Learning to Read the Emperor
This series on the major arcana presents some ways that I like to think about each of the majors with the hope that it helps you learn more about or think differently about these cards. In each of these posts, I provide an overview of how I read the relevant major arcanum through a few different lenses: with keywords; in the context of other majors; and through visuals. You can read more about the premise behind this structure in the introductory post on the “Learning to Read the Major Arcana” series.
These may represent just a small sample of what I might consider when I see a major arcanum, but they are still quite deep takes, so they can be a lot to take in all at once. Don’t be afraid to skip around and come back to it paragraph by paragraph as needed.
Keywords
As a reminder, these keywords are examples and not exhaustive of all possible meanings of the Emperor. Remember to take what works for you and question what doesn’t. I’ve tried to arrange these keywords by broad concept to help organize them and make them easier to learn.
Control, Structure, Organization
Power, Authority, Leadership, Government
Production, Construction, Artificial development
Fatherhood, Patriarchy, Domination
Virility, Warrior, Material masculine
Aries, Fire
In Context
As with the previous posts in this series, it makes the most sense to continue this Fool’s Journey into understanding the major arcana by looking behind to the Empress and ahead to the Hierophant. As with the Empress, we can see a balance between these cards with the nurturing parental and partnering energy from the Empress and the organizational, bureaucratic energy from the Hierophant.
The Emperor complements the Empress not just in terms of being on the opposite end of the material gender binary or in terms of heterosexual pairing, but as partners, parents, and co-rulers. While in the real world there is typically one monarch (hence the mono–) and a lesser consort, in the archetypes we can see these two figures as ruling side by side, working in tandem to create something that neither one can quite do alone. Whereas the Empress is creation and the chaos that allows for creation, the Emperor structures and organizes in order to produce something that lasts beyond the initial creative impulse. The Empress is nature, while the Emperor is more like a garden or farm. His creation is arguably more useful to modern needs, but it is really just a fine-tuning of the Empress’s bounty, and he is nothing without her (even if he sometimes gets all the credit for working with what’s “freely given” and thus taken for granted). This potential imbalance of perception can be exacerbated by seeing them through the lens of gender because of their titles, and the source of masculine power and virility definitely can be found in this card. But the Emperor doesn’t have to represent a man anymore than the Empress has to represent a woman. The Emperor, the tarot card that represents Aries, is the initiating force to act and do something with what they have in a head-first, purposeful way.
Because those are also the attributes needed for what we often call leadership, it’s helpful to look at the Hierophant for contrast. The Hierophant is also a leader, but his authority comes from knowledge and tradition. The Emperor, again like Aries, is an initiatory leader who derives power from force, among other things. You don’t usually have the option of whether you want to follow an Emperor, whereas you can choose to follow the Hierophant. When thinking about power, there are different forms, but we can see a distinction between these two with their access to coercive (and reward) power and persuasive (referent and expert) power. The Emperor, with his warrior mentality that conquers chaos and corrals the natural world, relies on coercive authority to create the world he wants. The Hierophant relies on hegemony to maintain his authority. The Emperor is the punitive father of the material realm and of older forms of rulership (and religion), controlling life and limb, whereas the Hierophant is the spiritual and mental father, capable of controlling the mind and soul. Compare the pairing of Emperor and Empress with the pairing of High Priestess and Hierophant. The Emperor creates a structure that can last, but he’s Aries, so he’s not going to carry it forward the way that the Taurean Hierophant will.
After looking at the Emperor’s neighbors, we can turn to his numerical associations, Death (13) and, in some numberings, the Fool (“22”), the cards that boil down to the Emperor’s number, 4. Because the card numbered 14, Temperance/Art (also a “4” of sorts), is tied to Sagittarius, I’ll talk about that card as another of the fire signs below.
In these two cards, we have endings and beginnings, literal (and symbolic) death and symbolic birth. Death is the ultimate source of controlling power. It is the ultimate emperor and warrior. There is no overcoming Death’s power or capacity to restrict our lives. We all die eventually. Death, at least in physical terms, is final, as is the Emperor’s law. Both Aries and Scorpio (Death’s astrological correspondence) are ruled by Mars, and they possess that violent energy. Yes, they both can make new things happen, but we can’t pretend that the Emperor and Death don’t wield unilateral power against which it is practically impossible to fight. When turned against you, Mars’s sword is devastating. It’s why the Tower is such a powerful card. There’s a lot of fear there as well, and some of that is rational. But some of it is just fear of the unknown. What comes next? The Emperor will keep building.
