Today's Tarot
III
The Empress
Upright
Nurturing
Abundance
Beauty
Creation
Feminine Power
The Empress sits in her wisteria garden, crowned in amethyst, in no particular hurry. Behind her — a waterfall that has been flowing for a thousand years and will flow for a thousand more. Beside her — pomegranates, heavy with seed. On her medallion — the glyph of Venus, who is the patron of all of this. She is not waiting for permission to be abundant. She has not asked anyone whether she has earned the throne. She simply sits in it, and the garden blooms around her. Today she comes as a reminder: your body is also a wisteria garden, and gardens flourish when they are tended slowly, watered without rush, and trusted to know what they need. Stop pulling on your own roots to see if you are growing fast enough.
She asks: What in your life would flourish if you simply stopped pulling on it?
A Mini Ritual
The Empress's ritualthe way she would have you receive
The Empress does not reach. She is reached toward. She does not chase. She receives. So the practice is gentle, and short, and very much about letting yourself stop.
i
Sit somewhere comfortable. Not on the floor — she does not. On a chair, a bed, a couch with cushions. Let the weight of your body settle into what is holding you up.
ii
Place one hand, palm up, on your thigh. Mirror her. The medallion under her hand carried Venus — the patron of being well-loved without striving. Let your palm be the medallion.
iii
Take three slow breaths. On each exhale, let one thing you have been chasing today fall away from your hand. Career striving. Worry about a person. The need to fix something. Let the hand stay open.
iv
Speak this aloud, even if only as a whisper: "The garden blooms because it is well-tended. I am also a garden." Then sit one more breath.
The ritual is complete. Carry her posture with you for the next hour, and notice what changes.