The upright Empress card represents beauty, nature, and abundance. When you see this card, you can think about your creative and nurturing qualities, regardless of your gender, and it can also be a reminder to focus on self-care and your needs.
Since this card represents creativity and fertility, it can help you think about the ways you can nurture growth in any area of your life, not necessarily literal fertility. The Empress card can help you discover different areas that need your nurturing attention – like your career, friendships, or your own personal growth.
When it’s reversed, The Empress card can help you explore where you’ve been spreading yourself too thin. This reversed card is a great opportunity to reflect on how you’ve been neglecting your own needs and priorities.
It’s important to explore how we’re feeling before things get out of hand, and the reversed Empress card can help you explore the ways you’ve been neglecting yourself lately. Sometimes we get so caught up in the needs of others that we ignore our own, and that can cause issues for our growth. Have you been neglecting your friendships or romantic life? Have you been ignoring your career growth to promote someone else’s? Are you so focused on work and your family that you’re neglecting your own hobbies and creative desires?
When you see this card reversed, think about the things that are keeping you from blossoming. It’s okay to prioritize yourself sometimes. In fact, it’s necessary! The reversed Empress card will prompt you to focus on your personal growth and happiness.
Reading this reversed card using the “blocked/restricted” meaning
So, let’s talk about how to read your reversed Empress card. One way you can read your reversed cards is with the “blocked or restricted” card meaning. When you look at your tarot cards this way, you’re looking for a block preventing you from the upright meaning of the card.
Reading the reversed Empress card this way will help you look at the obstacles standing in the way of your growth, development, creativity, and nurturing nature.
Say, for example, you pull the reversed Empress card when thinking about your friendships. Maybe you’ve been spending time with someone new, but you’re feeling a little wishy-washy about the relationship. Here, you can ask yourself what’s standing in the way of your friend being a positive influence. Are they supportive and caring? Do they listen and offer advice?
Sometimes we put more effort into a friendship than the other person, and that can drain us and stunt our growth. It’s hard to ask ourselves these questions, but we must explore the blocks in our lives to see improvements. Here, you might ask yourself to take a step back from this friendship and surround yourself with supportive people.
Reading this reversed card using the “opposite” meaning
You can also read your reversed Empress card using the “opposite” approach. When you read your cards like this, you look for the opposite meaning of the upright card. Here, you would view the reversed Empress card as a lack of fertility and abundance. This can mean you’re neglecting certain areas of your life and must refocus to encourage your growth.
For example, you might pull the reversed Empress card when thinking about your job. Maybe you feel you’re in a rut at work and aren’t seeing progress. This card can help you focus on how you’re neglecting your career growth. Are the people in your life distracting you, or are you feeling unhealthy which is affecting your work performance? Or, are you just over it and ready for something new?
Taking the time to explore why you’re not progressing in the workplace is the first step to overcoming your challenges. The reversed Empress card may be asking you to reflect on how to become more successful.
Reading this reversed card using the “worse” meaning
Another way to look at your reversed cards is to use the “worse” meaning. Here, you look at the upright meaning of the card in a negative light. For The Empress card, this may mean you’re nurturing things in your life that you shouldn’t be. Maybe you’re putting so much effort into one thing that it’s causing you to neglect others, or maybe you are so determined to finish a project or goal from your past that you’re blind to what you truly desire for your future.
Say you pull the reversed Empress card when thinking about your love life. Maybe you’re in a long-term relationship with someone, but you feel this relationship has run its course. You’ve grown into a new person, and all the time and attention you’re using on your partner has caused you to neglect your needs and desires. You might’ve fallen behind in school or work because you’re spending so much time trying to reignite your romance. Or maybe you’re just staying put because you’re afraid of the future.
In this case, the reversed Empress may be asking you to take some time to evaluate your priorities and be honest with yourself about what you need to flourish.
Reading this reversed card using the “no/not” meaning
You can also look at your reversed Empress card using the “no/not” meaning. This means you take the upright meaning of the card and put a “no” or “not” before it. So for The Empress card, this means “no nurturing” or “no abundance.” Maybe you’re being neglectful towards your friends or family or maybe there is no opportunity for abundance in a certain area of your career, for instance.
If you pull the reversed Empress card when thinking about your finances, maybe you’ve been making a lot of investments, but you haven’t seen any growth. The card could be asking you to explore the possibility that it’s time to look at other ways to make your money work for you. Sometimes we get caught up in the “sunk cost fallacy,” and it’s hard to see when it’s time to try something new. The reversed Empress card can help you consider the fact that it’s time to move on to better opportunities.