Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s post is about the Empress in Tarot and Enduring Winter and the hardships that may occur during this trying season.   This is a concept I have been thinking about quite a bit lately, so I wanted to share some thoughts I have been having on the topic!   

As the Empress is the ultimate Queen of the Tarot, she is the prosperity of life, the abundance of the harvest, and the Faery Queen who marries a King on behalf of the Land (as she is the Land made Manifest in Physical Form).   Now, that description will likely invoke a more Spring, Summer, or Autumn energy.   However, when we look at the Empress as the Celtic Venus who brings prosperity and abundance to the reign of her lover, we can see that the Empress exists in various ways all throughout the year.   In Winter, she is the one who teaches us to endure!

A great example of a Faery Queen who endured many trials and certainly has the energy of the Empress Archetype and the Celtic Venus is Rhiannon.  Rhiannon is even featured on the Empress card in The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson!   The Sovereignty Goddess energy of Rhiannon, her equine energy, and especially her fertility energy all play into the Empress Archetype.   In particular, Rhiannon’s ability to endure unfair treatment when she is falsely accused of murdering her own son on the night he was born embodies this energy of endurance I have been discussing.   She deftly handled this, weathering the storm by taking on the unjust punishment meted out by her husband, being forced to stand outside the gates of the Kingdom of Dyfed, and offering to carry people on her back (after having to recount the crime she had been falsely accused of)!

This is the saddest and darkest part of Rhiannon’s story, but this is an appropriate aspect of her tale to show in comparison with the Wintery aspect of the Empress Archetype.   The story of Rhiannon’s ability to endure is definitely in line with the Empress as a representative of the Land made Manifest to bless a King’s rulership, as she married Pwyll and he was granted the blessings of the Land.   Rhiannon did give him a son, and that son was eventually returned to them, and Rhiannon was exonerated of all wrongdoing.   The fact that Rhiannon endured the unjust punishment with her head held high and was exonerated truly shows this energy of Enduring Winter that I have focused on in this post, as the time her son was gone was certainly the Winter of Rhiannon’s life and Spring only came again when he was returned!   

I want to finish this post with a more general rumination on the Empress Archetype in Winter.   The blessings brought to the King by the Empress (the Faery Queen) are the fertility and abundance of the Land herself, and that very fertility and abundance can provide prosperity and protection into the Winter months.    That prosperity and protection, in turn, allows us to endure any trials and tribulations of the Dark Night of the Soul we may endure in Winter!

I hope you have enjoyed this short exploration of the Empress Archetype, Rhiannon, and Wintery Endurance.   What is your favorite way to connect to the Empress energy in Winter?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Rhiannon on the Empress Card of The Llewellyn Tarot.   I found the image on https://www.pinterest.com/pin/345932815102762433/.

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be doing my first-ever Herbal Tea Blending Class on December 29, 2024!   This is a live event hosted at the shop Phoenix Lane.   Here is the link to the event on Facebook if you are interested in learning from me in person: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19hU6vdFm3/

Further Reading

• The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
• Rhiannon: Divine Queen of the Celtic Britons by Jhenah Telyndru
• The Only Tarot Book You’ll Ever Need by Skye Alexander
• The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson