"The Emperor rules primarily by Logos and thinking; the Empress is chiefly concerned with Eros and feeling. For the Emperor, objective fact is honest truth. In his world, to conceal an important fact would be reprehensible.
"One of the specific uses of Tarot number four is to help us to become awa4re of the kind to Emperor, symbolically speaking, who influences our culture and our own personal lives. Is he relaxed, energetic, imaginative? Or is he rigid, disenchanted, unreceptive?
"The Emperor is the result of all that has gone before, yet at the same time he is the seed for an entirely new growth."
"Nothing can resist a firm will which has for a lever the knowledge of the true and just. To combat in order to secure its realization is more than right; it is a duty."
"In whatsoever object thou perceivest,
Know me as the Essence,
As the Idea,
And as the Interior Nature.
Because of this the wise come easily to me
By many paths,
Yet in truth these different roads
Are but a single Way.
"If thou canst penetrate into the nature
Of the simples thing,
There thou shalt find me."
We often give our power to things and to people who seem formidable and substantial. Occasionally we are blessed to find the truth in what we are doing, and then we understand true power. The truth acts like a magnet and both attracts and repels. It attracts those who desire to be in the truth, and repels those who seek to manipulate and control through falsehood. And there is no power greater than the power of love.
Sources
Zain, C. C., The Sacred Tarot. Los Angeles, The Church of
Light, 1936.
Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot:
An Archetypal Journey. York Beach, Maine, Samuel Weiser, 1980.
Case, Paul Foster, The Book of Tokens: 22 Meditations on the Ageless Wisdom. Los Angeles, Builder of the Adytum, 1968. Quoted with permission from Builders of the Adytum, 5101 North Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA. 90042; http://www.bota.org/. Permission to use Builders of the Adytum images in no way constitutes endorsement of the material on this site.
De Angelis, Roberto, Universal Tarot Deck. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2003. Lo Scarabeo has graciously granted permission for the use of the Tarot images on this site. Copying the images without their permission wuld be a violation of copyright law.