Just as the transition from the World back to the Fool shows, every ending is a new beginning. I see the influence of the Fool’s energy as a reminder of the cardinal nature of Aries (and thus the Emperor): the Emperor starts things. Yes, he needs what the Empress has created in terms of raw resources, but then he puts it into action. Just like the Fool, there’s a willingness to dive into new adventure. But unlike the Fool, the Emperor with the stabilizing energy of 4 needs some control, some boundaries. Rather than take a leap of faith as the Fool does, the Emperor takes calculated risks. An important distinction between the two is that the Emperor is experienced, and he has his battle scars, whereas the Fool is a childlike innocent who doesn’t yet know better than to trust blindly.
Shifting from numerology to elemental and astrological correspondences, we can start with the fiery Tower card, which can represent Mars in the major arcana, Aries’s ruling sign. As mentioned above, the sword of Mars is devastating, and it reinforces the Emperor’s connection to Death and control. The story of the Tower also provides a dark “Father knows best” moral, one that is often couched in masculine terms of construction. The Tower destroys what is weak and leaves only the strong foundation. Construction and building are the beneficial aspects of Mars, and in physical terms, a building needs a strong, hard foundation. The phallic nature of the Tower helps also emphasize the sexual virility of the Emperor: rigid and upright when functioning properly. It is only the weak and faulty tower that collapses. Here again we see the importance of proper order, organization, and structure (not to mention the literal artificial construction that complements the Empress). The Tower collapses because it didn’t have an emperor-architect at the helm.
Astrologically, we also have the fire signs of Leo, represented by Strength (or Fortitude) / Lust, and Sagittarius, represented by Temperance / Art. The fire of the warrior Emperor, who is ready to lead and excite into action, can be easy to overlook when we don’t think of the elemental and astrological ties. When the Emperor appears as an old man, it’s easy to miss the arms and armor that he may still be able to wield. Whatever his age, the vitality of the Emperor (sometimes coded as his virility) can be seen in Lust and some interpretations of Strength. But whether the maiden of the card becomes one with the beast (Lust) or he fights against it (Strength or Fortitude), that force and control remains. An interesting contrast of course comes from the maiden of the Strength who is more persuasive, gentle, and patient than the Emperor. But Leo is the fixed sign, so that kind of distant vision and willingness to endure is a contrast to cardinal Aries, embedded in their astrological associations.
Temperance or Art, of course, is also patient and often gentle, but the energy of the angel or alchemist is less about control and more about working with existing resources to create something new. As the Emperor uses the Empress’s natural resources to create cities, Temperance or Art works with raw elements to create new unions that share the best of both, as in the alchemy simply labeled “Art.” Temperance/Art and Strength/Lust are usually much more feminine or at least androgynous archetypal figures, however, so they provide a useful example of how the active energy of fire can be applied in ways that are not necessarily male or masculine in form.
Last, we may also want to consider Judgement / Aeon as the card representing elemental fire, and then the Sun and the Wheel of Fortune, which are associated with the fiery planets of the Sun and Jupiter. When we think of Judgement as the Final Judgement in which souls are literally judged as deserving of eternal life or eternal damnation, we see one form of the Emperor, the ultimate decider of fates handing down eternal reward or eternal punishment. As with Death, there is no getting around that Judgement. But if we see it as an awakening or revelation or the passionate rebirth of the Aeon, we get a very different lens into the Emperor, one in which passion and inspiration are the source of heartfelt leadership. The Emperor gets a bad rap for many reasons, a good number of which stem from what could be deep shadows, but he is the ultimate King of Wands, an inspiring leader who, whatever his failings, can get others to work hard for something meaningful. That comes from the passion of Fire and the strange esoteric confluence of Fire and Spirit. When we experience spirit-driven leadership, it’s going to be inspiring and stir new passions within us.
Although often depicted with children, the Sun can be tied to fatherhood since it is the father of the solar system. When seen through the light and joy of the Sun card, the father seems less domineering or bullying, like Mars, and more like the fun dad. The Emperor, although often depicted as a stern old man, can still have fun (also seen through the Fool). It’s just not a characteristic that we typically associate with the Emperor or his form of fatherhood. The Wheel of Fortune, seen through the fiery father of the gods Jupiter, is all about control, what we can make for ourselves and of what we are at the mercy. While the Sun may offer a new form of fatherhood, the Wheel brings us back to the controlling father who punishes or rewards. Of course, we also get that warrior spirit of the entrepreneur and go-getter Aries who is willing to take what life throws at him and climb his way to the top of the mountain.
