He has a form of the Crux ansata for his sceptre and a globe in his left hand. He is a crowned monarch--commanding, stately, seated on a throne, the arms of which are fronted by rams' heads. He is executive and realization, the power of this world, here clothed with the highest of its natural attributes. He is occasionally represented as seated on a cubic stone, which, however, confuses some of the issues. He is the virile power, to which the Empress responds, and in this sense is he who seeks to remove the Veil of Isis; yet she remains virgo intacta. It should be understood that this card and that of the Empress do not precisely represent the condition of married life, though this state is implied. On the surface, as I have indicated, they stand for mundane royalty, uplifted on the seats of the might; but above this there is the suggestion of another presence. They signify also-- and the male figure especially--the higher kingship, occupying the intellectual throne. Hereof is the lordship of thought rather than of the animal world. Both personalities after their own manner, are "full of strange experience," but theirs is not consciously the wisdom which draws from a higher world. The Emperor has been described as (a) will in its embodied form, but his is only one of its applications, and (b) as an expression of the virtualities contained in the Absolute Being--but this is fantasy. --A.E. Waite

... for the ram, by nature, is a wild and courageous animal, lonely in lonely places, whereas when tamed and made to lie down in green pastures, nothing is left but the docile, cowardly, gregarious and succulent beast. This is the theory of government.

His authority is derived from Chokmah, the creative Wisdom, the Word, and is exerted upon Tiphareth, the organized man.--Aleister Crowley

The Emperor represents structure, order and regulation - forces to balance the free-flowing, lavish abundance of the Empress. He advocates a four-square world where trains are on time, games are played by rules, and commanding officers are respected. In chaotic situations, the Emperor can indicate the need for organization. Loose ends should be tied up, and wayward elements, harnessed. In situations that are already over-controlled, he suggests the confining effect of those constraints.

The Emperor can represent an encounter with authority or the assumption of power and control. As the regulator, he is often associated with legal matters, disciplinary actions, and officialdom in all its forms. He can also stand for an individual father or archetypal Father in his role as guide, protector and provider.--Joan Bunning

The Emperor is . . . the energetic force who organizes, governs, and directs. . . . [T]he Emperor understands that in order to live he must control his own destructive instincts. He is, after all, logic personified. Jung refers to the archetypal father figure as the animus, opinionated and aggressive. The Emperor has evolved from hunter-gatherer to protector, creator of organized, civilized life, shaper of his world to ensure survival, order, and prosperity. Working together, the Empress and Emperor keep each other's archetypes in a system of checks and balances. The Emperor organizes the wild abundancy of the Empress's Mother Nature, and the Empress tempers the rigidity and warrior qualities of the Emperor.--Susan Hansson

Chief

IMHO

The Vision

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