The Empress (Card 3)

We have just seen the close of two major presidential campaigns: one driven primarily by love and hope, and the other driven primarily by hate and fear.

The campaign that was driven by love and hope was a productive and fertile campaign, amazing observers with a stream of innovative methods and creative output; appealing to voters on a variety of different levels.

The campaign that was driven by hate and fear produced little but anger and backbiting, disgusting most of those who watched it sputter and die.

It is true that anger and hatred can lead to creativity—how else can we explain the impressive career of Elvis Costello?—but I have come to believe that the highest and best creative effort comes from love and joy.

The Empress card in the tarot deck symbolizes (among many other things) the loving fertility that makes life both possible and worth living.