The Empress as How Someone Sees You: Warm, Abundant and Good to Be Near

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Empress as how someone sees you means they see the figure among the wheat. Here is what the picture includes, upright and reversed, and who tends the gardener.

If you want the short answer, the Empress as how someone sees you means they see you as abundant: warm, sensual, generous, creative, the person who makes everything around them flourish. It is one of the most loving pictures in the deck. It is also a picture of someone who gives, and the Empress is more often enjoyed than asked how she is.

This is you as the figure among the ripe wheat with the heart-shaped shield. They see the harvest. They may not have asked what it cost to grow.

The Empress upright as how someone sees you

Tina Gong's the Empress guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with fertility, femininity, beauty, nature and abundance. When the card lands in a position that asks how someone sees you, I read those meanings as the image the person holds of you, which is not the same as who you are and not the same as what they feel. the Empress as feelings covers what they feel; the Empress as intentions covers what they plan. This page covers the picture. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Empress as a person who sees you as nourishing: beautiful in a lived-in way, affectionate, comfortable, someone whose presence is a pleasure. They feel cared for by you and they enjoy you physically and emotionally. In the upright card the enjoyment is sincere, and it may still be more taking than giving.

What I would not read into it is that they see your needs. The Empress is seen for what she grows. Whether the person has noticed that you also need tending is the question the card leaves open.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the person sees you as a partner rather than a comfort, that the warmth is romantic, or that they intend to give back. No card lets a reader see inside another person's head. What a card can do is describe the kind of image that fits the person's behaviour toward you, and give you something to check against how they actually treat you.

The Empress reversed as how someone sees you

Reversed, the Empress as how someone sees you means the picture has gone from nurturing to smothering or from abundant to indulgent: they see you as too much, as dependent, as controlling through care, or as someone whose warmth has dried up. The garden they loved has started to feel overgrown to them.

In your own question, ask whether the person has lately pushed back on your care, or whether they have said anything about feeling managed or mothered. A reversed card here is a prompt to notice whether the picture the person holds has gone sour or gone wrong, not a verdict on you.

The Empress as how an ex sees you

Asked how an ex sees you, the Empress suggests they remember you as warm, generous and sensual, the one who made life rich. It is a picture with gratitude and often regret in it. Regret about how they received your abundance is common and does not always travel back. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Empress as how a new person sees you

For someone new, this card means they find you warm and alive and enjoy being near you. A strong draw. Make sure they also see you as someone to be looked after, or the picture becomes a garden they visit.

How to check the picture against reality

Look at whether the person ever tends you back. Look at whether they notice when you are tired. An Empress picture is loving and lopsided; the way to balance it is to need something and see what happens.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the person receives from you, and the last time they gave something back. The third note tells you whether the picture is a partnership.

For comparison, the Emperor as how someone sees you and the Queen of Pentacles as how someone sees you describe different pictures. The the Empress card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Empress as a person covers the card when it describes a temperament rather than an image. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.