Dolly Parton is the Empress
My second in the series of essays on pop culture icons as the Major Arcana of the Tarot in my forthcoming tarot deck.
“The sin against the Holy Spirit was to sin against myself,” - Dolly Parton, My Life and Other Unfinished Stories
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
— Tweeted by Dolly Parton, April 8, 2015
On taking up space, cultivating abundance through resourcefulness, and having style…
TW: Suicidal ideation
Early in the episodes of the 2019 podcast Dolly Parton’s America (incredible, by the way) the brilliant and exquisitely talented musician discloses something that many might find particularly shocking.
At some point in the early 1980s, at the beginning of her film career, America’s foremost national treasure had briefly considered the unthinkable.
Dolly Parton sat down to write her final work: A suicide note.
As she tells it, her dog Popeye jumped on her bed, and she felt it was a sign from god that she should go on.
But if you look at Dolly Parton’s body of lyrics, this revelation is maybe not as shocking as on the surface it seems.
It might be an urban legend — but I choose to believe the rumor that Dolly wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” in the same 24 hour period.
Her ability to access a deep well of emotion is unquestionable.
Dolly Parton is almost universally agreed upon as one of the most well-loved personalities of all time. She’s also an incredibly generous philanthropist who has consistently championed literacy and music education for decades, and notably donated $1 million to the researchers who developed the coronavirus vaccine.
She is a rare celebrity that isn’t particularly polarizing, and her fan base, the definition of diverse, is living proof. Drag queens, church folks, the very young, the very old… Everyone loves Dolly.
The Empress is ultimately about taking up space, and who takes up more space than Dolly Parton?
Her whole persona, including her boobs, hair, and voice, is BIG. In contrast, her longtime husband, Carl Dean, a man she married before her fame and has stuck beside for decades, is an enigmatic mystery with the energy of a good ol’ boy who is content living quietly in her shadow.
Dolly has frequently discussed how she does NOT identify as a feminist “in theory” — which, to be fair, is true for many women of her age demographic — but she has conceded to likely being a feminist “in practice”.
This assertion is illustrated by her reality in many ways: Dolly is childless by choice, and unapologetic about owning her sexuality, artistry, and business acumen. This also says nothing of her vocal support of the LGBTQ+ community, frequent (although usually quiet) wealth redistributions to largely Black communities, and very notably, having starred in the film 9 to 5, one of the most blatantly cinematic critiques of the patriarchy ever made, alongside outspoken feminist icons Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.
9 to 5 is my favorite movie of all time, and I will explore this film on its own with the Justice card… but Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is my favorite classic “Dolly Parton movie”.
In the film, Dolly plays Miss Mona, a glamorous, charming, and well-respected madam of the infamous Chicken Ranch brothel, portrayed as a beloved Texas institution, and based on a real life story in La Grange, TX.
Miss Mona is deep in a sexy and almost painfully adorable “will-they-or-won’t-they” situationship with (in my opinion) the only good cop ever, Sheriff Ed Earl, played by Burt Reynolds. ACAB baby.
I was fascinated with the flirtatious banter and flashy costumes while watching the edited-for-TV version on CMT as a kid. As an adult, and now a Texas resident, I now find the film’s satirical depiction of this state’s ass backwards politics and the bold championing of sex work to be refreshing, even today.
Dolly is also a huge presence in another defining film of my youth, as Truvy Jones, the beauty parlor owner, and purveyor of all Chinquapin Parish gossip, in Steel Magnolias. Her performance shines even amongst the incredible talent of her co-stars in the film’s legendary ensemble cast.
Having grown up in a salon environment as a de-facto receptionist for my mom and her colleagues, and I can say firsthand that Dolly brings a down home authenticity to her portrayal of a small town beautician navigating the day-to-day dynamics of such a high femme space. Truvy’s beauty shop provides something of a central hub for much of the film’s activity, and the dialogue between characters that occurs from the salon chairs illustrates the plot incredibly effectively.
Although Dolly has traditionally shared very little about her own marriage, there is a quiet sadness depicted between her character and her on-screen husband Spud, portrayed by Sam Shepard, even though it’s clear there’s also a lot of love. One could easily imagine that if Dolly Parton wasn’t a star, her life might look a lot like an Appalachian version of Truvy Jones.
Dolly Parton is a Capricorn sun, Virgo rising, and her earthy sensibilities makes her a genuine embodiment of the phrase “salt of the earth” — even in spite of her glitzy image. Born as one of an eventual 12 siblings living in a one bedroom cabin in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, her legend was, in many ways, cemented early on.
Much of Dolly’s early songwriting — music she now lovingly refers to as “sad ass songs” — tell the tales of these mountains, and the tragedies that have befallen the people, mostly the women, who live there. Inspired by the American tradition of murder ballads, Dolly was flipping the script early on, and telling the story of the anonymous women and girls who were often quietly brutalized in the Appalachian wilderness.
Dolly’s ability to tell a story through music and lyrics, both acting in and producing films, or just good old fashioned chit-chat, is truly unparalleled.
Similarly, Dolly’s physique, aesthetic, and sartorial preferences is also now a distinct part of her lore. The iconography of Dolly’s style is undeniable.