Visuals
For interpreting the visuals, I chose one of my favorite images of the Emperor, the one in the Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris. (You can read my interview with that deck here.)
As with most cards in many Thoth-inspired decks, there are layers of occult symbols built into the imagery of the archetype. Astrology, alchemy, ritual magic, and mythology are all there waiting to be unearthed, and you can find entire books written about them. But there are many cards, such as the Emperor, which can be appreciated on the surface for their rich and meaningful visuals. I should note that this Emperor is not the one that I first fell in love with—that would be the Emperor in the Fountain Tarot, which showed me that the Emperor can be sexy—but he does have a lot going for him.
First and foremost, this card is very red. The major arcana and their associations have distinct color palettes in the Thoth Tarot, and the Emperor is pretty much anything that looks like it’s on fire. There is nowhere for the eye to rest, there’s so much red. That’s part of the power of the Emperor and his associations with the cardinal fire sign of Aries, which is shown on the card as a glyph next to the card title. He is active energy and the power to push ahead without regard for whether you’re ready or need a break. It’s a violent energy, but it’s also exciting and energizing. This is a brighter and more vibrant red than the color of blood, and so the violence that could be associated with red is more about passion.
In addition to the red, there’s a lot of yellow or gold, which speaks to the royal status of the emperor and of the Sun, which is exalted in Aries. (This solar feel is reinforced by the actual starbursts and light bursts symbolized in the card.) If you’re unfamiliar with the depths of astrology, then that last part of the sentence may mean nothing specific to you. But the Sun functions well when it’s in Aries because the Sun is forthright and straightforward and very invested in the individual, much like Aries. Similarly, the Emperor is direct and ready for action. The day begins with the sunrise, and this card visualizes some of that same initiatory energy to do and to act. Yes, we might wake up in the dark, but by the time we’re ready to go, most of us find that our efforts are helped by the fact that the sun is shining.
Beyond just the colors, however, we have a set of important symbols. The first are the ram’s heads rising up behind the Emperor. These are also indicative of Aries, but they have value on their own as signs of willfulness and a desire to charge ahead, often straight into battle. Rams with their large horns are also demonstrably male and thus representative of the masculine and sometimes even phallic force of the Emperor. That said, we also have a lamb in the bottom right corner of the card. The lamb is the domesticated form of the wild and potentially dangerous ram, just like the paving stones are the domesticated form of the ram’s mountains. That’s a small but important detail because the Emperor takes natural resources, such as rams, and transforms them more productive in a societal context, such as lambs. So while the rams suggest the potent virility of the Emperor, the lamb reminds us that he isn’t a wild man, however much passion may be boiling up inside. With its flag and halo, the lamb is also giving off strong Jesus vibes, which suggests an inspiring leader willing to humble and sacrifice himself.
The Emperor wields the symbols of sovereignty and dominion (the orb and scepter) as expected of an official ruler, but he isn’t overtly a warrior or even especially masculine as in some other decks. He is well-muscled and angular, to be sure, but he is dressed in a velvet robe of sorts, almost like a tunic or skirt, and his legs are bared. His feet rest in slippers, not marching boots. There is a bit of the aesthete about him with his manicured facial hair (a chin strap) and embroidered attire. Even the bees adorning his clothes recall a touch of femininity through the Empress and her bees. Like her, he also has a shield, positioning him as another defender and protector, but he has no sword or armor with which to wage war. Although the card can symbolize violence in a reading, this Emperor will not be fighting wars. Instead, he will need to encourage others to fight on his behalf until the time when he must finally sacrifice himself like the lamb. Some of the negative associations with power and distanced leadership can also be found through this, and it’s worth noting the bad along with the good here. This Emperor looks ceremonial, as though he isn’t about to do his own dirty work, and that is certainly part of patriarchy. There’s a performativity in this card that isn’t in all depictions of the Emperor, and it’s worth interrogating how much confidence and presence can affect perceived authority. For all we know, the Emperor is just a figurehead, and the real power resides elsewhere.
The red and gold, as well as the twin eagles, and the Emperor’s awkward physical posture, all point back to “masculine” components of alchemy, but those aren’t things that most of us care about, so just know that, if you want to, you can find those things in some tarot cards as well.
Did you learn something?
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