Spring and the Empress

First off, let me apologize to my readers for the longish delay between posts. Like many who work in education, the preparation for reporting (especially with a school’s worth of reports to read, edit and sign) makes late-February and early-March an exceptionally chaotic time. It does signal the arrival of spring, which provides me a segue into this post.

The Empress is the card of Spring. In large parts of the Northern hemisphere (and all over my Canadian homeland) the birds emigrate to their Northern climates, the animals emerge from their winter slumber, and the buds begin to flower. These are the domain of the Empress. She has associations with Venus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ceres and Gaea, all of whom have links to the principles of abundance, fertility, sensuality, passion and ample-ness. But one aspect of the Empress that is often overlooked is her power to renew. The Empress is vibrant reality, life, the balance of the two previous cards in the Major Arcana: the Magician, who represents yang, consciousness, and action and the High Priestess, who symbolizes yin, unconsciousness and receptivity.

We celebrate the arrival of Spring, often simply by our awareness of the renewal of life. Many belief systems place significant celebrations during this time. Christians celebrates the arrival of Easter and the resurrection of the son of God. The calculation of Easter is actually based on the equinox. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the vernal equinox. Baha’i celebrate Naw-Ruz, or new day, to correspond with the vernal equinox. Symbols of renewal such as coloured eggs, fresh fruits and cakes are prevalent during this celebration. Ostara, (Eostar or Eostre) is often celebrated by Wiccan and Pagans. It is a celebration centred around growth and rebirth but also around the idea of balance between dark and light, reflecting the equal amounts of light and darkness experienced at the equinox. It also includes

To link with the Empress, try the following:

Turn over one card for each of the following questions you ask yourself. Friday morning, March 20^th, 2009, (The Sun enters Aries at 07:43 GMT, add or subtract as necessary or, if in the Southern hemispehere, bookmark this blog and give this a try in 6 months 😉 and… thanks, phil, for the heads up on my error) as the Sun enters Aries to signal the arrival of the vernal equinox, would be a powerful time to complete this Tarot work. Use the comment section on this blog to let us know how it goes.

·         How will I renew myself?

·         How can I bring this sense of renewal to others?

·         What will I do to celebrate the arrival of the “New Day”?

·         What aspects of my life require renewal (select as many cards as you deem necessary)?

·         Where will I need to balance light and dark?

Lay the cards out in whatever way seems appropriate. And enjoy the natural sanctity brought forth by the Empress.