The Emperor Tarot Card
Astrological Sign: Aries.
Positive associations: trustworthiness, authority, achievement, consolidation, reason, protection, support, discipline, provider, willpower.
Negative associations: failed ambition, status driven, weakness, untrustworthy, immaturity, tyrannical.
The Emperor Tarot Card is a sign of honor and achievement and often in cases can represent a strong male influence. Examples of this could be a father, husband or partner and possibly even a man of significance in your life. This person male could also be an authority such as a boss or supervisor.
When he appears in a tarot reading, it may suggest that a man of authority or significance as described above will stand by you and support you. This can relate to personal as well as all business matters.
When The Emperor Tarot Card falls in position in a tarot reading which refers to you, it suggests that you will be able to influence people. It also means you have a great sense of your own authority in both your personal and professional life.
Negatively The Emperor Tarot Card can mean that either you or a male of influence in your life may be using bullying tactics. It can also translate to him being overbearing and abusing his power.
Another negative aspect of this card is insecurity around a man of authority. It can also bring out your failed ambitions and a craving for status.
Overview – The Emperor
The Emperor Tarot card is the fourth trump card or Major Arcana in a tarot deck. This is a card that is utilized to help people understand their lives as they are right now as well as what their lives are going to be like in the future. The purpose of the Emperor Tarot card is to help with seeing how one can do new things or change certain behaviors as a means of attaining enlightenment in the future.
In particular, the Emperor Tarot card is responsible for explaining a person’s authoritativeness. It can be a sign of one’s authority over different affairs in one’s life. It may also be a sign of how someone is too rigid or excessive in terms of one’s power. The card has many unique meanings with some of the them being evidenced in the physical appearance of the card itself. This is a card that needs to be explored in terms of how the person who receives the card is going to live a life that has been influenced and impacted in some special or unique type of way as it comes along throughout one’s life.
Visual Meaning
The overall look that may be found in the Emperor Tarot card is one that suggests that he is far more dominant than many others in the world. The long white beard on his face is the first symbol to explore. This suggests that he is experienced and wise. That is, he understands how the world works and knows about the consequences and issues that come around with all of the things that he has done in his life.
There are a number of mountains in the background. They symbolize the heights that one can reach if one lives life in a positive and appropriate manner.
There are also a series of ram heads around the throne that the Emperor is sitting on. The ram heads are symbolic of the sign of Aries. This is a sign in the Zodiac that is symbolic of a leader; it is a person who is willing to take charge of one’s life and do things that are important in that person’s eyes regardless of who they are going to impact in the future.
The Emperor also has an orb in his left hand. It is symbolic of the world that he is ruling over. The right hand has an Ankh, a symbol of life in Egyptian cultures. This suggests that he is someone who has full control over his world for as long as he lives.
Even the colors on the Emperor Tarot have their own special symbols. In particular the red coat that he wears is symbolic of how passionate he is when it comes to encouraging others to live mentally healthy and positive lives. The orange in the background is also symbolic of his interest in helping others and the design that he holds for having a good life.
Impacting One’s Life
The conceit that comes with the Emperor Tarot card is that it is reflective of the superego. This discusses the consideration over how the leader is one who is to be a moral figure who will only do what is correct. This is symbolic in that the superego is the figure that is going to control the id and prevent the id from doing certain things that it might want to do. The figure is going to be a little more dominating over one’s life and will not be a serious threat as it will use ethical considerations in everything it does.
However, the Emperor is also someone who is capable of holding far too much power. It is typically up to that person’s mind to figure out whether or not certain things should be done in order to influence one’s mind at large. On a related note, the Emperor is typically interpreted as a sign of stability. As the fourth Major Arcana, he is the person who is responsible for keeping the Arcanas stable. Much of this is thanks to how the number four is often interpreted in some cases as a symbol of stability. If the person is stable and strong enough then it should not be all that hard for one to have a positive and healthy life where everything that one wants to do is kept in control and can be as healthy as possible.
The positive influence that may be found in the Emperor Tarot can easily be reversed just as well. It can create a sign of dishonor and excess control in some cases. The two versions of the Emperor Tarot, its upright and reversed forms, are important forms that may be influential to the life of anyone who is receiving a tarot reading and are important for all people to explore as necessary.
Upright Meaning of the Emperor
The appearance of the Emperor Tarot card as it is upright is one that displays many key aspects of one’s life. The image of the Emperor suggests that he is someone who is going to hold more power and authority over all sorts of different functions in the lives of others. He is the fatherly figure in the entire tarot deck as his job is to oversee and protect those that he cares for. Much of this includes giving wisdom and knowledge to those who need it. The purpose is to ensure that future generations in his line are going to follow by the lessons and morals that he has promoted over the years.
The upright Emperor Tarot will be authoritative and will make sure that what it says is definite. What this means to the person who receives the Emperor Tarot is that the person is going to be in control of one’s life and will understand what must be done in life as a means of improving one’s thoughts and actions.
This may also be symbolic of a strong foundation. That is, the foundation is one that is going to be in check and will never back down no matter what it might be subjected to over an extensive period of time. If the foundation is strong then the person is not going to waver or have excess struggles to bear with. This can create a more important form of control in one’s life.
Sometimes the card will suggest that someone is going to help the person who receive the Emperor tarot card with all sorts of functions in the future by offering help and advice. In other cases the card is instead a sign of how the self will be responsible for leading others or to find a way to prepare to become a stronger leader. Either way, the positive leadership attributes that come from the Emperor Tarot will be evidence in one’s life in some day even if they are not evident at this exact moment in time.
The Reversed Emperor
There are many other meanings that may be unveiled in the Emperor Tarot if it is reversed. Specifically, the Emperor Tarot when reversed will be will be a sign of domination. That is, the Emperor appears as though he is abusing his power and is ruling with an iron fist. He is not giving others that he is supposed to rule over the freedoms that they deserve.
In some cases the dominating attributes might be coming straight from the person who receives the card. In other cases it will come not from that person but rather from an outside figure like one’s manager at work, a family member or another person who might be exerting far too much power. This can be a sign stating that one needs to either get away from that figure of power, find a way to control that domination or to even change one’s personal behaviors in order to keep from being such a threat.
There is also a sense of inflexibility that may be found in a person who is dominating the lives of others. The person who takes in this card may be someone who is too inflexible and is refusing to budge in accordance with the demands that many other people might hold. This can be a rather challenging issue for many people but it is one that must be observed as people need to fix their lives in accordance with the needs that others in their lives might hold.
Final Words
The values that come with the Emperor Tarot card are among the most important values that all can follow in their lives. The Emperor Tarot card can be symbolic of either a person’s positive authority and leadership over others or it can be representative of a person’s refusal to help others or to be far too dominating to others. Any person who receives this card will have to understand how the values that are illustrated in this card may be important to the lives of other people that one is going to be surrounded by in the future. This is especially important as it can be suggestive of one’s future leadership in a number of cases.
