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III. The Empress—L'imperatrice

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You should before all other things study and understand the sacred laws of Nature. Discern the Father Spirit and Mother Spirit, and recognise the sex aspect of the two breaths, and the soul of their movements; learn how the black female seeks the caresses of the white male, and why the white male does not disdain the dark woman. The white man is Day, or the Sun; and the black woman refers to Night, and the Moon. It is necessary to know the names and powers of the twelve precious jewels which are included in the crown of gold referred to the Sun, and the names also which are allotted to the chief of the powers of the Moon. You will then require to be familiar with the keys of the Fifty Gates, the secret of the Thirty-two Paths, and the characters of the Seven Spirits.

These Seven Spirits are, Michael of the Sun, Gabriel of the Moon, Samael of Mars, Raphael of Mercury, Zachariel of Jupiter, Anael of Venus, and Orifiel of Saturn. These govern the world in successive order, and the completion of their seven ages of ruling power constitutes a Week of the Time of God.

You must learn also the plants, colours, perfumes, and musical notes which correspond to the seven planetary powers; and it is essential to retain those correspondences with the utmost exactitude. Thus when it is required to do perfect magical work, the procedure of each day is different in many particulars.

On Sunday you must wear a purple robe, a tiara, and golden bracelets; you must arrange about the altar or tripod, garlands of laurel, heliotrope, or sunflower ; you must use as a fumigating incense cinnamon, frankincense, saffron, and red sandal-wood; you require at your right hand a golden wand set with a ruby or a chrysolite; and your operations must be carried out between one hour past midnight up to eight in the morning, or between three in the afternoon and ten in the evening.

On Monday you should wear a white robe with silver ornaments, with a collar of three rows consisting of pearls, crystals, and selenites; a tiara yellow with the letters of Gabriel in silver. The proper perfumes are those of camphor, white sandalwood, amber, and cucumber seeds; the garlands for the altar should be of armoise (query, mugwort, artemisia), evening primrose, and yellow ranunculus. Avoid with care anything of black colour; use no cup or vessel of gold, silver only, or clear white china or pottery. The same hours as before mentioned for the Sun, but use rather the night hours.

On Tuesday the colour of the robe should be fiery, or rusty, or of blood colour, with a girdle and bracelets of steel; the wand should be of magnetised steel; a sword may also be used and a consecrated dagger; garlands of absinth and rue; an amethyst and steel ring on the finger should also be worn.

On Wednesday the robe should be green or of shot silk many tinted; the necklet of pearls, or of glass beads containing mercury; the perfumes are benzoin, myrrh, and storax; the flowers for the garlands are the narcissus, lily, the annual or perennial mercurialis, fumitory, or marjoram; the precious stone is the agate.

On Thursday the robe of scarlet, a lamen of tin upon the forehead, bearing the symbol of Jupiter and the three words Giazar of Fire, Bethor of Water, and Samgabiel, also fiery; the perfumes for incense, ambergris, cardamon, grains of paradise, balm, mace, and saffron. The ring should contain an emerald or a sapphire; the garlands of oak, poplar, fig-tree, or pomegranate; the wand of glass or resin. The robe should be made of wool or silk.

On Friday the robe of azure blue, its decorations of green or rose colour, the wand of polished copper; the perfumes are musk, civet, and amber; crown of violets; garlands of roses interspersed with boughs of myrtle and olive; the ring ornamented by a turquoise. Lapis lazuli and beryl should decorate the crown or diadem. The operator should hold a fan formed of swan’s feathers, and should wear around his loins a circlet, being a copper plate on which is engraved Anael, with its sigil, and on a circle surrounding these the words Ave Evah; Yade Lilith.

On Saturday the robe should be black, or dark brown, with appropriate designs embroidered in orange-coloured silk. Around the neck should be worn a chain and lamen formed of lead engraved with the name Saturn and his sigil, with the addition of the words Almalec, Aphiel, and Zarahiel. The proper perfumes for the incense are scammony, aloes, sulphur, and asafoetida. The wand should be ornamented with an onyx stone, and the proper garlands are of ash, Cyprus, and black hellebore. Upon the onyx on the wand there should be engraved with a consecrated tool, during the hours of Saturn, a figure of the double-faced Janus.

Notes.

The Third Tarot Trump, the Empress, represents a seated female figure upon a throne, crowned with twelve stars, and holding in her left hand a sceptre surmounted by a diamond-shaped emblem, or a globe; she has wings, and by her right side is emblazoned on a shield the black eagle. This figure is the Greek Aphrodite-Urania, and corresponds to the figure in St. John’s vision, clothed with the Sun, crowned with twelve stars, and having the Moon beneath her feet.

Levi gives in his Rituel its meanings as the Word, the ternary, plenitude, fecundity, nature. See also Waite, page 255. Christian, page 116, allots Isis to this trump. This is erroneous; no examples of the Empress ever show horns, while several Priestess cards of the oldest types do show the horns of Isis upon her head.