…has not been put away since the 3rd October, when he was drawn for my altar. Sometimes I do that with cards and I can´t exactly explain why. I´st just a the feeling from the card that it has not finished with me, or, I haven´t done my homework on it. I´m a great believer these days, that if I work with the energy that is presented to me in the moment, then I will use it to best effect. So, when I really registered the energy of the Emperor card beside my bed this morning, then later tripped into Dea Animi´s excellent post on The Current Moon in Aries, I was therefore not very surprised to see the Moon in Aries sign on my little Lunabar desktop almanac. Moon in Aries = Emperor: I knew today that I must work with it.
I am still trying to get to grips with this astrology thingy and combining it with tarot, whilst it makes perfect sense for adding another layer of depth to the subject, it increases the complexity hand-in-hand. In this case though, the Cosmic Tribe Emperor gives his Aries roots away with his two ram guardians, one on either side of his shoulder.
It had been my idea to pop the CT Emperor on the screen now, so you could all get an eyeful of him in his full glory ;-} However, I am sat outside in the glorious sunshine of autumn and so I can´t scan him in at the moment. Instead, I will attempt to describe the card, as if to someone who has never seen it before – first impression style. The exercise will do me good!
I´ll start at the top of the card with the solar symbol above the Emperor´s head; so this is a Sun King.
The background of the card is brick red; first of all, this says “passion” to me. He is passionate about what he does. On a personal note, this also jogs me about the brochure changes I have to finish for my daughter-in-law´s hair business, Passion Salon.
The Emperor is sat in a room, with a gold-framed door behind him, to his left. He is looking away from the direction of the door; not looking for a quick exit then. He is seated and ready for anything.
Under his feet is a carpet of yellowish grass. It is ankle-deep, yet the colour belies that this is arid territory. The Emperor rules over a land of fire, “doing”, energy; as opposed to his Empress, who rules over fertile land, with watery, “feeling”, energy.
His solid, carved, wooden throne, with the rams-heads that I have already described, reminds me of a piece of heavy, Victorian furniture, like an old piano, or a commode chair. This shows that the Emperor is solidly in this world, despite only keeping one foot on the ground.
I´ve just seen another significance to the golden door behind him. This is the portal to the material world, the world we move about in physically, touch, feel and interact with. Below the throne is a different portal: to the Underworld we might call it; or the world without form and physicality; the void of all potential; or again, it could be the Emperor´s Shadow, caught in the glare of the sun. Reaching up from the void is an outstretched hand, that makes ripples in the nothingness. Against the hand (rather than in the hand) is a green ball, that glows yellow and has an eye looking out from its´ centre. This is a strange one: the CT deck frequently uses eyes as symbolism of the Cosmic Eye looking out at us (from us?!?). This makes me think of The Prisoner TV series; “Who is Number One?” Well, it turns out to be him in the end: and does he survive his madness when he discovers this fact at the end of the series? You will have to watch it and decide for yourself.
On his head he wears a red and golden crown; symbol of his power, his authority to rule.
Our man grasps an elaborate, golden sceptre in his right hand, his thumb pressed over the top and his forearm sinews stretched; shows me that his grasps on this potent symbol of his imperial authority, is absolute.
His left hand toys relaxedly with a grapefruit-sized orb, silver coloured with a golden band at the top. The thing is, he is not holding the orb, but levitating it about five centimetres above his palm! He is looking away from this activity, so there is no question of his mental focus being maintained on it through his eyes; no he is using his intuition. Yes, our Emperor knows what exercises he must do to strengthen and balance his intuitive, female side, against his dominant, rational, male side.
Hmmm, is this guy perfect? Well, the way he looks, he is certainly all male! If you are not familiar with the Cosmic Tribe deck, I will warn you now, all the Courts and Majors, plus some of the minors, are nude, very “in your face” nude. I like them a lot but I equally expect that some of you may loathe them. The Emperor is the worst offender of all! Due to his pose, his genitals are in the centre of the card and yes, I do believe that this is significant but I don´t intend to go into it in any more detail – draw your own conclusions!
I must say something about the Emperor´s posture. He is looking over his right shoulder and the lwb jokes that he could be looking with some irritation or envy at the chaotic beauty that is created by his wife, the Empress. I couldn´t say about that, but I do know that I´ve read somewhere (possibly the Pollack´s “78 Degrees of Wisdom” that I appear to have leant someone!), that his legs and body position form the alchemical symbol for Jupiter. My little book of Cornish Witchcraft has the following to say about working with Jupiter: positions of power, leadership, improving social standing, achieving recognition, reward, honour, responsibility, wealth, business success, expansion and legal matters. These tags could be written into a fairly accurate job description for the role of Emperor.
I found a great thread about this Emperor at Aeclectic Tarot Forum. If you glance down through the page, you will discover some finer points that I had overlooked, plus some different perspectives on the subject.
On a finishing note about this particular card, I note that the whole picture is surrounded by a silver picture frame. The thought amuses me that this card is actually the bedside picture of the Empress :D However, I actually think it represents the four sides of a rectangle i.e. a symbol for the material world, of physicality again, what is solid and can be felt. After all, he is the Four!
