Queen of Pentacles: Erda

 

Mother Earth, as a Paleolithic Goddess figure, stands above a sacred cave in moonlight. Primitive worshipers dance around a fire at her feet. The world’s earliest artworks show the Goddess in this guise. Some of her earliest European names were Eartha, Erda, Edda, Hretha, Hertha, Eorth, Urth, Urd, Wurd, Wyrd, and Weird. Like her exaggerated maternal characteristics, her card represents overwhelmingly “earthy” or material blessings; fecundity, abundance, generosity, support, comfort, creative inspiration, nurturing warmth.

 

In the larger book about this deck, Erda is referred to as the "universal mother" who answered prayers. She was the primary Muse and the "mother of songs". For thousands of years, she was the female deity and the only supreme deity known to the European people. They've found these figurines of her clear back into the stone age. She was overflowing with compassion, support, fertility, and was warmly nurturing.