Spolia Tarot - artwork by Jen May,design by Tara Romeo
"While the Empress creates through fecundity, the Emperor creates through control. He needs order and structure. He has his empire, and he makes sure that it runs as expected." - Jessa Crispin
Emperor, is from Old French empereor, from Latin imperatorum(nominative imperator) "commander, emperor," from imperare meaning "to command".
The Emperor represents such concepts as stability, structure, authority, control, discipline, father-figure, focus, and logic. It is the forth trump (IV) of the Major Arcana. Fours are about stability. They build, like the tetriminos in the game of Tetris.
The Seven Tetriminos - Tetris
In Greek tetras has the meaning "group of four, number four." The Greek word is said to be from PIE root *kwetwer- "four".
When a person is given quarter, they are given a place to stay [perhaps even a solid structure with four corners]. When a person is drawn and quartered they are cut apart. The solid structure is rent asunder.
Vitruvian Man - Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1490
The one who commands can have a serious air. But being entrusted with the wellbeing of others is a weighty responsibility when taken seriously. There is a "the first will be last, and the last will be first" moral obligation to being in charge, like the commander of a ship who must insure everyone's safety before their own.
Commander is from Old French commandare"to order, enjoin, entrust," from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare "to recommend, entrust to." When something is entrusted to another, it is said to be in their hands. A good commander[com + mandare (lit. "give to the hand")] has things well in hand(Latin manus).
Tarot de Marsille
Stability, Dominance, Power, Responsibility, Rationalism, Support, Government, Leadership, Order
The Emperor is shown with a scepter in his hand as a symbol of his sovereign power and authority. This symbolic nature of the staff can be found from the earliest periods of civilization, in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The gods and rulers are often depicted holding some kind of scepter or staff. This tradition can be found in Ancient Greece and into Roman times as well.
(1.)Stone Stele of Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, from Nimrud, Northermn Iraq c. 883-859 BCE, The British Museum (2.)The god Osiris holding crook and flail scepters, detail of a frieze on a wall in tomb of Nefertari c. 1295-1255 BCE (3.) The god Hades holdingbird headed staff, Apulian Red Figure, Amphora, attributed to the Patera Painter c. 340-330 BCE, British Museum (4.)Statue of Jupiter in the Hermitage, 1st century CE, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Damuzid / Damuzi / Tammuz (equated with Greek Adōnis, from Phoenician don "lord," probably originally "ruler," from base a-d-n "to judge, rule"OE) was a Sumerian fertility/agricultural god,
known as "Dumuzi sipad, 'Dumuzi the Shepherd' [NWE]," who was consort to the goddess Innana / Ishtar.
In addition to being the god of shepherds, Damuzid was also an agricultural deity associated with the growth of plants. Ancient Eastern peoples associated Damuzid with the springtime, when the land was fertile and abundant, but, during the summer months, when the land way dry and barren, it was thought that Dumuzid had "died". During the month of Damuzid, which fell in the middle of summer, people all across Sumer would mourn over his death. Damuzid-worship, wikipedia
An emperor, the ruler/lord(adon), is like a shepherd who protects his flocks. The job comes not only with great authority, but with immense and weighty responsibility as well.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. John 10:10-11, BSB
The sun is a kind of shepherd of the earth and has been personified and worshiped throughout human history. The sun is lord of the day and year. The path of the sun is marked and celebrated throughout the course of the year with the quarter and cross quarter days.
Winter solstice, December 21st in the northern hemisphere, is one quarter marker of the year and marks the darkest day of the year, that is the shortest daylight hours and longest night, but, by this very fact, it also heralds the returning of the light(lengthening of the days) at the same time. December 25th marks the day the sun is "reborn" after its (sol's) + stice "stand still". The opposite occurs at the summer solstice, when the god representing the sun is cut down at the hight of his strength, like Tammuz who was found dressed in rich clothing and sitting on the throne, instead of mourning his wife Inanna, so he was chosen to take her place in the underworld.
They followed her to the great apple tree in the plain of Kulaba. There was Damuzid clothed in a magnificent garment and seated magnificently on a throne. The demons seized him there by his thighs. The seven of them poured the milk from his churns. The seven of them shook their heads like ....... They would not let the shepherd play the pipe and flute before her (?). Innana's Decent to the nether world
Then begins the six month journey, and fall, into the underworld until winter solstice, the returning of the light, and the cycle of life(growth), death(harvest), rebirth(planting) continues. The Sun and Earth are in a delicate balance to create this ongoing fertile and abundant process of life together. It is a marriage; the Emperor and Empress. The Emperor(sun) creates and maintains a place/space which allows and enables life to flourish upon the body of the mother(earth).
Without the stable solid structure that the emperor provides through his command, the empire ceases to exist. However, within the confines of his empire is a safe enclosure; quarter, if he is a good shepherd, and it can be a paradise. . . . otherwise one is lost in (all that) space.
Slocan, BC, Dec. 2021- photo by TJR
Happy Solstice!