Allegedly, the origins of her personal style was inspired by a woman in her community that her family had deemed the town “tramp”. In her book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, Dolly describes this woman, her first fashion influence: "She was flamboyant. She had bright red lipstick, long red fingernails. She had high-heeled shoes, little floating plastic goldfish in the heels of them, short skirts, low-cut tops, and I just thought she was beautiful. When people would say, ‘She ain’t nothing but trash,’ I would always say, ‘Well, that’s what I’m gonna be when I grow up.’”
Dolly’s image and personal style has undergone so many transformation in the decades she’s existed in the public eye. From Pentecostal country girl, to Porter Wagoner’s “girl singer”, to solo country music superstar, to glamorous, genre defying movie and rock star, to theme park owning entrepreneur, to full-on national treasure level icon, Dolly has lived many lives inside one body. The whispers about “Did she get her boobs done?” have become “Does she have tattoos, and if so, how many, and where, exactly?”
For all that we don’t know about the intricacies of her actual marriage, we do know that much of her early musical career is overshadowed by the enormity of her one time singing partner, producer, and manager, Porter Wagoner. His sparkly Nudie suited larger-than-life persona once loomed large over an almost unrecognizably subservient young Dolly. We also know their relationship was frequently tense, both professionally and personally. (Much has been whispered about the nature of their relationship privately, which are rumors that I personally do not buy into, Dolly + Carl Dean Forever.)
Whatever that case, by the late 1960s, Porter was beginning to limit Dolly’s creative scope, and she was itching to get free.
Despite Porter Wagoner’s influence and the level of creative control he exerted over her, Dolly’s lyrics from this era are still quite often about embracing one’s self.
Her 1971 song “Coat of Many Colors”, first scrawled on the back of one of Wagoner’s dry cleaning receipts, is the ballad of a little girl (implied to be young Dolly) who refuses to feel shame about living in poverty, and instead finds her own personal sense of style.
She is proud of the titular coat, made with love by her mother, as she tells young Dolly the biblical story of Joseph and his similar garb. Even when she is mocked by peers for obviously homemade garment, she is steadfast in her pride, and her understanding of the value of her unique fashion statement.
This foreshadows experiences Dolly would have throughout much of her career, especially as her personal style, both artistically and sartorially, became more distinctive after finally professionally parting ways with Porter Wagoner in the early 1970s.
Several years prior, her 1966 song “Dumb Blonde” — her first real “hit” — preempted what would become a central theme of her professional persona: Being “in” on the joke.
In 1978, she would further elaborate, “I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde.”
The jokes she makes at her own expense have gotten raunchier over the years; this perhaps coincides with her unwillingness to deny that she’s undergone a variety of cosmetic procedures in order to maintain her youthful image, including a pretty notable breast augmentation. In 1995, she joked to David Letterman that her #1 pet peeve about being famous is “Nobody notices I’ve got a great ass, too!”
Dolly’s enduring good nature is possibly most-rooted in her willingness to forgive. Porter Wagoner learned this firsthand, several years after their public separation, when the IRS came looking for half a million dollars that he didn’t have. This is despite having previously settled a lawsuit with Dolly, and receiving a payout so large it took her years to pay off.
Our Queen not only helped him pay his debts, she reestablished the friendship at the core of their dynamic, and went on to patiently hold his hand as he lay dying in hospice care decades later.
Kindness and generosity are at the cornerstone of the Empress energy; but it’s the resourcefulness at the intersection of the little girl in the 1950s house sewn coat from “Coat of Many Colors” and the frustrated working class gal fed up with 1980s capitalism in “9 to 5” is where Dolly as the archetype of the card really solidifies.
The Empress is about experiencing wealth through a relationship to abundance, so it might seem strange, on the surface, to highlight these two pieces of music that have to do with scarcity on some level.
The only thing that defines our resources is their value, which is explicitly determined by their finite nature. Acknowledging resources are inherently finite is the first step toward experiencing abundance, as it is what gives a preciousness to our resources in order for us to appreciate them.
Gratitude is also key to understanding The Empress, and the titular coat in “Coat of Many Colors” was made of cast off rags and her mother’s resourcefulness. Although it has no material value, but in sentimentality, is worth its weight in gold.
Speaking of resourcefulness, I love the origin story of how the song “9 to 5”, one of the greatest pro-labor, capitalism critical protest songs in all of American history, was written. Much like the dry cleaning receipt incident, it was originally composed in a fit of creativity on a set of Dolly’s own acrylic nails.
Both of these songs and their origin stories are beautiful examples of the ethos of the Empress: Work with what you got. When inspiration strikes, be the conduit of the creative force moving through you, even if it means alchemizing great pain to do so.
Thus, I choose to believe in that magical 24 hour fairy tale in which genius is said to have struck Dolly twice, and what a day that must’ve been.
As an astrologer, I have wondered many times what transits were hitting her birth chart on that mystical day. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter.
All that matters is that the power of creativity called upon Dolly Parton, and Dolly Parton endeavored to answer the call.
And the world is a much better place because of it.
This is the ethos of The Empress, and of Dolly Parton.