The Emperor
a.k.a. Son of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty
Card Number: Four
Rulership: Aries
Hebrew Letter: Heh
Translation: Window
The Emperor's path lies between Chokmah (wisdom) and Tipareth (beauty). He is the Father of Creation, and is the second arcana to span the Abyss (the gulf that lies between the Supernal Triangle, and the remaining seven sephira below)--the High Priestess was the first. From this we can derive the necessity of ordering the things which the Empress has birthed. After all, a sense of order is manifest through wisdom, and can be perceived as beautiful. The Emperor's primary concern, then, is the order of creation, and authority over material reality.
Note: in more modern systems of the tree, the Emperor finds his placement lower on the tree, between Netsach (victory) and Yesod (foundation). This results from Crowley's work, and also appears to fit the sprit of the Emperor card. This tells us a fine tale about how the Qabala is not a fixed system, and is open to re-interpretation as we progress. When initially learning the Tree and its connection with the Tarot, it is best for us to stick with one or another interpretations until we have a handle on it, then we can go about deciding what goes where and why from our own personal experiences.
The number four: Elements; Jupiter; Chesed. Egyptian nebet. The Earth. Number of physical reality, completing the foundation of things. Practicality. The authority to be. Command. Mercy.
Note: according to Black Elk (the Lakota shaman), "there is no power in a square." Of course, their system is based on circles and cycles, without much (to my knowledge) attention to numerology! As well, this comment was spoken after white men had gathered them up, took them away from their circular tee-pees and put them into western style (think: box) homes on reserves.
Aries: The Ram, first sign of the Zodiac and all beginnings. Sign of Spring, freedom, leadership, and the emblem of the initiator in all things. The Ram/Emperor is the head of the world, the mansion of the exaltation of the Sun (of course, thus related to the number one--primal fire, aleph, and the starting point).
Note: As we progress through the arcana it will become more and more apparent how there is an interpenetrating continuity to their apparent discreteness. This appears to reinforce the idea that dualities and dichotomies are illusory manifestations of singularity.
The letter Heh: Everything that vitalizes; i.e., the air, life, being. The symbol of universal life, and represents the breath of the human (but perhaps it would be better to think of this as the breath of any living thing?), the spirit and the soul. Everything that vivifies. Life and the abstract idea of being.
Numerically Heh is H + H (Heh and Heh--who says that order is not unlike a cosmic joke?), and this is 5 + 5 = 10 or 1.
Again, we will see ten in the Wheel.
For 1, please see the Magician.
In Readings:
Dignified: Governmental and corporate identities. Temporal power. Authority. Leadership. Willpower. Self-control acquired through experience. Powerful individual's or entities.
Reversed: A dislike of authority (corporate, gov't, or parental). An inability to deal well with authority and its figure-heads, &/or a contempt for order of this kind. An inability to command one's self or others. Loss or lack of ambition. Immaturity. An unhealthy tie to a parent or parental figure; that is, a bondage (as opposed to a bond).
Mythological links: Athena as protectress of the state. Minerva as goddess of war. Mentu as god of war. Tyr as god of courage, valour, and honour in war. Mars as god of war. (hmm...friendly fellow this Emperor, no?)
Metaphysical Musings: Again, a fairly straight forward archetype. The Emperor is authority, command, dominance, leadership, etc.--all those traits that the Father of Creation requires to guide and maintain a material reality. He is the structure that must result from the plethora of things birthed by the Empress, "a place for everything and everything in its place" and so on. Without the ordering power invested in him, even with the Empress' ability to sustain things will only go so far.
Note that through the numerology we get a connection to both the High Priestess and the Magician. The former being the bearer (and concealer) of the Law, and the latter being the power from which things are set in motion--the conscious counterpart to subconscious power and process. The Emperor, in that he spans the abyss, takes these divine qualities stemming from Kether, and puts an ephemeral spin upon them, thus giving vitality to them and the possibility for existence in a transitory physical realm. Without such an order (after all time is also related to the number four--the fourth dimension) there could be no sense to our experiences; which is to say, there could be no "us" to experience. In this respect, he is somewhat of a deceiver due to the fact that he assists in disguising the eternal divinity of Self in bits of matter manifest by colluding waves. However, from the perspective of us humans, we owe our existence to the farce of such an order.
It is also important to note that sombunal authority appears as nothing more than an unjustifiable assumption that comes to be accepted (thus giving power to it) by those who are less assertive and more sheepish. |
