I’ve just watched the coronation of King Charles the Third of the United Kingdom (May 6 2023). Quite a spectacle, with all that colour and gold and uniforms. The UK certainly knows how to put on a great pageant.
But underneath all the pomp and circumstance, the ritual and the music, is the core meaning of what it means to be leader – a leader of yourself, and a leader of others. It’s about serving others.
Yet for many years I wasn’t a fan of the Emperor card. To me it represented all of what I wanted to rebel against – the patriarchy, the establishment, discipline, following orders, boredom and repression. The world of the father.
My reaction was understandable as I had a rather brutal father, who was a firm believer in the saying; 'Spare the rod and spoil the child'. I was also sent to a strict boarding school, so by the time I left at 17 I’d had enough of other people’s discipline and ideas being imposed upon me, sometimes by brute force.
Now that I’m 67 I appreciate the Emperor far more, because the ideas it represents are essential for society to function. The Emperor is responsible for bringing order and justice to the many complications of human relations. Even simple things like timetables – without them how could you run a school or an airline.
Without agreed upon standards and rules society disintegrates into warring factions. The Emperor represents good government. Anyone who questions whether we need government can visit Myanmar and see what happens when there is no agreed government. It becomes rule by force.
And without his or her qualities of self-discipline, strategy, organisation, and leadership ideas are not manifested, and chaos can reign. I say her, because although the Emperor is a male title and shown as male in most decks, the qualities are not gender specific.
At the personal level it’s about managing ourselves so that we function at our best. And it’s about providing leadership to others, at work or at home, encouraging them, helping them to grow, mentoring them, having difficult conversations all so they can function at their best. Being a good parent or boss.
What came out in the coronation is that the King is not so much to be served, as to serve. The anointing of the King, the most sacred part of the ceremony, dates back to the bible, where the Prophet Samuel anointed Saul, as the first King of Israel, to show that he been chosen by God to rule. (1 Samuel Chapter 10 Verse 1.)
In the ancient understanding of the Emperor, the King, they represent the will of God on earth. Yet as the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his sermon: “The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, was anointed not to be served, but to serve. He creates the unchangeable law of good authority that with the privilege of power comes the duty to serve. “Service is love in action. We see active love in our care for the most vulnerable, the way we nurture and encourage the young, in the conservation of the natural world. We have seen those priorities in the life of duty lived by our King.”
The Emperor protects his or her subjects. It teaches us self-discipline and using your knowledge and experience to serve others, which after all is what work is about. It represents structure, organisation, discipline and authority, the boss, the father. This may not be the biological father or a man, and this is a role we all play at some point, even if it’s just in our own inner world.
In one of the other decks I use for readings, the Osho Zen Tarot, it’s called the Rebel, instead of the Emperor.
In the highest form of the Emperor or Rebel card, it’s about learning to become your own authority in your own life, and not accepting the repressive conditioning we all go through in society. So, it’s setting your own rules so you can live in accordance with your own true nature.
True authority is not about force or violence. It’s about being able to choose our actions or reactions with intention and care, even when you may feel frightened and powerless. It’s about taking responsibility so you can create positive change in your life, and perhaps in the lives of those around you.
A great affirmation for the Emperor card is: “I am the master of my own life.”
At a more prosaic level when the Emperor emerges in Tarot reading there are a number of possibilities. It can often signify the person’s father. It may represent a leader/boss/manager in their life or authority of some kind. I often find it comes up for me when I need more self-discipline, something that doesn’t come easy to me.
It’s a card calling for action and using the mind rather than the head. Being stubborn and persistent can pay off. The Emperor is associated with Aires and like that astrological sign there is a directness with this energy. Just do it.
The shadow side of this card is why I didn’t warm to it initially. Not everyone in authority is looking to serve. Many are just out for themselves. So, it can represent tyranny, a tyrant, rigidity or chaos. And many of us don’t have good relationships with the father – who may be absent or difficult and overbearing.
Some good questions with card – what is your relationship with authority? Where do you find safety and protection? Who or what does this card bring up for you? Are you calling the shots in your life? How disciplined are you? When do you feel powerful? What is your relationship with your father like?
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