- 04 - Empress -

historical -Based on.. well.. empresses.  Female rulers.  you know the drill.  Empress also seems to be linked (at least in meaning, if not in portraiture) to the old pagan earth-mother goddess archetypes. She is half of the female archetype in the Major Arcana, her counterpart being the High Priestess (the Moon representing femininity itself)

card - The Mommy card. Attracter of RPG hero Odeipus case-studies and guys who just, y'know, want a big ' ol huuuug.  Being Mommy, she's also got a rather freudian association with fertility.  Empress is a bit double-sided - Mommy might pack you a bag lunch, but she might also send you to your room to think about what you've done. 

empress meaning - Maternal feeling.  Happiness.  Pleasure.  A passive sort of power that you can't fight (good boys and girls listen to mommy).  A force you cannot defy.  Abundance.  Security.  Reassurance.  Fertility.

empress reversed meaning - Maternal tyranny (you've been a bad, baaaaaaaaad boy... no tv for you). Overindulgence or extravagance.  Sterility.  A malevolent passive force. 

persona wielder - Yuki from Revelations and the lamented IS. It's really too bad we didn't get Snow Queen quest here in deprived English-land.  'Cause as the Mommy figure of Revelations (all the kids at school looked up to her, she was going to be a teacher and help children, etc.) she may very well have been the only remotely competent and non-psychotic person in that game (Nate?  Bah.  Father-fixation).  Which is... ummmm... sad to the cast of Revelations, I guess. Though I suppose you could count Main is he wasn't so damn mute.