting in both the microcosm and macrocosm.
(iii) Thoth Empress Mythology
She is consort to the Emperor and faces him. She is Venus (Aphrodite) and the Emperor the God Mars. Venus, the Goddess of Love has a passionate affair with Mars, the God of War:
(iv) Rider Waite Empress
The Empress has a connection with nature and life, with the card showing natures abundance around her and the glyph of Venus clearly visible. Waite describes her in his book The Pictoral Key to the Tarot:
“She is the inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all that is symbolized by the visible house of man.”
(v) Thoth Empress & The Tree of Life
Path 14: The Path of Illuminating Intelligence
The Luminous Intelligence = every form in the universe contains spiritual light and so this path refers to the expression of the spiritual light contained within form that has manifested on the physical plane.
Binah, the universal female principle receives the male force of life from the male sephiroth Chockmah. She nurtures this force in her womb and delivers it transformed into the Universe as it travels down the path on the Tree of Life.
The Empress being associated with the path between Chokmah and Binah is therefore slightly less well placed than the Priestess before her as she is not in direct contact with Kether, the first Sephiroth. However, she rules the last path before the abyss and is the first trump to connect the 2 pillars together. She is ruled by Venus and this is very significant as we can see that Venus links all the sephiroth together on the Tree of Life and she does this through UNIVERSAL LOVE.
Love at this level of the Tree does not mean projection and desire as can be experienced at the level of Netzach. The love of the Empress which is flowing through from the supernal triangle is that of Universal Love mentioned above. However she does have a lower octave of expression as Crowley has indicated:
“She combines the highest spiritual with the lowest material qualities. For this reason, she is fitted to represent one of the three alchemical forms of energy” (Book of Thoth, p75)
(vi) Thoth Empress Hebrew Attribution & Astrology
The Thoth Empress is associated with the Hebrew letter DALETH (pronounced Dawleth) which means Door.
This is the Door where all souls are sent out and then return, and so one of birth and death.
The door refers to the space between the state of unity in the Supernal triangle (Kether, Chockmah & Binah) and the manifested states below which are associated with duality, polarity and division & far removed from the purity of the first 3 sephira. They are analogous to the Garden of Eden in the Bible. In the prism analogy she is seen in the modified diagram below, being the door to both spirit entering matter, and matter absorbing into spirit:
Astrologically the Thoth Empress is associated with Venus as described above.
(vii) Thoth Empress Symbolism
Crown = of Isis with the waxing, waning and full moon.
Sits between waxing and waning moons = she faces the waxing moon which represents growth fertility and love, as compared to the waning moon which is associated with letting go of things.
Revolving Moons = both of these moons revolve indicating the balance of opposites in nature
Uprights of Throne = twisted and fluid like representing her femininity and fluidity, like water.
Dove & Sparrow = closely associated with the Goddess Venus as can be seen from this quote on Venus Mythology:
“In the vegetable kingdom the myrtle, rose, apple, and poppy, among others, were sacred to Aphrodite, as,in the animal world, were the sparrow, dove, swan, and swallow.”
Orb & Cross = the glyph for the alchemical catalyst ANTIMONY:
However, the cross which appears on her crown is the Maltese Cross which symbolises the 4 elements in perfect balance:
Rose and Green Dress = colours of Venus, her astrological attribution
Bees on dress = Bees represent her energy and vitality. Bee propilis as a supplement is popular for the skin and fighting infections for example.
Dominos = black and white, male-female, Chokmah-Binah. Derived from the French word domino describing the Christian Priests hood, black on the outside, white on the inside.
Flower arrangement on dress = domino (black & white) representing duality. The dominoes are surrounded by spiral patterns symbolising rose petals which represent the love which unites duality.
Girdle = has zodiac pattern on it representing her universality in all the signs and hence all of the creation. Love unites all spiritually. Also a symbol of physical attraction.
Blue Lotus of Isis = in her right hand & held over her heart chakra. This symbolises Universal Love and is found/expressed through the wellspring of the heart. The spiritual path is of the heart not the head. Blue colour is a symbol of waterwhich is her element, fertility and creativity.
Lotus has 4 petals = four represents the sephiroth of CHESED and a manifestation of Love from the divine into matter via this sephiroth.
This manifestation from water into a more structured form on the Tree of Life can be seen by revisiting the diagram above. Binah is the womb or great sea which receives energy from Chockmah. This creativity is then made into structures of archetypal matter in Chesed:
Arms = Her arms are also curved as if she were holding an invisible baby to her breast. She is Isis nurturing Horus:
Mater Triumphans (Isis Rejoicing) = (The Goddess Isis suckling the infant Horus) the magical gesture of the Thoth Empress holding a baby. Head looking downwards, the right hand pinches the left nipple, while the left hand cradles just below solar plexus, as if holding a baby.
There are a variety of such genstures used in Thelemic ritual magick.
The example of the Empress Gesture is given below:
Venus symbol = hidden to some degree within the shield against a green(Venus) and white(spirit) background.
