The Empress as Intentions: To Nurture, Enjoy and Let It Grow

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Empress as intentions is a plan to make something flourish. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why it has no deadline.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Empress as intentions that are warm, generous and patient. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to nurture what is between you: to care, to give, to enjoy, to let it develop in its own season. The intention is abundant and it is not urgent. Nothing in the Empress's garden is forced.

This is the figure among the wheat with the heart-shaped shield. She intends to grow something. She intends to take her time about it.

The Empress upright as intentions

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 what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Empress as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Empress as a person whose intention toward you is to make things good: to be affectionate, to provide comfort and pleasure, to create a space where the connection can flourish. They are not planning a campaign. They are planning a garden, and gardens are tended rather than built.

What I would not read into it is structure or exclusivity. The Empress intends to nourish. Whether she intends to define, commit or fence the garden is the Emperor's question, not hers.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the person's warmth is for you alone, that it comes with a plan for the future, or that their generosity leaves room for their own needs. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Empress reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Empress as intentions describes nurture gone wrong: an intention to smother, to keep you dependent, to possess through care, or a warmth that has dried up and left the person unable to intend anything generous. It can also describe someone giving so much that their intention toward you is really an intention to be needed.

In your own question, ask whether the person's care feels like too much, or whether someone usually warm seems shut down in a way that may have nothing to do with you. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Empress as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Empress as intentions can suggest they still intend warmth toward you, physical and emotional. I would be careful. The Empress can hold affection for a former partner comfortably while growing a full life elsewhere, and often does. 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 a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card is lovely: they intend to be warm, generous and affectionate with you. Enjoy it. Ask about structure later, and ask a different card.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for generosity of the body and the table: they feed you, touch you, make things beautiful for you, take pleasure in your company. An Empress intention is sensory. If it is all words and no presence, the card is not describing what you are seeing.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, the embodied warmth you have received, and what you want the intention to become. The third note is yours to raise.

For comparison, the Emperor as intentions and the Queen of Pentacles as intentions describe different intentions. The the Empress card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Empress as a person and the Empress as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. 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.