Dodal
L’Impératrice · III
A crowned figure holds an eagle-emblem shield against the body and a long sceptre ending in an orb and cross. The tall sides of the seat rise behind the shoulders. The image is closely framed around the seated figure.
Where does abundance appear?
The eagle-bearing shield gives way to a Venus emblem in Smith, while Harris brings several birds into the scene. Look for the different places where authority, shelter and growth become visible.
Start with the pictures
L’Impératrice · III
Jean Dodal · Lyon, 1701–1715
Open the source image ↗
The Empress · III
Pamela Colman Smith · 1922 printing, p. 81
Open the source scan page ↗Notice what changes
Smith
The Empress · III
A crowned figure sits among cushions beside a shield bearing the Venus sign. Grain fills the foreground, with trees and water behind.
Harris
The Empress · III
A seated figure turns in profile, holding a lotus-shaped flower. Curved blue forms surround the seat. A pale bird bends toward small birds at lower left; a shield with another pale bird stands at lower right.
Open Harris’s painting and reference page ↗Now read the authors
Waite’s explanation
Waite emphasizes fertility, the earthly garden and the entrance into embodied life. He distinguishes this outward abundance from the secret known to the High Priestess, rather than making the two figures interchangeable.
Crowley’s explanation
Crowley pairs the Empress with Venus and alchemical Salt.
Where is growth actually pictured, and where do you supply it through your interpretation?
Write one thing you can point to in the image, one interpretation from a named author, and one inference of your own. Keeping the three separate gives you something useful to revisit.
Read the contemporary essay
Gabriel develops a maternal reading across the three decks. Compare how much of that reading comes from pictured relationships and how much from the chosen mythology.
Sources and image credits
The Dodal cards are one early-eighteenth-century Marseille witness. The black-and-white Smith plates come from the 1922 Rider reprint, whose title verso lists first publication in 1910. Colours in later editions can differ.
The images shown here are reproduced from public-domain sources, with their original borders and page context.
- Jean Dodal · source record and rights statement ↗
- Pamela Colman Smith · source record and rights statement ↗
Harris’s paintings are linked on their host’s reference pages. Crowley’s text is the separately identified Thelemagick transcription of The Book of Thoth. Neither a modern reproduction nor a transcription replaces examination of the original artwork or edition.