White Rose = at base of throne representing Venus out of which comes the waters of Universal Life. The waters are tinged green again symbolic of Venus and fertility.
Two fish = (very small) and swim in the waters and represent the feminine principal.
Fleur de-lys
In the twelfth century, a French monarch used the fleur de lis symbol on his shield. English kings later used the symbol on their coats of arms to emphasize their claims to the throne of France.
Fleur = flower
lys = lily. The Lily is also known as the May birth flower. In the language of flowers, this May birth flower represents purity, majesty and honour.
Fleur de-lys = lily composed of three petals bound together near their bases:
The 3 parts indicate the connection with the sephiroth Binah and the Holy Trinity. So the Thoth Empress represents royalty, strength and courage demonstrated through LOVE.
Alchemical Attributes of the Empress
Arms = form a shape close to the alchemical symbol of salt:
Alchemically she is SALT which is one of the three forms of alchemical energy with Mercury and Sulphur being the other two. Salt is seen as the inactive part of Nature (Womb) that must be stimulated by Sulphur to maintain the equilibrium of the Universe. Salt is feminine, passive, solid and heavy and a vehicle for the manifestation of energy into form in terms of its alchemy.
Sulphur = Active,
Salt = Passive,
Mercury = Purity
Crowley hints at a hidden meaning of the Pelican and Snuffin hints that this could be alchemical and states that Antimony is the catalyst for the purification of salt (the Empress) and the separation into white tincture (the shield) and the impurities (the Pelican). The pelican, being of self-sacrifice to feed her young is symbolic of the Aeon of Osiris which also involved a subjugation of the feminine, but the purified shield represents the New Aeon of Horus.
Pelican (lower left) = In medieval times thought to feed its young with blood from its own heart. Crowley says they can be thought of as the Hé and Hé final of the Tetragrammaton and therefore represents the continuity of life we can have in common as the Hé Final is transformed into the Yod. It represents an earlier Aeon as stated above.
Double Headed Eagle on Shield = which holds a waxing moon (indicating growth, fertility and the New Aeon) within its beaks. This figure represents alchemical white tincture (symbolic of the Female sexual fluids of lubrication and ejaculation) with the white eagle being the consort of the red eagle in the Emperor:
(viii) The Priestess to Empress Transition
The Priestess represents our alignment with our souls purpose (which people are aware of to varying degrees). She represents us living our daily life ruled around attaining our spiritual purpose and not the other way around.
When the Fool encounters the Empress he has taken a big step because he is now in greater recognition of what the essential nature of spirit is which is LOVE which is much purer than personal love. At this stage the Fool may only have a glimpse of this quality and he still does not know himself at all but nevertheless we have another powerful realisation. Crowley states:
“In no other card is it so necessary to disregard the parts but concentrate upon the whole.”
(Book of Thoth, p77)
Empress = the need to recognise that the doorway to Spirit is Love and is the channel for the HGA (Holy Guardian Angel). The spiritual path is not one of the mind which works by separation and comparison but of the heart. She emphasises the need to practice acceptance as through acceptance transcendence is found.
(ix) Thoth Empress Divinatory Meanings
(a)Thoth Empress Upright
Birth (pregnancy) fertility.
Being in touch with the beauty of your life.
Can represent someone needing nurturing.
Exploring our relationship with our mother.
Describes an empathic and caring personality.
In touch with universal love/spirit.
Reminding us that spirituality is expressed from the heart not the head.
Spending time with nature.
Nurturing others and those around you as well as yourself.
Connecting with love inside your meditation or spiritual practise.
(b) Thoth Empress Reversed
Vanity.
Sexual/emotional manipulation.
Unable to give or experience love,being damaged emotionally perhaps.
Unresolved conflicts with one’s mother.
Lack of self-love.
Unwanted pregnancy.
Unable to connect with the universal love on your spiritual journey.
Not enjoying your spiritual work at the moment. Conflicts.
(x) Thoth Empress in the Celtic Cross Spread
1: Heart of the Situation = Being in touch with what fulfills you and the beauty of Life.
2: Possible obstacle = out of touch with what fulfills you and the beauty of Life.
3: Unconscious Influences = negative thought patterns that could be holding you back from nurturing yourself properly and others
4: Recent Past = (If reversed) = issues around your mother or accepting love from others, feeling unloved, even a loveless marriage/relationship.
5: Hopes and goals = to feel more loved and supported personally and be able to open your heart spiritually.
6: Short Term Future = birth. Not necessarily physical but could be the start of something new but its connection is with thee heart not the head.
7: Our Self Image = Empathic, caring, compassionate, loving.
8: Environment = partner that is caring, compassionate, loving and supports you.
9: Guidance & Warning = our meditation and spiritual practice must be nurturing to us. If it is not we must either change what we do or our attitude towards it if we want to be fulfilled spiritually.
10: Overall Outcome = being at one with the Universal Love of spirit/living a life you are passionate about and that nurtures you so you can be nurturing to others.
(xi) Empress YouTube Links
(xii) Meditation Links
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