Let’s talk about the ultimate Tarot card of Masculinity with a capital ‘M’,  The Emperor.

‘The Emperor’ appearing in a Tarot reading signifies the current extra significance of an important man in your life, at an individual level. He’s a father, husband, employer, friend or advisor.

The Emperor stands for government, law and order, other big, hierarchical organisations. He is the Armed Forces, the Police, the Civil Service.

He is the guiding principle of protection and of the guardian at work in society and in the home. See those ram’s heads on the arms of his throne? The Emperor is associated with the sign of Aries, the fiery ram of spring. In a reading it may indicate a future event occurring at that time of year.

Image below is The Emperor from The Gilded Tarot, by kind permission of Ciro Marchetti

The Emperor in his true dignity is strength with justice, courage with reason: a defender, a chevalier, a sheltering tree, nesting birds held safely in his branches. He is firmness of order, rule with mercy, compassion for the weak. He upholds fair play, raising his shield so that those sheltering behind it do not get hurt or splattered with rubbish and  er…manure.

He will lay down his life if that is what it takes.

He has another side to him of course: war, dictatorship, tyranny, petty officialdom, overbearing bureaucracy. The card may alternatively signify absence of structure and leadership. A bully. The Emperor Reversed is War.

But greetings are due to The Emperor at the top of his game –  best friend to woman-kind; those men that we love, and what we love best in men, the sons of Adam. Red earth.

Let your Emperor wear his crown and ermine every now and then.

You may be an Empress, and you can always wear yours too.

A lion can go solo but he does better in a pride. He needs lionesses.

Greetings to the Tarot’s beloved Emperor.

Until next time 🙂