Continuing with Jung’s basic archetypes and their corresponding Tarot cards, it’s time to analyze the Mother Archetype, which is represented by the Empress card, but also by the Queens of each suit.

The Empress is, in every way and aspect, the natural association with Jung’s Mother Archetype.

Some people believe the Empress is so much of a mother that she is even pregnant in the card’s depiction, but this isn’t clearly shown… Does she really have a baby bump?

In the Rider Tarot deck we use here, pregnancy is not obvious. Her loose dress could be hiding it, and perhaps it’s more noticeable in the depiction of the Empress in the Marseille Tarot, where her belly seems a bit rounder.

Let me remind you that our Rider Tarot is an evolution of the Marseille Tarot, where the Major Arcana illustrations were updated to include backgrounds (while the Marseille Tarot focused only on the human figure). Scenes were also added for the Minor Arcana, which in the Marseille version were simply represented by suit symbols, just like a regular deck of Spanish playing cards.

However, there are changes and differences in each edition of the Rider Tarot, and in the deck I use for readings, we can spot some differences. For instance, the cropped image in my deck seems more zoomed-in, so we don’t see the river, nor is the lush forest as detailed. In one image, the Empress holds a shield in her hands, while in another, the shield is beside her feet.

These differences aren’t crucial, as the key elements remain the same. But it’s worth noting that cards may differ slightly from one Rider Tarot edition to another.

First, we’ll look at my card, followed by another Empress from a different Rider edition, and lastly, the ancient Empress from the Marseille Tarot, where she appears to be pregnant:

The Empress card depicts a (pregnant?) woman seated in a field with a lush green forest and a flowing river in the background. Her throne is cushioned with velvet pillows, and her gown is adorned with pomegranate motifs. So, we can see that this Empress is surrounded by abundant nature and plenty of food with the wheat at her feet—she clearly enjoys life’s finer things!

THE MOTHER ARCHETYPE

The Mother Archetype refers essentially to the personification of a Mother’s qualities or someone motherly. This typically refers to someone who is very loving, kind, and protective. They’re also a good cook and homemaker. Often described as someone who enjoys having nice things around them, they appreciate beauty, love nature, and are highly creative.

THE MOTHER ARCHETYPE IN THE WORLD AROUND US

Look around you—in movies and books, most literature, art, and of course, myths, usually describe Mothers as warm, loving figures who nurture and care for their children. Even Nature is referred to as “Mother Nature,” because She is the nurturing Earth Mother who provides all the abundance we enjoy throughout our lives.
Another Mother figure from mythology is Demeter, the mother of Persephone, who was the goddess of grain. Ceres was the Roman goddess of cereal crops (the word “cereal” actually comes from her name). Similarly, Isis was the Mother Goddess in ancient Egyptian mythology. In fact, the word ‘Mother’ is also an Anglicized version of the Latin word ‘Magna Mater,’ which was the Roman title for the goddess Cybele.

THE MOTHER ARCHETYPE IN TAROT

THE EMPRESS CARD

Looking at the Empress card again, it’s easy to see how she represents the Mother Archetype in Tarot.
She wears a crown of 12 stars, each one representing a sign of the zodiac. Around her neck are 7 pearls, symbolizing the 7 main planets in astrology (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus). She sits surrounded by growing crops. Behind her is a lush green forest, and a flowing river runs freely.

All these elements come together to portray a woman who rules over the stars, planets, and all living things. Emotions flow freely (like the river) when she’s present.

The Empress sits on a throne decorated with soft cushions. The astrological symbol for Venus is part of the throne’s design. Venus is the goddess of love. Venus is also associated with a love for beautiful things, art, and creativity.

The Empress’s gown features pomegranates, which are connected to the story of Persephone and therefore symbolize fertility and the changing of the seasons.

The Other Archetypal Mothers

The Queens of the Minor Arcana

Beyond the Empress, whose connection to motherhood is obvious, I want to talk about the other archetypal mothers we find in the deck, such as the Queens of the 4 suits.
We could include the Pages, naturally, as young mothers-to-be, but the Queens represent motherhood much more fully, embodying all the qualities of the Empress as an archetypal mother.

