THE TAROT RUG PROJECT, PART SIX: THE EMPRESS III

NOTE:  Skip to the bottom of this post for answers to basic questions about the show--where to see it, how long it will be at each venue, how to bring it to your town, and more.  To start at the beginning of this series of posts, go HERE.

This is the sixth the series on the Tarot Rug Project.
Here is the classic RWS image of The Empress:

Universal Waite Tarot images used with permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902. © 1990 by U.S. Games Systems. All rights reserved.

And here is Loretta Scena’s tarot rug interpretation of the card The Empress:

Photo credit: Anne-Marie W. Littenberg. The rug is © 2015 to Loretta Scena, all rights reserved. Please do not copy, post, or pin without permission.

“You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.” 
--Maya Angelou

Loretta Scena is half of the duo of creators and organizers of the Tarot Rug Project.  As I recall, she and Michele Micarelli, her co-creator/organizer, came up with the idea for a tarot rug series in 2009 on their way back from a rug hooking camp.  Loretta is a well-known and highly respected rug hooker/fiber artist, designer, teacher, and bead artist, and lives on Long Island (New York, USA) with her husband Ed and daughter Caitlin.  Ed and Cait both spent many hours supporting her vision to make the exhibit happen; it was definitely a family affair.  Loretta's website can be found HERE and includes many of her gorgeous rugs; more rugs can be seen on her blog.

I met all three at the exhibit opening for the first time and just fell in love with them all.

Nearly all the symbols from the original Rider-Waite-Smith card are on Loretta’s tarot rug.  The Empress tarot card falls right after the High Priestess in number (High Priestess is #2, the Empress is #3), and here we see that the pomegranate veil behind the High Priestess has been brought into focus as one single pomegranate.  This particular fruit is the ultimate symbol of fertility, and is central to Loretta’s interpretation of the Empress.  Here, the Empress herself is the infant, about to be born from within a pomegranate womb, and cushioned by the lush seeds/eggs of creativity. 
 
And that is what the Empress is all about--endless nurturing, endless creativity.  The lushness of the original Rider-Waite-Smith image is all there within that womb, along with the rich and peaceful color of the background.  Various symbols of the original card can be found around the rug--the stars from her crown, the wheat, the waterfall, the scepter (with its Venus symbol, to which the Empress is so connected), even the pearls at her throat become the tiny pearl bracelet on the infant Empress.
 
Loretta says, “The baby is the Empress in her infant state, ever growing and reproducing.”  The Empress has a very strong connection with nature and with the natural world.
 
WHAT DOES THE CARD MEAN?
In a short post I can only offer surface meanings of these deeply-layered symbols.  But The Empress is all about love, nurturing, and fertility (creativity in the physical, and also creativity of ideas).  In the original card she is pregnant, and that pregnancy symbolizes all the fruitfulness and possibilities of our world.

“At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.” 
--Plato

When you get this card, ask yourself:

• What needs to be nurtured in my life right now?  (Is it myself?  Do I need to be nurturing others?  Is it an idea that needs to be nurtured?)
• How am I in touch with love in my life today?  (Not just romantic love but Love in all its forms)
• How may I express love/nurturing/creativity in my life today?
• How am I connecting with the natural world right now—to nurture it and to draw inspiration from it?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SHOW:

HOW DO I GET A CATALOG?

• Email Michele Micarelli at [email protected]  (Cost of catalog will be $18 US plus shipping)  NOTE:  Catalog sales support the costs of shipping the rugs from venue to venue.  Thanks for ordering!  (Donations for this purpose also accepted)

IF I WANT TO BRING THE SHOW TO MY TOWN, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

• To bring the show to your town/country (yes, you can do that—it’s a traveling show!), contact either of the organizers:
  • Michele Micarelli at [email protected] or
  • Loretta Scena at [email protected]
• Both of the organizers have websites and you may also contact them there:
  • Michele at http://www.michelemicarelli.com/
  • Loretta at http://www.lorettascena.com/
    

WHERE WILL THE SHOW GO NEXT?

• As of this writing, the show will be going next to Montpelier, VT (May 2016), then to Onancock, VA (July 2016), then to Sauder Village's Rug Hooking Week (August 2016), then to the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild Show (October 2016).  In 2017 it will be traveling in Canada.
• In most cases the show will be at a venue only for a few weeks or for only the duration of an event (Sauder Village, Green Mountain), so there are weeks when it has not yet been scheduled.  If you would like the show to travel to a venue near you, contact Michele or Loretta as detailed above.