The Empress
Outlining the fourth major arcana card in our deck.
Keith Hiscox
12/15/20252 min read
We've been busy in the run up to the festive period consulting with David Ledesma as he designs the minor arcana cards for this deck, so it's nice to come back to the major arcana in order to write this blog entry on the Empress.
Card Meaning
The Empress signifies beauty, nature and abundance. Her creativity and maternalism influence how ideas progress from germination to fruition. This card says all the conditions are right for new beginnings and new developments to occur.
In a yes/no reading this card usually indicates a slow yes, everything is in place but the desired outcome will bloom in it's own sweet time.
Setting Specific Design
The symbolism of the crown a sceptre as power combined with the natural flourishes in the card show that the Empress is in a position to guide and channel natural development. The colour choices blend the traditional tarot palate with the colours ascribed to the sartorial choices of the queen within Berg's novels.
The Empress card also features prominently the fertility of corn, the heart symbol and the symbol for female power. Growth, love and femininity are therefore key representations of the card. We left only a hint of the usual pomegranate symbolism in the dress fabric, as we weren't entirely sure that pomegranate was a Sabrian thing; so it's there, along with its suggestion of potential fertility, but only as subtle underlying patterning.
Mechanical Impact
The Empress represents the character roles of female nobility or maternal figures. When this card turns up during character generation the player should consider how to work those creative and maternal influences into the character's backstory.
During main gameplay the card, like most major arcana, is found within magic user's decks and only turns up in mundane characters decks if they have specifically bought it as an exchanged card during character creation.
For a magic using character this card allows a spell to be cast. For a mundane character this card is wild. When played the card doubles the face value of any Wands suited cards played with it. This links directly to the concept of creation embodied by the card, because Wands is the suit tied to the fine motor skills used by artists and artisans. As a result using this mechanical aspect of the card will make the character better at creating new things.
Next time we'll continue with the established sequence by speaking, with some authority, about the Emperor.
