The Emperor
The Emperor Keywords
UPRIGHT: Authority, establishment, structure, a father figure
Upright The Emperor
Upright The Emperor
As the father figure of the Tarot deck, the Emperor suggests that you are adopting this fatherly role (regardless of whether you are male or female), providing for your family, and protecting and defending your loved ones. You may be the breadwinner or the ‘rock’ for those who rely on your stability and security.
Similarly, the Emperor represents a powerful leader who demands respect and authority. Status, power and recognition are essential to you, and you are most comfortable in a leadership role where you can command and direct others. As a leader, you rule with a firm but fair hand. You have a clear vision of what you want to create, and you organise those around you to manifest your goal. You listen to the advice of others, but you prefer to have the final say. Conflict doesn’t scare you, and you won’t hesitate to use your power to protect those you care about. And in return, those people will repay you with the loyalty and respect you deserve. Claim your authority as leader and influencer and don’t let others put you down.
The Emperor reflects a system bound by rules and regulations. You create law and order by applying principles or guidelines to a specific situation. Create calm out of chaos by breaking down any problem into its parts and then mapping out the actions you need to take to resolve it. Be systematic, strategic and highly organised in your approach, and stick to your plan until the end.
The Emperor card also signifies world knowledge and expertise. Through the course of your life, you have gained valuable wisdom and life experience, and now you enjoy offering guidance, advice, and direction to someone who might benefit from it. You may be a teacher, coach, boss, or just a good friend who likes to take what you have learned and pass it on so that others can be as wise and powerful as you.
Upright Love Meaning:
Traditional relationship, use logic in love, unexpressed emotions
Although the Emperor is a very serious man, without any real sense of romance, its appearance in a love tarot reading can still be beneficial. The Emperor Tarot Love meaning asks us to bring common sense, structure, discipline and logic to relationships and romance. Relationships around this tarot card may be rather traditional, and perhaps stifling if not handled too carefully.
As a person, the Emperor represents someone older and well-established, that may also have a hard time expressing their feelings. Sometimes, this card however, can also symbolize a person driven by ego, who is domineering and bullying, and unable to empathize with others.
Upright Career Meaning:
Creating processes, structure, discipline, routine, mentor
Your career may be flourishing due to your hard work, concentration and organized approach. The Emperor calls on you to be disciplined, efficient and persistent when it comes to getting what you want out of your job, or job search. If your office, or your work process is a bit chaotic or frustrating right now, it may be helpful for you to step up and introduce new methodologies or structures that can help you and your teammates collaborate more efficiently. This card can also point to having a more senior colleague or boss that can provide you with support and advice in your career.
Upright Finances Meaning:
Being disciplined about money
When it comes to your finances, the Emperor signals the need to be controlled, disciplined and responsible with your money. Make sure that you have a clear understanding of where your money is going; put together a budget, make sure you stick to it, and check in every month or so. So long as you can keep it up, you’ll likely be in a good financial position.
Reversed The Emperor Keywords
REVERSED: Domination, excessive control, lack of discipline, inflexibility
Reversed The Emperor
The reversed Emperor calls on you to assess your relationship with power, control, authority, responsibility and discipline. Are you expressing too much or too little of these elements in your life right now? Are they working for you or against you?
In the reversed position, the Emperor can be domineering and rigid in his thinking. The card can suggest an over-use and abuse of authoritative power surrounding you. It could originate from you or from another person, often a boss, partner or father figure. And it may be because of deep insecurities or father issues from childhood.
Consider the role that power plays in your life. Are you asserting your power and dominance in a way that leaves others feeling powerless? Or are you giving away your personal power to please someone else, often a father-figure or a person in authority? Seek to find a solution where you lead from a place of personal power and enable others to do the same. Power can be equally and constructively distributed – you don’t need to take it from others, nor do you need to give yours away.
The reversed Emperor may be a sign that others look to you as their leader or as an expert in the field but you are shying away from the role. You may fear being seen as the leader, instead preferring to hide in the shadows or stay out of the spotlight. There may be other ways you can make an impact and influence the world, such as authoring a book or training others to reach a bigger audience.
Sometimes, the reversed Emperor asks you to stand up to authority. You may feel fed up with an overbearing boss or a hierarchical organisation and feel compelled to enter a more flexible and adaptive environment. Maybe you aspire to be your own boss and work independently by starting up your own business. Or, you may seek a career where you can have greater flexibility and creativity in how you complete your work. You are sick of having to always work within the confines of a particular structure or way of doing things, and you want to break free from it.
When the reversed Emperor pops up in a Tarot reading, pay attention to your commitment to your goals and your self-discipline to get the job done. If you are struggling to see any real outcomes, check that you have a plan in place, a routine to support it, and the dedication to see it through. You may need to get a little tough on yourself and do the uncomfortable work you’d prefer to avoid. But if you can harness the positive, upright energy of the Emperor, your efforts will lead to success.
In a relationship reading, the reversed Emperor suggests that you may be in an unequal partnership and it‘s making you unhappy in the long term. Your significant other has become overbearing, possessive, dominating and authoritative. While you may have been looking for a partner to take care of you and offer a stable foundation for the future, those qualities have gone too far, and it seems as though much of your independence and freedom have been taken away. This dynamic is putting a strain on the relationship and preventing a flow of energies between you.
Reversed Love Meaning:
Power struggle, competitiveness, overbearing partner
The reversed Emperor tarot love meaning can signal some kind of power struggle or a fight for dominance when it comes to love and relationships. Instead of coming together with your different ideas, there may be competitiveness and a desire to just be right.
This card can also signal an overbearing partner, whether it's you or your other half. Be careful that you don't give up too much of your personal power, or repress who you are in order to be in this relationship. Alternatively, this card can also signal difficulty emotionally connecting in your relationship or potential relationships.
Reversed Career Meaning:
Low concentration or focus, bureaucracy, bad boss
Without focus or discipline, your work may start to falter. If you’ve been lacking these qualities in the workplace, you may notice that it is taking a toll on your projects. Sometimes, this card can also suggest rigidity and bureaucracy in your work environment. This may stifle your sense of creativity and motivation, since the processes needed to do anything have been tedious and frustrating. At worst, the reversed Emperor can point towards a senior employee or boss that rules the workplace like a tyrant. Should this be your situation, it may be better to start looking for employment elsewhere.
Reversed Finances Meaning:
Not disciplined about money, out of control finances
You may feel like your finances are out of your control right now. The reversed Emperor can suggest one’s inability to properly deal with one’s financial situation. Sometimes, it can also suggest lack of discipline when it comes to spending. If the former is your case, you may want to find a professional that can help you. If the latter applies instead, you’ll really need to take a closer look at what you’re earning versus what you’re spending, and learn to cut things out.