The Moon and the Empress

The Moon is the Mother of conscious awareness, even as it is a passage through unconsciousness. The reason for this is that behind our trials, and our tests is Love.

This is one of the meanings behind the Athbash pairing of these two cards. In a sense, the Empress is the womb, and the Moon is the birth canal. The reason the Moon is deemed so perilous is because birth is such a perilous interval. This is why, during our twilight times, we need to remember that we are invariably in the position of gaining the most from persistence. A life is about to be born.

The Empress is the mother of life - of independent, thinking, feeling beings - Independence comes at the price, sometimes of believing we are alone, but we never really are.

The great mother is our constant companion. We are from her, and to her we will return.