Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
I patently do not feel like I have much in common with The Emperor right now. I am stuck in London, on my way back from South Africa, after the UK became snowbound and ground to a halt the middle of last week. Mercury is playing havoc with my Internet connection. I am out of routine, discombobulated and disgruntled. Okay — so maybe my facial expression is the same as The Emperor’s (even though it probably reflects a different state of mind). Perhaps that is what we have in common; and perhaps the rest is what I am being asked to aspire to.
The Emperor — the fourth card in the major arcana — sits in state on his stone throne. He reminds me of The Hierophant (card five in the major arcana), but in many ways he is the polar opposite. While The Hierophant is the earthly representative of the spiritual world, The Emperor holds sway over the secular. Where The Hierophant ensures that spiritual laws are enforced and adhered to, The Emperor operates in the realm of Bills, Acts, treaties, money, war and taxes.
The Emperor wears red robes, much like The Hierophant, but that is where the similarity stops. For here, there are no crosses embroidered on his clothing, but rather some form of a coat of arms on his left shoulder. Instead of soft, white shoes, his feet and lower legs are sheathed in armour. There is a hardness to The Emperor that is not apparent in his major arcana neighbour.
His arms set against the arms of his throne, The Emperor looks as if he is leaning slightly forward. This, combined with the armour that he wears under the regal trappings of robes and gold crown, sceptre and globe, gives me the distinct impression that he is always at the ready: that at a moment’s notice, he can spring into action if the circumstances demand it. He is a ruler both on and off the battle field. Not all disagreements brought to him can be settled amicably and within the rule of law. There is, in other words, a time for negotiation. And there is a time to fight.
What I also find interesting is that the face of The Emperor is so much more filled in than that of The Hierophant, whose physical appearance is secondary to his symbolic power as divine intercessor. The Emperor has deep-set and expressive eyes, ruddy cheeks, a hint of an aquiline nose, red mouth, and long, white beard. He is fully physically present, imperfections and all. There is a stubborn resolve in the set of his jaw, as if he has had to steel his psyche, as well as his body, against frequent attacks on his authority.