This Week's Writerly Tarot: The Empress

Occasionally here at The Writerly Tarot, I break procedure and instead of pulling a random card from the deck, I choose one deliberately. I do this on the sabbats, those eight turnings of the Wheel of the Year that mark the solstices and equinoxes and cross-quarter celebration days.

I'm being deliberate again today, even though this weekend's holiday is a secular and not particularly spiritual one--Mother's Day. (Hint: If you haven't called your mother already, this is the Universe reminding you to do so). This day is probably second only to Valentine's Day in terms of floral purchases--likewise perfume and candy--but there's actually a deep significance to Mother's Day that goes deeper than its commercial expressions. 

The modern concept of Mother's Day began with Anna Jarvis, who wanted to celebrate her own mother, peace activist Ann Reeves Jarvis, who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War and who created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. And while the holiday does celebrate (as Ann Jarvis describes) "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world," the day actually celebrates the deeper commitment to service to humankind.

And to peace. Julia Ward Howe's famous Mother's Day Proclamation echoed this call boldly:

Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears! 

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

Like Mother's Day, the Empress has depths. On the surface, she is the epitome of creative fertility, the Queen of the May, the Lady of the Land and all that it provides. And she is. But she is also the Lady of blood and fire and pain, for both birth and death are her purview. And yet here, as the Empress, she offers us bounty and blessings, abundance and Love, the big good kind. Her arms are open to all.

This week, be grateful for all the mothering and nurturing that you have received, and for all the ways that you have been able to share it, whether in a literal sense with your own mother, or in a metaphorical sense with women and men who have cared for you or nurtured your endeavors. And you know those people.

So yes, be sure to call your mom (that's the second time I've told you, so...) But yes also, say thank you this week. Say it in an email or a phone call or better-best in person. Be specific. Surely there is someone in your life who provided some precious water to a seedling of your very own. The Universe wants you to let them know you are grateful.

And have a blessed and fruitful Mother's Day. Peace be with you.

This Week's Writerly Tarot: The Empress

And if last week's woman power trilogy wasn't enough, this week we have the Empress, the ultimate in fertile, fecund, wild female energy. She's the essence of creation, and here she is, right now. Just for you.

And me, of course. All of us. The Empress is a card of abundance, and as such, does not parcel out her favors in bits and pieces. They come like the spring tides, and they come for everyone willing to open to them. Heady stuff, this. It can be a little overwhelming. But trust her; she's done this before. Many many times, as many times as the Earth has circled the Sun.

This week, be prepared to get caught up in the rush of creation. And I mean that literally. Sharpen your pencils. Make some tea or coffee or mojitos, whatever fuel best revs your engine. Clean up your desk so that the sunlight can catch it slantwise. Perfume your wrists. Play whatever music lights the fires of creation, or if music isn't your thing, really tune in to the ambient sounds around you, the tick of the clock and whirr of the fan. Turn off the phone (or take it off the hook for those of you who still practice the ancient art of landlines). The Empress is a creature of the senses, and she responds to the sensuous.

Make time. Make space. She will come. And she will bring you a special gift, just for you, because you are her special one. Shhh. Don't tell the others; just enjoy the attention.

 

This Week's Writerly Tarot: The Empress

The Empress is the tarot's equivalent of the Earth Mother: fertile, abundant, giving. It is my gift to you this Mother's Day, when we celebrate this ideal both personally—by thanking our own mothers or by being thanked by our children—and symbolically, by celebrating the idea of mothering.

This week, take the gifts The Empress offers. She is the harbinger of great things being born into the world, but remember: nothing is born without pain and mess. These are her gifts too, the whole of the process.

Open to love. Open to trust. And most of all, open to the cycles and seasons of the Earth, and of yourself, every greening and keening thing. And be grateful for everyone who has mothered you—all the mothers, even the hard ones—along this path.