part0045

It is impossible to summarize the meanings of the symbol of the Woman, for this very reason, that she continually recurs in infinitely varied form. [198]

Correspondences : Daleth (door), Venus.

Image : In side profile is a regal female figure wearing vestments. She holds a Lotus and her belt is that of the zodiac. A shield rests at her feet, emblazoned with two eagles. A pelican feeding its young is also at her feet.

In the first part of his description of the Empress, we see Crowley utilising his own correspondences from 777 but in turn these originate from the teachings of the Golden Dawn.

Without the Golden Dawn, there would be no Thoth deck, nor arguably a Waite-Smith Tarot. Without their grand synthesis of esoteric lore, medieval grimoires, the newly arising ancient Egyptian discoveries, alchemy, astrology, Eastern teachings being brought into Europe, and every other scrap of philosophy, psychology and insight into the human condition, both Crowley and Waite would have been without the necessary materials to fashion into their work and tarot. [199]

Crowley notes that the correspondence to Venus provides an illustration of the universality of the Empress – the sign of Venus, when drawn upon the Tree of Life, is the only zodiacal sign to cover all the Sephiroth.

As the card also corresponds to the path between Chockmah and Binah on the Tree of Life, it unites the ‘father’ and ‘mother’ above the Abyss, representing the endless creation of existence passing from unity to duality and then to infinite variety. For this reason, Crowley quotes her description as “Many-throned, many minded, many wiled, daughter of Zeus”. This Homeric-like quote refers to all the forms in which the feminine principle may manifest, be considered, and its influence in the world.

Her “general manifestation” illustrated in the card, combines the highest principles of the feminine aspect and the lowest material qualities – the sacred and the profane, the spiritual and the material. It aims to be a comprehensive illustration of the notion of everything, she is literally the ‘salt of the earth’ and she is ascribed to that alchemical element.

There survive several sheets of Crowley’s original sketches for the designs of the deck, and for the Empress, we clearly see his intention to model the figures in the cards upon symbolic patterns. The Empress was drawn by Harris upon the symbol of alchemical salt – a circle which is bisected by a horizontal line. Harris has drawn the curve of the arms of the Empress to create the circle, and her zodiacal belt is the bisecting line across the circle.

Whilst we may suspect that Waite intended similar, such as the shape of the Temperance card resembling the symbol for Sagittarius, it is only with Crowley that we have direct evidence of such design. Both were clearly influenced by the Golden Dawn initiatory rituals which traced such symbols on the temple floor in the position of the officers, movement of the candidate, etc.

The Lotus represents the feminine power, and “a living form of the Holy Grail”. [200] As a plant, it is rooted in the earth and water, and opens itself to the Sun. It symbolises not only life, but in its opening and closing during the day, rebirth and regeneration. As a symbol in a reading, it can be pointed out as a powerful indication that a difficult situation, whilst growing in deep mud, can ultimately bring about openness and light.

The girdle of Aphrodite was called the ‘cestus’ and although it is unclear whether it was a waist-belt or a breast-band, it represents love, desire and ‘sweet flattery’.

... she loosed from her bosom the curiously embroidered girdle into which all her charms had been wrought ... [201]

It was described in the Iliad as ‘embroidered’ and Crowley has designed it with the signs of the Zodiac. In a reading, one might refer to this as the passing of time (a year) in matters of love.

The crown of the Empress is designed as a stylised headdress of Hathor, the ancient Egyptian goddess of motherhood, joy and beauty – associated with the cow in a maternal role. The name ‘Hathor’ literally means ‘mansion of Horus’, so the Empress can be seen as the mother of Horus, an important deity who appears throughout the Arcana.

She bears in the centre of the crown a cross upon a sphere, making the reversed symbol of Venus. We have previously seen that this card relates to Venus as a symbol of wholeness and love. It also resembles the orb held by the Emperor, linking the two cards.

The physical placement of the Arcana on the Tree of Life is also important in appreciating their different functions and energies. The Empress is placed on the Tree on a horizontal path, between Chockmah and Binah – Wisdom and Understanding – so has a sense of harmonious serenity, whereas the Emperor is on a downwards diagonal path, flashing energy into the universe.

Crowley’s original sketch for the Empress simply has “dove” and “sparrow” written at the top of either pillar.

As Aphrodite or Venus, the sacred birds of the Goddess include the sparrow, dove and swan. Aphrodite was borne in a chariot drawn by doves, the birds of love. In Sappho’s Ode to Aphrodite , the goddess is drawn by sparrows. In fact, the word ‘dove’ comes from the ancient Greek, peristerá , meaning ‘bird of Ishtar’.

Crowley refers the reader to the poetry of Catullus and Martial as the “nub” of this symbolism. As often with Crowley, he is placing sexual symbolism one step away from us, as both Roman poets used the dove and sparrow as metaphors for the penis, some poems including a comparison of the sizes of the two birds, belonging each to either poet.

