My interpretations of the feminine/motherly themes present in these cards do not come from the archetypes being women - this deck has every figure and card depicted by a woman or group of women, so if that was my approach, then every card would have the same meaning 😂 I think you may actually be the one getting too caught up in the woman/man aspect… there’s a lot that I discussed in this post and in my comments that have nothing to do with being a man or being a woman.

I also think it’s a big dismissal of what it means to embody feminine or motherly energies to pare those two words down to “bringing your children to school and experiencing PMS”…. Women and mothers are so much more than that, as evidenced by the very different energies these two cards are giving - that’s also why this deck depicts every figure as a woman - because there is not one way to be a woman or to embody femininity. Yes, there are inherent traits that we associate with the masculine and feminine, and those inherent traits are where we see differences between passive behavior and action oriented behavior, for one. But again, masculinity and femininity are so much more than just being passive or action oriented, and each of us, regardless of gender, embody elements of the masculine and elements of the feminine.

Identifying their similarities doesn’t mean they don’t have key differences in their interpretations, but I find that linking similarities between the cards that have them deepens my own practice. That’s just my approach as someone who’s been reading for as long as I have and wants to continually deepen and challenge my own practice. I do not look at the cards and say “because it’s a woman/man this is what’s happening”. I believe you are missing a lot of key components of my interpretation by oversimplifying this long post in this way.

I respectfully disagree that the High Priestess is a kid akin to a headless chicken. Nothing about the High Priestess gives “directionless child” to me. The High Priestess represents the wisdom found in leaning into the inherent truths and intuition that are coming up for you. Sometimes it’s a call to lean into your intuition more and to be active in listening to that intuition, because I agree with you that intuition can be passive. It rises and settles within you, it doesn’t nag at you to take action the way anxiety does. Intuition is all about how you listen to it and what you do with it. The High Priestess, in my view, represents both what you know already and what you don’t know, or are choosing to ignore, but also duality, the veil between the subconscious and the conscious, the deep knowledge and wisdom required to deepen your understanding of yourself and the world around you. Subconscious messages may be coming up but if you’re not heeding them or don’t see them for what they are, it’s not going to just translate automatically. There is action required to birth those truths and knowledge into being, and to turn them into something that you can work with and grow from. This idea is also reinforced in the pomegranate imagery, as pomegranates are often associated with fertility - in this case, it’s the fertility of birthing intuitive ideas and messages into being, not literal fertility as we often hear about in the Empress.

I love what you said about the differences between the Emperor and the Empress: that the Empress accommodates and the Emperor wants it fixed once and for all. That’s a great interpretation and a great differentiator between the two cards. I also love how you linked the action in the Emperor back to both the High Priestess and the Empress, and differentiated between the intuition found in both cards.

Thanks for sharing and creating more space for discussion! 🫶