The Empress card depicts power, sexuality, comforts, prosperity, health, beauty and growth. The Empress or number 3 responds to the feminine subconscious power that evolves in creativity and imagination. The plant life in the card represents the cultivation (within the mental realm as formation of ideas or plan, or even material growth). The stream in the background falling into the pool is symbolic of the joining of the conscious and the subconscious. The stars on her crown represent the 12 signs of the zodiac, indicating that time; brings desires into manifestation (patience). This card falls under the vibration of the number 3.
When she appears in a spread, she may represent life asserting itself through our attempts to master it. She often represents mothers, good and bad, or the demands of the real world. The Empress may also represent the Object of Desire. Most obviously, she is representing the love of the beloved. Either the card depicts the materialization of that desire, or it denotes the over-attachment with the object, and hence great suffering and loss of the same object. It can also advise us to be patient till our efforts start bearing fruits.
