Here's a double header. I decided to do these cards together, because it's pretty clear in this deck that they are steps along the same journey.
 

High Priestess Nestled in the womb of the earth, she is the seed, the potential, the depth of the roots under the sapling. Interestingly, here, her image is wheat, not the pomegranate. Ripe wheat, emblematic of the harvest, and she is clothed in it, and a wheat sheaf crowns her forehead. This is a reminder to me that the wisdom of the High Priestess is not entirely her own, but is the accumulated harvest of those who have gone before. She is not only the Maiden; she contains the wisdom of the Crone.

The Empress Here, She is the Tree, the willow. Naked now, having shed her garments of subconscious wisdom, she stands on her own. She has sprouted into the full-grown tree, with sheltering, shading branches. Within her she carries the potential for more...a fully formed babe. And her roots still reach deep into the earth...if you looked close enough, under the roots, there would still be the kernel of the High Priestess, the source of wisdom, from which the Empress has sprouted and thrived.

Both Cards
These two cards are the reason I bought this deck, and still continue to be favorites. I wish
only that there were a third: a crone to the maiden & mother. The colors are warm and nurturing.

Both women are withdrawn into themselves; both look straight down--they are concerned with their own being. The HPS contemplates her wisdom and potential; the Empress focused on nurturing that which she shelters. The Priestess is self-contained within her circular "womb", seed, of self, deeply underground.  The Empress is in the world, but not really "of" the world. Her hands lie passive; she is vulnerable in some sense, which makes her different from many more active, involved Empresses. She seems to me to be a "young" Empress. She reminds me (remember, I'm a midwife, everything reminds me of birth) of the stage of late pregnancy (this stage happens again in concentration in late labor) when a woman tends to withdraw into herself, contemplating, and perhaps overwhelmed with, the life within her, and the responsibility she bears. Following this there must be a releasing, an opening, a letting go, which allows
her on the physical sense to birth, and on the mental/emotional level to rejoin the world; to see her part in it/of it. A more "mature" Empress will be more involved in her surroundings, would engage her viewers more, would be more the jovial, nurturing, den mother type of many decks. Here, the Empress contains that potential; her branches are fairly short yet, the waters of her stream calm. She has a lot of living to do yet.

From the Book

HPS: These words echo very much my own feelings on the High Priestess in general, as an archetype (so naturally, I like them!).

"I am the eternal birthplace and source of feminine mysteries, which are not lightly divulged and remain unseen by casual perusers... I am the seed of feminine knowing.

'For all women, everywhere, if they choose to seek me within, I am the provider of unceasing strength & nourishment. See, my hair becomes the roots of the Empress Tree, conduits which will channel from the source to individual acts of creativity...I am loathed, mistrusted, and above all, feared by the Patriarch. Endless attempts are made to seduce the Empress into drawing sustenance from sources other than me, and to fall in supplication before male gods.'

'Some men will discover me--those who journey deeply through love and meditation will find themselves before me. I will recognize their quest and bless them."

Blessings all,

Janet
Anotterchaos@yahoo.com

Miradji@aol.com