Empress Insights and Keywords

My crash course in symbolism has helped me a great deal. Though I believe that The Empress is a very easy card to 'read' in so far as imagry, and the insights which can be gained from what is seen.

It wasn't until after I'd written down my original entry and I looked back over the card, yet again, that I saw that she was pregnant. It was less obvious to me than a lot of the other aspects of the card. But, of course, it makes sense, since Robin's main keyword is MOTHER. And in fact, it is also what I picked up, even if I hadn't seen that she was pregnant; there is such a motherly aspect to her.

The insights I listed on my worksheet were:

A worldly woman; head of household activities (aka the Mama); caring; teacher; faithful (as in spiritual faith); orderly; following societal protocols. I also felt that she represented transformation on a material level: turning a house into a home. Her life is lived by the Wheel of the Year, which comes from her faith and gives her a connection to the natural world.

My keywords for her would be: Maternal, Feminine energy, Caring, Worldly, Knowledgeable, Transformative, Regal, Couragous, Purity, Connected to both the natural and material worlds (balanced?), Faithful. ETA: passion.

I did have another insight this morning which came to me while I was reading and then posting over in the Robin Wood thread at AT:

Regarding the scarf... and something I didn't include in my original blog post. I felt there was something about the scarf which was not in keeping with the rest of the image but couldn't actually put my finger on in what way it was/felt different. So I had to wonder what it was all about. Now this is before I read what Robin wrote about the card. But I thought, since The Empress actually represented motherhood, and also that I felt she had a great connection to family life, that the scarf represented a connection to all mothers - even the peasantry... thus, a connection between that which is higher with that which is lower; that which perhaps is spiritual, with that which is mundane... even possibly showing a way to bring the spiritual into our everyday lives.