The Empress as Advice: Nurture It

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Empress as advice asks you to nourish rather than push. Here is what she means, and the reversal's warning about giving too much.

If you want the short answer, the Empress as advice says: nurture it. Whatever you want to grow, a relationship, a project, your own health, tend it patiently and generously and let it develop at its own pace.

What the Empress advises upright

Tina Gong's the Empress guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with fertility, femininity, beauty, nature and abundance. In an advice position I read those meanings as an instruction: the attitude or action the card is asking of you, rather than a description of what will happen. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, the Empress advises care and pleasure: feed what you want to flourish, make your environment beautiful, be kind to your body, enjoy what you have. Creativity responds to this card especially well.

What the Empress is not asking you to do

The Empress is not asking you to force results or to hurry. A garden pushed grows badly. She is also not asking you to give everything away.

The Empress reversed as advice

Reversed, the Empress as advice says turn the care inward. You may be nourishing everyone but yourself, or smothering something that needs space. Restore your own ground first. A reversed card in an advice position is usually pointing at the habit that is getting in your way, not at a punishment.

The Empress as advice in love

In love, the Empress advises warmth, affection and patience: let the relationship grow through care rather than pressure.

The Empress as advice for work and money

For work and money, she advises investing in what grows slowly: creative work, a business that builds, skills that compound. Advice from a card is reflection. For decisions with legal, medical or financial weight, take it to someone qualified as well.

One step to take this week

Choose one thing you want to grow and give it one hour of unhurried care this week, with no target attached.

For comparison, the Emperor as advice and Strength as advice ask different things of you. The the Empress card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Empress as a yes or no, the Empress as feelings and the Empress as timing cover the other questions people most often ask of it. You can draw a card for yourself with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to an online psychic reading explains how readings work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.