The Queens – Tarot’s Archetypal Mothers

The 4 Queens represent different aspects, facets of the great archetypal mother, the Empress, who embodies everything. She contains all four personalities of the four Queens; she can be the mother of Pentacles, Cups, Swords, and Wands all at once, while each Queen highlights a specific trait, a personality, a temperament. All of them are wonderful mothers, of course, but each in their own way, with their own strengths and flaws.
It goes without saying that each Queen’s card, when upright, represents her strengths, while her reversed card shows her flaws.

Maternal Virtues of the Queens in Tarot

The Queen-Mother of Pentacles

Of all the Queens, this one is the most maternal, the “ultimate mom.” She comes closest to the ideal archetype of the Great Mother, the Empress. While all the Queens are good mothers, the Queen of Pentacles is “THE” mother, not just in showering affection but mainly in nurturing, providing, and protecting her children.

The Queen of Pentacles is all about making her house a true home, full of love and ensuring nothing is lacking materially. She is the Queen most concerned with financial matters, always ensuring her children have food and sustenance. While she loves and cares deeply, she may not be the most emotionally expressive, often compensating with material provisions.

The Queen of Pentacles is the mother who will work two or three jobs, if necessary, to make sure her household and children are provided for, always covering their material needs, like food, first and foremost.

If she has an ex-husband, she’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure he pays child support.

She is very homely, preferring to stay home and fiercely protecting her children, always ready to defend and care for them. She always has money for her children, and when she becomes a grandmother, she’ll be the type of grandma who slips a little extra cash to her grandkids for treats.

She wants her children to secure their future, whether by working or studying. She cares deeply about their future and the material aspects of life. For her, love is important, but ultimately “love comes and goes,” while her child can recover from heartbreak, she fears material failure much more, and so she’ll insist they study, work hard, and strive for excellence, maximizing their potential. When you leave home to live your own life, your Queen of Pentacles mother will call and the first thing she’ll ask is: “How are you, darling… do you have enough money? How’s work?”

We can associate the Queen of Pentacles with the mothers of the Earth element in the zodiac, meaning mothers born under the signs of Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

The Queen-Mother of Cups

This Queen is quite the opposite of the Queen of Pentacles. She’s a deeply loving mother, and her strength lies in affection, love, and emotional nurturing. While the Queen of Pentacles excels in providing materially, she may lack emotional warmth, but that’s where the Queen of Cups shines.

The Queen of Cups nurtures her children emotionally and believes love is everything, and if she gives her children love, they’ll grow up healthy, whole, and strong, with the emotional capacity to handle life’s challenges.

She’s the most affectionate of all the Queens, always kissing, hugging, and talking to her children, teaching them to express their emotions while also controlling them. For her, success in life is only possible by mastering one’s emotions and using “emotional intelligence.”

Of course, she’ll want her children to be financially secure, but she cares more about their happiness. For her, all the money in the world can’t buy happiness. She’ll encourage her children to study and succeed, but with a lot of freedom, because she wants them to be whatever they want to be. Want to be an engineer? Perfect. Want to be a craftsman? A musician? A doctor? A circus performer? “Great, as long as it makes you happy, my love!” – she’ll say.

If she has an ex-husband, she won’t fight for child support but will fight to make sure the father spends time with the kids and has a loving relationship with them.

When you leave home, she’ll call and ask how you’re feeling, and after about 40 minutes of chatting, she’ll finally ask about your work or whether you have money—because her main concern is your happiness. She’ll want to know if you’ve patched things up with your friend, if you’re not fighting with your partner, if you’re enjoying life, and if you’re living as happily as you can.

When she becomes a grandmother, she’ll shower her grandkids with love, kissing and hugging them endlessly. She’ll tell them stories, push them on the swings at the park, and make them laugh, bouncing them on her knee.

We can associate the Queen of Cups with the Water element in the zodiac, which includes the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

The Queen-Mother of Swords

Each Queen has her own strengths, and the Queen of Swords shines in being the most intelligent of them all. That’s not to say the others aren’t intelligent—they certainly are!—but the sharp Queen of Swords surpasses them. No one is as intellectually capable as she is, her powers of thought, logic, and reasoning are unmatched. And you can’t lie to her; she’s always one step ahead.

She’s the least emotional and expressive of the four Queens, and that’s her weakness. But it’s not that she doesn’t feel or love—she does—it’s just that expressing those emotions is difficult for her. She associates emotions with weakness, and all she wants in life for her children is for them to be strong enough to face life’s challenges.

