Once the Fool has become acquainted with the deep nurturing and abundance of the Empress, they move into the realms of manifestation and creative impulses, the form and container of the Emperor. Moving from creative generation, the Fool now has the opportunity to manifest things more fully into form before bringing them to the level of spiritual truths found in the Hierophant. Here, the Fool encounters the concepts of structure, formats, and the work of building a firm foundation on the path.
The Emperor is a regal ruler, king of his own domain. In balanced authority, he is in sovereign control of his land, a just and fair leader who holds a firm view of those who contribute to his domain. He surveys his creations with a measuring eye, weighing the options. As the number four, the Emperor indicates the quality of foundation. Most buildings and rooms have four corners, there are four directions, four seasons, four basic elements, four suits in the tarot that correspond with our four primary bodies: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. This is the number of solidity and completion, foundational and firm. From the strength and secure base of four we can build up to our next levels of development.
In the Waite-Smith deck, the Emperor appears to be looking to the left at the Empress for guidance. Although portrayed as a fierce ruler, he is also seeking the natural world as support. He is draped in red, the color of grounding, vitality, foundation, and protection. He is clad in iron, symbolizing the forceful quality of his focus and firmly holding a staff of power and authority. The rams on his throne indicate strength, action, and initiative.
In the Crowley deck, we see a figure in red and gold looking even more firmly to the left. When you lay the Empress next to the Emperor, we clearly see the two figures gazing into one another’s eyes. They are in direct communication; one does not exist without the other, just as our own father line cannot exist without our mother line. Regardless of personal relationship, we carry the DNA from these ancestral lines in our embodied self and have an opportunity to look at how these manifest in our lives through personal relationships, health, and career.
In this image, the Emperor’s right leg is crossed over his left to form the number four, the value of foundation and structure as mentioned above. The other card that carries this imagery in the deck is the Hanged Man, the most esoteric figure of the entire deck. Although the Empress may be the Emperor’s counterpart, the Hanged Man may actually be his opposing force. Crowley’s inspiration to link the formation of the legs implies a deeper connection to the masculine energies, one active and primordial, the other of sacrifice and surrender. We all know the story of Jesus hanging on the cross as the ultimate surrender to love on the behalf of all beings. Which archetype is truly more powerful?
In the progression of seven, this card is related to our father and the deep imprints left by the main male figure in our lives who informs us as men and/or our masculine side. His presence in a reading may signify the need for discipline or to make peace with our father or inner masculinity. In the tarot and in many spiritual traditions, the feminine is often portrayed as the receptive and intuitive aspect while the masculine is the active and manifest aspect. However, we each contain different aspects of these qualities and carry within us both mother and father lines.
In a world that has been primarily ruled by a white patriarchy for thousands of years, it is important to examine this effect on our own psyche and what we carry in terms of masculine influence and likely need to clear away negative imprints and reframe our ways of acting and manifesting in the world. We are in the midst of reexamining our personal, societal, and global reflections of the systemic issues of patriarchy and questioning the dominant leader archetypes. In a rising tide of fierce grace, the sacred feminine is returning to the forefront of our human destiny. There is a call to redefine the sacred masculine alongside this feminine voice rising in the tide as a roar. We are being summoned to clear out the old ways, the outdated systems that work purely on profit at the expenditure of human life and the health of the earth.
In a balanced state, the Emperor is the part of us that extends outward to activate a just and peaceful world. In his fully aligned self, he asks us to contribute to the creation of a sovereign nation that operates from accessing our gifts and sharing them to cocreate social, economic, and political systems that seek to benefit others, not destroy. Perhaps this is idealistic, but change is gnashing at our heels and the time to take any steps we can to activate these ideals into motion is now. The Emperor is grounded in his decisions. He is the authority figure of his life and indicates the need for us to take full accountability for everything in our lives. He encourages us to ground into our own personal truths and find what resonates with social and global truths; to activate the heart and move from the foundation of justice for all.
When the Emperor appears in a reading he asks us to explore our creations, work with money, and career or job choices. Although the Emperor may feel heavy and cumbersome in comparison to the previous enchanting cards, his appearance is the necessary grounding force to materialize our dreams. It is time for the Fool to take his vision (Magician), empowered by intuition (High Priestess) and creativity (The Empress), and ground this into form. This may be taking steps to buying a new home, remodeling, starting your business or bringing it to the next level of operations, investing, or participating in more worldly matters. This certainly indicates form and matter and is further augmented by the appearance of disks or pentacles in a reading.
