As you may know from my previous articles on the subject, the numerology of your birthday, or of a particular year, corresponds to the Tarot, particularly the Major Arcana (the trumps). Using this system, we can discover much about the traits and patterns that may be anticipated in a given year. This year, 2010 will be 2+0+1+0 =3.We therefore welcome the Year of the Empress. The Year of the Empress is an extraordinary event. There has only been one other for most of our lifetimes – back in 2001. And only one more will occur in this millennium – in 2100.
As I often explain in my blog posts, "Tarot Card of the Week,” the Threes of the Tarot are transitional cards, reflecting the sacred trinity in its many forms: Father, Son, Spirit; Mother, Father, Child; Creator, Preserver, Destroyer; Maiden, Mother, Crone and so on.
Three is a powerfully magical number. It is defined by its relation to the two that come together – Self and Other that create the third thing – the manifestation. Three is the fruit born of the marriage of opposites. As Manly Hall (famed Freemason, Hermeticist, Qabbala practitioner and Rosicrucian) wrote, “Three is the equilibrium of the unities.” It is the result of One (Force, active, Yang) combining with Two (Receptivity, passive, Yin). It is the unique new whole that results from the union of the will and wisdom.
In my view there are two Major Arcana cards that directly represent aspects of the Divine Feminine – the High Priestess and the Empress. The High Priestess is the deep, the mysterious, the non-verbal Knowing. She is the gateway to our direct, unchaperoned communion with the Divine. She is the aspect of feminine power (belonging to both men and women) that has historically been feared, punished, shunned, and demonized by misogynist cultures and institutions. She is the untamed Goddess of the night, magic, secrets and inner understanding.
On the other hand, the Empress is more comfortable for many of us, for she is the Mother aspect of the Divine Feminine. She is radiance, bountiful nurturing, fertility, and creator. She is beautiful Aphrodite, generous Demeter and Ceres. Hers is the gift of lush Nature. She embraces all with unconditional love and acceptance. Her blessing assures prosperity, growth, creativity, comfort, and success.
In an Empress year, we are given the rare gift of finding softer, more fertile ways to connect to one another. Respecting diversity, replacing top-down, hierarchical power structures with co-creative sharing and empowering of one another can offer a desperately needed antidote to war, conquest, and exploitation. This is a time for making peace, for recognizing and sharing the abundance that is the true nature of Gaia.
The Empress can bring us a new sense of harmony, beauty, hospitality and rich, juicy love. This is a year to celebrate your sacred body, to savor the deep pleasures of living on this beautiful Earth.
It would also be the year to commit to being a devoted champion for Mama Gaia. By the time our next Empress year comes along, what will our Earth be like? Predictions for the environment as it may be by 2100 are bleak indeed. This year, let us mobilize to serve the great Mother Earth Herself. Hopes for prosperity can only come from our recognizing and cooperating with the sacred Source of all life and abundance.
This is a year for spending lots of time outdoors, in Nature, discovering and understanding the web of life of which we are a part. Relations with our own mothers, whether living or not, may be in the spotlight. For men and women alike, this is the year for creative expression, giving birth to actual children if that is your desire, as well as manifesting your most cherished heart’s hopes. It is a time to cultivate new friendships, delightful intimacies, as well as nurturing the land and one another.
Fertile, fecund, rich fruition is the power of this year. Celebrate the beauty of all species, forms and beings. Offer your own beauty and creativity without hesitation. Give thanks to your Mother. And let the gentle, fierce, unconditional maternal love that dwells inside you pour
forth.
(This article is also appearing in the Winter, 2010 edition of Innerchange Magazine.)