This Queen sees life in a more dualistic, harsher way, recognizing that while life is full of beautiful things, it can also hit hard, and it certainly will. Her mission is to make you resilient enough to endure life.

There’s a joke about the Queen of Swords that in her house, “men don’t cry…and neither do women!” But it’s just a joke, of course, because she’s not as cold as people say. She loves and feels deeply, her inner emotional world is rich and vast, but she hides it, and it’s hard for her to express it. So, when your Queen of Swords mother hugs and kisses you, take it as a rare and precious gift.

This mother values knowledge and intellect above all. For her, the secret to life and control over it lies in knowledge. She’ll encourage you to learn and become the best at whatever you do. Titles don’t matter much to her. She doesn’t necessarily want you to be a doctor or an astronaut; you could be a luthier, a shoemaker, a gymnast, or a biologist—whatever you choose, just be the best at it.

She’ll push you to perfect your craft, take courses, and practice, practice, practice. She believes that any money spent on education or training is well spent. She’ll find the best teacher she can afford and keep track of your progress.

Just as the Queen of Cups wants you to live with emotional intelligence, the Queen of Swords wants you to live with rational intelligence, a type of intelligence based on reason and logic, so you can solve life’s puzzles by applying logic. It’s a tough stance, but a very effective one in most cases.

If she’s separated, she’ll handle things logically, insisting that the law is followed: the father must pay support (and she’ll be the first to hire a lawyer), and he must maintain contact with the children. Things should be done as they’re supposed to.

When you leave home, she’ll call, without getting too deep into emotional issues, but she’ll want to know what new training you’ve taken, what new skills you’ve learned, and she’ll encourage you to travel and explore. She might even send you a link for that free cooking class or for learning how to fix computers.

When she becomes a grandmother, she’ll pay for her grandkids to take language classes, teach them to sew or cook, take them to the movies, and give them books. She’ll educate them and expand their minds with a wealth of knowledge. Nothing will make her prouder than having her grandchild play the violin for guests or recite their multiplication tables flawlessly.

We can associate our Queen of Swords with the Air element in the zodiac, meaning mothers born under the signs of Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra.

The Queen-Mother of Wands

The Queen of Wands is the most fun, adventurous, proactive, and playful of all the Queens. She’s the friendliest, but also the most fiery, quick-tempered, and explosive.

This Queen wants her children to enjoy life, have courage, and pursue their dreams, encouraging them from the start to “be,” without worrying too much about “having.”

She’s the most self-sufficient of the Queens, managing perfectly well as a single or separated mother. She’ll have the phone in one hand, talking to the school principal, while sewing a button back onto a uniform with the other, and the dinner will still be on the stove.

She carries everything in her mind, never taking notes or using an Excel sheet, her schedule is all mental, which makes her a bit hectic at times with so much to remember and do. She’ll be on the phone with the mechanic about the car breakdown, making a bank transfer, and chatting with the neighbor about that beautiful rose bush she wants to plant.

This mother prioritizes fun and laughter, she’s incredibly creative, and will tell the best stories or whisk everyone off in the car for ice cream at any hour of the night.

She teaches through personal life experience. For her, personal experience is invaluable and irreplaceable. While she will advise based on her own experiences, she won’t overwhelm her children with them, always saying, “You’ll figure it out as you live and experience things yourself.”

She’s not particularly emotional… that is, she might hug and kiss you non-stop one day, and then not give you a kiss for a month. But she’s intuitive and receptive, always there to listen if you come to her with a problem, and she’ll help you solve it—or do everything possible to make it happen.

This mother will encourage you to live, discover, experiment, travel, and do more and more things. In this sense, she’s a mix of all the Queens, giving equal importance to material, intellectual, and emotional aspects, though she’s closer to the Queen of Cups in her emotional outlook than to the “colder” approach of the other two. If she had to choose, she’d rather you be happy than wealthy, famous, or successful—because those things only matter if they make you happy.

Of all the mothers, she’s likely the most unpredictable and unstable, laughing and having fun one moment, and furious and silent the next. She’s always led by her impulses, and you’ll probably need to time things right when asking her for something or sharing news.

She’ll make you laugh, but you don’t want to see her anger. When she explodes, she really explodes. Sometimes that explosive energy is just what’s needed! You might be watching Netflix with her one moment, and within half an hour, you’re packing bags for a spontaneous camping trip because she just had the idea.