The Emperor is concerned with social matters such as law, marketplace, homes, and businesses. How do these affect you in your daily life? What interactions are you regularly a part of ? What is your personal domain like in your home or personal business compared to others such as working for someone, your family home, or community spaces. The appearance of the Emperor in a reading may also signify the need to set stronger boundaries and reinforce your foundations emotionally, physically, mentally, or spiritually depending on the other cards in the reading. The indication can be the importance of committing to a practice, discipline, or creative endeavor. The Emperor can remind us to pay attention to our health and physical self. Although the Emperor is not afraid of conflict, this is primarily because he is able to channel anger into clarity and even compassion. He reminds us that often anger is a protective guardian of our inner being acting as the gatekeeper to the sensitive realms of our developing psyche.
Conversely, this card may suggest being too rigid, forceful, active, or controlling in a situation. Notice in your life where you can soften and open and where you can be more firm and clear. Using the ceremony from the Four of Disks card can help you explore this further. The Emperor encourages us to take a clear look at our relationship to money and how we may or may not save for the future. Building foundation skills helps us to learn about our human path as an embodied form. Exercise, eating good foods, and nourishing our bodies are ways to feel more connected to the physicality of our existence and assist in the process of manifestation.
Essential Qualities: firm, authority, groundedness, stability, authority, masculine, father, boundaries, empire, building, land, foundation
Suggestions: Examine the following questions and do a free write from one as a prompt to explore your own connection to money. Do you have shame around money? What is your dream empire? What prevents you from dreaming big? Make a commitment for a week to discipline yourself with healthy food choices, exercise, or meditation.
Ceremony: Establishing Your Guardians
This ceremony connects directly with the unseen helpers, directions and elements, benevolent ancestors, and helpers in your tarot work. The Emperor carries protective energy and invites us to establish those energetic boundaries and guardians to assist us in our work. In this practice you will journey to your dreamtime garden established in the Empress with the intention of meeting a guide, helper, or ancestor who will specifically assist you in your tarot reading.
Set your intention to meet your helper or guide. Then, as you practiced with the Empress, play soft drumming or binaural beats, visualize descending the ten steps, and passing through the door and into your garden sanctuary. Wander around the garden until you come to a clearing. Perhaps there is a tree at the center of the clearing. Ask to meet a guide who will assist you on your tarot journey and be a protector in your work. Perhaps you see an animal, an ancestor, a colored light, or you simply sense a presence of well-being. If a guide presents itself, ask them if they have a message for you or if they can show you a way to work with them.
When you have finished, thank the guide and travel back up the ten steps into present awareness. You may journey to this realm as many times as you want to work directly with this helper. You can call them into your space as a protective guide when doing your tarot work and giving readings.
Exercise: Grounding Cord
This exercise is useful for grounding your energy field into the earth and helping to stabilize your form. We often become ungrounded through stress, overwhelming life situations, or trauma; practicing a basic grounding exercise can help us to reconnect to our body and breath awareness. And over time, grounding helps us feel more focused, clear, and present in our lives. We are naturally led to healing and connection in this way. It may be helpful to record the following visualization and play it back until you remember the steps on your own.
Sit in a cross-legged position. Keep the spine straight and focus on a few breaths. Concentrate on where you are sitting. Focus on your buttocks, legs, and feet pressing into the floor or ground beneath you. Concentrate on where you are sitting; if you wish, also focus on the root chakra and visualize a clear, bright, red cord or any clear color. Imagine the cord as a root growing downward into the floor below. Allow the cord to continue downward, into the rooms or ground below. The cord sinks further into the rock, water, and soil below, into the very core of the earth. Notice your grounding cord’s qualities: size, color, and whether it goes straight down to the core or extends in another direction. Allow the energy of the earth to intermingle with your cord, cleansing any dark or muddled spots.
Observe as the cord grows further down into the rock and soil. Notice plant roots, creatures in the soil, and the qualities of earth. Visualize the grounding cord extending downward through the water that is below the rock and through crystal and mineral ores. Continue to notice the color of the cord, if it changes or stays red. Observe any feelings that arise as you ground. Eventually tap the grounding cord into the central, fiery, molten core at the center of the earth. Acknowledge your connection between the ground of your body with the central inner ground of the earth. Keep the grounding cord in place, then slowly come back into awareness of your body. Touch the floor with your hands and open your eyes.