THE EMPRESS
The Empress as interpreted by Anna Grindrod-Feeny and Ba
Whenever The Empress appears in a reading, I take it as a sign that it’s time to get a little bit wild, to get my hands into the metaphorical dirt and see what grows. The Empress doesn’t search for beauty with the hopes of capitalizing on it, they indulge in beauty and pleasure for the pure joy of the experience. When they work on an artistic endeavor, it’s because they simply have the urge to create, not because they are working toward a larger goal. This card is a reminder to be in the moment, to see what gems you can unearth without even trying.
I love Ba’s interpretation of Yoongi as The Empress for this very reason. Yes, he has been successful (understatement), but once upon a time he was just a boy with a piano who loved to make music. I think about Namjoon asking him how many songs he writes in a year, and Yoongi casually saying, “Oh, maybe 200?” How many of those songs will never see the light of day? Or will be rediscovered and reworked years later, a la Telepathy?
This is what The Empress calls you to do - to create not because you want to Make Something Of Yourself but because doing so feeds your soul. To nurture the world because you want to live somewhere that is a little more just and beautiful. To truly indulge in where you are right now rather than constantly looking toward the future. Great things may come if you do, but that’s not the point. The point is to live the kind of life you can look back on fondly, even if only for a day, or an hour, or a moment.
Artist’s Interpretation of The Empress by @eyesofbirch
Honey water, cough drops and candies, about 300 batches. Hand drawn caricatures and sticky notes with a different message for each one of them. In 2014, with the help of the other members, YoonGi wanted to gift the few A.R.M.Y. that would arrive on his birthday for a fan meet. He prepared 300 but to his surprise 350 showed! So he got back to the grind to make 50 more.
At another fan meet he asked A.R.M.Y. “What do you want to eat? Let’s eat when I get a lot of money.” A.R.M.Y. so endeared, responds with “meat”. In 2015 he’s back to the grind again, making handwritten notes with Polaroids for another fan meet around his birthday.
2018, it’s revealed YoonGi remembered his promise and saved the date, 18/03/09. He donates Hanwoo (top shelf Korean beef) to 39 orphanages under the name A.R.M.Y. with signed copies of their albums.
All of these moments poured into my mind, cause when the empress was up for discussion, I immediately thought of YoonGi. He often strives to embody bounty, especially as a stark contrast to his upbringing. “I want a big house, big cars, and big rings.” On constant echo, in many rewrites, but it shows that with abundance, his humility gives back. From creativity deep inside his heart and mind to all the organizations he has supported over the years. With it my favorite part is that A.R.M.Y. rises to reflect this. A real footprint on the world.
#1 Billboard Hot 100
#1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart
Go to the Grammys / Preform
Go on a world wide stadium tour
Become one the most influential artists in the world
YoonGi reached for these bounties and received them all. This is Big Empress Energy.
And so I put him in front of his beloved piano. His ultimate resource and space of fertility. Surrounded by his tangerines ♡. Pomegranates, a wine flute and clad in moons phases to honor the feminine. But unlike traditional styled empresses, his back is to us- he faces his piano.
Not indicative of anything dark honestly. YoonGi’s natural comfortability has only ever been vaguely extroversive. He isn’t cold, but quietly loving. He is reserved because he just “be-ing”. Nurturing his genius to share. So just know that when he looks you in the eyes, he really means it.