The “flamelike uprights”, then, represent the male energy both dark and light, against which the Empress is set.

Crowley writes “On her robe are bees; also dominos, surrounded by continuous spiral lines; the signification is everywhere similar”. [202] This is a reference to the previous paragraph, where we are advised to seek our answers in Catullus and Martial, as we saw in the previous pair of symbols. This is a good example of the difficulties laid by Crowley in appreciating the Thoth Tarot through his Book of Thoth ; we are often referred backwards to another riddle which we may not be confident that we have entirely resolved.

However, once we have a few keys, we can unlock the entire treatise as a puzzle-box, through many layers of meaning and hyper-textual links both internally within the writing and externally to a large and diverse range of references.

Here, though, we have a further secret within a secret; Crowley’s original sketch does not mention dominos, although it specifies all the other symbols. His off-hand remark suggests he did not have a specific symbolism in mind for them – so it is more likely that Harris painted them on the Empress.

There is no specific symbolism involved with dominos, but there is something special about the name, and the word – it is similar to the Latin, dominus , meaning ‘master’ but also in the feminine, domina . In old English law, this was the title given to a lady who held a barony in their own right. We know that Harris had become a “Lady” through marriage and was ambivalent about the title, so perhaps in the Empress she depicts herself as a lady with a domain in her own right.

One might also interpret them as showing duality, particularly counter-changed, although they are not coloured in a dual manner on the card.

There are many cases throughout the Major Arcana of counter-changed symbolism. This is one of the innovations of the deck compared with the Waite-Smith Tarot, which did not deploy this mechanism as systematically as Crowley. It makes the Thoth Tarot a much more dynamic deck – one gets good readings for energetic situations, where events are moving rapidly. The deck is more like the I-Ching in this regard (Crowley’s more favoured divinatory tool) in modelling transition and change, particularly between apparent opposites poles.

In the case of the Empress, the Fleurs-de-lys are also seen on the Emperor, as is the counter-changed double eagle. On the Empress the flowers are symbolic of nature, royalty, and the divine feminine – on the Emperor they take on a converse interpretation.

The fishes are not drawn by Crowley on his original sketch nor does he again mention any specific interpretation for their presence on the card. They may have been added by Harris to show the watery nature of the card, as a Christian symbol, or as part of the Pelican motif.

Traditionally, the Pelican is seen as a symbol of self-sacrifice, most specifically the sacrifice of Christ. This is due to the misconception that the Pelican wounded its own breast to feed its blood to her young. Crowley’s draft design for the card shows that he intended the Pelican to bear a Red Rose, consolidating that symbolism. In the end, it appears that Harris maintained a simpler symbolism, perhaps colouring the Pelican a rosy red tint.

Crowley states that the full symbolism of the pelican is only available to “Fifth Degree” initiates of the O.T.O., the Ordo Templi Orientis. The fifth Degree of that Order is entitled the “Knight of the Pelican” and corresponds to the 18th Degree in Freemasonry. [203] In Freemasonry, both the Pelican and the Eagle are cogent symbols; “the Pelican feeding her young is an emblem of the large and bountiful beneficence of Nature, of the Redeemer of fallen man, and of that humanity and charity that ought to distinguish a Knight of this Degree”. [204]

“The Eagle is to us the symbol of Liberty, the Compasses of Equality, the Pelican of Humanity, and our order of Fraternity” [205]

The door at the back of this card is somewhat hidden by the general design, but obvious when you see it. The Empress almost sits inside the upper part of an oval, or egg, which in itself is an archway. As ever, we might suspect Crowley of a schoolboy-level sexual pun in his final remarks – and final word - upon this card, when considering this archway as a “Gate of Heaven”:

… because of the beauty of the symbol, because of its omniform presentation, the student who is dazzled by any given manifestation may be led astray. In no other card is it so necessary to disregard the parts, to concentrate upon the whole. [206]

Key Phrase: Love and let love. [207]

Keywords: Unity, love, the whole picture, completion, pleasure.

The Empress, in the Thoth Tarot, is symbolic of love – almost more so than the actual Lovers card. It is one of several cards – if not all the Majors – that has a unique meaning in the Thoth Tarot when compared to other decks. If we try and apply ‘standard’ meanings to the deck, we lose the power of the deck, the wholeness of its cosmology, and the opportunity to re-wire our own perspectives in a new way. The Empress is the highest meaning of love, of unity and of the pleasure that comes from everything being complete and together.

If the reading is financial, it is about ‘going all in’ or ‘pulling everything out’, whichever way, it is total and whole. It will depend on the position, question and relationship to other cards in a spread or method. Similarly, with regard to emotional questions, it is a card of love in totality or not at all.