Visconti-Sforza Tarot (Pierpont-Morgan Bergamo 1451): The Empress
Mothering. Fertility. Sexuality. Abundance. Material prosperity. Pleasure. Comfort. Power. Nature. Delight. Desire. Physical attraction. Health. Sensuality. Beauty. Satisfaction. Femininity.
The Empress represents fertile nature, a fruitful motherly figure who nurtures, sustains, and feeds others. She is often shown as pregnant. She represents the creation of life, romance, art, or business. She may represent the germination of an idea. She is the mother-goddess, and represents Venus, Ishtar, Isis, and many other mother-goddess figures, including Demeter, mother of Persephone, who when Persephone was kidnapped, kept the Earth cold and barren until the Spring, when her child was returned. In this, she represents the cyclical nature of the natural world, Summer and Winter, life and death. She may represent the chaotic nature of the life force itself, the uncontrollable aspect of nature, or refer to an object of desire.
Reversed Meaning: Creative block. Dependence on others. Infertility.
This card may represent difficulties in the mother-aspect. It may indicate a creative block, infertility and barrenness, dependence on others, or a domineering, suffocating motherliness. She represents advice to the questioner to rise to the challenge and work to overcome these difficulties.