This book offers a different approach than traditional tarot textbooks.
While learning tarot often requires the effort of memorizing the symbols and meanings of each card, this book guides you into the world of tarot as if you were reading a fascinating essay.
By unraveling the stories behind each card, it helps readers naturally understand the flow of Tarot.
This allows you to understand the overall picture first, as if looking at the forest, so you can see more clearly how each tree is connected to each other.

Moreover, beyond simply imparting knowledge, this book provides readers with an opportunity to explore and reflect on their inner selves through the symbolism and meaning of the tarot cards.
By understanding the meaning of each card, readers can reflect on their lives and experiences and gain deeper insight into various life situations.
In this process, readers grow beyond being mere recipients of information and become subjects who understand themselves and the world around them.

Major Arcana 3: The Empress

The Empress, the third card of the Major Arcana in the Universal Waite Tarot, is a powerful feminine card symbolizing love, beauty, harmony, and nature.
This card represents abundance, fertility, and material femininity, symbolizing material results and financial rewards.
The Empress represents a more active and driving force than the High Priestess, and is associated with dynamic roles such as management and entrepreneurship.

If the High Priestess represents intellectual and quiet femininity, the Empress symbolizes passionate and open femininity.

The number 3 is the first composite number made up of '1+2', and symbolizes the beginning and completion of creation, where 'I' and 'you' meet to form 'us'.
This is also connected to the meaning of the Trinity, and as a number that creates the first shape called a triangle, it signifies the beginning of reality.

The Empress card depicts a beautiful woman sitting before a rich wheat field, with a life-giving river flowing behind her.

This card symbolizes new beginnings and creative potential, and is associated with femininity, beauty, perseverance, harmony with nature, and connection.
Although the card has a positive meaning, it also reminds us that when a fetus is born, it can lead to an increased desire for power, envy, and selfishness.

The Empress card contains various symbols, one of which is the dress she is wearing and the scepter she holds in her hand, a symbol often interpreted as a pomegranate.
The dress represents creativity and beauty, and emphasizes the Empress's authority and femininity.
The scepter and pomegranate are symbols of abundance and fertility, signifying the creation and growth of life.

On her head she wears a crown of twelve stars, symbolizing cosmic harmony and spiritual perfection.
Additionally, this card contains elements such as a waterfall, which symbolizes life on Earth and represents femininity and breastfeeding in the Tarot.
This card also actively emphasizes creative production, such as marriage or childbirth.

The wheat field is part of nature and symbolizes the deep connection and harmony with nature represented by the Empress card.
The wheat field symbolizes the cycle of life and the process of growth, further emphasizing the Empress card's message of creative and productive power.
Wheat fields are also a symbol of growth and prosperity, visually representing the abundance and fertility potential conveyed by the Empress card.

Therefore, the wheat field on the card conveys a message of abundance and fertility to the tarot reader, reminding us of the creative power we possess through our deep connection with nature.
This symbolism enriches the message conveyed by the Empress card, providing positive inspiration to the tarot reader.

Story

The Empress card symbolizes abundance, creativity, and maternal love.

This card embodies the benevolent yet powerful energy of Mother Earth, signifying the birth, growth, and subsequent prosperity of all life.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England was a time when the message of the Empress card seemed to be brought to life in the real world.

When Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne, England was facing several internal and external crises.
But the Queen, like the Empress card, overcame these challenges with vibrant and creative leadership.
The queen improved agriculture and expanded maritime trade to enrich the country, leading England to prosperity.
Her policies made the land fertile and sowed seeds of hope and abundance among her people.
Under the queen's rule, culture and art flourished.
This was the realization of the creativity and artistry of the Empress card.
Queen Elizabeth II patronized writers like Shakespeare, whose works marked the golden age of the English Renaissance.
In this way, the queen led cultural prosperity with her wisdom and insight, and her era was recorded as the 'Elizabethan Era' and was left in history for a long time.

Additionally, Queen Elizabeth cared for her people with the maternal power symbolized by the Empress card.
She treated her people like her children and devoted herself to their well-being and prosperity.
The Queen was compassionate and tolerant, and valued unity and peace among her people.
Her attitude united the nation and brought internal stability.

But as with all stories, there were challenges even during Elizabeth's time.
There were many crises, including the war with Spain and internal religious conflicts, but the Queen overcame them with strength and flexibility, as is characteristic of the Empress card.
She led England to victory with her strategic thinking and outstanding diplomacy, bringing stability and prosperity to her people.

Queen Elizabeth also redefines her role as a woman.
Although female monarchy was uncommon at the time, she solidified her position and presented a powerful feminine image.
Her reign brings about a renewed appreciation for the power and potential of women.
The Empress card's symbolism of feminine power, creativity, and nurturing is closely linked to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen's story reminds us of the importance of creative and flexible thinking, consideration and love for others, and a commitment to continuous growth when facing real-world challenges.
We must never forget that each of us possesses the creative power to bring abundance and growth into our lives.
Therefore, the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth I can be seen as a realization of the messages conveyed by the Empress card: creativity, abundance, benevolence, and growth.

--- From the text