Are The Empress & The Emperor just John Gray in a Tarot deck?

I was re-reading the classic premise of John Gray’s 1992 book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, and I had a lightbulb moment. Did Gray secretly steal his whole book concept from a Rider-Waite deck, or was he just channeling major Tarot energy?

His whole thesis is that men and women speak such vastly different emotional "languages" that we might as well be from different planets. Sound familiar?

Look at our favorite Major Arcana power couple:

• The Empress (Venus): Living her absolute best life on a cozy velvet couch, surrounded by nature, flowing gowns, and good vibes. She looks like she just got back from a 5-star spa retreat.

• The Emperor (Mars): Sitting on a rock throne wearing full plate armor in the middle of a desert, looking like he's about to declare war on a parking ticket.

Honestly, whenever The Emperor pops up in a love reading, I never know whether to say "congratulations" or "I'm so sorry." Talk about high-maintenance, rigid energy!

If we look at them through a psychological lens:

1. The Empress is the Subconscious: She’s pure feeling, creativity, and flow. But let’s be real—the subconscious is a chaotic artist. It doesn't care about your Google Calendar or whether you have bills to pay; it just wants to feel things and eat grapes.

2. The Emperor is the Conscious Defense System: He’s the stubborn security guard of your brain, building rigid walls and boundaries to keep the chaos out.

Without the Emperor, life is a boundary-free emotional hot mess. But without the Empress, life is a cold, boring military drill where fun goes to die.

Honestly, I now can't unsee them bickering over whose turn it was to load the dishwasher!