The Empress reversed

Reversed keywords

• creative block
• smothering
• dependence
• neglect
• barrenness

What The Empress reversed means

Reversed, the field goes dry or overgrown. The card shows creative block, nurturing that smothers, dependence on being needed, neglect of the body or of pleasure, or abundance that has become excess. It can mark a mother or a maternal figure whose care has turned controlling, or a time when nothing you plant seems to grow. The wheat is still in the ground. Ask what the field is not getting, or getting too much of.

In love, reversed

Smothering, or a love that has gone hungry. One of you is giving so much there is nothing left to want, or the tenderness has dried up under daily life. Feed yourself first, then the relationship.

At work, reversed

Creative drought or overgrowth: a project smothered by too much care, or a role that has stopped feeding you. Dependence on one client or one boss has become risky. Prune, and let new things in.

Money, reversed

Overspending on comfort, or a dry spell after plenty. Dependence on one source of income has become a risk. Trim the growth and tend the roots.

As feelings, reversed

Care that has tipped into clinging, or dried up altogether, is the reversed tone here. Someone may feel possessive, worried about being needed, or simply depleted and unable to give the warmth they once did. The tenderness is not gone, but it may need tending before it can flow freely again.

As a person, reversed

Smothering is the risk in this character's shadow, or else a neglect born of exhaustion. They may give in order to be needed, struggle to let others stand on their own, or lose touch with their own creativity. Underneath, this person often needs the care they are so quick to offer.

As advice, reversed

Stop smothering or stop neglecting, whichever you have been doing. Tend yourself before you tend anyone else. The remedy for a dry field is rest and water, not more effort.

Yes or no, reversed

The Empress reversed is a yes held back. The promise of the upright card is there, but creative block and smothering delay it; the timing or the approach needs to change first.

Waite's reversed meaning (1911)

Light, truth, the unravelling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.