Being familiar with mythology can help you with your Tarot readings. For example, one of the goddesses who features in the Major Arcana has a powerful story that flows beyond her card and into the imagery of other cards as well.
The Empress card represents the Greek Goddess Demeter, who was the Goddess of fertility, grain, and the harvest. Demeter was a nurturer of mankind who empathised with the human experience of suffering and grief, because she experienced it herself when her daughter (Persephone) went missing.
Persephone’s youthful beauty had caught the eye of Hades, the God of the Underworld, and one day as Persephone was picking flowers in a meadow, the earth opened and Hades took her to his kingdom below.
Demeter heard her daughter scream, but could not find her. She wandered the world searching for her daughter. When Demeter learnt that Zeus had sanctioned the abduction, Demeter felt betrayed and renounced her duties for bringing fertility to the land. The land grew barren and the harvests ceased; the earth experienced a perpetual winter.
Zeus finally asked Hermes to go to the Underworld and command Hades to release Persephone. This plan worked, but as she was leaving, Hades gave her some pomegranate seeds to eat, for he knew that anyone eating food in the Underworld would eventually have to return. So, for a few months during each year (winter), Persephone returns to Hades, but for the rest of the time she is reunited with her mother, who resumes her divine duties and restores fertility to the earth.
How does this help you with your Tarot readings? Imagine you are doing a reading, and you see The Empress surrounded by Pentacles cards (of a positive nature). Picture the image of Demeter in her role as a Mother Goddess, nurturing people with food, creative insights, and encouragement. She makes the ground fertile and brings the gardens and crops to fruitful abundance. In this type of reading she represents good fortune in the material world. Her nature as a provider shows that money and stability are flowing towards the person you are doing the reading for.
But, if The Empress turns up in a reading surrounded by lots of negative cards from the suit of Cups, then recall the myth of Demeter who lost her daughter and then neglected everyone and everything while she searched for Persephone. In this reading realise that the person you are doing the reading for needs to break free from the emotional spiral they’ve found themselves in, or the people who depend upon them will suffer.
We know that The Empress represents Demeter because of the healthy grain at her feet, the abundance of vegetation around her, and the pomegranate symbols behind her. Her daughter (Persephone) is represented by the High Priestess card, which also features pomegranates.
Knowing the myths of the Gods and Goddesses means you can see the characters in the cards as three dimensional beings, rather than two dimensional drawings. It’s easier to connect with their energies if you know their motivations, and this offers a more insightful reading, compared to listing interpretations from a guide book.