And if the car tire blows on the way to that trip, she’ll change it herself. In contrast, the Queen of Pentacles will call roadside assistance, the Queen of Cups will have a brief panic attack and then ask someone to change it for her, and the Queen of Swords will logically analyze: Can I do it? Yes. Then I’ll do it. Can’t do it? Call the insurance or the right person to fix it. Logical!

The Queen of Wands will also teach you to drive while you’re on the road to that camping trip, sharing camping stories and giving you tons of valuable travel tips.

If she’s separated, she’ll expect the father to help out where he can, but it won’t bother her much if he doesn’t—she can handle everything herself, acting as both mother and father. She does understand, however, that the father should be present in her children’s lives for their personal growth, and of all the Queens, she’s likely to have the best relationship with her ex, always striving to maintain good relations.

When you leave home, the Queen-Mother of Wands won’t call you as often. She’ll let you live in peace without meddling, and when she does call, she’ll ask about the new things you’ve done, what trips you’ve planned. She won’t pry into personal matters unless you bring them up. She’ll gently and subtly touch on financial issues to check how you’re doing (and help if you need money). She’s generous, very generous, but also a bit self-centered. Deep down, she’s still a young Page at heart, and while her children’s lives are important, so is her own.

As a grandmother, she’ll be the most laid-back, and perhaps the least reliable. She’ll be constantly on the move, traveling or attending events, taking courses, or meeting friends. But when you manage to catch her, she’ll be an incredibly fun grandma, letting the grandkids kick the ball around, teaching them how to take penalties (and defend them as the goalie), and they’ll never be bored together. Rest assured, she’ll leave a lasting impression on their hearts and minds.

We can associate the Queen of Wands with the Fire element in the zodiac, which includes mothers born under the signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.

The Flaws of the Empress and the Suit Queens

Now, let’s summarize the most obvious flaws of these mother figures—because it’s never pleasant to focus on the negatives.
When the Empress card is reversed, we encounter the “bad mother” version, and perhaps her main flaw is that she becomes self-centered, putting herself before her children. This doesn’t make her evil or unworthy; it’s simply driven by a need.

She’s neglected herself for so long, always putting others first, prioritizing everyone else over her own needs, that she now feels the need to take control of her life again, doing so with determination. This leads her to shift from being a highly present and devoted mother to one who’s more distant and inattentive.

She can embody the flaws of all four Queens, becoming overbearing, controlling, selfish, and emotionally cold. At the same time, she’s so weak and depleted that you can’t rely on her for anything—because she can’t even rely on herself.

The Queen of Pentacles reversed becomes overprotective, smothering and limiting her children. She may become excessively materialistic, focusing on the financial cost of every problem before addressing the actual issue. She can be incredibly distant and cold, and like all the other figures, she becomes selfish, prioritizing herself. She won’t be physically violent, but she will be mentally exhausting, guilt-tripping her children and making no effort to hide her emotions. She may not say much, but her face will say it all.

The Queen of Cups reversed will have lost control of her emotions. She’ll be a distracted, detached mother, indifferent to the problems around her. “Everyone needs to sort things out on their own,” she’ll say, as she barely manages to hold herself together. Her children will often see her crying, sad, or depressed, emotionally absent most of the time. She won’t be violent or argumentative, but she’ll just be…there.

The Queen of Swords reversed shifts from logic and reason to control and manipulation. She may be the most violent of the Queens, capable of verbal and even physical abuse. “Learning through pain” might be her motto, and she’s fully capable of sophisticated psychological manipulation. If she was emotionally distant before, now, with her card reversed, she becomes the “ice queen,” completely unmoved by anything. She’s turned to stone, and if she has any feelings, they aren’t pleasant or positive.

The Queen of Wands reversed becomes the most selfish of all, putting herself first. She’ll make bad decisions and act recklessly. She can also be violent, explosively so, though more verbally than physically. She may not throw punches, but her words will burn like lava. She might abandon her home on a whim or blow the little money there is on indulgences or spend her nights in bars, drowning her sorrows.

Of course, there’s much more we could say about the flaws of these Queen-Mothers, but that’s not the main point of this article. The goal here is to highlight their many virtues. After all, their virtues far outweigh their faults.

In the next article, we’ll be looking at the Father Archetype, represented by the Emperor card and the 4 Kings of the deck. Meanwhile, what do you think of these archetypal mothers? Would you add or remove anything? Let me know in the comments!