Happy Valentines Day from The Empress

This year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday which is the day of Venus. The planet which represents The Goddess. The energies of love, art, money, beauty, sensuality, fertility, abundance, nature, gaia, passion, home, creativity, birth, femininity and balance.

The card that represents Venus in the tarot is The Empress. If one takes a moment to study this card, one can see all of the qualities I listed above are embodied within it’s image.

The message of The Empress today is one of turning our focus to our relationships. Look at your partner with the eyes of love. What is it about them that you fell in love with? What do you appreciate about them? What qualities do they have that you admire? Our relationships are often a mirror image reflection of ourselves.

Take a few moments and write down everything that you admire and love about your partner. Reflect on this list. You may find what you admire about them are the very qualities you would like yourself to have. Or are attributes of your personality that need some nurturing. When one looks at their close relationships in this way, it gives us a chance to look at ourselves and grow. It also gives us a chance to look at our partner with a renewed sense of love and appreciation.

If you are not in a relationship at the moment, do this exercise about yourself. Go outside yourself and make this list from the perspective of you looking at you. Keep it positive! What aspects about yourself do you love and admire? What situations have you been through in which you handled yourself in a way that you were proud of? How did you grow from that experience? What qualities do you have that would make someone appreciate having you in their life? Don’t hold back! Look at yourself with the eyes of The Goddess of Love! If you work with the tarot, it may help you to pull The Empress card as well as a few other cards whose images resonate with your list. It is often difficult for us to reflect upon ourselves. Pulling these cards will give you a few physical images to meditate on.

Venus and The Empress are not just about the love for other people. Their energies are also a message about self-love. Are you taking care of yourself? As the goddess that rules over art and creativity, a question to reflect upon for yourself is, are you taking the time to pursue hobbies and/or interests that inspire YOU? When we live a life that inspires us, we inspire others. In the context of relationships, this love of self, is the “spark” that draws other people to us! Love for ourselves, raises our “energy vibration” and in turn our perception of our surroundings and other people. In short, when you love yourself, you draw loving energies to you. Including people that will love and appreciate you.

I know some people may dispute this, but it is true. If you are a loving person, but are drawing not so great people and situations to you, this is a message to reflect on yourself. There is an aspect of yourself that needs healing. This is what is called the “great work”. It is not going outside ourselves to find the answers, but it is doing the work that is within, that when healed and understood, allows us to emerge with a renewed sense (aka “rebirth:) of self. Once you do this work, you can’t help but to see yourself with the eyes of love. You fall in love with yourself! You do not need to be completed by someone else. You are complete within yourself. And when you are complete within yourself, you can truly devote yourself to another with the pure love of The Empress.

“Don’t fall in love with a person—fall in love with who you are when you’re with them.” ~Connor Chalfant